How to Sow Seed Potatoes

Potato garden

Sowing seed potatoes requires advance thought and preparation. Choose a garden plot that offers loose sandy soil with good drainage and full exposure to the sun. The soil produces the most prolifically when compost is worked into it the season prior to planting. Sowing seed potatoes offers the gardener the opportunity to grow varieties of potato that may not be available from grocery stores. Potatoes purchased from supermarkets should not be used since the potatoes may be diseased or sprayed with a chemical to inhibit sprouting.

Things You'll Need

• Seed potatoes
• Knife
• Shovel
• Water
• Loose straw
• Fertilizer
• Fungicide
• Insecticide

Instructions

1. Use only seed potatoes that are certified to be free of disease, available at garden centers. If necessary, they can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks until your garden plot is ready.

2. Place the potatoes on a bright sunlit windowsill or other warm sunlit spot for one week prior to sowing.

3. Sow the seed potatoes two weeks before the last freeze date (below 28 degrees Fahrenheit) of the season.

4. Use a knife to cut the potatoes into chunks that weigh about 1.5 oz. each. Make certain each chunk has at least one eye in it.

5. Prepare the rows of the potato bed by digging a 6-inch deep trench. Place the rows 30 inches apart.

6. Sow the seed potatoes 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart in the moistened soil of the trench with the eyes pointing up.

7. Water the potato bed thoroughly after sowing the seed potatoes, and continue to water heavily once a week.

8. Build mounds of soil around the plants to a height of 6 inches after the first flowering and every two to three weeks thereafter. Covering some of the leaves during this process will only stimulate the growth of the plant.

9. Mulch the potatoes with 6 inches of loose straw when the potatoes are 6 inches high.

10. Fertilize once monthly with a compost and organic ash mix that will provide necessary phosphorus and potassium. Spray or dust at 10 to 14 day intervals with a fungicide and insecticide recommended for the geographical area and the variety of potato being grown.

Tips & Warnings

• Potatoes grow best in a cool environment, so lowering the heat in the soil as much as possible by mulching is an important task.

• Pick off caterpillars by hand before they damage the plants.

• Potatoes are heavy feeders and regular applications of fertilizer are important to their growth, especially in poor soil.

References

• University of Illinois Extension: Illinois Vegetable Garden Guide
• University of Florida: Growing Potatoes in the Florida Home Garden

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish