Some of my potato plants in buckets

[kameronth]

I grow my potatoes in buckets and tubs. Here are some from last years crop:

[gardengeekgirl]

How big are your buckets? My plan is to put my potatoes in containers this year. Partially for ease of harvest, but primarily to give myself more room for tomatoes. I was trying to decide what kind of container this year - either a bucket/trash can or something like the soft side potato bags/shopping bags...

[kameronth]

I can't remember how many gallons but I bought most of the rope handled tubs at Walmart. They do really well in the tubs.

[NathanP]

What kinds of potatoes have you been growing? I see Yukon Gold, Purple Viking and another I can't read the label on.

[luigiwu]

What kind of yields do you get? Do you layer on the soil as it go?

[kameronth]

Originally Posted by NathanP

What kinds of potatoes have you been growing? I see Yukon Gold, Purple Viking and another I can't read the label on.

Those, White Superior and Red Pontiac.

[kameronth]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

What kind of yields do you get? Do you layer on the soil as it go?

I do layer the soil as it grows. I've never weighed my harvest before but we will usually have enough potatoes for 3 to 4 months.

Now if it were just me, there would be enough for a year because I'm not a huge potato fan but my wife loves them. When harvest time comes my wife has potato everything on the menu.

[MuddyToes]

I want to try this. Are there drainage holes in your buckets? If so, how many/how large? Do you water daily?

[MuddyToes]

Also, how many plants are in each bucket?

[kameronth]

I drilled drainage holes in all the buckets. I also have irrigation tubes that I run to each bucket so if there isn't rain in the forecast I auto water them for about 5 minutes every morning.

I'm not sure of the exact number of seed potatoes I put in each bucket(I cut each one into pieces that all have eyes) but I place them with about 2 inches between each one and the bucket sides.

I've already harvested all my potatoes this year and harvested about 9 gallons worth so not bad at all.

[MuddyToes]

Thanks for the info! I'll grab the buckets at Wallyworld next time I see them. Your tater plants look really healthy. My youngest asked me if we could try growing potatoes this year. I told him I'd have to research. But this looks doable for me.

[mamaboog]

Thanks a lot for this information! I haven't tried potatoes here because of the heavy clay soil, but this gives me hope for containers.

[nancyruhl]

I grew sweet potatoes in containers on the rooftop gutter garden Here is a picture on one I harvested today.

[brownrexx]

You don't need to worry about heavy clay soil. Just plant the potatoes on TOP of the soil and then cover with really deep straw. That's what I do and it works great but you have to make the straw really deep to keep the light off of the tubers.

I don't do this because of heavy soil but because I want to keep my harvest scab free and the scab spores live in the soil. I get a really nice clean harvest that I can "dig" with my hands. I like this method better than buckets because the plants can spread out more.

[svalli]

One of the summer delicacies here are fresh new potatoes. Those are usually boiled, garnished with fresh dill and chives and served with with butter and pickled herring. The potatoes are best when cooked right after harvesting and that is why I every year grow some potatoes in containers and a small raised bed at our city yard. Potatoes for winter storage are grown at our country side field, so the bucket potatoes are grown only for fresh eating. Two years ago I found these PotatoPots, which have inserts for harvesting the potatoes while the plants still grow. I had quite good success with them. I planted three potatoes on each pot and was able to harvest three times from both pots, before the plants stopped producing.

I start the potatoes in the greenhouse and move pots outside, when there is no risk of freezing weather anymore. This way we can have new potatoes over a month earlier than from the field. The first new potatoes in the stores here can be quite expensive and the skins have already dried on the spuds and the commercial early varieties are not at all as good as the ones I grow.

Last year I grew Yukon Golds and this year I had a new variety called Jazzy.
potatoes 11062016.jpg
potato pots 03072016.jpg
Jazzy 03072016.jpg


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