Growing Potato

Solanum tuberosum : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
P                 P P P

(Best months for growing Potato in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions)

  • P = Plant seed potatoes
  • Plant tuber. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 86°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 12 - 16 inches apart
  • Harvest in 15-20 weeks. Dig carefully, avoid damaging the potatoes.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Peas, Beans, Brassicas, Sweetcorn, Broad Beans, Nasturtiums, Marigolds
  • Avoid growing close to: Cucumber, Pumpkin, Sunflowers, Tomatoes, Rosemary

Your comments and tips

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01 Jul 09, gareth (Australia - temperate climate)
jane along as you dont eat these potatos because they are now piisonous but you should be alright with the others aslong as they arnt exposed to light and i dont now weather this will aid in production of spuds but oh well see what happens
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21 Jun 09, Gavin Ryan (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
I just purchased a couple of bags of seed potatoes. Will they last till Spring?
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17 Jun 09, Jane (Australia - temperate climate)
I have 2 bags of seed potatoes to be planted and leaving them in the light they are turning green. Is this okay?
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07 Jun 09, Ratchet (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi , I have just acquired a large pot , about 500 litres In Tasmania last month and purchased some seed potatoes , about a kg of mixed variety Going to drill some holes in the side of the pot at the base , add some plastic grating , old bread tray . add a couple of bags on potting mix and plant the spuds . I am thinking of then adding straight mushroom compost from the mushroom farm covering the plants as they grow ( after about 100cm ) leaving some fresh growth on the top. will the mushroom compost be enough , I can get a box trailer load for $30 from the mushroom farm and it has a mixture of what looks like black compost mxed thru it
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21 Jul 19, Dale (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Can anyone tell me where I can buy Dutch cream seed potatoes in the Gladstone/Calliope area QLD please.
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26 May 09, Andrew (Australia - temperate climate)
Jenny, the problem with potatoes planted now is that any frost will knock the tops off. If you are in a frost free area or can arrange a frost free micro-climate for them, then you can certainly plant potatoes now. I have a number of volunteers growing at te moment, but I don't expect them to last unless I cover them well. Don't expect too much growth for the next couple of months, though.
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25 May 09, jenny (Australia - temperate climate)
I notice that you say to plant potatoes august, sept, oct, are there any varieties that can be planted now? Thanks, Jenny
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23 May 09, Emma (United Kingdom - warm/temperate climate)
I put my new potatoes in on the traditional day Good Friday although that will be different for anyone in the Southern Hemisphere lol. As mentioned before they don't like frosts. Anyway, I make sure I plant them on lots of well rotted manure and earth them up when they start showing. I grow new spuds in containers and earth up with a mixture of compost and grass clippings which are free and easily available when I can be bothered to mow the lawn ! Potatoes like water and muck. When you harvest them they taste nothing like shop bought spuds !! Good Luck !
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11 May 09, Brad (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Had my kipflers in the ground now for 2.5 weeks and all have shooted and growing quickly. Will mound some more soil and compost over them once they are all around 10cm high. Looking good so far!!!
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02 May 09, Graechel (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
Re Tamworth potato. Be a devil and try whatever whenever. I use garbage bins suitably placed under tree and to get reasonable sun. Have had decent results from early planting and planted new crop today. It is amazing what will grow where conventional wisdom says "no way". Just don't leave out directly in the frost. Same with pineapple. Go on...have a go.
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I heard that the potato will stop sending nutrients to the tubers if the stalks are bent. One of the most successful potato harvests I have ever seen was a large container grown project where he used several layers (think of a layer cake) of horizontal plastic fencing and t-posts at each corner to hold the horizontal fencing to keep the stalks from bending at all and support them as they grew. They were able to get an absolutely massive yield with that method although he was sick all summer and didn't care for them or water them at all. I am not sure that the container growing was as pivotal in the results as just keeping the stalks from bending over. I have container grown before and will try it again this spring as well as ground growing using his methods to keep the stalks upright. I think another often overlooked issue is either too much or too little phosphorus and potash in 10-10-10 fertilizer. I think 'balanced' fertilizers can present real problems for root crops since they don't need or want balanced inputs. You will always have too much of something and too little of the other. Also there is a time delay on phosphorus while it stays in the upper part of the soil, so you can apply phosphorus to increase tuber formation, but it takes 3 months to disperse into the soil, while nitrogen sinks like a stone through soil an becomes almost immediately bio-unavailable (or runs off into the environment via water). So if you are using 10-10-10 you are going to end up poisoning your plants in order to get one or another nutrients available in the correct quantity. Plus factor in the time delay to bioavailability. I think it is better to thoroughly prepare soil before you put your garden to bed in the winter than prepare it in the spring (actually I have revived some fruit trees that were very old and no longer producing by fall fertilizing; I got almost $700 worth of organic pears and even more than this in apples last year through fall fertilizing). I also heard (and studied it last year in my own garden) that potatoes grow between the seed potato and the surface. If you bury them deep you will increase yields as there is more space for them to grow above the seed potato. But if you plant them shallow, they have a very narrow area to make potatoes in, significantly reducing production. This means in container gardening you need to put them at the very bottom of a 1'-6" (0.45 meters) tall container to get a full yield. I tried this method last year and doubled my production. I was putting them very close to the surface before last year. Also, potatoes need cool roots and won't produce anything at all if their roots are too hot in the container during the summer. Afternoon/evening shade is a must in Southern US zones or other hot environments. Or you could insulate or shade the container.

- Christian

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