Hi! I planted a random assortment of potatoes some time ago in the spring- some of them survived! The thing is they didn’t look like they were going to make it a few months ago when you would generally pick them, now there’s been a deluge of rain and a few look good (see below(, should I go ahead and pick them? How do I propagate from these apparently relatively drought hardy guys?
Thanks!
I’m guessing these are re-sprouts from the tubers that formed over the summer or fall… possible? Potato plants especially from tubers don’t live that long… once they start looking bad they just die off, and that’s the time to harvest the tubers. So if you didn’t they just re grow, which is great. But they won’t be ready for a couple more months if that is what’s going on.
How to tell when to harvest potatoes (link)
You should just let the potatoes grow until they start to die back. Then you can harvest the tubers for eating or replanting. I assume you are in a low frost area since the potatoes are growing now. Potatoes love low frost areas, and you may be able to grow them year round.
Just watch out for a decline in productivity in potatoes that you have been growing for several years. They can pick up viruses that weaken the plant. You should also consider saving any berries they make so you can grow new plants from True Potato Seeds.
Check out The Kenosha Potato Project Facebook Group, and Cultivariable for more info on growing True Potato Seeds.
Yep. Plants growing now are the tubers that were grown by the original plants. Also if the potatoes you planted were early season potatoes then the plants would have pushed growth fast and tuberised and then died back. When the plant dies back then it’s finished growing… or if it just died off without making tubers…
Super helpful, I had no idea they might grow Year round here! Ok will wait for the die off.
