Growing Potatoes In Buckets, Bags & Containers
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- čas přidán 11. 03. 2022
- With the current food price increases and food shortages, many folks living in apartments and houses are growing more food for themselves. So you want to grow your own potatoes but don’t have much room? No problem. We’ve experimented with growing potatoes a few different ways. By far, the easiest, least laborious and most productive method we have found is growing potatoes in large containers or buckets.
You’ll need three main things:
A large container, good soil, potatoes
THE CONTAINERS
The number of potatoes you can grow depends on the size of container you are using. In this case, we’re using a couple of 25-30 litre containers, or about 6-8 US gallons in size. Larger containers will allow you to plant more potatoes, so feel free to upsize your containers. This is probably the smallest size you would want to use, though. Whatever container you decide to use, make sure it has good drainage. Drill holes in the bottom of the container if there aren’t any.
THE GROWING MEDIUM
Your growing medium should be a mix of compost and garden soil. Use something that is loose and loamy and provides good drainage. Avoid anything that is going to compact and harden in the containers. Potato tubers are prone to rotting if soil becomes too saturated with water, so loose, well draining soil is key. Potatoes are heavy feeders, so a good amount of aged compost that is rich in organic matter is going to provide the necessary nutrients for the plants as well as being able to drain excess water, while remaining moist.
You can see here, I have the container about half full of our growing medium.
THE POTATOES
For your seed potatoes. Firstly, a lot of folks wonder whether or not you can use grocery store potatoes to grow your own crop. The short answer is yes, you can. If you choose to do this, you are best off to purchase organic potatoes. Conventional potatoes typically treated with sprout inhibiting chemicals or hormones. These treatments prevent the eyes from sprouting out.
With small seed potatoes, you can plant the whole thing. Larger potatoes can be cut into smaller sections, making sure to keep an eye or two on each part. You may wish to cure your cut sections of potatoes, allowing the cut side to dry for a few days before planting. This isn’t entirely necessary, but can help reduce the chances of your seed potatoes rotting before they begin to grow.
Place your seed potatoes into the container. Make sure to plant with the cut side down, or with whole potatoes, plant with as many eyes facing us as possible. I’m planting 2 or 3 small potatoes or pieces of potatoes in these 25-30 litre containers. Larger containers you can plant up to 6 or 8 pieces per container. I growing a variety of russet potatoes in this particular container.
Once you’ve placed your potatoes into the container, cover them with a few inches more of your growing medium. You’ll be able to add a little more growing medium in the coming days and weeks as the potatoes begin to sprout and grow.
GROWING
Throughout the growing season, try to keep your containers evenly moist to reduce stress on the plants. The best way to check your containers for moisture is to gently dig your fingers into the soil to a depth of a few inches. If it’s dry, water the containers. A gallon or two of water should be enough water without over saturating the soil. Larger containers will be able to use a little more water. During very hot or very windy weather, check your containers often as they tend to dry out much quicker under these conditions.
The plants will continue to grow, and you can harvest your potatoes whenever you like. The longer you let them grow, the larger and more potatoes you will harvest from each container. Eventually your potato plants will flower. After the plants have flowered, the foliage will begin to die back, turning brown. This is the best time to harvest for maximum yield.
HARVEST TIME
Dump your buckets out and separate the potatoes from the growing medium. Almost 13 pounds of potatoes out of these two containers. Minimal work and a great return from just 4 potatoes that were originally planted just a few months ago.STORAGE
At this point you can separate out any bad potatoes from the bunch. Allow the good potatoes to cure for a few days in a dark, well ventilated area. This will help toughen up the skins on the potatoes for storage. Avoid allowing any light to reach your potatoes during this curing period, otherwise you’ll risk the potatoes turning green, which can be toxic. Now, you can store your potatoes using your preferred method.
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Straight to the point. I love it. I wish more of these growing videos were 5 minutes not 15 or 20
Our thoughts too. Keep your eyes peeled for more like this one. Cheers!
Are you a homesteader?
I like how you explain things clearly and to the point.
Thanks! This was excellent information!
We're growing potatoes this year in raised beds. Can't wait for fresh potatoes!! Cheers!
Awesome! We have some that we started in our greenhouse a couple weeks back. Lookin forward to an early harvest!
Quick and concise. Excellent video. Smiled when I pulled in to the local hardware store today. They had a sign out front saying seeds were in and we should get thinking about gardening. I still have 2 ft of snow in the bush and haven't tapped my maples yet. Thankfully spring is on the horizon.
We definitely understand! Still about 4 feet of snow here, and we haven’t tapped yet either. Soon!!! The spuds we planted in the greenhouse are doing great so far. 👍 🥔
Thanks I learned so much and it was presented in a down to earth straightforward manner! It’s nice when someone tells me how it is! Straightforward into the point! I just subscribed your channel
THANK YOU! Love that you got right to it!! Clear and concise tips and method. I am definitely doing containers this year👍🏼 Thanks once again for a great video✨🌱💫
Thanks Susan! Be sure to come back and let us know how they work for you! 🥔 🌱
@@Wilderstead most definitely 👍🏼
very well made video... clear and right to the point... all the information is correct to my knowledge as well... I have done this same thing for many years by simply filling a black trash bag 2/3 full of compost and rolling the sides down to form a lip then taking a piece of rebar and poking several holes in the bottom.... I place 5 whole potatoes in each bag and get probably 20 pounds or so from each bag... thank you!
Some excellent DIY tips right there!
Another great video! So many interesting details to pay attention to. Thanks, guys!
Thank you for much for this video! I’ve watched a ton of videos on growing potatoes and this one is the best. I feel like I can do it and it’s not intimidating anymore. 😊
Glad it was helpful!
Cool and correct
Containers have always been very productive for us, regardless of the crop planted. It also allows us to move the plants into the greenhouse when the weather starts to get cold in the fall near harvest time.
@@Wilderstead That would be the northern Ontario trick lol
@@offgridwanabe indeed hahaha
We did not have a good potato year last year. Potatoes are near the top of the priority list this year
These buckets are really handy and easy. We do a few every year, even just as a backup incase the other methods we use don't yield well in any given year.
@@Wilderstead yea I was thinking all the 5 gallon buckets I don't have a lot ofnuse for during the summer would be grand for this. I'll still put some in the ground but why not do this on top of it.
I love your instructional videos. Very clear instructions!
Great video! Thanks for sharing
Our pleasure!
Excellent easy to follow video, thank you.
Thanks Lisa! 🙏
I will try this tower method using sweet potato slips. In this side of the world, we can grow SPs all year round. Space saving idea. Thanks
Love this we used containers for spuds when all we had was a deck still love this method super easy!
The older we get, the more we are looking for easier ways to do thing 😂
@@Wilderstead haha so true 😆
Very informative and interesting
Glad it was helpful!
Going to do this for sure this summer, moving to containers around the home.
Good plan!
I generally save seeds from only the first ripe fruit of the plant, and then document from that which is the best producer, and keep doing this year after year. After a few years you have a good variety that has a very good harvest -- for your garden. Testing for viability is an excellent idea!
Hi hope you's are doing well😊
I have never tried containers for spuds. I think this year I'll give it a try. Atb
Highly recommend! Especially in the north where you have the option of moving the containers inside, somewhere, if the cold weather hits before harvest time.
Sweet tips. Maybe I'll give potatoes another go, after failing numerous times in the past!
Easy peasy in the pots! Pots full of poutine!
Great video. In northern Alberta here and i have sprouting potatoes wanting to live some place. Soaking some potting medium right now and will be planting them shortly. How deep to plant? not right at the bottom... Do i cover most of the 8" sprout with medium?
2:25 in the video. Your sprouts are very long so I'd keep half of the sprout above the soil. Bend the long sprouts and bury part of it.
Good stuff. I would make sure that there is 3 inches of compost under the tater. The soil above the potatoes does not need to have the nutrition as the roots grow downward. The lighter and looser the soil, the larger the size that can be achieved. Last year, I had lots of monster size potatoes using this technique. These potatoes had 9 inches of mostly peat moss above the potato, with 3 inches of pure compost below. Use the largest container possible, and start the containers in the green house or basement to keep the soil warm and place them outside once there is not risk of frost. Or as I will this year, place the containers on wood to break the thermal conduction with the cold ground, and cover with clear or black poly, or dark colored tarp to heat up the soil inside. I'll do this about 3 weeks before the last frost, so that the taters will have a 3 week head start.
Great tips! One thing I’ll mention is that with watering, the nutrients on top of your planters will trickle downwards over the season. So top dressing with compost can be a good method of fertilizing throughout the year. Especially in pots, where leeching can be an issue - particularly in hot, dry times when you are watering more frequently and potentially washing those nutrients in the soil out through the bottom of the pot.
@@Wilderstead Again, excellent tips. I am working hard on this crop as it will be my most important staple.
Avoid feeding taters nitrogen tho, therefore composted manures should be well aged, if using manures. Compost tea from well aged manure or veggie compost, is another way to get it in there if there is no room left for additional compost or soil. Top feed with a small amount of wood stove ash could be very beneficial during the time the tater is growing. If the soil Ph becomes too alkaline as result, the taters get scabs, but the essential potash would greatly improve the size. Tater farms spend a great deal of money applying potash to their crop. Unfortunately I only have wood stove ash. I really should use some sulfur, but will have to use vinegar , 1 part to 8 parts water, to increase the Ph rapidly. Hopefully I can produce those monster taters again this year.
great video t tried sweet potato's in 5 gal pails and raise garden but i planted to late i made sweet potato fry's with them tasted good.
Good stuff!
Nice! my issue here is poor soil, Ive hit every place on my property mining soil unbelievable amount of work. I even caved and checked local garden outlets for potting soil (not much available , it should be noted that I def do not have a green thumb haha
We have a similar problem here. The best thing you can do is start composting as much as possible. Start building up your own soil development methods. Our first years here we had to bring in dumptrucks full of soil to get started. Canadian Shield, so it's all bedrock under a couple of inches of soil. We now have composting systems in place, which we started as soon as we arrived on the property.
@@Wilderstead Yep im in thr process just got started on this new property. Thanks for you upload Its got to be a tremendous amount of extra work!
@@deepbludude4697 keep at it! Every year gets better. Not easier, but better.
@@deepbludude4697 check out the Ruth Stout method.
@@simonesmit6708 Thanks very interesting! Im gonna set up one of my 3 Garden areas in the RS method thanks for the tip!
Do you use any fertilizer? What ratio of growing medium?
I am growing potatoes for the first time this season and have them in 5 gallon buckets potatoe bags and some I planted in a round wash tub that is approx 2to 3 ft wide and just about the same deep .my concern is there are now 5 tuber plants coming up is that too many for that tub ?
We only grow Russets.., what do you grow?
Russet, Kennebec, Yukon Gold and Adirondack Red
I like the soace-saving tower concept but wondering about a few things...
Before harvesting,
1. when to stop watering?
2. do we need to let the foliage dry first?
And,
3. how hard is it to remove the foliage grown through the chicken wire?
The last one is of a serious concern, especially, to those with limited physical strength. This makes growing potatoes horizontally, in mounds of straw, to have a greater appeal.... at albeit lower yield.
Please advise. Thanks.
Hi Raji, you can start to slow down on the watering once the foliage starts to die back. Don't let the soil completely dry out though. You can harvest potatoes at any point. Allowing the foliage to completely die off will result in larger potatoes. To remove the cage from the tower, just cut the wires you used to secure it into a cylinder and knock the tower over. The foliage will be dead and will easily break off. For folks with limited physical strength, you may wish to try growing potatoes in buckets, like what is shown in this video. Cheers!
I think potatoes like their soil. If you put more soil in the tower, they have more depth to grow? What if you put straws only in the bottom and sides, and soil solely in the inside?
Will you be trying towers again to see if you can get a good result from that method? Or have you completely given up on the towers?
We grow towers every year. Some years they work great, some years they aren't as good. Which is why we grow potatoes using more than one method, to ensure a harvest each season.
@@Wilderstead
What size containers do you use?? I am getting ready to buy some right now. I am considering 7 gallon, 10 gallon, or 15 gallon.
@@trendinvestor2893 Any of those sizes will work. The bigger the container the more you can plant in it.
I have potatoes in grow bags and if it gets below freezing tomorrow are they in trouble?
If they're started growing you might want to move them into a warmer spot. If there is no growth yet, they should be fine.
@@Wilderstead just planted couple days ago so no growth yet-have potatoes in 20 gallon grow bags on deck so maybe just cover them tonight
Mmm po-tay-toes 👍
Poutine!!