Here in Alaska there are plenty of potato growers. There are fields and fields of potatoes which are sold in stores and on the side of the roads. Actually they are rather inexpensive. But what about the average Joe potato grower? Have you ever wanted to know HOW a professional gets their potatoes so large? Well here is an answer from an Alaskan potato gardener.
First off good soil is a must. Every year we put new soil and new manure into the potato patch. We go to local farms and get soil mixed with fresh cow manure. Your soil so so important. Its also very crucial to mulch your soil patches over the dormant or winter seasons. Your soil quality is important, dark rich soil will grow amazing potatoes.
I grow my own potatoes and save some each spring to use for seed potatoes. A good seed potato is a potato that has eyes with roots on them. I keep them in the fridge in a veggie tray while they start to seed. Then as they start their root process, i put them in a burlap bag in the garage. I usually start collecting my seed potatoes a month to two before i wish to plant. For Alaskans that is in late March to early April as we cannot plant until after memorial day.
The next step is to make mounds in the soil. In a garden you create rows. Creating potato mounds isn’t too much different except they need to be larger. I start my mounds about a foot deep. Then its simple to plant your potato. I plant them about 8-12 inches apart in the tall mounds. Cover when done.
Potato prep is very simple. Each eye will start a new plant. Simply cut a chunk of the potato out with the eye. Leave some of the potato attached to feed the new plant. I usually leave about 2 square inches attached to the eye. I gently wash each potato and eye with warm water before planting.
Here is the secret to growing huge potatoes. Rhubarb leaves. It sounds odd but the poisonous rhubarb leaf makes amazing mulch. We grow our own rhubarb for uses in jam making and for pies, however we generally tossed the leaves into a mulch pile. One time I was pulling rhubarb and chopping off leaves. So far that year the potato plants had not even started growing, so we assumed they had died. I was carelessly tossing the leaves onto the potato patch. I forgot them there. A few days later i went out to clean up my mess ( and pull up some new plants) To my surprise there were a bunch of new baby potato plants. Even though it was late in the season i figured what the heck, lets give it a shot. I cut new rhubarb leaves off the plants and covered all my baby potato plants with them. I watered over the leaves and left them alone. The next day the plants had broken up through the leaves, nearly tripling in height! I put the leaves back over the new plants and watered again. Within a week the plants were almost knee high.
It was amazing, year after year i mulched my newly planted seed potatoes with rhubarb leaves and not only did my plants get huge, but the potatoes themselves were big and tasty. You have to care for your potatoes as you normally would. As soon as your plants gain height, cover the bottom’s with soil. Every day build up the mound at the root base of your plant until they are about a foot high. I water them every day if its sunny or muggy out, and feed them once a week with miracle grow. Ive never failed at growing large potatoes sense, and with my secret you can too.
