How to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes in old garbage cans (large), barrels and old bathtubs.

Evening people. I'm looking for more ways to grow more potatoes or sweet potatoes to produce as many as I can for myself, my folks and everybody else to have. How wide are the plants if being grown in a tub or garbage can, and how many tubers would one plant produce to have for one or more people? I've never grown potatoes in a garbage can or any other large container, but It'd be a sustainable thing to do. I'd like to see some pictures, examples of what the plantings would look like in any large container including an old tub or barrel. Do they require some type of care after they been planted in them? All questions and feedback are welcome on this post for exchange of ideas and stuff. Adios!

Blake said, " I've never grown potatoes in a garbage can or any other large container, but It'd be a sustainable thing to do.

I like a suggestion that I saw someone here on the forum said to plant in cardboard boxes.

When you are ready to harvest you just pick up the box and the potatoes fall out the bottom.

This might not be a sustainable way with sweet potatoes so your idea might be better for those.

I'm actually trying something new this year with my potatoes. Since I was able to pick up some wire fencing for free (It's crazy what people throw away and then think I'm crazy for getting excited about it!!!), I dug out some grass, placed my seed potatoes down, threw some compost and shredded leaf mulch over them, and made a ring around them with the fence. Plan on just covering the plants with more leaf mulch and straw as they grow.

Anne, I saw that post as well and am really intrigued by it as well. I might just give that method a try as well if I have some more potatoes start to sprout. I wonder how well it would work indoors with a grow light; get some fresh spuds during the winter!

I planted potatoes in tubs last evening, for the first time ever, will see how they do. I do web site work for a small winery that buys concentrated juice in 55 gallon drums and they gave me some, I just cut them in half and filled them abut 1/3 full of partially composted wood chips and soil and put the potatoes in, as they grow, I'll add more compost until it gets to the top. I drilled holes in the edges at the top and attached rope to serve as handles, theory being I'll be able to just dump them out to harvest, I hope it goes well, I'll see I reckon.

Sweet potatoes are a different story. I've been growing and breeding them from true seeds for about ten years.

One of the things I've focused on is for adaptation to growing in relatively small containers. They have a wide range of growth habits. On some the roots are very spreading, the storage roots (sweet potatoes) may form anywhere along the feeder roots. These do not do well in containers, as the feeder roots will exit the container through the drain holes and the sweet potatoes will form deep in the ground or far from the actual containers. If growing this type in containers, they would have to be very large.

A trait I call clump root, and that I have been selecting for, is when a nice cluster of sweet potatoes from immediately beneath the plants primary stem.  These also tend to have a bushy non-spreading vine growth habit. My bushy, clump root line produces very well in pots as small as three gallons. *The feeder roots still exit the drain holes, so it is important to bury the pots to above any side drain holes and not to move them once plants are established. If they are moved and the feeder roots broken, then it becomes necessary to frequently water and feed compost tea in order to produce a nice harvest.

Will Whitt wrote: I have some more potatoes start to sprout. I wonder how well it would work indoors with a grow light; get some fresh spuds during the winter!

I don't know about potatoes, but my sweet potatoes are easily adapted to growing as houseplants or in a green house. A warm south facing window is all that's needed to produce a continuous supply of greens all season long. My house is quite small and window space is at a premium, so I haven't experimented a whole lot with producing actual sweet potatoes inside but from some limited observations I'm fairly confident that is doable as well.

I expect in the spring of 2024 or perhaps this fall to be offering my sweet potatoes for sale as clones and perhaps also as seeds.
Reed's Landrace Sweet Potaotes

It's great to see that you're interested in propagation tips and tricks for growing potatoes and sweet potatoes in a tub or garbage can. This is actually a really cool and sustainable idea!

In terms of the width of the plants, it really depends on the size of the container. Generally, you want to give each potato plant enough space to grow and develop, so you should space them out by about 12-18 inches in all directions. As for how many tubers each plant can produce, that can vary as well, but typically you can expect to get anywhere from 5-10 tubers per plant.

I don't have any pictures to share at the moment, but there are plenty of examples online of how to plant potatoes in large containers like old tubs or barrels. Just make sure that the container has adequate drainage and that you're using a good quality potting mix. As for care, you'll want to keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged, and you can also add a slow-release fertilizer to help keep the plants healthy.

I hope this helps, and happy planting! Let us know how it goes and if you have any other questions. Take care and adios!

Good morning
Do I put the lid back on until the start to sprout

Welcome to the forum, Barb!

Putting the lid back on to create a dark space might help until the potatoes need light.

To me I might forget on forget to take the lid off ....

Barb Knott wrote:Good morning
Do I put the lid back on until the start to sprout

I wouldn't. Some air exchange is needed to control moisture levels. If it's too wet your seed potatoes might rot.

I'm in western NM, I think the only part of the state that hasn't had any real rain in so long I can't remember what green looks like.  

This means that every wild critter is thirsty and hungry. I can't plant anything in the ground now unless there's a cage in the dirt and above ground. My only more-or-less reliable method is growing in containers with huge ugly cages around them.  I do leave water out for the wildlife, but I can't feed everything and I don't want to encourage more critters to come to try to get through my cages.

Anyway, I want to try going potatoes in containers. My growing conditions are: high altitude, wild daily temperature swings, early killing frost (mid-September usually), late last frost (late May), and of course drought. I'm willing to grow them in a sunroom if necessary.

I would love to get any advice I could from people who've had success. Or failure - I can learn from that, too!

I've had good luck with growing potatoes in large tubs like I mentioned above. I switched tactics a bit by just using good compost in the bottoms, with the potatoes barely buried and then filling to the top with loose material, crass clippings, pulled weeds and so on with just a bit of compost mixed in. That makes it so I don't have to lift to dump the tubs, I can just put on gloves and dig the taters with my fingers.

Our area is getting hotter and drier in recent decades and potatoes are much harder to grow than they used to be. Using the tubs makes it easier to keep them well watered. They also do best with a bit of shade cloth and might work better if the tubs were white instead of blue, black is even worse.  A patch of corn or some other tall plants to the south can help too.

From your description of your season, I'm guessing sweet potatoes might do well for you too. At least here they are much more tolerant of the hot and dry spells. Sometimes I hear people say, "I don't like sweet potatoes". I think that's kind of funny because there are jillions of different kinds, they can't be judged by sampling just one kind or by just one method of preparation. Many will produce a respectable crop in 90 days or even a bit less as they don't really mature like most crops. Roots just form pretty early on and keep growing until frost or harvest puts an end to it.

Mark Reed wrote:I've had good luck with growing potatoes in large tubs like I mentioned above. I switched tactics a bit by just using good compost in the bottoms, with the potatoes barely buried and then filling to the top with loose material, crass clippings, pulled weeds and so on with just a bit of compost mixed in. That makes it so I don't have to lift to dump the tubs, I can just put on gloves and dig the taters with my fingers.

Our area is getting hotter and drier in recent decades and potatoes are much harder to grow than they used to be. Using the tubs makes it easier to keep them well watered. They also do best with a bit of shade cloth and might work better if the tubs were white instead of blue, black is even worse.  A patch of corn or some other tall plants to the south can help too.

From your description of your season, I'm guessing sweet potatoes might do well for you too. At least here they are much more tolerant of the hot and dry spells. Sometimes I hear people say, "I don't like sweet potatoes". I think that's kind of funny because there are jillions of different kinds, they can't be judged by sampling just one kind or by just one method of preparation. Many will produce a respectable crop in 90 days or even a bit less as they don't really mature like most crops. Roots just form pretty early on and keep growing until frost or harvest puts an end to it.

I'm definitely going to experiment with potatoes in tubs - and sweet potatoes, too! I hadn't really thought about them, because while they taste OK they don't seem all that interesting to me. But I'm guilty of only trying one kind, so I will broaden my sweet potato taste experience!  Thank you!