How to Harvest Potatoes: A Complete Guide from Planting to Storage 

Published on: 15 March 2024 Last Updated on: 04 September 2024
How to harvest potato

If there is something that I have learned in life, it is about gardening. Well, almost everything if not all. And if there is one thing that took me some time to master, it was knowing how to harvest potatoes at home! 

Potatoes are one of the most versatile and popular vegetables in the world. They can be cooked in many different ways, such as boiled, baked, fried, mashed, or roasted. Moreover, they are also rich in carbohydrates, fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants.

But how do you grow and harvest your own potatoes at home? You see, potatoes are not like cilantro or other plants. These are tubers. 

In this article, I will show you everything you need to know about how to harvest potatoes, from planting to storage.

So, if that is something that you are interested in knowing, then I have you covered! Keep on reading this blog till the end to learn more… 

How to Plant Potato Seeds or Tubers? 

How to Plant Potato Seeds or Tubers_

The first step in how to harvest potatoes is to plant them. You can start with either potato seeds or tubers. Potato seeds are small, round, and black, and they are usually sold in packets.

Potato tubers are the actual potatoes that you eat, and they have eyes or buds that can sprout new plants.

You can buy certified seed potatoes from a nursery or garden center, or use organic potatoes from the grocery store. 

Here are some if the steps that you must take to plant them: 

Planting Potato Seeds 

  • To plant potato seeds, you need to sow them indoors in pots or trays filled with moist potting soil.
  • Place them in a sunny spot and keep the soil moist but not soggy.
  • The seeds will germinate in about two weeks and produce small green shoots.
  • When the shoots are about 3 inches tall, you can transplant them outdoors in your garden or in containers. 

Planting Potato Tubers 

  • To plant potato tubers, you need to cut them into pieces, each with at least one eye.
  • You can do this a few days before planting to let the cut surfaces heal and prevent rotting. Alternatively, you can plant whole small potatoes with several eyes.
  • To prepare the soil, you need to loosen it and add some organic matter, such as compost or manure. 
  •  You also need to make sure the soil is well-drained and slightly acidic, with a pH of 5.0 to 6.0.
  • You can use a soil test kit to check the pH level and adjust it with lime or sulfur if needed. 

Planting Potato Pieces 

  • To plant the potato pieces, you need to dig a trench about 4 inches deep and 12 inches wide.
  • Place the pieces about 12 inches apart, with the eyes facing up.
  • Cover them with 3 inches of soil and water well.
  • As the plants grow, you need to hill up the soil around them to cover the lower stems and prevent the tubers from being exposed to sunlight, which can turn them green and bitter.
  • You can also mulch the soil with straw, leaves, or grass clippings to retain moisture and suppress weeds. 

How to Care for Your Potato Plants? 

How to Care for Your Potato Plants_

The second step in how to harvest potatoes is to care for your potato plants. You need to water them regularly, especially during dry spells, to keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. You also need to fertilize them every two weeks with a balanced organic fertilizer, such as fish emulsion or seaweed extract. Also, you can add some wood ash or bone meal to provide extra potassium and phosphorus, which are essential for tuber formation. 

You also need to protect your potato plants from pests and diseases, which can reduce your yield and quality. Some of the common potato pests are: 

  • Colorado potato beetles, which are yellow and black striped insects that feed on the leaves and can defoliate the plants. You can handpick them and drop them in a bucket of soapy water, or use an organic insecticide, such as neem oil or pyrethrin. 
  • Potato leafhoppers, which are small, green, winged insects that suck the sap from the leaves and cause them to curl and yellow. You can spray them with a strong jet of water, or use an organic insecticide, such as garlic or hot pepper spray. 
  • Wireworms, which are thin, brown, worm-like larvae that bore into the tubers and cause holes and tunnels. You can trap them with pieces of carrot or potato buried in the soil, or use beneficial nematodes, which are microscopic worms that parasitize and kill the wireworms. 

Common Potato Diseases 

One of the most common reasons why a potato cannot grow or survive is the diseases. If you were wondering what some of these can be and how to deal with them, I have you covered! 

Some of the common potato diseases are: 

  • Late Blight: It is a fungal disease that causes brown spots on the leaves and stems, and black or brown lesions on the tubers. It can spread rapidly and destroy the entire crop. You can prevent it by planting resistant varieties, avoiding overhead watering, and removing any infected plants and tubers. You can also use a fungicide, such as copper or sulfur, as a preventive measure. 
  • Scab: This is a bacterial disease that causes rough, corky patches on the tubers. It does not affect the taste or edibility of the potatoes, but it reduces their appearance and storage quality. You can prevent it by planting resistant varieties, maintaining a slightly acidic soil pH, and avoiding excessive nitrogen fertilization
  • Potato Virus Y: Lastly, this is a viral disease that causes mosaic patterns, mottling, or yellowing on the leaves, and misshapen or knobby tubers. It can reduce the yield and quality of the potatoes, and it can be transmitted by aphids or infected seed potatoes. You can prevent it by planting certified virus-free seed potatoes, controlling aphids, and removing any infected plants and tubers. 

How to Determine When Your Potatoes Are Ready to Harvest? 

How to Determine When Your Potatoes Are Ready to Harvest_

The third step in how to harvest potatoes is to determine when they are ready to harvest. This depends on the type and variety of potatoes you planted, and the size and maturity you want.

There are two main types of potatoes: early and late.

Early potatoes are ready to harvest in about 10 to 12 weeks (about 3 months) after planting, and they produce small to medium-sized tubers that are tender and thin-skinned. They are best for boiling, steaming, or roasting. 

Late potatoes are ready to harvest in about 15 to 20 weeks (about 4 and a half months) after planting, and they produce large, starchy tubers that are firm and thick-skinned. They are best for baking, mashing, or frying. 

Early Harvesting 

  • To harvest early potatoes, you can start digging them up when the plants begin to flower, or when the lower leaves start to yellow.
  • You can use a garden fork or a spade to gently lift the plants and tubers from the soil, or you can use your hands to feel for the tubers under the soil.
  • You can harvest as many or as few potatoes as you need, and leave the rest in the ground until you are ready to use them.
  • You can also harvest some of the young, tender leaves and stems, which are edible and nutritious. 

Late Harvesting 

  • To harvest late potatoes, you need to wait until the plants have died back completely, or until the first frost.
  • This allows the tubers to develop a thicker skin, which helps them store better.
  • You can use a garden fork or a spade to dig up the entire row of plants and tubers, or you can use a potato digger, which is a special tool that lifts and separates the tubers from the soil.
  • You need to be careful not to damage or bruise the tubers, as this can cause rotting or spoilage. 

How to Dig Up, Cure, and Store Your Potatoes? 

How to Dig Up, Cure, and Store Your Potatoes_

The final step in how to harvest potatoes is to dig up, cure, and store your potatoes. This is important to preserve the quality and shelf life of your potatoes, and to prevent them from sprouting, rotting, or shrinking. Here are the steps to follow: 

Digging Up 

After digging up your potatoes, you need to brush off any excess soil and remove any damaged, diseased, or green tubers.

Do not wash your potatoes, as this can remove the protective skin and invite bacteria and fungi. You can wash them just before cooking or eating them. 

Curing 

You need to cure your potatoes for about two weeks in a cool, dark, and well-ventilated place, such as a basement, garage, or shed.

This allows the skin to harden and heal any minor cuts or bruises and enhances the flavor and texture of the potatoes.

The ideal temperature for curing is between 50°F and 60°F, and the ideal humidity is between 80% and 90%.

You can spread your potatoes in a single layer on a newspaper, cardboard, or wooden crate, and avoid exposing them to light, which can turn them green and bitter. 

Storing 

You need to store your potatoes in a cool, dark, and dry place, such as a cellar, pantry, or closet. The ideal temperature for storage is between 40°F and 50°F, and the ideal humidity is between 65% and 70%.

You can store your potatoes in paper bags, cardboard boxes, mesh bags, or wooden crates, and check them regularly for any signs of sprouting, rotting, or shriveling.

You can also store your potatoes in a root cellar, which is an underground or partially underground structure that maintains a constant temperature and humidity.

Additionally, you can also store your potatoes in a clamp, which is a mound of straw, hay, or leaves covered with soil, that insulates and protects the potatoes from frost and rodents. 

Wrapping It Up! 

If you want to know about how to harvest potatoes, I hope that this blog has been of help to you. However, if there are any other queries related to the same, please feel free to let me know.

All that you need to do is scroll down till you reach the bottom of the page. Then leave your comments and suggestions in the box below. And I will be there to answer them all for you!

Read Also:

Ankita Tripathy loves to write about food and the Hallyu Wave in particular. During her free time, she enjoys looking at the sky or reading books while sipping a cup of hot coffee. Her favourite niches are food, music, lifestyle, travel, and Korean Pop music and drama.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Healthy Protein

Healthy Protein Alternatives for Grandpa and Grandma

Our body necessarily needs protein. However, older adults need fewer amounts of protein without totally eliminating it from their diet. Without protein, our bodies will not function well. Besides meat, there are plant-based food alternatives. Protein is essential for our health and useful for people who do workouts and even those who are in recovery. This kind of diet is helpful for vegans, health enthusiasts, and seniors alike who are avoiding meats in their diets. Here is a list of some food that could be your alternative for meat. Say hello to healthy living. Seitan  https://stocksnap.io Seitan or commonly known as wheat gluten, which is composed of 75% protein. With a 100g serving, your daily protein requirement is completed already. This healthy food is very low in fat and packed with nutrients like being low in sodium and carbohydrates. It can be a good source of calcium and also high in iron. Seitan is indeed a wonder for diet programs to increase the protein intake without cholesterol and added fat. The only downside of this food is it is not gluten-free as it made from gluten. Seitan can be cooked like meat - grilled, braised and broiled. You can substitute seitan for chicken or turkey. Lentils  https://www.pexels.com The next one on our list is lentils. It contains tons of fibers that give you 26 grams of protein each day. It also contains iron, potassium, and magnesium. Lentils also are high in folate, contains antioxidants, low in sodium and fat and are cholesterol-free. Eating lentils on a regular basis could add up some proteins and can be beneficial to your diet. There are two varieties of lentils which are green and red. They are part of the legume family and are versatile that can be used in different meals. You can add lentils in your stews, veggie burgers or even a substitute for chicken breast. Just don’t overuse the serving of lentils as they can cause severe gout in seniors who have trouble in processing protein. Quinoa https://stocksnap.io Quinoa, a tiny seed that is full of protein, provides nine essential amino acids that our body can't produce itself, including lysine that is necessary for tissue repair and growth. It contains fiber, irons, magnesium, and manganese. With just a cup of quinoa, your body is served with 8g of protein. Cook it like how rice is cooked. It can also be a great substitute for pasta and rice. Eggs https://stocksnap.io Eggs are an excellent substitute for meat if you are not vegan. A large egg contains at least 6g of protein. Eggs are one of the staple food in every house's pantry, which make it the perfect substitute. It contains tons of vitamins and minerals plus amino acids that your body needs. Boiled, fried or scrambled, eggs are versatile. It's up to you how you'll eat at least two eggs a day. Tofu https://www.pexels.com Tofu is a popular choice for meat alternative and as used in numerous vegetarian cuisine. Though tofu can't compare with seitan or quinoa regarding filling in for the protein loss, relatively, tofu can be a good substitute as it is healthy and beneficial as well. It can be substituted for fish, chicken or pork, can be grilled, fried, steamed, sauteed, etc. Takeaway  Eating healthy food can be difficult and giving staple food can make it harder. Knowing and learning alternative food that you can eat without compromising the nutrients that our body needs make it better. The list is a guide to the food that could be a great option to substitute with meat, and that would give the same amount of nutrients or even more. Read More : Meals That Matter: The Best Foods And The Ways They Make You Fit Top 5 Foods For Healthier And Thicker Hair The Mouthwatering Foodie Tour To Mumbai   Christina Ellis is a writer and a blogger who loves writing about topics that revolve around health and medicine. She is an aspiring nurse which is why Christina loves assisting elderly patients and writing about properly taking care of them. When not writing or volunteering at their local clinic, Christina plays volleyball and goes to the gym.

READ MOREDetails
Wine

How to Choose the Right Wine: Sommelier Tips

Wine is the key to a perfect dinner. A glass of wine will decorate any dish and make it play with brand new gastronomic overtones. In general, sometimes it is possible and even necessary to pamper yourself. Unfortunately, when we come to a supermarket or wine boutique (which gives a lot more bonuses to wine karma), the perfect bottle of wine does not begin to flicker with lights and shine in the rays of designer lamps. You have to look for it yourself, the perfect bottle of wine. It is not an easy task for beginners. Here are How to Choose the Right Wine: First of all, you need to understand what you are buying wine for. For dinner, for a picnic, to have a drink with light snacks or as a gift. And of course, it is best to buy wine where there is a specialist who will help you make a choice, especially if you want to pick up the wine for a particular dish or as a gift. What to look for if you choose the wine in a supermarket? First of all, it's worth dropping the prejudices about "powdery" or fake wines, screw plugs, and counterfeit labels. All wine is real: just eat high-quality wines and eat low. As a rule, it is a question of price and place of origin of the wine. Also, many mistakenly believe that if the wine is sold at a special price, it means that something is wrong with it, and it is trying to "drain". If the wine is sold at a special price, it means that the shop has just bought a large volume of wine at a very favorable price. It's in their interest just to sell it quickly. The origin of the wine is very important. To choose, for example, French or Italian wine, you need at least a little understanding of the regions, as very often the label indicates only the place of origin, where the wine is produced in a particular style and from specific grape varieties. If you do not yet have such knowledge, make a more confident purchase easier by focusing on mono wines from the New World. The label almost always indicates the grape variety and place of origin. If you like light white wines, try the Chilean or New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Denser wines are torontes from Argentina and Chen Blanc from South Africa, while the dense California chardonnay aged in oak can even go well with white meat (chicken, pork) in cream sauce. Break the stereotype of combining red with meat, and white with fish: oily redfish (tuna, salmon), along with dense white wines are well suited to light red wines from grape varieties "Pinot Noir", "Gamet" or light "Cabernet France" from Nice (France). If you like rich red wines, try the Chilean Carmenaire, the Argentinean Malbec, the South African Pinottage, or the Australian Shiraz. These wines are juicy and bright, they are easy to understand and pleasant to drink for nothing, they are also suitable for a picnic or a feast, where it is impossible to choose a wine for a huge variety of dishes. Cabernet Sauvignon is another popular red grape variety that will fit well with red meat. It is grown in many countries, as it is not very whimsical, so its character may vary from light and fragrant to complex and requires long aging in the bottle. By the way, about aging. A year is important for good wines from regions with an unstable climate, and it is better to contact specialists. Different varieties behave differently over time. In general, it is better to drink white wines as young as possible, and red wines need some time, during which certain chemical processes take place, due to which wine changes and tastes more pleasant. However, one should not forget that wine is a living product. After some time, it ceases to acquire and begins to lose its good qualities. So it is not always useful to keep an expensive bottle of wine for a long time in the hope that over time it will only get better. New World wines (both white and red) can mostly be drunk by the young. Read also: 7 Modern Day Beer Drinking Etiquettes You Should Know Tips to Follow When Ordering Alcohol Online 5 Tips for Finding Better Talent for Your Bar Business

READ MOREDetails
Concentrates into Vape Oil

How to Turn Concentrates into Vape Oil

Who doesn’t like the taste and flavors of vape oil, but what about the cost of vaping? Well, there’s a little secret, the cost of concentrates used to prepare vape oil is nothing as compared to vape oils available in the market, and the best part is that you can easily turn concentrates into vape oil yourself. What are Vape Concentrates? Vape concentrates are vegetable-based and that’s why vape oil is also safe for you to use. Nicotine is added to the vape oils which you buy from the market but it’s not a necessary ingredient. The added benefit of preparing vape oil yourself is that you can keep it totally Nicotine free. Avoiding Nicotine can keep you safe from developing addiction and from the side effects as well. What are the Different Types of Concentrates? Concentrates are of different types but all of those are not that good to be turned into vape oil. Some of the ideas concentrate for making it are: Shatter: Shatter is one of the most popular vape concentrates as it’s high in potency and is also flavor-rich. Moreover, it’s very easy to turn to shatter into vape oil. Crumble: Crumble is also another great option for high-potency vape concentrates. Wax: Wax is a comparatively low-potency concentrate recommended for beginners. Its price is also very low. Budder: Budder is also a low-potency concentrate. It’s an ideal concentrate for those who like to have low potency but still want a greater taste. How to Turn Concentrates into Vape Oil: Things you’ll Need to Turn Concentrates into Vape Oil Things you’ll need are: Your choice concentrate (Shatter, Wax, Budder, Crumble, or BHO) - 1 gram Wax liquidizer of your favorite flavor – 2 ml Microwaveable glass container for mixing the concentrate A syringe for measuring wax liquidizer and for filling the vape pen cartridge Method of Turning Concentrates into Vape Oil So let’s learn the secret formula for turning concentrates into vape oil: Vape oil can be prepared by using a variety of concentrates. The best ones for this purpose are Shatter, Wax, Budder, Crumble, and BHO. So, first of all, decide on the one you’d like to use by comparing their properties. Next, you should choose the flavor of wax liquidizer for preparing your favorite flavor of vape oil. You can get wax liquidizers in almost all the flavors of your choice. Bananas, pineapple, strawberries, and menthol are among a few all-time favorites. Take just one gram of your favorite concentrate and put it in the microwaveable glass container which comes with the wax liquidizer for mixing it with the concentrates. Check terpenes for sale. Now take a syringe to measure wax liquidizer and take only 2 ml of it for mixing in one gram of concentrate. You should now put it in the microwave oven for just 10 seconds and not more than that. After taking it out of the microwave, you need to stir the mixture well for preparing the perfect vape oil. Now it’s time to fill this tasty, self-prepared, and economical vape oil into your vape pen cartridge and enjoy. Is Vape Oil Safe to Use? Vape Oil is a healthy alternative to smoking. If you love the flavors of vape but don’t want to risk your health for this taste, all you need to do is stay away from Nicotine based vapes. You must read the ingredients of vape oil carefully before buying it. And if you’re preparing one yourself using concentrates and wax liquidizers, then it’s the best. In this way, you’ll know each and every ingredient which you’re adding to your vape oil. Even Wax Liquidizers are prepared very thoughtfully and carefully using safe and great-quality ingredients. So there’s no risk in using vape oil if you know what your vape oil is made of. So now if you’re thinking of trying this method to turn concentrates into vape oil yourself, you‘ll find it so much more cost-effective that you won’t believe it. Just with a small quantity of your choice concentrate and wax liquidizer you can fill many cartridges of vape oil that would have cost you 6 to 8 times more if you would have bought them from the market. Read Also: Use Floor Polishing for Keeping Your Flooring Looking New A Guide To Ear Wax Removal From Camden Opticians

READ MOREDetails