This Low-Cost Method Is the Best Way to Grow Potatoes This Season (2024)

Equipment / Tools

Materials

How to Grow Potatoes in Buckets

1. Prep Your Potatoes

   Potatoes can be planted whole, but most growers cut potatoes into sections to help seed potatoes stretch a bit further in the garden.

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   If you’re cutting seed potatoes, ensure each potato section has at least 2 eyes or nodes for sprouting. Allow cut potatoes to dry for a day or two before planting.

   

2. Choose the Right Buckets

   Never use buckets that previously housed chemicals, paint, or other unsavory or unknown materials near edible plants. Instead, use buckets made of food-safe plastic and clean them out thoroughly before planting.

   Standard 5-gallon buckets can hold about 2 potato plants, while 10-gallon buckets can hold 4 potato plants.

3. Drill Drainage Holes

   Potatoes need well-draining soil to grow properly—they can rot in soggy soil. To avoid this, flip your planting buckets over and drill holes across the base of each bucket using a drill and an ¾ inch drill bit.

   

4. Add Soil

   Garden soil is too dense for container gardens and can cause drainage issues in potato buckets.

   A soil mix intended for raised bed gardens is a better option for growing containers, or you can make your own DIY mix by blending 1 part compost with 1 part potting soil.

   Fill the planting buckets most of the way up with the substrate of your choice, but leave a few inches of empty space at the top of each bucket so you can hill your potatoes later on.
   

5. Plant Seed Potatoes

   To plant, space potatoes about 5 inches apart and 3 inches away from the sides of your planting bucket. Cover the potatoes with 2 inches of soil, move the buckets into a sunny spot that receives at least 6 hours of light daily, and water deeply.

   

6. Water Well

   Potatoes should be watered regularly when the top 1 to 2 inches of soil feels dry. Adding straw mulch over the soil can keep buckets from drying out too quickly.

7. Watch for Pests

   Pests are less common in container gardens, but they can still crop up from time to time. Wilted, discolored, or holey leaves can all be signs of pest activity.

   If you see these symptoms, check your plants over carefully and handpick larger pests, like Colorado potato beetles, into a bucket of soapy water.

8. Fertilize as Needed

   Potatoes are heavy feeders that need to be fertilized regularly with a balanced, all-purpose fertilizer. Applying diluted, liquid organic fertilizer twice a month works well for container-grown potatoes, or you can use a slow release, granular fertilizer, and compost.

9. Hill Growing Spuds

   Hilling potatoes, or mounding the tops with soil, keeps spuds from turning green and encourages plants to produce more tubers.

   Begin hilling potatoes when plants are 6 inches tall by covering up the bottom 1/3 of each plant with soil. Repeat this process every few weeks until your potatoes are ready to harvest.

10. Harvest

    Most potatoes are harvested about 60 to 120 days after planting or when the plants flower and their leaves start to brown.

    To harvest, lift individual potatoes from the soil with your fingers, or dump out the bucket on a tarp for even easier harvesting.

    

Our Best Tips to Grow Great Potatoes

• Keep pests at bay by growing companion plants like nasturtiums, sweet alyssum, and alliums near potatoes.
• Straw mulch limits weeds reduces plant watering needs, and shelters potatoes from too much light.
• Testing soil before planting can let you know if your soil pH is ideal for potatoes. If needed, soil pH can be adjusted naturally with elemental sulfur.
• Always use fresh soil in container gardens and purchase potatoes from reliable suppliers to avoid wireworms.
• Don’t plant grocery store potatoes. They can harbor wireworms and other pests.
• After harvesting, cure potatoes for 2 weeks in a cool, dry place to keep them fresh.
• Early-season potatoes are planted 2 weeks before the last frost of spring and harvested in early summer.
• Mid-season potatoes are planted in early summer and harvested about 100 days later.
• Late-season potatoes are planted in late summer and harvested in autumn.