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 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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09 Apr 09, Brad (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi from Brissie, I know I'm totally out of sync but am planting some kipflers now in early April as I can't wait until the nominated season. I've kept them in a bag in the pantry and they now have lots of eyes. Can you cut the tubers in half before planting to increase the crop? I've made timber planting boxes which can stack as the plants grow and am using a soil and compost mix. Will anything help considering planting at this time of year?
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20 Mar 09, Deano (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, I've got a few potato plants in my vegie patch that have come up beautifully. It's flowered, but I didn't want to pull them out to early as the last time I did this it was a very small crop. This time, I've let the plants go, but I've noticed that the plant is developing a little green fruit looking thing! Does anyone have any idea what these are? Should I be pulling my plants out now?
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15 Mar 09, JonoB (Australia - temperate climate)
Katie, RE: potatoes in cage tower - same thing happened to me, potatoes only grew at the bottom where there was potting mix and not in the hay above. I think the cages were too exposed and hence the hay dried out quite quickly. A couple of things I might try next time is to line the wire mesh cage with some plastic, to keep the moisture in, and also to use a mix of hay and soil so it is a bit more dense.
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12 Feb 09, jimbob (Australia - temperate climate)
re late potato plantings, I planted 3 batches, the 1st in mid nov, the 2nd in early dec and the last in mid dec. I am harvesting the 1st batch now - very productive. The 2nd lot have probably only grown to 3/4 size and the last lot have only grown to barely 1/2 size. I expect they'll produce something but maybe not enough to make it worthwhile. Mid-late november will be as late as I'll plant in future. I'm east of melbourne.
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03 Feb 09, Katie (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Hi there. I did exactly that - cage tower - cool climate, planted around sep/oct. I followed a LOT of instructions of using just hay to build up - and about 3 months into (they grew like mad!) they all just died. We don't know what happened - but someone has said that hay doesnt work. Eventually we decided to pull it apart to find there were NO potatoes at all - except at the very bottom where there had been soil etc. This forum doesnt like links - but if you go to my blog catchthatmountainview dot com and click on the label vege patch you will see our results. We have started again - not sure if it's too late. We'll see :)
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23 Jan 09, Tobie-Jane (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Hi...I planted a potato in a huge black tub and it grew really well, had a huge, healthy plant in mid-December. Unfortunately we went away for 4 weeks and when we got back the plant has died completely. There are a heap of potatoes in the pot though, all still firm, look fine (a little small), and none are green. Would it still be okay to harvest and eat them, or is there a time limit after the plant dies off (I'm not sure when that happened)? Finally, do I need to do anything between harvesting and cooking, like letting them dry? Thank heaps!
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20 Jan 09, Ann (Australia - temperate climate)
I live near Bendigo in Victoria, it is hot and dry in summer. Am creating some new raised vegie gardens and wonder if it is too late to grow potatoes. I already have a good crop coming on planted in October in some sunny garden beds, but have just been given a lovely big bag of sprouting tubers (forgotten in the back of a friend's cupboard.
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18 Jan 09, Rene (Australia - temperate climate)
is it possible to plant a second crop of potatoes in Sydney in new year? My first crop, planted in late July, was very successful and I'd like to plant more.
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04 Jan 09, wayne (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
I have a back triangle yard where my new veggie garden is. most of it has full sun all day. Have behind the bungaloo It starts seeing shade after 3pm. This is my first ever veggie garden (just finished my first vegie bed of 10 sq/mtrs. And plans for another 20 sq/mtrs. Would like to know what I can plant now and where in the garden to plant it. I also have a constant supply of 550mm sq gal box's by 900mm high I would like to use. In the full sun spot i would also like to know when I can grow spuds there so I can plan my compost there for future spud crops. I love potatoes like every body else. Want to grow all year round if possible. I live in melbourne northern suburbs
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29 Dec 08, John (Australia - temperate climate)
I wish to grow potatoes in a caged tower now, that is in late December. I live in the southern part of Victoria on the coast. Can someone please tell me if this is possible and any useful hints please.
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Showing 511 - 520 of 563 comments
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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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