How do I know if the sprouting potato I planted is growing well and how long before I can pick them?

Question

I have just started a vege garden and threw in a couple of sprouting potatoes, thinking that would start a patch! However, I wasn't sure if I should plant them sprout up, or sprout down, so did both to cover my bases! Both are growing! How do I ensure I am actually growing good potatoes and how long do they typically take to mature before you can pick them? Any help would be appreciated as I am an absolute gardening novice!

Answer 1

potatoes will be ready in 60-90 days depending on the variety.Once the flowers have died off they are ready to harvest.. Remember to mound the dirt up around the plants covering most of the plant as it grows It will improve your yield immensely. another cool thing to try is putting a rubber tire around the plant . keep adding tires and dirt as it grows. Always making sure that the top few branches remain open to the sunlight . You will be covering the stem and leaves as you go , but those stems will keep forming roots and so new potatoes as well .By the end of the season you could have 50 lbs of potatoes from 1 plant. I know its more than you asked for but its a cool thing to try.

Answer 2

Potatoes are a great crop for a beginner, because you basically can't go wrong with them. As long as they get enough water they will grow well. Once the vines start dying off, you can harvest. Next time, if you want really good spuds without having to dig up your entire garden bed, try getting an old bin or something similar, cut a few holes in the bottom, and mix layers of dirt and hay on top of each other. Chuck your potatoes in the middle and when the vines die down you just have to lift up the bin and puch over the dirt - and you have spuds!

Answer 3

You may get zero off that plant. Potatoes need a sandy alkaline soil to grow well in Here in upper michigan they grow like weeds in this sandy soil. Probably a pail yield to a single bush here in a good year. The climate here is cool and northern.

My friend in south Indiana cannot grow potatoes. His soil is heavy clay and it is too hot down there.

Potatoes for the average homeowner arent worth growing. That is unless you live in the right climate condition. Those things have potato bugs, blight virus, and a host of diseases. You need to spray with sulpur compounds and poison the bugs.

Answer 4

it extremely relies upon on the temperature of the storage area. Potatoes saved less than managed situations which consists of "air con" to maintain an noticeably low temperature without freezing, they might under no circumstances sprout. In hotter climes like Spring, they're going to sprout interior a week less than time-honored storage ie no a/c

Answer 5

They will get blossom's on , then after they die. Be careful not to dig into the potatoes, dig around the outside of the plant and work in.

Answer 6

dont matter how you planted them sprout up or down..they always grow up toward the light...as soon as they have flowered and the flowers are dying off...then you can harvest them