Growing potatoes is not a back-breaking chore when you grow them in a bag!
I presented on “How to Grow Potatoes in a Bag” recently on the Home & Family show, airing on the Hallmark Channel.
The most important detail about growing potatoes in a bag is that you use a bag such as the Smart Pot that comes in large sizes, suitable for potato crops.
A 20-gallon Smart Pot is ideal to grow your potatoes and costs about $10 at the garden center. You can also find them online.
The Smart Pot is a soft-sided aeration container that air root prunes your plants and is incredibly lightweight and comes with handles.
You can plant between 5 and 7 potato seeds in a 20-gallon bag.
Each seed can yield you from 3 to 6 potatoes depending on how many eyes it has to sprout from.
Materials For Growing Potatoes in a Bag
- Planting bag
- Potato seeds
- Acidic fertilizer
- Potting soil
- Compost
- Egg crate
Instructions
1. Prepare Your Potato Seed For Planting
- Cut potato seed in chunks that have at least 2 “eyes” and are the size of an ice-cube or small egg.
Sprouts emerge from the eyes and form a plant!
- Allow the potato chunks to callous over and grow sprouts by laying in an egg crate for 1- 3 weeks.
Place indoors in a cool spot away from direct sunlight.
Start Planting!
- Fill the bottom third of a large 20-gallon “Smart Bag” with a 50/50 mix of organic potting soil and compost.
- Add a little organic acid fertilizer to lower the PH of the soil.
Potatoes thrive in an acidic environment.
- Place the potato chunks with the cut side down and “eyes side up” about 2 inches deep, 8-9 inches apart.
Make sure the potatoes are well covered and are not receiving direct sunlight as this will cause your potatoes to green.
- Water well and place in a sunny spot.
Don’t allow your soil to dry because this will promote cracked and misshapen potatoes!
- As your potato vine grows, cover the leaves with the 50/50 compost/soil mix except for the top 3 inches.
Covering soil protects potato seedlings from light which causes potatoes to green.
- When your potatoes begin to flower, you can harvest potatoes but must eat them within 3 days because they will not keep fresh.
- For harvesting storage potatoes, wait until the foliage of the plant dries in late summer and then harvest the potatoes and store correctly.
If you’d like to harvest potatoes throughout summer and fall, select from “Early,” Mid-Season” and “Late Season” seeds.
It takes about 10 weeks for potatoes to grow large enough for harvest.
When growing potatoes in a bag, you can either carefully reach your hand into the bag to harvest potatoes, or throw the bag on its side!
Such fun!
Do’s and Don’ts of Growing Potatoes
Do you have any questions for the Foodie Gardener?
