Growing potatoes in pots

16 years ago

I thought I just posted this but now can't find it, so if there are two posts, please disregard the other one.

I wanted to grow baby red potatoes in a 5 gallon bucket this year as more of an experiment and to show my kids. We grow other veggies in the garden but I ran out of room this year.

I bought seed potatoes at the farmers co op center. I got 4 of them and I was told that I could plant all 4 in that container. He said to cut them unto quarters, making sure to have one "eye" on each piece. He gave me some instructions but I can't find them and I've seen many different suggestions on the web. Some sites said to plant the tubers/seeds as is while others said to let them sit in a tray of water for a few weeks before they sprout.

Now that I have the seeds, what do I do with them before I plant them? Also, I read to fill the bucket half way with compost, then place the seeds/tubers on top and cover the entire thing with about 2 more " of soil. Is that right? If so, what do I do next?

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Comments (5)

bsntech
16 years ago
Howdy -

I just planted some potatoes in some buckets I got at the local dollar store over the weekend.

The potatoes were purchased several weeks ago and already had some sprouts starting on them.

I would only advise putting one potato cutting in each 5-gallon bucket - unless you want to have small egg-size potatoes from the experiment. I would recommend having at least two eyes on each cutting.

The two eyes increase your chances that at least one of them will sprout. You'd hate to only have a cutting with only one eye that doesn't sprout. I made all of my cuttings with three eyes on them - just to be sure.

What I did was to fill the buckets up with about 3 inches of soil. I then put another four inches over that. The buckets are only filled half-way up.

Once the potato plant gets to a larger size, I'll then use some mulched-up leaves to "hill" up the rest of the bucket to fill it up. This is where the potatoes will grow.

Good luck with the experiment. This is the first year I'm trying to grow in buckets as well - as I've always planted in the ground with good success.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog
organicislandfarmer
16 years ago
That is so cool, i am doing at least 3 varieties this fall. red, blue and fingerling.
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digdirt2
16 years ago
For future reference you usually need to refresh your page to see your recent post. Otherwise your computer is just loading from its cache rather than the current page. That way you can avoid making duplicate posts.
greenbean08_gw
16 years ago
I haven't grown them in a 5-gal bucket but I think that's way too much for the space. Unless you've got room to plant 16 plants, I'd probably put one seed potato, whole, per bucket. Maybe you've got a little space somewhere to tuck the other spuds? I over-bought seed potatoes last year and ended up planting some beside my raised beds and in the open space around the newly planted grape vine.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener
noki
16 years ago
Don't they get too hot in a 5 gallon bucket?