My potatoes in buckets so far.

[gixxerific]

Here is my measly harvest from the 2 buckets I had problems with [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25226]here[/url]. The leaves had just about disappeared. So I dumped them out. One of them was rotten a white it looked like it was fairly big. The rest are just little ones but they look like they will be good. What ever happened to these 2 buckets is too bad because all the roots had bunches of little baby potatoes on them. There just wasn't enough leaf system left to grow them I don't think.

My other buckets are doing much better. It has been raining way too much all month so hopefully they won't get too much water and rot or disease. Even the very first bucket which was started about a month before the others is still kicking pretty good.

Well it's not much but it will make a meal.

[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/DSC03640.jpg[/img]

[farmerlon]

That's a new approach to me.
What's your philosophy/reason for growing the Potatoes in a bucket?

[gixxerific]

That's a new approach to me.
What's your philosophy/reason for growing the Potatoes in a bucket?

To see if it can be done and how well it will works. Tons of people grow potatoes in a ton of different ways. A lot of people use buckets.

Also to save room these are away from my actual garden space so it gives me more room to grow other things that won't work so well in a pot.

Plus I started most of these early inside when it was too early for outdoor planting. actually started one in early Feb. It gave me something to do plus it's like succession planting. I should have at least new potatoes in the early summer. Heck I have new potatoes right now.

I also have potatoes in the ground. They are doing well, I suspect them to be the real producers.

Just an experiment.

[Gary350]

I have never been able to grow potatoes in TN. The Red potatoes do best for me. I am going to try this today. I have a bucket of compost and 3 red potato sprouts.

[gixxerific]

I have never been able to grow potatoes in TN. The Red potatoes do best for me. I am going to try this today. I have a bucket of compost and 3 red potato sprouts.

Give it a whirl you never know until you try. I have 3-4 more pots of potatoes that are still out there and doing well so far.

As you can see the reds did better for me. I don't know what variety they are the packets just said red and white.

Good luck.

[applestar]

I think the main limitation with potatoes in a bucket or a bag for that matter is that there isn't that much room for roots to grow below the seed potato level. What about cutting the bottom out of a 5 gal bucket? Also, were you using white buckets or densely colored ones like dark navy or green? Would that make a difference? I've heard of using bushel baskets too -- I wonder where I could get one.... I was thinking of using one of those wooden crates you can get at a craft store. If I use their 40% off coupon, I should be able to get one for about $5. The roots can just grow through the slats in the bottom....

[rainbowgardener]

That's a new approach to me.
What's your philosophy/reason for growing the Potatoes in a bucket?

This is my first year for ever growing potatoes. I have them growing in a large (maybe 10 gallon size) container, like you would plant a tree in. The reason for this is I have a small city lot already crowded with all the other stuff I grow and not much sunny area. But the container is on my patio, which allows me to use a bit more of the best sunny area I have.

I only planted them I think early April, but they are doing great so far. I planted them near the bottom of the container and just kept adding soil as they grew. The container is now full and the potato vines are like 8" above the top. So I will be very curious to see how many potatoes the one container produces! If it works well, maybe next year, I will get one more container for them.... (spoken like a true garden addict! more! more! ) But it is pretty soil intensive for someone who can't just go dig up dirt to fill the containers...

I'm likely to have to keep adding soil, because I stretched my topsoil by adding layers of last fall's leaves, plus some compost, being careful to add some worms every time, to help break down the leaves. So as the leaves break down and settle, I'll probably have to keep toppping off the container.

[gixxerific]

Apple I believe they are in 10 gallon I'm not sure they don't say on them. If not 10 than they are 7 gallon but I want to say they are 1o and they are black. I thought that would help getting them warm plus that is all I have. Although I do have one the first one planted in a white 5 gallon bucket I didn't have the other pots at the time. I can't really for sure what would be better since they were started at different times. I haven't added worm to the pots myself but they found their way into them.

I think the bushel basket would work fine. If you haven't done a Google or you tube search on "potatoes in pots" or something like that. You would be amazed at the different mediums people use.

Rainbow the way I did it was fill the pots about a 1/3 of the way and then put the spuds in there than a little dirt on top. Than when it grew more I added more dirt, rinse and repeat. I filled them with some cheap organic garden soil, composted manure, compost from here.

I really think they caught a disease and that is what put them down.

[Gary350]

The best potatoes I every grew was an accident. About 10 years ago I bought several 3.8 cu.ft. of peat moss. I covered the whole garden with 4" of peat moss and I threw a lot of 15/15/15 fertilizer on there too. I used the tiller as a mixer I tilled it several times it made the whole garden look like it was all one big compost. My garden was a lot smaller them about 15x30. I was not planning to plant potatoes but I found some potatoes in the pantry that were sprouting so I didn't want to let them go to waste so I planted them. Since I only had about 10 potatoe eyes to plant I decided to mark the spot with an old car tire. I placed the tire in the garden, placed the eyes inside the tire, covered the eyes with soil. When the tops started coming up I put another tire on top and filled it in with more soil. When the tops grew out of the soil again I put on another tire. This time I only added about 2 inches of soil. It was 3 car tires tall with a little more that 2 car tires high with soil. Once a week I would fill the top tire with water like a pond. When the potato vines died I pulled the tires away and found a whole 5 gallon bucket of large size potatoes. Since then I have tried the same thing using a raised bed and hills too but all I ever get is golf ball size potatoes. Last year I watched the TV garden show plant potatoes then I copied what they did and only got about 2 gallons of small potatoes. This year I said I was not going to plant potatoes and already I have 3 small potato experements planted. So maybe this year I will learn something about growing potatoes. No matter what I try the red potatoes always do much better than the white potatoes I assume red is better suited for this climate and soil.

[gixxerific]

I would not use the tire idea, there are too many bad variables that come into play. Chemical leaching being the biggest.

But to each his own. You could do the same idea with wood boxes that are stackable.

[garden5]

I never thought of growing potatoes like that. I've heard about growing them in tires, boxes, etc., so I guess it's only natural that a bucket would work as well. I'll bet you don't get quite as much this way, tough.

[Gary350]

I never thought of growing potatoes like that. I'll bet you don't get quite as much this way, tough.

It won't suprise me at all if it works better. I grew a large wide row 2 ft x 20 ft last summer and I got only a 2 gallon bucket of very small potatoes nothing larger than a ping pong ball. If growing potatoes in a bucket produces some large size potatoes I will be happy with that.

[farmerlon]

I grew a large wide row 2 ft x 20 ft last summer and I got only a 2 gallon bucket of very small potatoes nothing larger than a ping pong ball. ....

I wonder if your soil had too much Nitrogen available? I always read that too much N will lead to lots of "top growth" (lot of leaves), and very little fruits/roots (lowered spud production).

Also, it makes sense that your Potatoes would have done really well when you had all that Peat Moss in the garden. Potatoes like a somewhat acid pH (from the peat moss), and all that organic matter would help loosen the soil, giving the plants ample room to form the tubers.

I have both Red (Pontiac) and White (Kennebec) potatoes growing here in Middle TN. Both types of plants are looking great right now, so I hope they are doing well. The plants have been in bloom for a couple of weeks now, so I am going to see if I can rob some "new potatoes" from the Red Pontiacs in a few days.

wish me luck!

[rainbowgardener]

After posting that I wasn't getting any volunteers from my compost pile this year because it's running hotter, I have a volunteer popped up right in the middle of the finished compost pile (now that it has cooled down). And guess what, it is a potato! I've never had a volunteer potato before and now that I am actually growing them for the first time, one volunteers!

I don't know what to do with it. It can't stay where it is, because I will be digging out the compost to use it. And I really don't have anywhere to put it. There's room still in the container with the other potatoes, but it's now full to the brim with soil. Do you think I could do a reverse planting, gradually keep burying the potato deeper as it grows? That's a joke, because I'd have to keep disturbing the roots...

[barbelle]

This is my first time to try potatoes and I built a potato tower. It is working really great! I build it up as needed!! I am so excited and hope I have a good harvest.

[SeaOfGreen]

I have never been able to grow potatoes in TN. The Red potatoes do best for me. I am going to try this today. I have a bucket of compost and 3 red potato sprouts.

Ah yes before I came down to Alabama I lived in the Boro. Right across from MTSU actually!