Potato: A quick peek

In the spring time, Japan experiences very strong wind storms as the weather warms up. This year, the wind whipped through the veranda and caused a lot of damage. Our laundry rack was blown over and the leaves were torn off of some of the plants. One potato plant took a huge amount of damage, losing all of its leaves. That plant has died.

But the other potato seems to be going strong. The leaves are broken in places, but the stem is still strong and the remaining leaves haven't wilted yet.

I was curious about the status of the potatoes under the soil. It's all kind of mysterious. How deep are the potatoes? What do they look like? So I scraped away at the soil to find the hidden treasure.

There are three potatoes visible in this picture. The largest and most visible one is about the size of a golf ball. The smallest one is about the size of a marble. There is about one month more to go before harvest time, but these potatoes are coming along very well.

In order to prevent solanine contamination, I quickly covered the potatoes back up and tamped the soil back down.

A brief update about the tomatoes. There has been a lot of growth in the past week. The re-potted tomato has grown significantly, especially compared with the seedlings still in the starter tray. More space for root growth as well as more fertilizer has probably led to this. I've tied the stem to the post, but at the speed it is growing, I'll have to make another tie soon.

I took the remaining seedlings in the starter pots, save two, and added them to the compost bin. The two that are saved may go to a loving family who doesn't mind that the growing season is already well underway.

Potato: Wind damage

Living near the ocean, we get strong winds occasionally. Yesterday we had especially strong winds that ended up flinging laundry and futons all over the neighborhood. One futon ended up on the roof of the neighboring apartment. The laundry poles were torn down and many of the plants were toppled.

The potatoes, being in a wide and stable pot, did not tip over, but the wind took its toll. The leaves are a mess and some of the branches seem to have been torn off completely. Part of this is because the plant bumps up against the side of the planter and against other things nearby when the wind blows it. This seems to explain most of the damage.


The smaller plant took the brunt of the damage, and I'll have to keep an eye on it.

Fortunately, the larger plant did not take much damage. This is good because in the middle of the stem is what looks like the beginnings of a set of flowers. After 4 months, the potato is finally going to bloom.

Potatoes: A look at the leaves

This past weekend I spent an hour working on the veranda garden. After several weeks of growth, the potatoes look really healthy and the plants are getting very large.

I'm almost regretting not buying a larger planter because the two plants seem very close to each other. The minimum separation between potato plants should be 30cm, alternatively each plant should have a 15cm radius area just for themselves.

This planter is 45cm across, and each potato is right up against the edge. At most, there is only 20cm separating the two plants. This is probably going to affect how large each harvested potato will be.

Since the plant is in a pot and not out in a field, it's important to make sure that older leaves are removed in a timely manner to provide more nutrients to the newer leaves. I spent a few minutes taking off the bottom branches.

Also, potato plants grow upwards (like any other plant), but the potato spuds are going to grow laterally and close to the surface. This means, that as the bottom leaves are removed, it helps to add some soil to give the spuds more room to grow.

I thought the pattern of leaves was especially interesting. Like many things in Nature, it exhibits a fractal pattern. The particular branch shown in the picture below is approximately 25cm in length.


Another reason to add more soil is to protect any growing spuds from sunlight. When a young potato is exposed to sunlight it turns green and crunchy and potentially poisonous. The green comes from chlorophyll exposed to sunlight. The poison is a chemical called solanine. So to prevent the loss of these growing potatoes, it is important to add soil as the plant grows.

Potatoes: Sprouts, shoots, and leaves

In just a week and half, the potatoes have really started to take off. In the picture below, you can see the two potatoes sending up shoots.

The potato on the top is the one that I circled last week. It is much closer to the soil surface so it is the first to break through with visible leaves. The other one is still under the soil, so only a couple leaves are visible.

Each potato will produce several plants, so even though the bushiness seems like a good sign, I will need to prune them both back to one main plant. This allows for each potato to maximize the soil nutrient usage as well as total soil volume for itself.

I'll let these grow a bit more, maybe a week or two, before pruning. I want to select the best sprouts.

Potatoes: First look

When it comes to potatoes, there really isn't much to growing them. All you need is the a potato, some soil, and a planter big enough to accommodate it.

Potatoes should be planted in mid-February to early March. I planted my potatoes about 3 weeks ago. Then there was an accident and one of the planted potatoes was removed from the planter. Caution: Do not let curious children play around planters.

Potatoes are pretty fast growers. According to my notes, the time from planting to harvesting is on the order of 90 days. They require very little care, and grow easily in soils that would not be suitable for other plants.

At the home center, they sell bags of "seed potatoes". These are specially selected spuds that are superior growers. I have no idea how they determine this. From the looks of it, they are mostly misshapen or small potatoes that wouldn't make the cut in the grocery store. While cheap, I don't really need a whole bag of seed potatoes. I just need one.

My wife told me not to use her potatoes for planting because it was a waste, so naturally I kept it a secret when I snuck one kita-akari potato for planting. To prepare the potato for planting, I just cut the potato in half. There are other things one can do to promote growth like applying rooting powder, but I don't have that on hand and I don't grow so many things from cuttings, so it would just be a waste to buy it specially for potatoes.

Potatoes need about 30cm between each plant. My planter isn't quite big enough to hold two potato plants at that distance, so I've crowded them with only 20cm of distance. I'll probably pay the price for this later.

To plant, just put some rocks in the bottom of the pot to aid drainage, and add about 40cm of soil. Place the potato pieces (halves in my case, but you could cut a large potato into quarters as well) open face down at the proper 30cm spacing and cover with 5-10cm of soil. Water thoroughly and leave it alone.

Here is a picture of the current state of the potato that was dug out of the soil. I've circled the visible roots.

Note that the potato is facing upwards. This is because it was replanted incorrectly. However despite this, the potato is hardy and able to continue growing.