Today, we’ll tell you a little secret about getting bigger and larger potato harvests: deep planting. It makes potatoes develop more tubers and keeps the growing environment conducive for optimum potato growth.
Keep reading to learn about the different ways to deep plant potatoes!
How much depth and space do potatoes need to grow?
Every seed potato needs to be planted four inches deep and 12 inches apart from others. Potato plants also need eight inches of soil below and 12 inches above the surface for optimum growth of their roots and tubers.
Depending on their variety, these measurements will allow potato tubers to grow between two and five inches long. If you want bigger potatoes, you’ll need deeper soil and maybe beat the world record for heaviest potato at eight pounds and four ounces.
Why should you plant potatoes deep?
Planting potatoes deep helps increase tuber yields and helps improve soil drainage for potato growth. They also help reduce erosion and weed growth and protect plants from pests and diseases.
Deep planting also helps prevent tubers from turning green because of overexposure to sunlight. Green potatoes develop a chemical called solanine, which causes the potato to have a buttery flavor and be potentially toxic when taken in large quantities.
This planting technique also helps prevent tubers from rotting because it keeps the soil moist, so potatoes are less likely to dry out and shrivel. It also keeps the potato tubers covered and protected against deadly fungal diseases like potato blight.
Where can you deep-plant potatoes?
You can deep-plant potatoes in straw mulch, raised beds, trenches, containers, or a hydroponic system.
Read below for the ideal planting depth for each growing medium and how to do them.
1. In a straw mulch
When planting potatoes in straw mulch, the ideal planting depth is six to eight inches. This shallow planting depth relies on a layer of mulch to provide shade for developing potato tubers.
Here’s how to plant potatoes in straw mulch.
| Difficulty | Easy ●○○○○ |
| Duration | 30 minutes to 1 hour |
| Things You Need | Well-draining soil Organic fertilizer Fresh straw mulch Rake Shovel Seed potatoes Watering can |
How To Do
1. Prepare the soil by removing weeds or any debris in the area.
2. Add organic fertilizer to the soil.
3. Spread a fresh straw mulch over the two to three inches thick planting area.
4. Dig a trench that is six to eight inches deep.
5. Place the potatoes in the trench, spacing them 12 to 18 inches apart.
6. Cover the potatoes with soil, leaving about one inch of the potato tubers exposed.
7. Water the potatoes well, especially during hot weather.
8. Add mulch around the potato plants as they grow.
2. In trenches
Planting potatoes in trenches helps improve soil drainage and increases potato yield because there’s more room to grow. You also won’t need to hill potatoes as often because trenches already provide a lot of soil for the potato plants.
Check out the easy steps below on deep planting potatoes in trenches.
| Difficulty | Easy ●○○○○ |
| Duration | 30 minutes to 1 hour |
| Things You Need | Seed potatoes Shovel Rake Compost Fertilizer Straw mulch |
How To Do
1. Choose a sunny spot with well-drained soil. Remove any weeds or debris from the area.
2. Spread a 2 to 3-inch layer of compost over the planting area.
3. Dig trenches that are 6 to 8 inches deep and 12-18 inches apart.
4. Place the potatoes in the trenches, spacing them 12-18 inches apart.
5. Cover the potatoes with soil, leaving about 1 inch of the potato tubers exposed.
6. Water the potatoes well, especially on hot days.
7. As the potato plants grow, use the remaining soil to fill the trench, allowing potatoes to develop deep in the ground.
8. When the flowers start to wilt, and the leaves start to turn yellow, the potatoes are ready to harvest.
3. In raised beds
A raised bed must be a couple of feet tall to allow space for hilling potato plants later in the season. Ideally, for every 1-foot length of your raised bed, you can plant one seed potato with 12 inches of space between potato plants.
You can also grow lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, carrots, peppers, and potatoes in the raised beds. They’re great companion plants because they’re non-invasive and will not disrupt the root systems of other plants.
Here’s how to deep plant potatoes in raised beds.
| Difficulty | Easy ●○○○○ |
| Duration | 30 minutes to 1 hour |
| Things You Need | Seed potatoes Shovel Rake Compost Fertilizer Straw mulch |
How To Do
1. Choose a sunny spot for your raised bed. Potatoes need at least 6 hours of sunlight per day.
2. Fill the raised bed with well-draining soil.
3. Spread a 2-3 inch layer of compost or manure over the planting area.
4. Dig holes 6 to 8 inches deep and 12 to 18 inches apart.
5. Place the potatoes in the holes, spacing them 12-18 inches apart.
6. Cover the potatoes with soil, leaving about 1 inch of the potato tubers exposed.
7. Water the potatoes thoroughly.
8. As the potatoes mature, use soil or straw mulch around the stem to encourage more tubers.
9. When the potato blooms and the tops die, gently reach into the soil to remove tubers.
4. In containers
For this medium, you can use different potato containers, such as 5-gallon buckets, trash bags, compost bags, rain barrels, potato bags or planters.
Here’s how to plant potatoes in containers.
| Difficulty | Easy ●○○○○ |
| Duration | 30 minutes to 1 hour |
| Things You Need | Seed potatoes Large containers (at least 5 gallons in size) Potting mix Compost Fertilizer Straw mulch |
How To Do
1. Choose a sunny spot for your containers where they will get at least 6 hours of sunlight daily.
2. Poke holes in the bottom of the bags for drainage.
3. Fill the bottom ⅓ of the container with a potting mix.
4. Spread a 2- to 3-inch compost layer or manure over each container’s potting mix.
5. Dig holes 8 to 10 inches deep in the center of each container.
6. Place the potatoes in the holes with the eyes facing up.
7. Cover the potatoes with potting mix, leaving about 1 inch of the potato tubers exposed.
8. Water the potatoes thoroughly.
9. As the potato plants grow, hill them up by adding more potting mix around the base of the plants. This will help to protect the tubers from pests and diseases.
10. Water the potatoes regularly, especially during hot weather.
11. Fertilize the potatoes every few weeks with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer.
12. Mulch the potatoes with straw to help keep the soil moist and suppress weeds.
13. When the flowers start to wilt, and the leaves start to turn yellow, the potatoes are ready to harvest.
5. In a hydroponic system
Growing potatoes in hydroponic systems is sustainable for growing root vegetables and other plants. It helps provide the roots with consistent moisture without being saturated.
Although potatoes grown through this method don’t grow as big as those grown in soils, you can still have high potato yield all year round under grow lights.
We recommend using perlite, vermiculite or peat when growing potatoes in a hydroponic system for best results. Without further ado, here’s how to plant potatoes using hydroponics.
| Difficulty | Easy ●○○○○ |
| Duration | 30 minutes to 1 hour |
| Things You Need | Seed potatoes Hydroponic system Grow media (perlite, vermiculite, or peat) Nutrient solution Net pots or baskets pH meter Electrical conductivity meter |
How To Do
1. Set up the hydroponic system.
2. Fill the container with grow media, but leave 2 inches of space at the top.
3. Place the seed potatoes in the container with the eyes facing up.
4. Cover the potatoes with growing media, leaving about 1 inch of the potato tubers exposed.
5. Place the net pots or baskets in the hydroponic system.
6. Add nutrient solution to the hydroponic system.
7. Monitor the pH and EC levels of the nutrient solution and adjust as needed.
8. Harvest the potatoes when the flowers start to wilt and the leaves start to turn yellow.
How far apart do you plant potatoes?
Every potato plant needs at least 12 inches of space around it for optimum growth. This space is enough to prevent competition with water and nutrients from other plants and helps prevent roots from tangling with others.
There should also be three feet of space between rows of potatoes so there’s enough space for watering and removing weeds during the growing season.
Spacing between potato plants also depends on the variety. For instance, small potatoes like fingerlings don’t need much space, and you can plant them 5 to 7 inches apart.
Spacing also depends on your garden type and planting location. Here’s a summary of how much space is needed to plant potatoes in different garden areas.
| Garden Type or Planting Location | Recommended Planting Space | Number of Seed Potato |
| Square-foot garden | 1 foot apart A 4 x 4 feet garden bed can house 16 potato plants. | One seed potato per square foot |
| Farm-style garden | 2 to 3 feet apart | One seed potato for every 12 to 15 inches into the trench |
| Containers and Grow Buckets | 8 inches apart | One to two seed potatoes per container |
What is the size of the grow bag for potatoes?
Grow bags for potatoes should be able to contain at least 5 gallons for each potato plant. They should have drainage holes at the bottom to prevent plant roots from rotting in water.
Here’s a table of grow bag sizes and the number of potato plants you can grow.
| Volume (gallons) | Diameter (inches) | Number of potato plants |
| 5 | 10-12 | 1-2 |
| 10 | 14-16 | 2-3 |
| 15 | 16-18 | 3-4 |
| 20 | 18-20 | 4-5 |
What happens if you plant potatoes too close?
Planting potatoes too close together can lead to reduced yield, increased susceptibility to pests and diseases and difficulty harvesting.
When planted too close, potatoes compete with neighboring plants for sunlight, water and nutrients. As a result, there will be fewer deformed and smaller potatoes to harvest.
Potato plants also get stressed when grown in overcrowded environments. Less airflow makes them more susceptible to pests and diseases like potato blight.
During harvest season, it will be more difficult and time-consuming to harvest potatoes because they’re more likely to be tangled up with one another, smaller and harder to find in the soil.
What is hilling in potatoes?
Hilling is the process of adding soil around the base of potato plants. This gardening technique helps protect the tubers from sunlight, pests and diseases and encourages healthy growth and more potato harvests.
When exposed to too much sunlight, tubers can dry out and die. They can also turn green and produce solanine, a toxic chemical that causes the potato to become bitter and inedible.
Hilling potatoes is best done approximately three weeks from planting and in the morning before the sun rises to prevent the plants from being exposed to direct sunlight during the day.
You’ll know that potatoes are ready for hilling when you see baby sprouts pushing up through the soil. Once you see this, hill the soil around the plants and add compost and mulch to keep the soil healthy and the plants completely covered.
Here’s a table showing when to hill potato plants in every growth stage.
| Week | Stage of Growth | Hilling Task |
| 2 | 6-8 inches tall | Hill potatoes for the first time. |
| 4 | 12-14 inches tall | Hill potatoes again. |
| 6 | 18-20 inches tall | Hill potatoes for the last time. |
The first hilling takes place when the plants are about 6 to 8 inches tall, about two weeks from planting. On the other hand, the second hilling should occur in the 4th week when the plant is about 12 to 14 inches tall.
Finally, you should hill potatoes for the last time when they’ve grown between 18 and 20 inches tall or on the 6th week from planting.
We recommend that you stop hilling potatoes after the plants start to produce flowers since the tubers are already well-developed by this time.
Does a potato need to be grown in soil?
Potatoes do not need to be grown in soil. You can grow them in hydro, aero or aquaponics as well as in grow bags in different media like compost or mulch.
As long as potato plants are given adequate sunlight and the growing media can provide water and hold nutrients, then it can thrive and develop tubers.
For instance, growing potatoes in hydroponics increases potato yield while reducing water and fertilizer use, and susceptibility to pests and diseases. In aquaponics systems, fish waste provides nutrients to plants and helps filter water for the fish.
Planting potatoes in grow bags can also be a great option for those who have small spaces, patios or balconies.
FAQs
It is not advisable to replant potatoes that have just been harvested because they are less likely to sprout and the plant has not yet gotten through a period of dormancy to develop seed potato eyes.
Potatoes start growing within 14 to 28 days after planting. They are ready for harvest 60 to 120 days from planting.
You should plant seed potatoes with eyes up so that new shoots can grow towards the surface and help protect the shoots from pests and diseases.
One potato plant can produce 3 to 4 points of potatoes, while seed potatoes can have 4 to 6 potato plants.
Seed potatoes are those selected and grown for planting, while regular potatoes are those grown for consumption. Seed potatoes are often sprayed with sprout inhibitors so they will not germinate before planting, unlike regular potatoes, which are not treated.
You can grow new potato plants from store-bought potatoes as long as you sprout them before planting.
