Any potato can be harvested prematurely as a "new" potato before a tougher, protective skin develops. However, there are some varieties that remain small even when mature--most fingerlings, for example. Two smaller potatoes I like are German butterball and Austrian crescent or banana.

Brook

Slightly off topic, but if you like potatoes cooked in spice and olive oil....you have to try crash hot potatoes. My husband and I are obsessed with these!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/

Those sound good. I might try those this week. Especially the crispy part, these would make some nice potatoes. The recipe sounds exactly like the one I ate, but they were just boiled or steamed instead.

So new potatoes are mini potatoes and the best would be probably the thin skinned little red ones, or it doesn't matter. If I grew Russet, it wouldn't make a difference if they were new potatoes because all skin on a potato will be soft if they are picked young? I wonder if you can buy them like that?

I thought a potato was green or something until it turned ripe, I didn't know they were edible early on. I learned today they turn green because they are exposes to the sun. Every now and then you find a greenish brown one in the bag and they are considered to be poisonous, but it's weird it's caused by exposure to sunlight. Don't remember the technical name for it, but the internet says to keep 6 to 8 inches of soil on top to keep the potatoes from exposure.

Thanks for the great advice. I'm cooking down compost for two potato towers, so in the beginning of May, I can plant. I'd rather have the little potatoes with the skin, I always eat the skin on a baked potato, but ones on the little new potatoes tasted perfect.

I never knew! My grandmother used to raise potatoes, but she harvested them full size at the end of the year. I remember in the fall her kicking around her garden for some for dinner one night. She was an amazing gardener. I wonder if these people knew they were gifted? I'm new to it for two years on challenged soil, so it will be 10 years before I have some good gardening stories.

My other grandmother wasn't that great with gardening other than houseplants, but her parents were from Sicily and were amazing at it. They could grow anything. I wish I had their genes.

You are best off purchasing some of the fingerling varieties--Peanut, LaRatte, Tom Thumb. Google those names to find suppliers for your area. Just harvesting Russets early is not quite the same, all those small varieties have their own lovely characteristics.

Unless you have to....don't do russets.... they are cheap and available... Do Yellow, Red or Gold... Keep harvesting while they are small.... if you don't pull the plant whole ,they will produce lots and lots of tubers...
(IMHO Fingerlings SUCK ;-)

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Here is a link that might be useful: Harvesting Early Potatoes 2009

First off, potato harvesting is similar to cucumbers, summer squash.
Tiniers are tastiers. But you may not get a lot of mileage from your plants.
Young potatoes, other than being small, have a thin and tender skin
that can be bruised easily. That is why they are not fit to be marketed.
Also, they will be VERY expensive. With potatoes it is the opposit of bell peppr.Ripe bells (usually red) are twice as expensive as green.Because, they are not getting any biggern while turning color.
But potatoes get bigger as they stay in ground longer.

I watched a gardening program late yesterday afternoon, where a county agricultural agent showed how she grew potatoes in a trash can using only vermiculite as the soil. Throughout the season she watered and fertilized them every other watering since the vermiculite has no added nutrition at all in it.

She recommended using potatoes from the grocery store, which is the first time I've ever seen that recommendation by a public "garden person", who usually cautiously tells you to buy potato starts from a garden center or online that are certified to be disease-free. She also recommended those as well.

She did NOT mention having to add vermiculite to the depth of the potato plant as it grew, which I know must be done. She showed only two of the steps, cutting and planting them and then harvesting the potatoes 60 or 70 days later.

Anyway, growing the potatoes in vermiculite means you can harvest some very clean ones!

And just a spring-note. Two weeks ago heralded the arrival of the tiny Eastern Phoebe that calls endlessly for a mate right outside my window. It must be the same one each year because it perches in the same fig tree. They are cute little birds and can very nearly hover, flapping frantically if they can't decide to go or stay if disturbed.

They market those small red new potatoes here in louisiana. It's a cultural thing. They are boiled whole with crawfish and corn and absorb alot of the hot spice.

I'm trying to grow some myself this year but don't know if I will be successful. The area I dug my trenches is clay. I added good soil to the bottom of the trench before I planted but only a few of the plants seem to be growing at this point. I was worried at first about the sides of the trench crumbling in when i walked on it between the rows, but then it turned to concrete. I had planned to used a modified trench/hilling system but if they don't grow, then the plan is moot.

http://www.gardeners.com/ has some Potato grow bags

I'm going to try a couple of these bags this Spring. Hope to pull out small potatoes easier as they grow without disturbing the plants that much. Not really interesing in trying to get a lot of bigger potatoes in the fall because I never use them all. Not sure if these bags would work in the hotter south.

Here is a link that might be useful: Potato grow Bags

Thanks for all the great replies! I'm just finding my post again!

My tire tower I planned to use for my potatoes are bad and just pocket areas of moisture, so I had to dump my compost on the ground. I'm going to plant a hill today in just regular soil in a sunken bed about a foot all around and fill it in as it grows.

So just pick them early, but it will make less potatoes per plant? Sorry I lost my thread and just found it again. I won't do that unless the plant will still produce through out the season the same as usual, or for how long it supposed to last.

I really liked the small ones better and that would explain why I've never seen any mini potatoes available, they don't store well. I wonder how often you pick the potato since it has to be picked sooner than normal and will it kill the plant or will the plant keep growing them if none are on it's stalk or root.

"She recommended using potatoes from the grocery store, which is the first time I've ever seen that recommendation by a public "garden person", who usually cautiously tells you to buy potato starts from a garden center or online that are certified to be disease-free. She also recommended those as well. "

Store-bought potatoes are also sprayed with a sprout inhibitor chemical; some can be quite old by the time you get them in the store. They'll sprout eventually anyway, but your crop might be delayed and if you have a small window for planting, it could be a problem.

I have been saying the same thing for the last couple of years, anney:
DO NOT waste your money on EXPNSIVE seed potatoes, store boughts will do.
About sprout inhibitors: Sure, they extend the shelf life a bit.
We all have seen those potatoes sprout on us all the time.
If you are concerned with that issue, buy some organic ones from whole foods markets.

REPORT ON MY POTATOES: They are up about 4-5 inches. In another week or so I will do first round on hilling. I will use a combination of leaves, plain soil plus light compost. I gave up on straws and growing in tires.

nichole

I don't know if she knew whereof she spoke, but she also said that growers no longer use the sprout inhibitor sprays on potatoes. Maybe that's just here in the South, you think?

As far as sprout inhibitors are concerned, you should just LOOK at the potatoes I bought 2 weeks ago. If only I had 50 acres and were planning on planting potatoes...!

I planted 2 potatoes a few feet apart in a 6 inch trough 3 feet wide maybe and 8 feet long. I then dug out a 4 inch hole or maybe 3 inches, and burried the potatoes with about 5 inches maybe of dirt, watered them good, so now this is my first attempt at potatoes.

They are store bought russets, but I'll be buying the bag of round red ones to maybe plant next to the the russets, can I do that? The skins are thin on all small potatoes, so even a russet is going to produce little soft skin potatoes. I'll get some pictures of any sprouts if they grow at all.

Anney, I'm skeptical. A quick Google search seems to show the practice is alive and well. Perhaps she meant that it was common practice with local growers?

Hi scarletdaisies,
You did great....the only thing I would change is the spacing,
Sq.Ft. Method works great for potatoes, I average 15 Potatoes per plant and always plant no further than 1' apart in all directions ;-)

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Oh! I'll plant some more every foot then, I thought one plant made like 20 pounds of potatoes! I'll be out there early tomorrow to rectify that! I would like a nice batch for sure.

Do you mean eyes, or plant whole potatoes? 5 or so eyes will grow from one potato.

The more sprouts = More Potatoes It works for me... I average 15 potatoes per seed potato.

WATCH THE VIDEO... HOW TO ! ! Click Link Below

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Here is a link that might be useful: Square Foot Potato Beds

That was a cool video, and I already recognized one of my mistakes, I threw the potato in the ground without sprouts, so I'll have to take them out to see if anything has happened, and if not, then take my new potatoes aside and let them sprout a little.

How deep are your beds? They look to be about 18 inches deep, but that is a guess. I don't have beds, and mine are only about 5 inches deep. I think I'll have to start over.

Thanks for the video link.

Hi scarletdaisies,
Having sprouts only "confirm" that they will sprout... most growers don't pre-sprout,they just toss them in cover and water..... I am a lowly backyard gardener with way too much time on my hands,so I don't mind the extra steps...but they are .....unnecessary ....??? Well... they aren't required ! !
Please don't pull them up,unless they have been doused real good with "sprout inhibitor" they will do fine, leave them be ...and be happy ;-)

All of my beds are 4' deep and the exact same soil from top to bottom....the borders are a bit deceptive....

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I think they were sprayed with that chemical because that was the only bag of potatoes I didn't get sprouts from at all. I realized I sprouted more potatoes than I needed in my compost and I just today transplanted them in a good spot, hilled them with leaves. No need to sprout anything and even collected a sweet potato sprout that I put in the ground today.

Do you hill them? How high do your beds end up being at the end of the year? The ones I transplanted today had mini 1/4 inch potatoes on them, some smaller some bigger, so I wonder how long you wait until you dig them up? I'll bet not until fall.

I'm surprised your beds are only 4 inches high, they look so much taller.

Hi scarletdaisies,
You are funny, my beds are all 4 Feet Deep (hence the pic with the excavator ;-)

I hill at least 12" above the seed potato,more if necessary,and you can start picking potatoes from the hill anytime after the plants show berries,thats when I like to grab them up,just reach down through the soil and feel around until you get one you like,partake ;-)

This is the starting of my hilling process,
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