I Grew Potatoes 3 Ways to See What Method Is Best?

In this video, I show you how I grew potatoes in 3 different ways: from supermarket potatoes, wrist deep, and in drills and we see which is better!



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Self Sufficient Me is based on our small 3-acre property/homestead in SE Queensland Australia about 45kms north of Brisbane - the climate is subtropical (similar to Florida). I started Self Sufficient Me in 2011 as a blog website project where I document and write about backyard food growing, self-sufficiency, and urban farming in general. I love sharing my foodie and DIY adventures online so come along with me and let's get into it! Cheers, Mark :) #potato #homestead #gardening

*Disclaimer: Some links to products in this description and comments sections are affiliated, meaning, I receive a small commission if you follow these links and then purchase an item. I will always declare in a video if the video is sponsored and as of October 2021 I am yet to do a sponsored video.

[Selfsufficientme]

G'day Everyone, yeah I know, two potato videos in a row... My brain's going to mash! Anyway, unrelated - if you are hard up thinking what to get someone this Xmas there's nothing better for the receiver or giver than something you made yourself. A jar of preserve such as jam/jelly, pickles, or some homemade jerky, or even dried fruits, herbs, or spices from your garden is not only cost-effective but also a conversation piece and extra special because it took time and care to make it. Thanks for your support! Cheers :)

[vjm]

Potatoes were the first plant I ever grew on my own. My grandmother and grandfather lived in Maine, USA, so they had to grow all their foods. Potatoes was an absolute staple. So after I grew them (in low light area), I got a decent yield, but not bad considering the potatoes were just eye chunks cut off of store potatoes.
But my grandmother treated them like they were the best potatoes ever. She was so damn proud digging them up, cleaning and pealing them. We boiled some potatoes, and baked others, and she said "These are the best potatoes I ever had."
True or not, I LOVE that memory, and you helped me remember it with this. Bless you, and rest in peace grandma. Love ya.

[martinabenedetti]

Hi, i'm an italian professional farmer, and when we plant potatoes we buy seeds indeed, but before planting them we let them sprout a little. Then we cut the potatoes according to the sprouts and THEN we plant them. By doing so each poatoe can make up to four/five sprouts and each sprout is one plant.

[bradgarrett]

Russel Crowe teaching us how to garden. I love this.

[michaelplanchunas]

In the American west in the 1870s, an army wife wrote about her meeting with a wise, well liked Indian chief named Spotted Tail. He was chief of a band of Northern Cheyenne, and had his tribe settle down and work the land. One day she was hoeing out stones from her garden when Spotted Tail came to say hello. When he found out what she was doing, he told her not to hoe out the stones. He explained: "Sun heats stones, stones heat ground, ground heats potatoes and ready earlier." She wrote that the reason he was at the fort was to sell his early by 3 weeks harvest of potatoes to the army. She also wrote the next year she tried his method and harvested before anyone else.

[ByeByeButterfree]

I think something fascinating about the yield from the grocery store potatoes, is that they were bound for compost or the rubbish once they went bad, so the fact that what was otherwise rubbish at the time produced edible potatoes is so fascinating to me! I’ll have to try this for the forgotten potatoes at the bottom of my cupboard! Theres always a handful that end up at the bottom of the bin and don’t get discovered until too late! 😅

[pamelaroden]

I always loved digging potatoes, it's a bit like Christmas, like unwrapping each gift, big or small is magical and amazing.

[blakeumthun]

The 1st year I grew potatoes, I just bought reds and yellows from the "whole foods" store and planted wrist deep with mulch. 6-8 lbs turned into 35-40 lbs. The next year, bought potatoes from the regular grocery store and I doubled the amount planted and got similar yields. The next year I did the same thing and, also, planted a package of seed potatoes. The store bought outshined the seed variety by two-fold.

[Grandma.Lilly.]

Just shows, if you got potatoes that you can’t eat, just plant them! Free food and no waste. I’ve purchased seed potatoes and love that you can grow potatoes you just can get in the store. 💕

[VictoryHardy]

You’re doing a great thing by making these videos and teaching gardening for self sufficiency. God forbid if a famine happened, a lot of us would be clueless.

[extraincomesuz]

I think the wrist seed potatoes had the most baking potatoes because the size was generally larger potatoes. The middle would be good for cut mixed veggies baked with olive oil and garlic (great for small potatoes) and I agree with the last comment that using the old potatoes means everyone can grow a good pile of potatoes even without a lot of money. Thanks, Mark! I have a big pot that I'm going to put a few potatoes in.👍

[alumidiaz]

The take home message is: plant store-bought spuds instead of throwing them out. Worth a shot! Thanks for the great video.

[lorijudd]

I am from the USA, the Pacific Northwest region. The method of choice for sowing potatoes is to always plant them 4 inches deep in very rich soil. No mulch. We wait until the plants are well established before adding mulch. Then we always wait until the green tops of the plants are good and dead, no green at all, before harvesting.

[BodinaTheRed]

I wish you would have grown the store-bought in The same way as the rows of nursery bought. Very nice by the way and helpful thank you!

[Meowbay]

I've even been comparing different (old, starting to decay/root) potatoes from different supermarket sources. I've kept some of the best ones for seconds, and we now use these every year, it's like its DNA is so strong, it just will not fail over here in The NL (Europe). We're at the 3rd generation of once too old to eat organic potatoes from one of the largest supermarket chains (Ahold/AH), and they still deliver by far the best yields and best tasting ones too. We get about 20 of them out of 1 semi-rotten old one. The most important trick I use is I let the old ones sprout half under water in our freshwater (indoor) aquarium. As soon as the green leaves start to show I plant them in the soil. They then already have lots of roots in the aquarium water. I've heard that by doing this you give them such a well-fed start, lots of potassium, kali and nitrates from the fish, that this is why they deliver such high yields. 1 -> 20 is pretty damn efficient!

[andrewhammill]

The row/drill method seed potatoes do look like it is higher yield, but the seed potatoes you planted wrist deep look like they grew a larger potato. I think those were the most successful. If I had to do it again, I'd grow them that way but earlier in the season.

[turtlegaby]

I love the comparison, but I also have found that old store bought potatoes do just as well as the expensive sprout potatoes. I got a pretty good harvest with them this fall. I never spend additional money, if I can use store bought items. I just love your garden and your outgoing personality. I am a big admirer of your videos.

[gailadler]

I grow my spuds in pots. I used to grow them in raised beds, but you always seem to leave a few (or many) behind. In pots, I upend the pots on a tarp when it’s harvest time and can gather my spuds easily. I grow a mix of seed and store potatoes this way and usually get plenty. I can also grow spuds in pots all year round - temperate zone.

[bethhubbs]

I live in California and my local Costco store has had organic baby potatoes in the food section. It is a mix of a small yellow potato and a small red new potato. They chit very readily and I use them as 'seed potatoes'. They were only about $9 for a bag and because they are small, I don't have to cut them up or do any prep work before planting. Just let the bag sit around for a bit and then plant them out when I'm ready. The first year I planted about half and the other half became all wrinkly before I planted them out. They still grew good potatoes. I have noticed that actual 'seed potatoes' can be expensive so I thought this was a great alternative.
Thanks for your video, Mark!

[Kmunro]

Thanks for taking the time for a comparison of methods. Exactly what I was looking for, and really well done. Five stars, my friend!