Do you mean white stems growing under the dirt, away from the plant? Those would be the stolons where the potatoes sprout. Did you maybe dig too soon?

My long-season potatoes are just getting started making small tubers.

Plus did you ever feed them anything? Since it was containers did you use soil-less potting mix rather than soil. Soil compacts too much in containers.

Dave

Most store bought potatoes are mid to late season types, which means they need at least three to five months to produce. Also, most varieties form tubers when it is cool, which is why you need to start them before your last frost and/or grow them into the fall. They seem to just sit there in the hot summer months. In containers they can look pretty awful during that time, but as long as they're not completely dead, you should wait to harvest.

Next time I suggest you choose potato varieties that you know are short season. Red potatoes generally produce better in containers.

Warm temperatures cause potatoes to cease setting tubers. It's a common syndrome in containers, which become much warmer on hot days than they need to be to support good potatoes.

Thanks all. Yes, I did fertilize weekly. I guess I just did not realize how long they would take to grow. My impatience got the better of me, lol! Is is too late to start another batch? As one poster mentioned, is the potting soil too heavy? I used Miracle Grow potting mix to start and for hilling. Any recommendations for a better mix? Thanks again!

As one poster mentioned, is the potting soil too heavy? I used Miracle Grow potting mix to start and for hilling. Any recommendations for a better mix?

Miracle Grow is a potting MIX, not a potting SOIL so it is fine to use. Things sold as "mixes" contain no soil, no dirt. Brands sold as potting "soil" do contain soil. Two very different things.

Dave

Good information so far. I never mess around with store bought potatoes. A few seed potatoes are cheap enough to buy, and they sprout like crazy. Store potatoes most likely have a growth inhibitor applied. Ditto on the potting "mix," good drainage is key with containers. And ditto on letting them grow all season. Mine are in containers over 3 months now, and should grow for at least another month or 2.

I grow potatoes hilled in the garden and also in plastic containers like you describe sucessfully for several years.

I make my own compost and start with that in the bottom of the pot. Then I cover the seeds with a mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 sand, and 1/3 perlite. No fertilizing...but even watering.

Your problem might have been the fertilizing. High N will produce great foliage at the expense of tuber production. I am no expert, but I am saying too much N.

edweather - where do you get those cheap seed potatoes? I get mine from Ronniger's and they're anything but cheap.

Lois, I get a 50 pound bag at Rural King. They used to cost $.14 a pound, but are up to $.28 a pound now. Once I got a half price sale of 50 pounds for $4.50. They sell Kennebecs, Yukon Gold, Red Pontiacs, and Red La Soda.

Walmart sells bags of 3 or 4 different kinds of them every spring........I think they are one pound bags for $2.97. Even if I had to spend a little more to get them it's better to do that and plant something that will definitely grow. Considering all the time and energy and $ I spend on setting up and maintaining containers, the last thing I want to do is plant something that will possibly grow poorly from the start. Have I ever grown a store bought potato...absolutely, but only as a whim along with the good seed potatoes.

Sorry ltilton..my bad....got a little caried away on my rant there. Glad you use seed potatoes.

Where I live in the suburbs, there aren't any farm stores where you can count on stuff like good seed potatoes, so I buy them online, which means shipping as well as the cost of the spuds.

2 months isn't long enough for potatoes to produce. Early maturing varieties of potatoes take 80+ days, mid season varieties take 100+ days to maturity, and Late take every bit of 110+ to mature.

It sounds to me that between daily watering and hot containers, the potatoes did a little miracle just supporting life as long as they did. Containers are immensely hard to produce in (with any crop), as soil needs to be slightly moist to promote root (and tuber) growth, but never bone dry and never wet or soggy (which is part of the mission impossible of containers). Watering containers from underneath and letting the soil absorb what it needs promotes the best growth, and approximates natural conditions in the best way.

I'm not saying it can't be done, it can, however, every test I have seen of container or stacking tire potatoes turns out the same; very small potatoes (in the case of stacking) or very few large potatoes. In most cases the soil just gets too hot, and the best insulator to cool soil down is...

{{gwi:62721}}

soil. :)

And yes, ed and lon, you must enjoy living where the earth doesn't get hot enough to cook robin eggs to a hard boil and where the birds need to use oven mitts to get the worms out of the ground and where containers grow magnificent things all the time.. :P

Well....Chris....yes containers are ok, but I only use them because I HAVE TO due to my water table. I much rather have a garden in the ground. But yes you are correct, the NE is a fairly decent place to grow stuff. We have our floods and blights from time to time but it could be worse. Wouldn't mind a litle longer growing season though.

A couple of thoughts: first, yes, you CAN grow potatoes from supermarket spuds. I've been doing it for a few years now. Some are treated with growth inhibitor, but if your spuds are already sprouting, you've solved that problem. I'm near Boston, and I've already harvested two rows - one red and one white. I don't get super harvests with them, but each plant always produces multiple tubers.

Second, yes, you can grow potatoes in containers. I recommend a look on YouTube, where you'll see people harvesting potatoes from bags and containers. If your containers are sitting unshaded in the baking sun, you'll have issues. And if you overwater, ditto. But I've seen many nice spuds pulled out of grow bags.

Sounds like the OP harvested too early. I got all mine in in March and April, and I actually rushed mine a little and got mostly small spuds. I do also have containers for the first time this year, and am still waiting for those to fade before harvesting.

I've been picking my red potatoes for a month now, not digging them, but that's why I grow the reds, for new potatoes.

The russets and fingerlings are going to stay put until September.

Hi! I am a newbee who started potatoes in planters because they sprouted in my cupboard. I live in Georgia where the ground is clay and hard, so I used large planters and placed 2 sprouted potatoes in each one. I planted them 2 months ago and the plants grew fast! I used potting soil and plant food in my watering, but I've noticed lately that the plants started drooping and turning a lite green to yellowish. Because the leaves were flourishing, I kept watering, but today, I noticed ants on one of my plants. I decided to empty that particular planter to see what was happening and to my surprise, there were no potatoes or tubers! I decided to get online and ask why, and discovered your discussion thread....I did watch a YouTube video of a woman growing potatoes in large planters, but they said nothing of the growing season, preferred weather, potting mix vs soil, heat in containers and preferred cool season, etc. It seems as though I need to try again...should that be in the Spring? March? Should I toss all of the soil I was using? I need some help! Thanks for the comments you've already made and I look forward to further discussion!

I went back and looked at the roots of some of the potato plants that I dumped from the one planter and found small white bulbs forming at the bottom, so I decided to see how far my other planters will go! Please keep me posted, if you have any suggestions or advice for me! Thanks! So excited to be successfully growing ANYTHING! lol

The mix for containers has to be very well draining. Potting soil might just be too water retentive. Check out the 511 mix in the Containers Forum. I'm not sure what the best time to plant in GA is, but imagine as early in the spring as possible. March sounds right.