Planting Potatoes: How To Plant Potatoes In The Fall
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It’s been a busy week here on the homestead. We are making the most of the warm fall weather to start planting next year’s potatoes. There are many benefits to planting potatoes in the fall.
Years ago we were talking to an “old-time” farmer and he told us that when he was a boy they always planted potatoes, garlic, and onions in the fall. That really got us thinking about how we organized our planting and growing of potatoes.
Potatoes are a very hardy plant. Every year we have volunteer potato plants coming up in the garden and they grow and produce just fine. So why do we work so hard to try and plant them in the spring when we are busy with other garden jobs?
Benefits Of Planting Potatoes In The Fall
1. Potatoes Get A Head Start
Potatoes planted in the fall get a head start on the growing season. They will stay dormant in the soil over the winter. In the spring when the soil warms up they will start to grow.
Before you see the potato plants sprouting through the soil they are busy growing roots. By planting the potato tubers in the fall they will start to grow roots as soon as the soil is the right temperature. This gives them at least a 2-week head start over spring-planted potatoes.
2. Planting Isn’t Held Up By Weather
In our zone 5b growing area the spring weather is unpredictable. Many times our planting has been held up by heavy rain or, yes even snowstorms in April and May.
If you’re not using a deep mulch system in your garden a heavy rain can keep you from being able to plant for a week or more until the soil dries out enough to work.
Even if you do use a deep mulch system like Back to Eden or Ruth Stout’s methods, the weather needs to clear up so you can work in the garden.
By planting potatoes in the fall you don’t need to worry about working the soil for planting in the spring. The spring rains will help to get your potatoes off to a good start instead of slowing down planting.
3. Earlier Potato Harvests
Potatoes planted in the fall start to get off to a better start and grow faster than spring-planted potatoes. This means you will normally have an earlier harvest also.
After your first crop of potatoes is harvested you can plant another crop of early maturing potatoes and have 2 harvests of potatoes in one season.
4. No Plagues Of Bugs While Planting
Ok, I know you’re laughing, but I’m serious! When it’s time to plant potatoes in the spring here, it’s the same time swarms of blackflies and mosquitoes are coming out.
I for one don’t like being used as a blood bank while I’m trying to work outside. Planting potatoes in the fall is so much nicer, no bugs!
When To Plant Potatoes In The Fall
You want to plant late in the fall, when your soil is staying cold. Potatoes can start growing once the soil temperature reaches about 40°F to 45°F (4°C to 7°C). Planting late keeps them dormant over the winter, instead of sprouting too early.
A good rule of thumb is to plant your potatoes around the same time you plant your garlic.
How To Plant Potatoes In The Fall
When planting potatoes in the fall one of the first jobs you’ll need to do is get your seed potatoes.
Now in the early spring, these can be easily found in garden centers but it’s not likely you’re going to find them for sale in the fall in the north. This means you will need to save your own seed from a previous harvest.
Saving Your Own Seed Potatoes
If you’re saving your own seed potatoes, you’ll have harvested them in midsummer to early fall, depending on your growing area. Set aside the smaller, golf ball sized potatoes for fall planting.
Then just keep them in a cool, dark place until planting time. Here are more tips on how to store potatoes.
When you plant potatoes in the spring you often cut the tubers into smaller pieces to make the seed potatoes go further. However, when fall planting it’s best to plant the whole potato.
Amazon is one of the few places I’ve found seed potatoes available in the fall!
Potatoes that have been cut into smaller sections for planting have a much higher chance of rotting over the winter. Whereas whole potatoes will safely stay dormant until the warm weather arrives.
When selecting seed potatoes, choose ones that are firm and show no signs of rot, blight, scab, or other diseases. The seed potatoes should be the size of a chicken egg or a golf ball or larger.
This is where some personal preference comes in.
When planting potatoes the larger the seed tuber is the more energy the plant will have to start growing with. However, many people prefer to keep the large and medium-sized potatoes for eating instead of planting.
It’s perfectly fine to save the small egg-sized potatoes to plant your next crop with. I’ve done this and they have always grown just fine.
But I do find that using larger potatoes does get the plants off to a better start and yields a little more.
The next step is to prepare your planting area. We do a deep mulch, no-till gardening. So the process is very simple for us. We make our planting rows using our homemade row maker but you can also use a string line.
The planting rows are deep enough that the mulch is pulled to the side and the bare soil is exposed.
Next, place the seed potatoes into the planting furrows leaving 6 to 8 inches between the tubers.
Once the potatoes are planted we cover them with 1 to 2 inches of rabbit manure mixed with composted wood chips. This will help to provide fertilizer to the plants as it’s washed into the soil over the winter.
Finally, we top the planting furrows up with another 4 inches of wood chip mulch. This provides enough protection from frost and cold over the winter. All together, your seed potatoes end up about 6 inches deep.
I also like to use leaf mulch over top of our fall planted potatoes. Wood chips, straw, and compost all work well too.
Protecting Fall Planted Potatoes From Mice And Voles
If mice or voles are a problem in your garden, there are a few easy ways to protect your potatoes over the winter:
- Plant in raised beds lined with hardware cloth. Mice and voles can’t chew through the steel mesh on the bottom.
- Use steel mesh baskets. These are made for protecting plants from rodents, and you can plant your potatoes right inside them.
- Skip the mulch. Rodents love to hide in mulch, so if they’re a big problem for you, leave it off.
Harvesting Fall Planted Potatoes
Fall planted potatoes start growing as soon as the soil is warm enough in the spring. So they’re often ready to harvest a few weeks to a month earlier than spring planted potatoes. This does depend on the variety you’re growing. Here’s how to tell when it’s time for harvesting potatoes.
FAQ’s
So why not save a little time in the busy spring season and plant your potatoes this fall?
They will be off to a great start next spring and you won’t have to worry about getting the potatoes planted early in the spring.
You May Also Enjoy:
- How To Plant Garlic
- 10 Tips For Getting Your Garden Ready For Fall
- How To Make Leaf Mold
- 10 Vegetables To Plant In The Fall For Early Spring Harvest
- What To Plant In A Fall Garden
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Kim Mills is a homeschooling mom of 6 and lives on an urban homestead in Ontario, Canada. Blogging at Homestead Acres she enjoys sharing tips to help you save money, grow and preserve your own food.
Thank you, we have potatoes to harvest, and thanks to your info I will plant a new crop now.
LOVE THIS! In the back of my mind, I thought planting sprouted potatoes in the fall was possible, but I couldn’t find any gardening website talking about this until I found yours. This is the first year I have successfully grown potatoes, and I only planted eight plants, which I haven’t harvested yet. (But a sneak peek showed me beautiful, potatoes that fill my hand, so I’m eager to dig them up next week.) meanwhile, I bought a bag of organic small potatoes at the store that all sprouted when I didn’t use them, so when I harvest next week, I’ll plant these right in! I’m in zone 4b, MN. Can’t wait for spring to see them pop up before I even have time to plant the rest of the garden😄! Thanks for the tutorial!
HI THERE .
VERY GOOD INFO . I PLAN TO PLANT POTATOS UNDER STRAW IN THE FALL HERE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND BC .
THANK YOU .
BUD .
@bud .,
how deep would you bury the potatoes if you don’t do deep mulch? I live in 7a so it’s warmer here but still gets below zero on occasion and definitely below freezing.
Hello, I loved your article. I am learning how to grow veggies and flowers this year and I was wondering if you can please tell me if I can grow potatoes in grow bags in the fall?
I would love to try this, but I have raised beds would a nice thick layer of mulch on the top keep them safe through the Vermont winter?
Hi Kim!
Though I didn’t plant many potatoes because of a very tiny garden space currently, I tried this this last fall/ early winter and though I though maybe they wouldn’t come up I was pleasantly surprised that they did! Totally plan continue to use this method in the future.
Awesome post! 🙂
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Would it be ok to grow potatoes in containers over-winter? Also what are good companion plants for potatoes?
when do we plant the fall potatoes month
@shirley hubler,
Hello,
This is my first time planting our potatoes last fall. When should we expect to see them pop up?
Thank you!
Hi Kim! I LOVED this article so much. It inspired me to plant about 25 pounds of potatoes in my gardens last Fall on 12/5/21 in SW Iowa, zone 5b. I do have one question regarding the growing time and harvesting. The article briefly mentions that potatoes planted in the Fall grow faster and result in an earlier harvest, but it doesn’t give any guidance as to how much earlier the Fall planted potatoes can/should be ready to harvest. Would you be able to give some thoughts on that based on your experiences, please?
Thank you, following you on FB now! Have a great 2022!
@Tom – Gardens on Glen, I’m. Guessing the best answer will come From trial and error/experience. I wondered as well if I could just sew all the small potatoes I’d harvested in September and plant them before snow in November. I get volunteer potatoes so I think it would work.
I decided to plant my potatoes in the fall as you suggested. After I planted we had some occasionally rain. This past week it’s wormed up to the mid-70s. Those potatoes think it’s spring.
Should I plan to cover the plants when the weather gets frosty? I open to any suggestions to save my early crop.
I live in Central Texas—we do get freezing temps.
I buy potatoes from the grocery store, you know the ones in 5, 8, and 10 pound plastic bags. I plant them and I’ve never had a fail yet. 10 years ago I had my husband throw out some rotten potatoes, the bugger planted them… in the flower garden. We got 5 pounds of potatoes off 5 rotten potatoes… I was sold. Oh by the way zone 4 in July not sure when exactly but it was in the first part of July. I didn’t think it would work cause it’s late in the season and potatoes are planted early spring like April 15 so nearly 3 months late…
I am going to try putting on the potatoes in September. And also in October in a straw bed in northern ohio. My grandson and I are going to try it as an ‘experiment’.
@Ed, was wondering what your experiment results were?
AT
This was so helpful! I’ve been trying to decide if I should try growing potatoes this fall, but wasn’t sure how. I can’t wait to get started! Thanks!
what an interesting idea… I know my squirty potatoes that I leave in the ground overwinter just fine and always give me one big potato (though occasionally they surprise me with two or three). Could I give up part of my harvest to plant in the fall though…that’s a tough decision…..
@Annette, so how did it work out?
how about sweet potatoes? would it work as well?
Can you grow potatoes in the fall in raised garden bed ? I have a raised bed 17′ x 6′ and 2ft deep with cardboard under that then another 2-3 ft of not so good soil
Question…I want to plant fall potatoes in potato bags. I live in zone 6b. Can I leave the bags outside or do I place them in the garage & water throughout winter til spring when I’d move the bags outside?
Do the potatoes come up through the mulch just fine in spring? Or do you have to rake the mulch away in the spring and then rake it back into place once the plants are large enough?
I liv in New Mexico mountains..6500…wen can I plant my potatoes…
I just came across your blog and am so appreciative of all your amazing content!
I’ve been having a serious gopher problem, so I’m worried about fall planting my potatoes. They got 3/4 of my garlic this year too! Any tips?
I tried potatoes last spring and was not successful, my plants were about 5 ft tall…. I was clueless when to harvest them and when I did out of 20 plants I got 6 potatoes…. I live in East Texas, which is hot! This was my first try at gardening and I love it I just need help with my potatoes
@Leslie, you need to hill your potatoes. When they grow add straw or mulch. The kind you planted will keep growing new potatoes where you hilled them
In the spring you’re supposed to “chit” or get the potatoes sprouted before planting, but it doesn’t look like you do that when winter planting?
No you wouldn’t want to do it in the winter because you don’t want to break the dormancy of the tuber. It’s going to overwinter and then start growing in the spring as soon as the soil temperature is right. But the truth is we never chit potatoes in the spring either and they grow just fine!
Do you think this could be done in a raised garden bed that is 17″ deep? Wondering if it would be deep enough to protect from freezing…
I’m a newbie so this might be a silly question but when do you actually plant them in 5b (same as me!) … is this around September or do you just throw them in whenever?
Hi. I live on Edmonton Alta. Would the potatoes still be good after -40. Or is our winters too cold to plant in the fall ?
I’d try to plant them a bit deeper and mulch them really well than they should be ok. Maybe try a small test patch first to see if it works well in your area.
@Sharon Goodrick, Hi I am down south of you Brooks,AB and I just now did mine and covered them with straw… wish me luck
Thank you for the informative post! I have potatoes from my harvest this summer that have started chitting and greensprouting. Have you tried fall planting with sprouted potatoes? I am curious if the sprouts make them more vulnerable to a freeze. I am in zone 7b in NC.
@Stephanie, hi there, I live in GA also in zone 7. I purchased beautiful organic potatoes and planted them last fall and this spring learned they all rotted and nothing grew. I was very disappointed as I put in a lot of effort in making sure I plantednthem properly! I’m definitely not going to experiment with this again! Too much work and money all down the drain 🥺
Great read. How would you suggest planting in a container. How often to water before first frost? Thanks.
I don’t water any potatoes that are planted in the fall other than the rain that comes. That’s because I’m in a northern zone 5 garden area and I don’t want my potatoes to start growing until spring.
If you are in a southern area and want them to start growing now, then I’d water once a week.
Potatoes grow really well in containers, my only worry about planting them that way in the fall is that they could freeze over the winter because they aren’t protected by being under the ground. So if you try it make sure to use a large container, a 5 gallon or a half barrel should work ok. You could also place the containers in a garage and then put them outside in the spring.
@Kim, if putting them in the garage in containers, when would it be best to bring them outside in the spring?
This is a great idea. I want to try it. But when is it best to plant? …like in weeks before frost?
You can plant them right up until the ground freezes. I like to do it late in the season because I don’t want them to start growing if we have a warm fall. I want them to be dormant until spring.
@Kim,Thank you, Kim!
enjoyed the article . think I will try pla nting potatoes this fall.
Love this post on growing potatoes, will have to try it. We live in Northern New York & this would be perfect for planting our poratoes. Thanks
Hi Kim……what a great idea! I have several “voluntary” potato plants in my garden this summer. They must be from the ones that I missed when digging last fall. I always thought of potatoes as being more tender as the tops are so susceptible to frost. But, now that you mention it……these little potato plants coming up in among my onions and carrots are living proof! So, it only makes sense that they survived the winter…..Thanks for the great post!
Thanks Cathy! Your right the leaves of the potatoes can be hurt by frost but normally the potatoes won’t sprout until the soil is warm enough and that’s after the last frost date in the spring.
One year we had a very late frost and our spring planted potatoes were hit. They did regrow from the tubers again though and we still had a good harvest.
I want to do this, but I have no potatoes left from a crop this year. It’s my first year of gardening. Maybe I can find someone with potatoes from their garden to start. Great idea, thanks.
Evelyn, if you can’t find seed potatoes available check out some local farmers markets. If you can find someone selling organic potatoes they should work just fine!
Love this! I had never thought about planting potatoes in the fall, but I’ve been thinking more and more of winter planting (which takes some planning in Manitoba). Planting 40 hills of potatoes gets tiresome all at once, so splitting it up is so smart! Plus, no more store-bought potatoes in the spring/early summer to get us to the next crop!
Yes, it really does save a lot of time in the spring! We always have a lot of volunteer potatoes coming up and they always start growing and are ready to harvest before ones we would plant in the spring.
@Kim, I live in zone 3 (Saskatchewan) and have raised beds so I’m afraid the potatoes would freeze over winter regardless of covering don’t you?
That’s a great idea. I’ll try it this fall. Thanks for the tip.