Grow potatoes in bags

30 minutes, then a few minutes a week · Easy · 7 steps

Potatoes on a patio: no digging to plant, and you just tip the bag over to harvest.

Potatoes in a grow bag, from planting to harvest
a4 in3 inbc12345

Fig. Potatoes in a grow bag, from planting to harvest.

  1. Seed potato pieces, eyes up
  2. 4 inches of mix underneath, 3 inches on top
  3. The bag starts rolled down
  4. Add mix or straw as the plants grow, leaving the top leaves out
  5. New potatoes form along the buried stems

What you'll need

Amazon links are affiliate links: we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

You'll also need

  • Seed potatoes from a garden center or catalog (grocery potatoes are often treated so they won't sprout)
  • Compost

Steps

  1. A week or two before your last frost, cut large seed potatoes into chunks with at least two eyes each. Let them dry for a day or two.
  2. Roll down the sides of a 10-gallon grow bag and put in about 4 inches of potting mix mixed with compost.
  3. Set 2 or 3 seed pieces on top, eyes up, and cover them with 3 inches of mix.
  4. When the shoots are 6 to 8 inches tall, add mix or straw until only the top few leaves show, and unroll the bag as you go.
  5. Keep adding every week or two until the bag is full. New potatoes form along the buried stems.
  6. Water whenever the top inch is dry, and feed with liquid fertilizer every few weeks.
  7. For small new potatoes, reach in a couple of weeks after the plants flower. For storage potatoes, wait until the leaves die back, then tip the bag out onto a tarp.

Tips

  • Set bags in full sun, on a spot where the soil can spill when you harvest.
  • Green skin on a potato is bitter and mildly toxic. Keep the potatoes covered, and cut away any green before cooking.

Use it in Planting Year