I haven't been able to make it work.

I'm not the best gardener, but I tried using a plastic trash can with a mixture of topsoil, shredded leaves & compost. I got lots of greenery, but no potatoes. I think the topsoil compacted things a bit too much.

I tried again last year and failed (again). Last year, I used a metal can and filled it with compost. Good greenery, but no potatoes.

This year, I think I'm just going to dedicate a spot in my raised bed and just dig a hole.

This is one of those too good to be true ideas that gets beaten to death on the internet. Go on Youtube and do a search for potato towers. There's not a single one I've seen that shows a successful harvest reveal at the end of the season. There's the women with barrels who clams she gets tons of spuds, but never shows a harvest. There's the woman who starts showing a harvest, but then cuts the camera just as she begins, and jumps to two pails full of spuds. There are the people who are starting, but never come back and show a harvest at the end of the season. And then there are the true reveals, that show failure to get any more than you would in the ground.

I did a lot of research last year, and found someone who claimed that you needed a long season variety to make it work - not Yukon Gold, by the way. So I used Russets waited the long season, and got virtually no extra spuds.

I think it's one of those things that gets kept alive by the dream of mega-harvest in a tiny space. That certainly would be great if it worked, but it's like expecting money to grow on trees.

i think there are a number of problems with the potato tower as currently practiced, and some potential solutions.

Here's the problem, if you're burying vines as they grow, they never have more than a smidgin of green at the tops for photosynthesis, how you gonna store sugars without leaves?

Here's my idea for a wicked potato tower that might just work...

Take stackable plastic milk crates... line the crate up to 3/4ths height with cardboard or perforated plastic or something (to prevent loss of soil & water) add soil, straw, compost, whatever up to about 3/4 full and your seed potatoes. As the potato vines grow, train them out to the sides of the tower where they can photosynthesize.

And stack the next crate on top. 4 or 5 crates should give a pretty heavy crop out of 1sq ft.

You are going to use more seed potatoes than the typical potato tower methods, but you will have spuds in every level of the tower, because seed potatoes were planted at every level.

Awesome idea Yukkuri!

Yeah, I tried some of those potato bags last year. The big heavy plastic tarp ones that you roll down like a pants leg at the start of the season, the unroll into a taller container as the plants grow?

While I got lots of good potatoes out of those bags, all of the actual tubers were in the bottom half of the bags. The top half was nothing but dirt and leafless stems. They never set roots, they never grew tubers, or anything else of value.

I was inspired by the blog post below, which goes into some more details about why potato towers don't work and possible tweeks to make them work.

Here is a link that might be useful: potato towers and open source innovation

That blog post is like dozens of others i've read. Great theory but no report on results. The idea of getting a big yield in a small space is always appealing. People have been growing potatoes for centuries. If those theories worked, some commercial growers would be using that technique. You'll get more potatoes in the same volume of potting mix if your container is wider and shallower. Potatoes are relatives of tomatoes. They need fertile soil, regular feeding and even moisture. Plus lots of sun and time.

experience is this does NOT work
(you will be sorely disappointed if you try)

Yukkuri

It sounds like you've never tried this. Anyone who has knows that when you finish topping off your tower, the shoots continue growing to normal height, and stay that way as normal. The plants have plenty of time to photosynthesize.

And obviously, if you're adding seed potatoes to get more seed potatoes, you're defeating the logic of the whole project. The plants are supposed to produce more tubers off the stems as you bury them. If that doesn't work, then we're back a square one.

IIRC, potatoes produce roots that grow below the seed potato and stolons that produce the potatoes right above the seed potato. So you need good, fertile soil under the seed potato and loose soil or straw or mulch above the seed potato so the spuds have room to bulk up without being exposed to sun. This is why potatoes are hilled. But you don't need to provide much more than 12-18 inches of hilling material because the stolons don't get that long. You do need to be careful not to crowd the plants or you will reduce the yield and size of your potatoes. Crowding is a common problem in potato towers.

There was another informative discussion about this here about a month ago. You might find it worthwhile to read.

Here is a link that might be useful: Using straw in potato towers.

Thank you for posting your experiences. This post has certainly saved me (and I hope others) time and expense. I had my doubts about this method and you have confirmed them. Thanks!