Growing Potato

Solanum tuberosum : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

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

(Best months for growing Potato in Australia - temperate regions)

  • P = Plant seed potatoes
  • Plant tuber. Best planted at soil temperatures between 10°C and 30°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 30 - 40 cm 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

20 Jul 09, Edward (Australia - temperate climate)
Lisa - I would advise against eating anything grown in tyres, especially any tuber. Sorry. Tyres contain (among other elements) cadmium, lead, and zinc. Not too late to start a 'no dig' option....... :-)
18 Jul 09, Lisa (Australia - temperate climate)
I have my potato plants growing in tyres, as advised by my local nursery. should i take the plants out? the plants are about 5 weeks old and about 10 cm high? thank you
18 Jul 09, Ivan (Australia - temperate climate)
My spuds have been in for 11 weeks now, they have a huge amount of green leaves. How long before they flower, and If they don't flower when can they be picked?
12 Jul 09, jane (Australia - temperate climate)
Thanks Gareth, that's what I was hoping.
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
21 Jun 09, Gavin Ryan (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
I just purchased a couple of bags of seed potatoes. Will they last till Spring?
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?
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
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.
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.
Showing 491 - 500 of 563 comments

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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