Planting potatoes: This is how it works

Planting potatoes: This is how it works

What types of potatoes are there? Reading Planting potatoes: This is how it works 6 minutes Next What exactly is a potato tower?

Many hobby gardeners are still afraid of the effort involved in planting potatoes using traditional growing methods. But if you decide to grow potatoes in a potato tower , you will notice that it can be really easy! You don't even need a garden to grow potatoes in a potato tower. A balcony or terrace is completely sufficient.

If you want to plant potatoes yourself, you definitely have several advantages:

You can be sure where they come from and that they are untreated.
You have complete freedom when choosing the variety.
By using the right fertilizer, your potatoes will be nutrient-rich.
Homegrown potatoes simply taste wonderful!
You will see with your own eyes how your potatoes grow.

However, there are a few important things to keep in mind when growing potatoes:

The optimal planting time

The best time to plant potatoes is between mid-April and the end of May. In general, potato plants are sensitive to frost and cold. When the optimal time is depends in detail on the weather and the potato varieties chosen. The soil temperature should not be below 10°C. However, for pre-germinated potatoes it can be a little lower. In order to best protect the plants against frost from outside (for example on particularly cold nights), it is best to use a frost protection hood . The leaves of potatoes in particular are very sensitive to frost and have difficulty recovering from frost.

Pre-germination or advancement for an earlier harvest

If you let the seed potatoes pre-germinate, you will have several advantages. On the one hand, the potatoes become more resistant to unfavorable environmental influences, but on the other hand, this gives them a certain head start in development. The tubers have already developed smaller shoots before they are even placed in the ground. This means you can harvest them earlier. The time required for pre-germination can be 4-6 weeks. Ideally, the tubers are stored in a bright place at 10-15°C. You can use a box with soil to pre-sprout or just store the potatoes like that.

Traditional method: Grow potatoes at ground level

This method is actually only suitable for you if you have a garden with a lot of space and a lot of time to devote to caring for the potato plants.

If the seed potatoes are to be planted in a normal vegetable patch, a considerable part of the available space in your garden has often already been used up. Especially if you also want to grow other vegetables.

A small example to illustrate this:

Let's say you want to grow 12 potato plants. The conventional cultivation method recommends a distance between the tubers of around 35cm. The row spacing is ideally at least 50cm. Assuming an average size of the individual tubers of around 10cm and growing in three rows, this results in a space requirement of just under 2m². Depending on the area of your garden, you should consider whether you want or can devote as much space to growing potatoes.

In addition to the large space requirement, potatoes grown in beds are difficult to protect against pest infestation. The tubers and leaves of potato plants are easily attacked from all sides by rodents and snails. The only option here is often to use chemical insecticides and pesticides to protect the plants. Especially if you want to achieve satisfactory yields from growing potatoes. And that's what it's all about, after all.

Planting the seed potatoes is somewhat laborious with this method. For each potato, a separate spade-deep hole must be dug into which the potatoes are placed. To promote growth, it is also recommended to add some horn shavings. Then each tuber is individually covered with soil again. In order to further increase the yield, it is advisable to “pile up” the plants regularly throughout the entire growing season. This means covering the above-ground portion of the plant with additional soil.

Once the plants are mature and you want to harvest the potatoes , a certain amount of caution is required. The tubers can be injured when digging. And due to the stooped posture during harvesting, the strain on the back is relatively high.

Vertical method: Growing potatoes in a potato tower

On the other hand, if you want to achieve high yields with little effort and in as small an area as possible, then the potato tower is the perfect way for you to grow potatoes! You can even set up a potato tower on the balcony or terrace and grow your potatoes there. You don't necessarily need a garden. As long as there is enough sun, the potato plants will thrive there too.

In our PAUL POTATO potato tower, for example, thanks to several levels, the same amount of potatoes can be grown on 0.2m² as on 2m² in the classic ground-level bed.

Growing your potatoes with PAUL POTATO makes every step of growing easier - from planting the potatoes to caring for them and harvesting them.

Put potatoes in the potato tower:

There is no need to dig holes to insert the potatoes. The individual floors are simply filled halfway with soil. A tuber is then placed in each of the three corners. Then add a layer of earth – that’s it. If you want, you can mix the bottom layer of soil with suitable fertilizer to optimize the nutrient content.

Location:
Potatoes like it sunny. So choose a bright and warm place for your PAUL POTATO. The soil should be light and water-permeable. Our specially developed Gusta Garden potato soil is recommended for this.

Caring for plants in the potato tower:

Protection against pests is integrated into the floor of each floor of PAUL POTATO. This keeps larger rodents, such as voles, away from the plants. With an optional insect protection net , pests such as snails can also be effectively repelled from above.

The construction of the potato tower also saves water when watering. You don't need to water large areas.

As soon as the leaves of the plants begin to dry out and it is time to harvest , the individual tiers are simply cleared out and the potatoes are freed from excess soil.