Crop lessons · Tubers and staples
Growing Potatoes (Irish potatoes) in Florida
Solanum tuberosum · Solanaceae (tomato family)
The Irish potato is a cool-season crop in Florida, planted in winter and dug in spring, which is when the state's commercial growers supply new potatoes to the rest of the country. Home gardeners start from cut pieces of certified seed potatoes, not grocery-store tubers. The usual trouble is water: potatoes rot in soggy or flooded ground, so they are grown on raised hills.1, 2
Planting1, 2, 3
| How to start | seed pieces (cut certified seed potatoes) |
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| Seed depth (inches) | 3 to 4 (seed pieces) |
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| Spacing in the row (inches) | 5 to 10 |
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| Between rows (inches) | 36 to 42 |
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| Days to harvest | 85 to 110 |
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The Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide gives planting windows of January to March in North Florida, November to February in Central Florida and October to January in South Florida, and rates the crop as one that survives transplanting only with care. Gardening Solutions puts it more simply: January anywhere in the state, February still in the north and center, October to January in the south. Use certified seed potatoes; store potatoes may carry disease and are often treated to stop sprouting. Cut pieces of about 2 to 2.5 ounces (egg size) with at least one eye, and let them heal for 1 or 2 days somewhere cool (60 to 65 F), dark and airy before planting cut side down. The sources differ on depth and spacing: the guide's table says 3 to 4 inches deep and 5 to 10 inches apart in rows at least 36 to 42 inches apart; EDIS HS933 says 4 inches deep, 6 to 8 inches apart, rows at least 36 inches apart; Gardening Solutions says to set pieces in a 6-inch-deep trench.
Varieties UF/IFAS lists for Florida1, 2, 3
- Red Pontiac
- Yukon Gold
- Gold Rush
- LaChipper
- Sebago
- Red LaSoda
- LaRouge
- Russet Norkotah
Growing1, 2, 3
| Sun | Full sun |
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| Soil pH | 5 to 6 |
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| Water | Potatoes are grown in Florida's drier months, so extra irrigation is often needed. Keep moisture moderate and even: overwatering rots roots and tubers and washes fertilizer away, while swings from dry to wet produce rough or knobby tubers. Water in the morning, or in the furrows between beds, so leaves dry before night. |
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| Fertilizer | A heavy feeder. EDIS HS933 calls for nitrogen and potassium every season, split in two: about 0.75 lb of nitrogen and 0.5 lb of potassium per 100 feet of row at planting (roughly 7.5 lb of 10-0-10), then the same again banded 4 to 6 inches beside the plants 3 to 4 weeks later, when plants are 6 to 8 inches tall. Mix in any phosphorus a soil test calls for at planting. The vegetable guide adds that tuber crops respond to potassium. |
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Plant on hills at least 10 to 12 inches above the surrounding soil so water drains off; plants must never stand in water. When sprouts break the surface, pull 2 to 3 inches of soil over the row (hilling) so new tubers are not exposed to sun. Plants are hurt below 32 F: cover small plants with soil or larger ones with frost cloth, and remove the cover once it warms.
Pests and diseases in Florida2
- Colorado potato beetle, flea beetles, aphids, leafhoppers: Leaf and stem feeders listed by EDIS HS933. Hand-pick in small plantings, keep weeds down, and rotate so potatoes return to the same spot only every 3 years.
- Wireworms: Damage the tubers; crop rotation is the main preventive step HS933 gives.
- Early blight and late blight: The fungal diseases that cause the most leaf damage on Florida potatoes, per HS933. Water early in the day, stay out of wet plants and use certified seed.
- Rhizoctonia: Can rot stems at the soil line or leave raised black spots on tubers.
- Leafroll and mosaic viruses: Cause stunting, leaf curl and yellowing; pull affected plants.
- Corky ringspot (tobacco rattle virus): Spread by the stubby-root nematode and leaves lesions inside tubers.
Harvest2, 3
Most varieties are ready 80 to 115 days after planting (Gardening Solutions says about three months). For storage potatoes, let the plants die back, or cut the tops off at the soil, and leave the tubers in the ground 2 to 3 more weeks to toughen their skins. Dig deep enough not to cut them. Cure for 10 to 14 days at 60 to 65 F in a dark, airy place, then store cool (45 to 50 F) and humid; they can keep 3 to 6 months or more. Throw away green potatoes: the green parts carry solanine, a bitter toxin.
In an aquaponics system4, 3
suited with care
Neither aquaponics source names potatoes. The FAO manual says root crops and tubers are grown less often in aquaponics, need special attention, and succeed only in deep media beds or in wicking beds (pp. 92 and 151-152). Separately, UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions describes growing potatoes hydroponically in perlite: a container at least 10 inches deep with drainage holes 2 inches up the side, seed pieces set cut side down about an inch below the surface, and regular soluble fertilizer once they sprout. That is a hydroponic method, not a tested aquaponic one.
What this lesson doesn't cover yet
- Seed depth and spacing differ between the three UF/IFAS sources (3 to 4 in, 4 in, or a 6-in trench; 5 to 10 in or 6 to 8 in apart). All are shown in planting notes; a reviewer may want to pick one.
- No aquaponics source addresses potatoes by name; the note relies on FAO's statement about root crops and tubers as a group.
Your county extension office and its Master Gardener volunteers can fill these in for your garden.