How to Grow Potatoes in a Growing Bag or Container
Yes, potatoes can be grown in containers or in fabric growing bags with great success!
Here are some of the advantages:
- Uses Less Space You Can Create Your Own Good Soil
- Allows the Roots to Spread Out
- Easier to Add Layers of Soil as It Grows
- Allows You to Move Your Plants Easily to Follow the Sun
- Easy To Harvest
FUN FACT: Did you know the more you cover the roots as the plant grows, the more roots it will create and that equals MORE POTATOES! The reason for this? A potato is botanically a modified stem, called a stolon.
How To Use a Growing Bag or Container
Plant your potatoes around two weeks before the average last frost for your hardiness zone. Potato sprouts can handle a light frost but do not handle heavy frost well, and will need some protection if we have an unexpected late freeze event.
You can plant your potatoes with or without a pre-sprout, also called a chit. Not sure what we are talking about? See our section below for tips on how to chit a potato.
The best soil for growing potatoes in a container is good quality potting soil, such as our Good Earth Professional Growing Mix. We also suggest adding organic compost (which is fine pine bark mulch). These plants like a good soil but not an overly rich one so avoid adding too many nutrients.
Sphagnum peat moss based soils can be pretty dry; make sure to water the soil down well and add about four inches of the soil mixture to the bottom of your growing bag or container. Now it’s time to add the potatoes!
Add Your Potatoes to the Growing Bag or Container
If your potato is small, around the size of a small lime, you can add the potato whole. If your potato is larger then cut the potato to a size of a small lime, making sure the section has at least one eye. A potato eye is the dimple you can see on a potato; this is where new growth sprouts from. It doesn’t have to already be sprouting when you plant but it does need to have at least one visible dimple, or eye.
Plant three to five potatoes in your bag or container, depending on how big your potatoes are. Cover with moistened soil. As your plants grow and become visible out of the soil, cover the new green sprouts with more soil mixtures. Keep covering these as they grow until the soil reaches the top of the bag or container. Allow the potato plant to grow and flower.
These plants will need around six hours of direct sunlight for best success. Keep the soil moist but not soggy. Once the plant dies back, it’s time to harvest!
When and How to Harvest
The first signs that harvest is close will be leaves wilting and turning yellow. Unless there is a water issue, this will be sign telling you it’s time to harvest. Some growing bags have a lower flap opening; if so, you can open this and harvest right at the root level. If not, simply dump your container over and harvest from the soil. We suggest doing so on a tarp; the soil can be reused!
Potatoes grown in containers might be smaller than those grown in ground, but that just makes them more tender.
How To Chit Your Potato
Getting your potatoes to pre-sprout or chit is easy. Just lay them in a single layer, keep in a warm area with indirect light. Once they have shoots around one inch long, they are ready to plant.