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Growing Potatoes

Source: NDSU Extension Service Horticulturist

Potatoes are an important home garden vegetable crop in North Dakota. Growing high quality potatoes with a good yield requires the use of a number of important practices. Careful varietal selection, proper soil preparation, use of high quality seed and proper fertilization are essential.

For most North Dakota gardens, selection of a scab resistant variety is necessary. Choose varieties Red Norland, Superior or Norgold Russet, which are tolerant or resistant to the scab disease. Red Norland is one of the best red potato varieties for early home garden use.

Never plant seed potatoes purchased from grocery stores unless they are labeled as seed potatoes. Most table stock potatoes have been treated with a chemical growth inhibitor that will prevent sprouting if they are planted. Obtain certified or known disease-free seed and cut the seed tubers into pieces about 1 -2 ounces in size and having at least one "eye" or bud on each seed piece. Plant the same day you cut.

Prepare a deep, loose seed bed and apply a 20-20-10 fertilizer at the rate of 3-4 pounds per 100 feet of row. Plant seed pieces 2-3 inches deep. Space seed pieces 12 inches apart in the rows about 36 inches apart.

"Hill" the rows by drawing soil up against the base of the plants in mid-June to guard against "greening" of the developing new tubers. Irrigate or water thoroughly once a week if possible, if ample rainfall does not occur.

Additional information on this topic is included in the Extension bulletin H-266, "Potatoes for the Home and Market Garden," which is available at your county office of the NDSU Extension Service.

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For More Information Contact your North Dakota County Extension Office of the NDSU Extension Service for additional information or see our main NDSU Web Page for publications and articles on Agriculture, Horticulture, Youth and Family, Business and Community and Food and Nutrition at  http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/