How To Grow Hundreds of Pounds of Potatoes in Buckets
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Date: 2025-05-16
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Comments and reviews: 20
fuzzypumpkin7743
Last year I planted four seed potatoes bought at a big box store in a 2x4 bed and had a good harvest of them even though I pulled them early (when the flowers started wilting. This year I have a 3x3 bed. Started mine in late March (a bit early) because the potatoes I got from Trader Joes chitted way faster and more so than expected. Planted 11 in there in used soil I'd chop and dropped pea plants in the fall previous. Just hilled them last week with new soil and gave them a bit of fertilizer, and a week later all the plants are almost foot above the hilled point. They get some strong sun but also a few shaded hours from a nearby pine tree.
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Last year I planted four seed potatoes bought at a big box store in a 2x4 bed and had a good harvest of them even though I pulled them early (when the flowers started wilting. This year I have a 3x3 bed. Started mine in late March (a bit early) because the potatoes I got from Trader Joes chitted way faster and more so than expected. Planted 11 in there in used soil I'd chop and dropped pea plants in the fall previous. Just hilled them last week with new soil and gave them a bit of fertilizer, and a week later all the plants are almost foot above the hilled point. They get some strong sun but also a few shaded hours from a nearby pine tree.
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mrs. valdez1387
My method:
1. slice off the potato so that two sprouts are on the chunk.
2. Toss it someplace dark and dry for a day or two
3. Get old trash can, drill drainage holes
4. Add a 3 inch layer of 50/50 soil, compost mix
5. And 3 chunks, sprouts facing up
6. Top with layer of soil
7. When plants come up 2 or 3 inches above the soil, cover with another layer
8. Repeat layering until plant reaches top of can
9. When plant starts to turn yellow and die back, tip can over and enjoy your harvest!
Do not overwater! Dip wooden dowel in to check moisture. If dowel comes up clean, time to water
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My method:
1. slice off the potato so that two sprouts are on the chunk.
2. Toss it someplace dark and dry for a day or two
3. Get old trash can, drill drainage holes
4. Add a 3 inch layer of 50/50 soil, compost mix
5. And 3 chunks, sprouts facing up
6. Top with layer of soil
7. When plants come up 2 or 3 inches above the soil, cover with another layer
8. Repeat layering until plant reaches top of can
9. When plant starts to turn yellow and die back, tip can over and enjoy your harvest!
Do not overwater! Dip wooden dowel in to check moisture. If dowel comes up clean, time to water
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Batchat2352
Pretty much what i got 6 10gal pots with pitting mix. They grew great but they fail to bloom for some reason. I tried Yukon gold 2 years ago. Got around 3 times the seed potatoes weight so 6kg. And last year i used a variety that is long season and should produce more. Again got around 2 or 3 times the weight of the seed potatoes i bought. No worth the time, space or investment. Idk what trick sauce the guy from the UK does. But growing any big annual plant in pots doesnt work for me. Herbs and fruit trees absolute yes but anything hat ussual is grown in ground doesnt do well. They stall and winder there
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Pretty much what i got 6 10gal pots with pitting mix. They grew great but they fail to bloom for some reason. I tried Yukon gold 2 years ago. Got around 3 times the seed potatoes weight so 6kg. And last year i used a variety that is long season and should produce more. Again got around 2 or 3 times the weight of the seed potatoes i bought. No worth the time, space or investment. Idk what trick sauce the guy from the UK does. But growing any big annual plant in pots doesnt work for me. Herbs and fruit trees absolute yes but anything hat ussual is grown in ground doesnt do well. They stall and winder there
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JustMichiganDave
There's another method I've seen where you plant them in the bucket like you did, but then when they germinate you add another container with no top or bottom on top of the original pot and plant more potatoes in second pot. Then when those sprout you add yet another container on top of that. I guess you could continue with another one, but htere probably is a limit of how high it can go. At the end of the season you have all the plants growing and each container is full of potatoes. Sort of a potato vertical garden.
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There's another method I've seen where you plant them in the bucket like you did, but then when they germinate you add another container with no top or bottom on top of the original pot and plant more potatoes in second pot. Then when those sprout you add yet another container on top of that. I guess you could continue with another one, but htere probably is a limit of how high it can go. At the end of the season you have all the plants growing and each container is full of potatoes. Sort of a potato vertical garden.
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wolrdtraveller
I think the planting depth and number of potatoes definitely is determined by whether it’s a determinate or indeterminate potato variety. Secondly, I learned the hard way that growing in potato sacks with soil that had been spent in years past, even with additional supplementation, was lacking certain key minerals. Adding kelp meal and langbenite really helped. I had to terminate the plants early due to disease, and I still got six full size potatoes per plant after supplementing with the right minerals.
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I think the planting depth and number of potatoes definitely is determined by whether it’s a determinate or indeterminate potato variety. Secondly, I learned the hard way that growing in potato sacks with soil that had been spent in years past, even with additional supplementation, was lacking certain key minerals. Adding kelp meal and langbenite really helped. I had to terminate the plants early due to disease, and I still got six full size potatoes per plant after supplementing with the right minerals.
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BobSmith-rf3ph
I've been doing this the past couple of years after seeing some of Tony's videos - half a dozen pots of earlies, 15 pots of main crop blight resistant ones, it's pretty easy all round, just a case of keeping an eye on the weather to ensure they don't dry out, always worth keeping an eye on the bottom of the bucket too! That being said, Scotland's weather this spring has been virtually tropical, so it's pretty much giving them a water every day and regretting life choices of NOT doing an irrigation setup!
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I've been doing this the past couple of years after seeing some of Tony's videos - half a dozen pots of earlies, 15 pots of main crop blight resistant ones, it's pretty easy all round, just a case of keeping an eye on the weather to ensure they don't dry out, always worth keeping an eye on the bottom of the bucket too! That being said, Scotland's weather this spring has been virtually tropical, so it's pretty much giving them a water every day and regretting life choices of NOT doing an irrigation setup!
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Snakeskii
If folks are using commercial compost to mix with peat they need to be careful. Sometimes the bags, especially in the spring, are sold when they aren't completely finished and still warm to the touch. If you mix peat in with compost in that state, it can reactivate and completely cook anything you've got planted in it. I made this mistake one year and my beds had temperatures of 140 degrees f for several weeks. If the compost is cold it's fine, but if it's warm at all, I would not mix it with peat.
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If folks are using commercial compost to mix with peat they need to be careful. Sometimes the bags, especially in the spring, are sold when they aren't completely finished and still warm to the touch. If you mix peat in with compost in that state, it can reactivate and completely cook anything you've got planted in it. I made this mistake one year and my beds had temperatures of 140 degrees f for several weeks. If the compost is cold it's fine, but if it's warm at all, I would not mix it with peat.
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charlesdotwin
Its probably best to pamper the plants we plan on eating, but potatoes can be pretty durable for lazy gardening too in my limited experience.
After using kithen scraps for the middle layer of our new tall raised beds I can confidently report that potatoes can overwinter down to 12F. Iiif buried one foot and kept warmish with a hoop cover and winter veggies. Im leaving them zero room, but i wont kill them either. They are currently fighting turnip greens for space.
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Its probably best to pamper the plants we plan on eating, but potatoes can be pretty durable for lazy gardening too in my limited experience.
After using kithen scraps for the middle layer of our new tall raised beds I can confidently report that potatoes can overwinter down to 12F. Iiif buried one foot and kept warmish with a hoop cover and winter veggies. Im leaving them zero room, but i wont kill them either. They are currently fighting turnip greens for space.
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sociopathmercenary
Special containers, several types of soil amendments, plus continuous labor. Makes me appreciate those big bags of potatoes at the store.
My wife and I have this discussion every year. Are we gardening to get better cheaper vegetables or because we enjoy the fight against weeds, pests, critters, and diseases We've started focusing on high value gardening where we grow things that are rare or expensive in our area. Or produce that can mostly care for itself.
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Special containers, several types of soil amendments, plus continuous labor. Makes me appreciate those big bags of potatoes at the store.
My wife and I have this discussion every year. Are we gardening to get better cheaper vegetables or because we enjoy the fight against weeds, pests, critters, and diseases We've started focusing on high value gardening where we grow things that are rare or expensive in our area. Or produce that can mostly care for itself.
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kirstypollock6811
I've been disappointed by my container potatoes compared to raised beds and those did worse for me than in ground in trenches. Not really hilled in any case. Trench ones were mulched with chipped green conifer cuttings - I heard potatoes like a slightly acid soil I got about 1kg (2. 2lbs) per plant in trenches, sometimes much more. Not matched that by any other method.
Commercial potato yields are estimated at about 10: 1 by weight of seed potato planted.
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I've been disappointed by my container potatoes compared to raised beds and those did worse for me than in ground in trenches. Not really hilled in any case. Trench ones were mulched with chipped green conifer cuttings - I heard potatoes like a slightly acid soil I got about 1kg (2. 2lbs) per plant in trenches, sometimes much more. Not matched that by any other method.
Commercial potato yields are estimated at about 10: 1 by weight of seed potato planted.
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Lana-e3n
My grandkids and I took the potatoes that we had started sprouting in our kitchen and tossed them in a black flower pot and they currently have foliage after a few weeks but we forgot to add fertilizer because it was our very first time planting them and we’re really looking forward to our growing experience and hopefully getting some potatoes but will definitely figure out how to follow your process next time
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My grandkids and I took the potatoes that we had started sprouting in our kitchen and tossed them in a black flower pot and they currently have foliage after a few weeks but we forgot to add fertilizer because it was our very first time planting them and we’re really looking forward to our growing experience and hopefully getting some potatoes but will definitely figure out how to follow your process next time
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pintsizestories196
The early potatoes like Norland don't need hilling as they make potatoes in a fairly short space of time. Russets and other long season potatoes can benefit from hilling as they sort of make lawyers of potatoes and you can get bigger yields if you mound up the soil where they will make more roots. I've had good results growing potatoes in grow bags. I find each seed potato makes 6-8 potatoes.
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The early potatoes like Norland don't need hilling as they make potatoes in a fairly short space of time. Russets and other long season potatoes can benefit from hilling as they sort of make lawyers of potatoes and you can get bigger yields if you mound up the soil where they will make more roots. I've had good results growing potatoes in grow bags. I find each seed potato makes 6-8 potatoes.
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islandwills2778
ok pro tip, you can just cut that potato into pieces instead of gouging out each eye. It is best to have each piece with two eyes on it, you can actually do just one eye but two is better and each single piece will grow a new plant. This can allow for your seed potato to go MUCH further, in the beginning that single potato could have been cut up to make at least 3 plants.
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ok pro tip, you can just cut that potato into pieces instead of gouging out each eye. It is best to have each piece with two eyes on it, you can actually do just one eye but two is better and each single piece will grow a new plant. This can allow for your seed potato to go MUCH further, in the beginning that single potato could have been cut up to make at least 3 plants.
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anekarice
When I was a first year uni student back in 1998, I realised I could get a bag of potatoes for 79p and a tin of baked beans for about 7p each. I had zero money, so this kept me alive. It was not healthy in any way whatsoever and I was painfully thin by the end of the year.
I guess this isn't relevant to the video at all, but here we are. I still love jacket potato and beans.
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When I was a first year uni student back in 1998, I realised I could get a bag of potatoes for 79p and a tin of baked beans for about 7p each. I had zero money, so this kept me alive. It was not healthy in any way whatsoever and I was painfully thin by the end of the year.
I guess this isn't relevant to the video at all, but here we are. I still love jacket potato and beans.
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deebirdwell2051
Oh my goodness, so glad you explained the potato berries. I grew potatoes last year, did not have berries. Grew potatoes this year and had berries, wondered if my tomato plants had crossed my potato plants. Btw I grew all russet potatoes both times in 7 gallon plant bags and had very good yield. Feeling pretty proud of my accomplishments in zone 10A Tampa Bay FL.
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Oh my goodness, so glad you explained the potato berries. I grew potatoes last year, did not have berries. Grew potatoes this year and had berries, wondered if my tomato plants had crossed my potato plants. Btw I grew all russet potatoes both times in 7 gallon plant bags and had very good yield. Feeling pretty proud of my accomplishments in zone 10A Tampa Bay FL.
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denyshadials5702
I normally take out most of the eyes. But this year I just threw them in there. Also only did four potatoes instead of 6. The Yukon golds are starting to die back and I’m excited to make a comparison. I’m also gonna wait a few days after the plants are completely dead. No greenery.
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I normally take out most of the eyes. But this year I just threw them in there. Also only did four potatoes instead of 6. The Yukon golds are starting to die back and I’m excited to make a comparison. I’m also gonna wait a few days after the plants are completely dead. No greenery.
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Mageofpie
Hey mate, if you do another test I'd be curious if you could have a control where you don't actually go cutting off sections of the seed potatoes. I have seen that tip a few times but haven't watched a video where someone actually puts it to the test. If anyone knows of any that'd be cool.
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Hey mate, if you do another test I'd be curious if you could have a control where you don't actually go cutting off sections of the seed potatoes. I have seen that tip a few times but haven't watched a video where someone actually puts it to the test. If anyone knows of any that'd be cool.
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BackyardRebel
I had a bag of the gold potatoes (store bought) start to grow eyes, so I thought I'd try planting them in my raised bed. Didn't know eyes look at the sky and planted them upside down. Lol. However, they're growing! I'll be keeping an eye out for flowers. didn't know potatoes flowered.
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I had a bag of the gold potatoes (store bought) start to grow eyes, so I thought I'd try planting them in my raised bed. Didn't know eyes look at the sky and planted them upside down. Lol. However, they're growing! I'll be keeping an eye out for flowers. didn't know potatoes flowered.
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davidb6961
Mmmm your result was as disappointing as my result from 4 grow bags. The best result came from sprouting supermarket potatoes of unknown variety. I have tried different methods over 4 years and I am coming to the conclusion growing potatoes at home is not that productive, just OK.
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Mmmm your result was as disappointing as my result from 4 grow bags. The best result came from sprouting supermarket potatoes of unknown variety. I have tried different methods over 4 years and I am coming to the conclusion growing potatoes at home is not that productive, just OK.
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michellehenson12
I have to say it: I seriously cannot stand videos with unrealistic AI thumbnails of massive harvests like this. I always feel like my intelligence is being insulted, and I find it hard to respect the people who choose to do this. Also, where was Jacques I just don't get it.
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I have to say it: I seriously cannot stand videos with unrealistic AI thumbnails of massive harvests like this. I always feel like my intelligence is being insulted, and I find it hard to respect the people who choose to do this. Also, where was Jacques I just don't get it.
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