How To Grow Potato Plants in a Flower Pot

As I was doing the research on growing your own food, I came across this article on ehow.com. It is an experiment I am willing to try sometime. Read on...

Being a potato lover all my life, I often wondered how a potato becomes a potato. I mean, where are the seeds? So as an experiment one spring day, I grabbed an old potato that had sprouted roots, cut it up and threw the pieces in a flower pot with some planting soil. In a few days, I had several little green leaves sprouting in the dirt!

Things You’ll Need:

* A sprouted potato (any kind will work)
* A Large flower pot
* Planting soil, enough to fill the flower pot.
* Water
* A knife

Step 1
Using the knife, cut the sprouted potato in chunks about the size of an ice cube. Make sure you cut the potato so the spouted roots are kind of in the center of the chunk.

Step 2
Fill your flower pot about 3/4 full of soil.

Step 3
Place about 5 chunks of potato in the flower pot. I usually place the potato chunks in a pattern similar to what a 5 on a dice looks like.

Step 4
Lightly cover the potato chunks with soil until the pot is almost full. Do not pack the soil down as potatoes like loose dirt.

Step 5
Slowly add water to the flower pot, making sure the soil does not float out of the pot. Add enough water so the soil is well moistened. (I add water until the water starts to come out of the bottom of the pot. That tells me the soil is wet all the way through the pot.)

Step 6
Water the plants every 2-3 days, keeping the soil moist but not soggy.


Tips & Warnings

* When I did this the first time, I used the largest flower pot I had - it was about 12 inches deep. The plants came up quickly and were a dark green leafy plant. I thought it was a very pretty plant. I left the plant in the pot until they were about 12 inches tall. When I pulled the plants out of the dirt, I had several small, egg size potatoes at the bottom of each plant, where the roots were. The next time I grew the potatoes, I planted them in the ground and I left them there until the end of the summer. The potatoes were bigger but not as sweet tasting.

* Potato plants like lots of water. Do not drown them but make sure you remember to water them regularly.

* Potato plants like loose soil. If your soil is too hard, add some sand or some other type of light weight planting material.

* Once you pull up the plants, do not wash the potatoes right away. Their skins are very soft and will easily rub off. Let them air dry, dirt and all, at least 24 hours. When they are dry. brush the dirt off but do not scrub the potatoes until you are ready to use them.
End of article

What about you? Are you willing to try this experiment. If you do let me know about it. Another step towards self-suffiency.