Question about harvesting new potatoes

Hi all!

My potato patch is coming along nicely. The plants are abut 28"..71 cm tall & are blossoming. What are new potatoes when & how do you harvest them? I started digging superficially around one plant, but clearly backed out when I saw I was breaking roots.

 

New potatoes are young potatoes on which the skin has not fully hardened. Depending on what variety of potato you plant, you will be able to harvest new potatoes more quickly. So after 2 months minimum is my recommendation to start harvesting new potatoes. You can either scratch the hills and feel for big enough potatoes or pull up a plant and see. What I do is plant potatoes for new potatoes. I planted 10kgs of Bea variety Potatoes. The first ones I planted on the 6th of April and I started harvesting on about the sixth of June. I just pulled the potatoes up 1 by 1. As and when I needed them.

 

Cayuga, you need to learn to "dibble"! With your fingers feel around the plant, and when you encounter a potato of the size you want, just pull the potato. It's kind of like the ultimate gardener's treasure hunt. The plant isn't harmed and the remaining potatoes will continue to grow. And, you have fun!

 

Thanks @Odif & @marlingardener. My potatoes have been in the ground 60+ days now, so a-dibbling I shall go!

 

Hello Cayuga. We begin checking our new potatos at 60+ days but the rule of thumb is 90.. Most spuds ought to be ready ...or getting ready to be harvested after 90 days. We like harvesting them early and have already harvested a few plants of those very delicious things They are so good ! Actually we normally only harvest one or at the most two plants at the same time.
You can keep an eye on when the plants bloom, for at the end of the blooming period you can begin harvesting. We harvest while they are blooming and sometimes before they begin to bloom. We do deep spot checks carefully every so often and when they are of an acceptable size, we lift the plant.

 

Ok. 90 days will be August 4th. I might do a spot check before then. New potatoes are appealing!

 

I start digging for new potatoes when I see blooms. But in Texas ours may be ready before yours are ! You can dig them anytime they are big enough to eat which for me is about golf ball size or slightly larger.
Just wash and boil in slightly salted water till tender. Add butter during the last 5 minutes. Like MG said the rest will continue to grow so you have about three weeks of new potatoes before they start to turn brown and die. then dig them all and store in a cool dark place !!

 

Honestly new potatoes are just any potato harvested at a small size.

 

New potatoes are young potatoes, characteristically they have skin that is easily broken just by rubbing with the finger. While fully ripened but small potatoes have a harder skin. New potatoes can also be quite large. New potatoes have less starches than fully ripened potatoes. Oh and they taste so good.

 

I haven't succeeded yet in my dibbling. I tried again today, tried on a Banana potato, but didn't see any tubers! How deep do I have to dig?

 

Sometimes 6 to 8 inches ! What is a banana potato ?

 

Ah! No wonder! I have been a wuss. I've just been scratching around the top inch or two.

A banana potato is a type of fingerling. This'll be my first year growing them.

 

Oh !! Never tried them.

 

That spud sounds nice to me.
Yeah though--if you want to do a spot check, then you got to go deep. If you recall how deep you planted the seed potato and how much you earthed-up then you can gauge how deep to go.

4 august has come and gone. Have you lifted any plants yet? When you do--please post a foto. BTW--have they finished blooming yet?

 

@Sjoerd That makes sense. And, yes they have finished blooming and have begun flopping over. I have been waiting because 1) a friend gave me some of her new potatoes and 2) it has been 90+ F (33 + C) and very humid! I can only work in the garden for 1-2 hours before I need to seek some cool.

So, can I harvest them as needed for the kitchen? How long can they stay in the ground?