Growing potatoes indoors is probably one of the easiest ways to grow potatoes, and most people just loves potatoes because of how versatile they are when cooking. So WHY NOT GROW THEM?
There are a few key factors to know about growing potatoes indoors:
- Strong light is necessary for healthy growth, either sunlight or grow lights will work.
- You will need the right container(s) for an abundant harvest of potatoes.
- Potatoes grown indoors will not always grow as fast as those outdoors.
- Choosing the right potatoes and doing the right preparation.
- The soil mixture and how much you use and how to use it.
This article covers all these topics.
Table of Contents
Pros and Cons: Growing Potatoes Indoors
There are both pros and cons to growing potatoes indoors.
Pros:
- You can grow potatoes all year round as long as you have at the minimum of 8–10 hours of sunlight, or grow lights.
- Because indoors, you will most likely be planting in a container or bag, it makes it easier to harvest at harvest day.
- You can protect plants from the frost, and you have a totally controlled weather environment.
- Those who live in the cities can grow potatoes even in the limited space they have.
Cons:
- It may be slightly more costly, because of all the containers you will use, unless they are recycled material.
- You can’t grow as much in the limited small space as you can outdoors for a winter storage crop.
Getting Started: Growing Potatoes Indoors
Potatoes like other plants will require some tender loving care (TLC) to grow, some varying in amounts. Start by gathering the following supplies to start massive tuber growth indoors.
- Deep pots, containers, or grow bags
- Potatoes for planting in the soil
- Bright sunlight or grow light
- A growing medium (preferably a mixture of compost and soil or sand)
- A fertilizer for large green growth and healthy tubers.
Choosing The Right Container(s)
Choosing the right container to grow potatoes indoors is an important task. For growing in containers, select a pot that’s roughly 20 to 30 litres in size or 5 to 8 gallons (36.37 l). The second tip for deciding a container to grow potatoes is that the containers must have drainage holes. Excess moisture is bad for the tubers and roots, as it could rot them. If you want to go along with grow bags, make sure that they can shed water well and that they can hold enough soil. There are some bags that you can recycle to grow potatoes in, such as burlap bags and bag for poultry and farm feeds for livestock. More info: growing potatoes in bags.
Picking Potatoes to Plant
Choose potatoes that are sprouting, as doing so will give you a head start. If the potatoes don’t have sprouts, yet, it’s still okay to use, as we will discuss it later. You can use potatoes from the previous year’s harvest or a friend’s or farmer’s potatoes. You can also buy potatoes in bags from the store and use them to grow a new batch of homegrown potatoes. For more variety of potatoes to decide from, you can get it online from a seed potato supplier.
Preparation To Grow Potatoes Indoors
A few days or weeks prior to growing potatoes indoors, kick start them off by placing the potatoes on a windowsill to allow them to grow sprouts. There’s another way to do this, which is personally my favourite choice. One week prior to planting potatoes, place them in a small container with soil and sand on a windowsill and allow them to grow roots and shoots.
If you want, you could watch this video that goes more in depth into the process of starting potatoes indoors the right way to get BIGGER yields!
Once they grow 1 inch (2.54 cm) tall, you can plant them in containers or bags indoors. Sprouting potatoes shouldn’t take long with strong light. Either sunlight or grow lights will work well. After they have sprouted, some folks like to cut their potatoes into pieces with each piece having a few sprouts. Then let the cut pieces dry another few days so that where they cut, wouldn’t develop a disease problem, then they would plant them in the soil.
Choosing A Location To Grow Potatoes Indoors
Potatoes need at the minimum of 8–10 hours of light per day and the temperature around 23º C or 75º F. You may have to improvise with grow lights during cloudy days or if you can’t meet their lights requirements by over 3/4. You can also take the potatoes in their container outside during the day for extra lights if required. A cheap, successful growth method for tubers is to choose a bright southern window that gets 8–10 hours of strong sunlight and is big enough to house all the potatoes in their containers or bags.
Planting Instructions
- Use a 50/50 soil mixture for growing potatoes indoors. 50% of potting soil and sand and 50% of compost that has been broken down and fill the buckets 1/3 way.
- Evenly place 3–4 potatoes in the container, with the eyes (sprouts) pointing upward onto the soil.
- Cover with just enough soil so that the potatoes are not exposed to the light (4-6 inches).
- Shoots should appear within 1–2 weeks at the surface. Each time the potato grows 4–6 inches tall, add more of the soil mixture until there is only 2 inches of growth above the soil until you reach the 3/4 mark. This is the traditional process of hilling potatoes, except you’re applying the same effect to the containers.
When are potatoes grown indoors, ready to harvest?
Potatoes typically take between 90 and 120 days, depending on the potato variety, to reach it maturity, but potatoes grown indoors typically tends to take a little longer.
On a brighter note, you can harvest potatoes grown indoors as soon as the plant starts to put out flowers. But these set of potatoes (new potatoes) once you harvest them they perish quickly if they are not eaten within a few days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to growing potatoes all year round?
Yes, potatoes can easily be grown all year round in a warm, covered shelter, but you must meet their requirements of light. If you can’t all year round, you will need to substitute with bright grow lights.
Can potatoes grow and thrive with little to no sunlight?
Potatoes are most happy and will produce at their max potential when they have lots of energy. Potatoes can sprout in the dark and this energy comes from the potato itself, but once it grows, it will need light for the process, which is called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis and nutrients is used to generate the energy that the plants need to grow their massive tubers.
