Potato Planting Instructions

 
 

How to grow potatoes on Whidbey Island

The mild winter and cool summers of Whidbey Island create ideal growing conditions for all kinds of potatoes. They are and ideal nutritional food, high in vitamin C, potassium, and protein.

  • When choosing your potatoes, choose only certified virus and disease-free seed. All of Bayview Garden potatoes are organic and naturally grown, which is the best option to cultivate your own potatoes. You can also grow potatoes from your own stock.

  • Store seed over the winter in the cool dark place to prevent sprouting. Make sure they do not shrivel and dry up.

  • Seeds should be no smaller than a golf ball. Cut large seeds up, leaving two or three eyes a piece.

  • Avoid planting seeds during a wettest time of the year.

  • Potatoes prefer a loose well-drained soil, high in organic matter, nitrogen, and potassium. A slightly acidic soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.5 is ideal.

  • Prepare the soil by digging deep and removing rocks and debris. Cultivate the soil deeply and break up clay particles.

  • Apply aged manure or ready compost and incorporate well into the soil. Form trenches by digging about 12 inches wide by 6 inches deep. Then add a little aged manure or ready compost to the bottom of the trenches to aid fertility.

  • In addition to an all-purpose organic fertilizer, you can add the following if the soil is especially nutritionally deficient:

    • Bone meal: high phosphorus

    • Greensand: Potassium, an essential nutrient for potatoes

    • Kelp meal: additional potassium and trace minerals

    • Or just use a good all-purpose organic fertilizer, adding extra greensand.

      Incorporate these evenly throughout the soil.

  • Place seed potatoes approximately 10 to 12 inches apart in the rows and cover with 4 to 6

    inches of soil-compost mix. Water thoroughly after planting.

  • Irrigate when soil feels dry a few inches below the surface. Do not let plants go bone dry especially when tubers are forming during the second month. Once flowering begins, you can ease back on the water. You may like to apply a fresh emulsion, nitrogen source, after plant emergence and before flowering.

  • As the plants grow, they require hilling with extra soil. Begin hilling when plants are only 4 inches high but leave the top half of the plant exposed. Hill the plants two or three times as they grow. This provides extra room for the tubers to grow.

  • As potato plants yellow and die, they are ready to harvest. Dig up a few to gauge their size and continue digging if necessary. Is easy to damage a few potatoes with a fork during harvesting. Use these first and store the others in a cool, dark dry location.

  • Pests and diseases only thrive on weak plants. Keep plants healthy by

    • Removing weed competetion.

    • Avoiding overwatering or overly moist conditions, which can cause potato disease, such as scab. Drip or flood irrigation is preferable to overhead watering.

    • Hand removing leaf-eating beetles or applying an organic spray.

    • Growing plants nearby that provide protection to natural predators. Members of the daisy and carrot families are great options.

    • Plant crops in a different area each season to avoid soil disease problems.

 

Our recommendations for amendments to help grow potatoes on Whidbey Island are:

 

EB Stone All-Purpose Plant Food

EB Stone Bone Meal

EB Stone Planting Compost

EB Stone Soil Booster

EB Stone Tomato & Vegetable Food

Espoma Greensand