Growing Potatoes in a Box: What will we think of next!

Growing potatoes in a box is entirely possible to plant one hundred pounds of potatoes in a four square feet box. All you need to produce everyone’s favorite side dish is seed potatoes, a box, and to carefully water. Whether you like mashed, fried, baked, or au gratin best, growing your own taters ensures fresh and readily available spuds.

Buy wood to build a box that will stand up to any weather conditions. Spending more money now on quality materials saves you later from replacing a box made of substandard material. Depending on the wood used, you can expect the box to last for several years.

Plant seed potatoes inside the box, cover with soil. To save space, add sides to the box as the plant grows. Fill in the additional space with mulch. As the plant blooms, it sets potatoes in the added layers.

* Cut apart large seed potatoes, make sure there are at least two eyes in each piece you plant. Air-dry the bud pieces before planting. Planted pieces produce above ground growth in usually under a month.

* Dust the cut pieces with fir dust to seal the open ends from bacteria.

seed potatoes

Starting from the ground up, the perfect garden soil is the ideal place to begin in growing a successful potato crop in a box. A healthy soil contains organic materials to help plants grow. A good soil mix is filled with spaces that hold oxygen and moisture. Most crops grow best with a pH level about 6.5.

Potatoes grow between the seed piece and the aboveground plant. In loose garden soil, plant seed pieces with the bud sprout pointing upwards. In the north and central areas, wait after the late frost before planting.

Watering potatoes

* Keep the soil moist. The plants should be kept at a balanced moisture level. Potatoes need the correct amount of water when grown in a box because they tend to dry out faster in container growing.

* Avoid drowning the potatoes and then allowing them to dry out. Repeat an even watering cycle to prevent growing scabby, knobby spuds.

Care & Feeding potatoes with fertillizer

* Feed with 10-20-20 fertilizer at planting time and every few weeks throughout the season. Encourage plants to grow extra potatoes by mulching around the stems as they emerge.

* Major pests are caterpillars, leaf-footed plant bug, and root-knot nematodes.

Harvest Time--

Soon after the plant blossoms, remove the bottom boards from your box and reach in to harvest the new potatoes. The full crop is ready for harvest when the plants turn yellow and decline of frost kills the tops. Days to harvest are 85-110.

You will need to remember that when growing potatoes in a box that Potatoes tolerate light freezes, in absence of a frost, cut the tops, and wait a couple of weeks for the potato skins to firm. Sort the potatoes from the soil by taking the box completely apart. By the fall, expect to have grown a box full of up to 100 pounds of spuds!

Humidity and temperature in the west and south are ideal for storing potatoes. Store potatoes in a basket or paper bag in a cool location. Next year, select an alternate spot for growing potatoes in a box, and start with new soil to prevent potato diseases.

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