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Vegetable Gardening

When to plant potatoes?

8 years ago

I live in New Jersey (zone 6) and I'm going to be growing some red norlands in SmartPots this year. I've been trying to determine when to plant my seed potatoes, but I've come across conflicting information. Some sources I've found say to plant a week after the last frost, while others say to plant up to two weeks before the last frost. So, any suggestions on when I should plant my seed potatoes?

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Comments (12)

stevie
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
i would measure your soil temperature. since potatoes like cool weather, i suppose two weeks before last frost seems appropriate. if your soil temperature 45-50F then you can go ahead and plant them. it won't be for a while that shoots come up and by then, chance of frost will be long gone by the time you see anything above the surface.
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digdirt2
8 years ago
Agree. Last frost date isn't really relative to planting potatoes. Soil temperature is the important factor. I think you'll find that most zone 6 gardeners growing in ground planted their potatoes a couple of weeks ago. Since you are using pots the soil will warm up much faster. Plus they are dark colored pots so that will speed up the warming even more. Get them planted now before your soil gets too warm.

Dave
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I never buy seed potatoes. I guess the potatoes I bring home from the market just settle right in and think they're "home". They always sprout if around a week or two. I just take them out to the garden and shove them in any vacant spot. This Spring my DD brought me a bunch that had sprouted for her; those I pushed in the ground out in the sandy flower garden where we had removed a giant ground rose. The other day I was out there wondering what all those huge weeds were.... potatoes! Maybe I can dig them before that area's resident Gopher discovers them.
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Deeonna - the best soil is one which is loose loam, with lots of organic matter mixed in - but how many of us actually have the best soil to work with? :) The purpose of mounding the soil for potatoes is to give them the room to grow their tubers easily, and generally the mounding process is making the soil looser which is good. I personally don't make individual hills, but I use raised beds which accomplishes the same thing. First I till the entire area, then looking at the area, I decide how much space I have for beds and paths. I usually make my beds 3 ft wide since I'm a small person and can't reach easily over anything wider. The beds are as long as space allows. The paths should be at least 2-1/2 ft wide to allow easy passage for a wheelbarrow, and maybe a tiller if you later need to till them to knock down grass - we have REALLY invasive grass here. I shovel and/or rake the loose dirt from the path areas onto the bed areas, which raises them and gives you nice loose soil in your beds WHICH YOU NEVER STEP ON AGAIN. If you don't have "grass from hell" and you have access to lots of straw/hay/mulch material, you can go the Ruth Stout method of keeping permanent raised beds and never having to till again. I'm only partly there. :) Here's an illustration of my beds from some years back (when I was younger and more ambitious). Click on the image to see the larger version. And another ground view: You can see the beds aren't all that much higher, but the soil in them has been loosened to a depth of probably a foot. And if you have enough hay, you're adding to the depth as well. Hay, straw, grass clippings, composted leaves - the answer to many needs - they add nutrients and organic matter to the soil as they break down, they conserve moisture, repress weeds and/or allow them to be pulled more easily because the dirt stays soft and moist. And don't the paths like nice and neat? :) Sigh - I don't garden on this scale anymore - getting too old for it! - Alex
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Chris Volpi
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks everybody! Just went out and planted my potatoes. Hoping for a successful crop!
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Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I will be planting mine this weekend, and am concerned they will come up before last frost, which may be up to a month away, but the soil is getting warm and I want to get them in the ground. There is some cold weather in the forecast but it will be long before they sprout.
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digdirt2
8 years ago
If they do sprout Peter just rake some soil up over the exposed tips.

Dave
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Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
Yeah good idea, thanks.
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prput68
8 years ago
According to the USDA map I live in zone 5a. I've always been told to plant potatoes on Good Friday. Others I know plant on St. Patrick's day. I try to plant mine as close to Good Friday as I can and when the conditions are right.
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Nitsua
8 years ago
I don't understand the logic of planting on Good Friday, which can be as early as March 21st or as late as April 23rd. At least St. Patrick's day is always on the same day.
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LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
8 years ago
I agree, Mid March is the time around here (KC area) but maybe a little later up in north MO. I planted mine early this year...March 5th and they are just starting to sprout. Nothing above ground yet but I can see several bulges in the soil where they are pushing up.
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prput68
8 years ago
I can't tell you why but Good Friday is when my wife's grandfather always planted his potatoes and it just stuck with us. Personally I think they can be planted from the first of March to first of May and still get a good crop. Mine are usually ready to dig long before summer is over.
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void
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Good Friday changes from week to week each year based on the phase of the moon, so that isn't the best guide.

Potatoes are easy, you want to get them flowering before the heat of summer so you want to get them started but you don't want them out of the ground during a hard frost. Don't think you gain much by planting them real early. I put them underground after April 1st, by the middle of April, and they are inches out of the soil before you would plant beans.
0
digdirt2
8 years ago
void - where do you live that you wait until April 1st to plant potatoes?

Dave
0

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