Sometimes as fries or ‘Aloo ki Chaat’, mostly as ‘Aloo ka paratha’, a potato is the most versatile vegetable in the Indian Kitchen. Despite its high desirability, a potato plant is easy to grow and maintain at home. Let us dig into it and see how to grow potatoes in a bag at home. Our personal preference is growing potatoes in bags but you can grow potatoes in a bucket or a pot.
How To Choose Bags To Grow Potatoes?
Choose a large-sized bag with a capacity of more than 40 litres. This will help the roots to expand freely and form tubers. You may choose a bag with more than 15 inches of diameter and depth, each.
Also Read: How To Grow Papaya Tree From A Seed In A Pot Or A Bag At Home?
How do you prepare the soil to grow potatoes in a bag?
Choose good quality and well-drained potting soil, which should be slightly acidic with a pH value between 4.8 to 5.2. Potatoes love their soil cool, hence, try to maintain the temperature between 7 and 24 C. You may nourish the soil using a slow-release fertiliser.
Also Read: How to Grow Oyster Mushrooms At Home?
How do grow potatoes from a potato and maintain it?
- The best way is to grow potatoes from sprouts or potato tubers. These are also called seed potatoes.
2. Fill one-third of the pot (or bottom six inches) with the potting mix.
3. Add fertilizer to this and plant 5-6 seed potatoes 6 inches apart.
4. Cover this with a 6-inch-layer of soil and irrigate well.
It is important to place the seed potatoes at the right depth since the potatoes form above the seed potatoes you planted.
Where to place the potato grow bags?
How do we know where potatoes grow? Potato plants are hot-headed and require a lot of heat and sunlight to grow which also means it would be a tough task to grow potatoes in winter. Choose any place that receives at least 6-8 hours of sunlight in a day.
How to water the potato plant?
Potato plants love moist soil but not standing water. If the first two inches of the soil are dry, only then irrigate generously.
Water daily during summers. Choose to water in the morning to avoid evaporation.
Also Read: How To Grow Holy Basil/Tulsi Plant At Home?
How and when does the potato plant grow?
The secret to an optimum potato plant is hilling- which involves covering the stem with soil and organic matter up to a certain height.
It takes around 15-20 days for the shoots to appear and around 30 days for a 6-8 inches tall plant to grow. Add potting soil to these seedlings and cover up to the tips of the shoots. Repeat this process every 10 days until the plant grows till the container is full.
Add a nitrogen-rich fertilizer every 2-4 weeks.
How and when to harvest potatoes?
A potato plant takes around 3-4 months to bear flowers, and small to medium-sized potatoes subsequently. You may prod around the stem to feel if the potato is ready. Gently twist and pluck it without disturbing or damaging the plant. Summer yields are optimum, but you may harvest at any time of the year.
You may also wait for 3-4 months more for larger-sized tubers.
How do you take care of the potato plant?
- Potatoes grown in pots demand a lot of water, and this can leach out nutrients from the soil. Hence, it is advisable to use an organic fertilizer every two weeks
- Do not consume potatoes that have a green tint since they have a higher concentration of solanine which might cause digestive issues. Hilling is a way to avoid this issue.
We hope this article helped you. Grow your potatoes, make potato dishes and post them in the comments.