
Potato
- Botanical Name
- Solanum tuberosum
- Hardiness
- Annual
- Height
- 18 to 36 inches
- Width
- 18 to 36 inches
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Moist, well-drained, organic, acid
- Planting & Care
- Potatoes should only be planted after the soil has reached a temperature of 40 F. Tubers will fail to form in soils over 80F.
- Use certified disease-free seed potatoes from your local garden center or catalog source
- Cut seed potatoes into 1 to 2 inch pieces with at least one good eye (preferably 2) per piece. Plant pieces 1 to 3 inches deep, spacing them 10 to 12 inches apart. Space rows 24 to 36 inches apart.
- When the plants reach 6 to 8 inches, begin to hill the soil around base of plant. Repeat every 2 to 3 weeks during the growing season.
- Hilling prevents the tubers from becoming exposed to the sun and becoming green and bitter
- Green potatoes contain solanine, which can be toxic when eaten in large quantities
- Providing even soil moisture cools the soil and aids in uniform tuber development
- Use floating row covers to protect plants from insect damage
- Problems
- Colorado potato beetles, flea beetles, aphids, leaf hoppers, scab, blights
- Varieties
- Yukon Gold - popular yellow fleshed variety
- Red Pontiac - red skin
- Norland - smooth red skin, scab resistant
- Adirondack Blue - dark purple skin and flesh
- Adirondack Red - reddish-purple skin with red flesh
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