Growing Potato

Solanum tuberosum : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
        P P P P P      

(Best months for growing Potato in Australia - sub-tropical regions)

  • P = Plant seed potatoes
  • Plant tuber. Best planted at soil temperatures between 10°C and 30°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 30 - 40 cm apart
  • Harvest in 15-20 weeks. Dig carefully, avoid damaging the potatoes.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Peas, Beans, Brassicas, Sweetcorn, Broad Beans, Nasturtiums, Marigolds
  • Avoid growing close to: Cucumber, Pumpkin, Sunflowers, Tomatoes, Rosemary

Your comments and tips

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20 Jul 09, Sarah (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
Regarding the earlier comments about frost, i once flatted with a woman who forgot to harvest the container potatoes she was growing before the frosts arrived - and it can get down to -5 here, although -2 or -3 is more usual - and they came away again the next spring. i have no idea how the crop turned out, since i moved out before she dug them up, but it's worth bearing in mind that potatoes are the storage unit for the plant. if your plants get frosted, it just might mean that you have to wait until the next year for your crop.
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20 Jul 09, Sarah (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
Ivan, if i remember rightly, your potatoes will be ready to be dug up once the leaves start turning yellow. for main crop potatoes - those that grow later in the season, you can wait until the tops die down completely before you dig, and this will help them to keep longer. if your spuds are earlys - growing early in the season, just start digging when the yellowing starts.
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20 Jul 09, Sarah (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
Lisa, just leave your potatoes in the tyres for their entire growing season - i doubt they like being moved much since they are a root crop. you can increase the size of your crop by adding more tyres on top and filling with soil or potting mix, whatever you're currently using. leave a bit of green growth poking through though - say around 5cm or so. you could easily stack 4 or 5 tyres high.
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20 Jul 09, Edward (Australia - temperate climate)
Lisa - I would advise against eating anything grown in tyres, especially any tuber. Sorry. Tyres contain (among other elements) cadmium, lead, and zinc. Not too late to start a 'no dig' option....... :-)
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18 Jul 09, Lisa (Australia - temperate climate)
I have my potato plants growing in tyres, as advised by my local nursery. should i take the plants out? the plants are about 5 weeks old and about 10 cm high? thank you
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18 Jul 09, Ivan (Australia - temperate climate)
My spuds have been in for 11 weeks now, they have a huge amount of green leaves. How long before they flower, and If they don't flower when can they be picked?
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15 Jul 09, Emma (United Kingdom - warm/temperate climate)
Hi Jane They should still be ok to plant and produce more potatoes. You won't be eating the main potato seed anyway, that's normally rotted by the time you harvest them. As Gareth says all green spuds are poisonous.
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12 Jul 09, jane (Australia - temperate climate)
Thanks Gareth, that's what I was hoping.
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01 Jul 09, gareth (Australia - temperate climate)
jane along as you dont eat these potatos because they are now piisonous but you should be alright with the others aslong as they arnt exposed to light and i dont now weather this will aid in production of spuds but oh well see what happens
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21 Jun 09, Gavin Ryan (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
I just purchased a couple of bags of seed potatoes. Will they last till Spring?
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I would like to endorse the comments above regarding the use of tyres to grow Potatoes or in fact use to grow any any food. The rubber compounds in both the carcase and tread contain significant numbers of nasties. Tyres are designed to perform at high speed under quite arduous conditions, absolutely not designed as end of life food growing receptacles! They contain many potential hazards/chemicals, far too many to fully list. I will list just a couple,so that fellow readers who do not have my background can appreciate better what they are dealing with. Firstly the reinforcing Carbon Blacks utilized in the rubber compounds, contain significant amounts of Organo-Nitrogen compounds, blacks of this type are banned for use with any "Potable Water" applications! the reason being these compounds are considered as being high risk carciogens. There are special Blacks made specifically for food contact applications, rubber reinforcing blacks are definitely not suitable. Processing aids, The rubber in the tyres must be made to be strong/resilient/heat resistant; specially designed chemical compounds are encorporated into the rubber compounds to achieve this. The chemical compounds used present problems in many directions, firstly they are not ( dont need to be) pure compounds they contain debris from the chemical synthesis processes used to make them; these same compounds also decompose both during Vulcanization and during the life of the tyre. The Organo-Chemical families many of these compounds belong to include compounds that are considered hazardous and not suitable for food contact. The possibility of side chemical reactions between both the impurities and the debris from the degradation, resulting in compounds that could present significant hazards is real. Are tyres dangerous? yes! when attached to cars driven by idiots and when used as receptacles to grow food; otherwise no!

- Geoff Brooks

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