Growing Potatoes indoors is much easier than you can imagine. Even if you do not have Gardening experience still you can grow healthy potatoes indoors.
If you are looking for a vegetable to start your home garden then Growing potatoes indoors is the best option. Potatoes do not need much attention and care.
If you have high fertile Potting Soil, Right Container, Natural Light or Grow lights, toothpicks, and clean water, you can grow healthy potatoes.
The best thing about potatoes is that they are a good source of nutrients and you can store them for a long time without much effort.
Potatoes Seeds
You can start growing potatoes indoors from potato seeds. You should buy high-quality potatoes seeds to grow them at home.
Buy potatoes that have small spots on them. These spots are called the eyes of potatoes. This is the part that germinates and one potato with 6 eyes can give you near about 2 lbs of healthy potatoes.
If you do not find potatoes with eyes in the supermarket do not worry, I have a solution for this.
Buy healthy potatoes and leave them near a window for a few days until they develop small sprouts.
Once they Sprout you need to wash them with a vegetable brush. In case you don’t have a brush, wash them under running water and lightly scrub them to remove dirt and another residue. Be careful around the eye of potatoes to make sure they don’t get damaged while washing.
Potato Germination
First of all, take a potato with eyes and cut it into two pieces. Place your potato on a table and cut it from the middle. While cutting them do not cut potato eyes.
Because this is their germinating part.
Now put the 4 toothpicks in the potato as shown in the figure. The purpose of these toothpicks is to hold the potato when you put it on top of the glass of water.
Submerge the potato half into the water as shown in the picture. Now place this glass of water with submerged potato under the grow light or south-facing window.
At this point, you need to give 6 to 7 hours of light per day. After 7 to 10 days, you will surely see the new roots coming out of the potato.
Soil and Container for Growing Potatoes Indoors
For home gardening, you can use plastic-made containers they are easy to move from one place to another and cheap to buy.
Just make sure every container has one drainage hole at the bottom. This hole is there to protect your plant from accidental overwatering.
If you give more than enough water to your plant the extra water will drain out of the container through this darning hole.
Put small stones or pebbles at the bottoms of the container. This action will protect your plant from root rot and mildew.
To get a high yield you should use a container that has 9.5L of capacity.
Fill one-third of the container with potting soil. The soil should be loose and high nutritious. The pH of the soil should be between 5 to 5.7.
If the soil pH is high, use a Soil acidifier also called elemental sulfur to adjust it to near 5.4.
In the next step place the potatoes in the pot with roots facing down into the soil. The longest sprout should be facing toward the ceiling.
Now cover the potatoes with 2 to 3-inch-thick layers of soil.
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Light for Indoor Growing Potatoes
Potatoes need a good amount of light for 8 to 12 hours per day. The light source can be sunlight or artificial man-made grow lights.
If you can give sunlight to your potatoes for 8 hours then you do not need to buy grow lights. You will harvest a huge number of potatoes in the end.
But if sunlight is not sufficient then you definitely need a grow light.
In fact, it is best to buy a grow light for indoor growing potatoes. Moreover, if you can afford a grow tent you can grow any vegetable at any time of the year.
Because grow tents give you full control over the vegetable growth. You can control the internal environment of the tent.
600 watts of LED grow light is enough to use for growing potatoes indoors and many other vegetables and salad items.
Water requirements of potatoes
At the initial stage keep the soil moist and spray water once every 2 to 3 days. After week 6 you must increase the water applications.
Because now potatoes are in the second stage of growth and need more water to grow large in size.
Avoid overwatering the plants because this will only result in potato fungus. always check the soil conditions before watering them.
If the top 2 inches of the soil are dry then immediately give some water to your potato plants. They must be clean and do not contain heavy minerals.
In some parts of the country tap water is not suitable for drinking. You must not use such water for watering indoor growing potatoes.
Cut the water supply 15 days before the harvesting time. This will help the tubers to dry and curve.
Fertilizing
Indoor growing potato plants need fertilizers once in 30 days. Use any balanced liquid fertilizer that has a bunch of organic content.
Stop feeding your plants 14 days before the harvesting time.
For feeding take the appropriate amount of liquid fertilizer and mix it well in water. Then pour it to the base of the plant.
Adding Soil
Add more soil to your container as the potato plant grows in height. Because when the potato vine grows it produces potatoes. Potatoes need sunlight to fall on the foliage.
So, by mixing more soil you can encourage your plant to grow more in height and produce more potatoes.
Harvest your Potatoes
After 10 weeks you can harvest your potatoes. If you cannot remember the plant age don’t worry wait until the foliage gets to die.
Whenever the foliage begins to die, stop watering it, and after 7 days harvest your potatoes.
Give water to your plant to loosen the soil and after 30 min take the plants out of the container. Collect the fresh potatoes with your hands (wear garden gloves).
Leave the potatoes as they are for 3 hours to harden the skin.
This process will save them from many diseases and you can store them for a long time.
Store Harvested Potatoes
The good news is you can store your potatoes for 5 months in a cool and dark place. keep the temperature between 8 to 14 degrees C.
You can also store your potatoes in the refrigerator in the vegetable tray but for only 1 week. Because after 7 days the starch in potatoes starts converting into sugar so use them within 7 to 8 days.
If you are storing them in your fridge.
Common Problem with indoor growing potatoes
Aphids
These are small soft-bodied bugs that are common in indoor gardening. they suck the sap of the plant and make it nutrient deficient.
If you do not fix the problem on time then your plant will die in a few days.
To get rid of them you need to use rubbing alcohol and a cotton cloth to wipe them manually.
You can also use insecticidal soap to rinse your plants.
Late Blight
When you see dark splotches on the leaves and stems this indicates that your plant is overwatered. Due to warm weather and wet soil fungus started to build up and attack the tubers.
They start to rot and in serve damage, you feel an unpleasant smell.
To cure this disease, you need to buy a copper-based fungicide and use it as per the instructions. You cannot fully cure the plant but you can prevent this disease by limiting the water supply.
Nutritional Values of Indoor Grown Potatoes
Indoor gardens can give us a continuous supply of these vegetables year-round. Potatoes are rich in potassium and studies have shown that a high potassium diet prevents many heart diseases.
Potatoes are also stable blood pressure or high blood pressure which is responsible for hypertension at a young age.
The vitamin C present in them acts as the best antioxidant for humans. We all know antioxidants are good for our overall health, especially for our skin cells.
Foods rich in antioxidants saves our skin tissues from bacterial attack which makes our skin dull and dry. Some people use potato slices to remove dark circles under their eyes.
Good Mental Health
Growing Potatoes Indoors increases our mental health. They contain vitamin B6 which is required for maintaining our neurological health. This vitamin helps our brain to produce an essential chemical for proper functioning.
Strong Immunity
Potatoes make our immune system strong and common conditions like cold and flu do affect our body. Again, vitamin C plays a major role in improving immunity. They are also rich in fiber content which improves our digestion system. Proper digestion is key to good health (both mentally and physically).
We hope you understand the whole process of growing potatoes and their benefits. See you next time with the latest news on indoor gardening.
