Growing Potatoes Indoors

If you are someone who has never known the delight of eating freshly dug potatoes, having your own personal potato garden, right in your terrace or porch, may look like a total treat. Growing potatoes indoors have many advantages, the foremost benefit being that of keeping your potatoes weed free and bug free. As critters love potatoes almost as much as we humans do, it is important to keep them away from the potato harvest. Growing potatoes indoors is huge fun, the only hitch being watering the plant, as potatoes require loads of water, apart from heat and light, to spud. It is important to keep the soil moist almost all the time. The best part about growing potatoes indoors is that it leaves you with the option to play with as many varieties as possible. To know more on how to grow potato indoors, read on.

How To Grow Potatoes Indoors

When planting potatoes indoors, it is important to choose your place wisely. No matter what kind of tub or container you choose to plant your potatoes, ensure that your potatoes gets maximum light.
It is important to ensure that your container has a good drainage provision, when planting potatoes indoors. Layer the bottom of the container with a thin layer of pebbles. In a container, combine several cups of pre-moistened peat moss along with the bag of potting soil and some leaves to make a fluffy mixture. Fill your container with a third full of this soil.
Take the seed potatoes and slice them in a way so that each part has an eye. Plant the spud seeds at least six inches apart from each other. Don’t plant the seeds too close to the sides of the container. Cover the spuds with three inches of soil. You will have to add more soil to your plant, as the potato spuds.
When your potatoes grow around six inches in height, add 2-3 inches of soil to the container. Continue to add soil until your plant reaches three inches from the top of your container.
Keeping your potatoes hydrated is the key to yummy potatoes. Thus, it is important to consistently water your potatoes, when growing indoors. Potatoes grown indoors require more water than those grown outdoors, since they do not have much soil. Also, houses are much dryer than warm and humid outdoors. Thus, its best to keep them watered always.
No matter where you grow your potatoes, it is important to keep them pest free. Colorado potato beetles are perhaps potatoes worst foe, closely followed by aphids, which are almost a common scene in every household. To keep your potatoes bug free, just spray a mixture of dishwashing soap combined with water and see the critters disappear in no time.
Your potato plants may show some occasional flowers and fruits, which are totally harmless for your tubers. In fact, the fruits help your tubers to grow even better. The flowers are signs that you can harvest other potatoes from your spuds.
Space out your harvest by selecting the small potatoes in the beginning, thereby paving way for the larger ones to grow. The harvest time for potatoes grown indoors usually ranges from 2-4 months. You will know that your potatoes are ready for harvest when the vines turn yellow and die out.

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