The potatoes have been growing in the ground for about three months. Now the plants begin their rest period - the potato weed turns yellow, withers and ultimately withers. Now it's time to harvest the potatoes.
When and how should potatoes be harvested?
Potatoes should be harvested when the potato weed has died and the skin of the tuber is firm. Use a digging fork or potato hoe to carefully dig up the plant and loosen the tubers from the plant. Then sort and store the potatoes correctly.
Harvest time
The potato harvest begins in June with the digging of the early potatoes. Mid-early potatoes will follow from around the end of August. Late varieties can be harvested until October.
Signs of maturity
For mid-early and late potatoes, wait until the potato weed has died. Then you carefully dig up a plant. If the potatoes come off easily and the skin of the tuber cannot be rubbed off with your fingers, the potato is ready to harvest.
Important: If your potato plants show signs of late blight, you should start harvesting the tubers immediately. This prevents the fungus from spreading to the tubers and the harvest is saved.
Harvesting early potatoes
New potatoes are harvested when the cabbage is still green. After 60 days at the earliest, carefully dig up a tuber and rub the peel with your finger. The same applies here: if the peel is firm, the potato is ripe. You can only store new potatoes for a few days.
Digging up the potatoes
To harvest the potatoes you need a digging fork (€139.00 on Amazon), which protects the tubers from injuries. Alternatively, you can also use a special potato hoe or spade.
The digging fork is inserted into the ground next to the plant and positioned like a lever. You then pull the potato plant out of the ground by the stem. The tubers can be easily removed from the plant. You should also carefully dig up the soil around the plant; potatoes are hiding here too.
Potatoes don't have to be harvested all at once. As long as they are well covered with soil, they can remain in the ground for some time. To help the soil separate from the tubers, you can let them dry on the bed. The potato leaves are disposed of in the compost.
Sorting potatoes
- Potatoes with green spots are sorted out. They contain the poisonous solanine and are neither edible nor usable as food.
- Potatoes with brown spots are also thrown away
- approx. You can save 3 cm large tubers as seed potatoes for the nextyear
- It is best to eat potatoes that have been damaged during harvest straight away
How to store potatoes correctly
Potatoes are best stored in a dark room, this prevents green spots from forming. A ventilated cellar with temperatures between 4 and 8 degrees Celsius is ideal. Heat (which promotes germ formation) and frost (which converts the starch into sugar) are undesirable.
Potato hordes, slatted boxes or airy vegetable boxes are suitable for storage. Buckets or plastic containers are unsuitable. You always have to sort out rotting potatoes.
Tips & Tricks
After the potato weed dies, you should wait about 3 weeks before harvesting. Then the peel can be even firmer and the potato can be stored longer.
