Get cleaner potatoes that are easier to harvest with minimal digging by growing potatoes in straw. This sounds like a cheesy gimmick, but it’s all true. Simply burying the potatoes in straw is a remarkably easy way to grow potatoes in your garden. You might already know about straw mulch’s many garden benefits, including that it reduces weeds, keeps the ground cooler, helps the soil retain moisture, and feeds the soil as it decomposes. By growing potatoes in straw, you combine all of those benefits with potatoes’ need for a dark, cool, easily draining place to grow.
In this article, I will further convince you why you should try growing potatoes in straw; outline some potato varieties to use; explain when and how to grow, care for, and harvest potatoes using this method; and look at some problems you might experience.

Ways to grow potatoes

Potatoes are one of the most versatile vegetables in the kitchen as well as in the garden. There are several ways to grow potatoes in spaces big and small:

• In straw, as I explain here
• In straw bales, as you can learn from Niki in this article
• In raised beds, which Jessica explains in this article
• In containers or grow bags, like Niki shows in this video

Why you should be growing potatoes in straw

Each potato-growing method I mention above has its pros and cons. Here are all of the reasons I like growing potatoes in straw:

• Potatoes are easy to harvest. Just move the straw aside to find them.
• This is an especially nice method for harvesting a few potatoes at a time as new potatoes. Just leave the rest to harvest later as fully mature potatoes.
• The harvest is remarkably clean, because the potatoes are growing in straw instead of dirt.
• You’re not digging holes to plant your seed potatoes or to harvest, so this method is ideal for growing potatoes when you have heavy clay or rocky soil. It gives your potato fork, your favorite shovel, and your back a rest.
• “Hilling” the plants is as easy as adding another layer of straw on top of them. It’s not necessary to move soil in the way that hilling in the traditional sense requires.
• There’s evidence suggesting you may have fewer insect pests, like aphids and thrips, visiting your potato plants when using light-colored straw mulch.

The best potato varieties for growing in straw

Most varieties of potatoes can be grown using the straw method. A few to know include:

1. 1. 1. Kennebec, a heavy-producing white-fleshed potato that’s a good storage crop choice. 80 days to new potatoes
      2. Purple Majesty, a deep-purple potato worth growing for its looks as much as for its buttery taste. I recommend using this variety, in particular, for fries. 85 days to new potatoes
      3. Red Pontiac, a red-skinned, white-fleshed potato known for its thin skin and excellent new potatoes. 80 days to new potatoes
      4. Russet Norkotah, a high-yielding, late-season, russet-type potato. 85 days to new potatoes.
      5. Yukon Gold, a yellow potato that’s a favorite among early varieties. I always look forward to cooking these with my homegrown corn and beans. 65 days to new potatoes

When to plant potatoes under straw

Potatoes are particular in that they’re sensitive to hard frost but also don’t do well in hot weather. Remember that this is a long-season crop. Early maturing varieties can produce new potatoes in 2 months, while late-season potatoes (also called maincrop potatoes) will fully mature in about 4 months.

Early spring is the best time to plant, a few weeks before your last frost date. Potato plants can tolerate a light frost, but a hard frost or a freeze can damage or kill them. Look for a soil temperature of at least 45 degrees F. Potatoes tubers will continue developing until the soil temperature reaches 80 degrees F.

How to grow potatoes in straw step by step

Growing potatoes in straw is pretty simple. Here are the steps that I use:

Step 1: Source disease-free seed potatoes from a reputable source. About 1 pound of potatoes should be enough to plant a 10-foot row, depending on the size and vigor of the seed potatoes.

Step 2: Chit, or sprout, your seed potatoes. You can plant the smallest seed potatoes, about golf-ball sized, without cutting them. Cut your larger seed potatoes into smaller pieces with at least two eyes each. These eyes are the potato sprouts that will turn into the potato plant. Let the seed pieces sit in a cool place with high humidity for a few days so their cuts heal over before planting.

Step 3: Don’t dig! Simply clear the area of weeds and other plant growth, loosen the soil, and add a little bit of compost. Nestle your seed potatoes onto the ground, eyes up. Space them 9 to 12 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart. It may not seem that they could grow here on the surface of the soil, but you’ll be surprised.

Step 4: Cover your seed potatoes with a 4- to 5-inch layer of loose straw.

Caring for potato plants

With your seed potatoes tucked into their straw bed, they require minimal maintenance. Water them regularly, if you’re not getting rain. The straw should stay moist but not soaking.

Keep watch for new growth. When 6 inches of the potato stalk emerges from the mulch layer, add more straw. Continue adding more layers until the plants flower. This step is just like hilling, when you grow potatoes in the soil. You want to keep the potato tubers in the dark.

When and how to harvest when growing potatoes in straw

The timing of harvest for potatoes grown in straw is the same as for potatoes grown any other way. Because different varieties mature at different times, you need to read the plants’ signals. Here’s what you’re looking for:

• When the potato plant blooms, new potatoes are ready for harvest. This may be around June, depending on your climate.
• About 2 to 3 weeks after the plant blooms, the potatoes are mature. You can harvest them at their full size.
• If you plan to cure and store your potatoes, harvest 2 to 3 weeks after the vines die back. Their skins will have hardened by then.

The process of harvesting potatoes grown in straw couldn’t be easier. Just move aside the straw to reveal your potatoes! You can harvest just a few potatoes from the plant and leave the rest to continue maturing, or you can harvest all at once.

Problems to watch for

I’d like to point out just two pitfalls when growing potatoes in straw:

1. Just like their nightshade relatives (such as tomatoes and eggplants), potato vines are susceptible to pest problems. Flea beetles and Colorado potato beetles are enemies to know. Some sources suggest planting nasturtiums and marigolds to help deter these pests, though there isn’t scientific proof this works. These are lovely flowers, and it won’t hurt to put them in your garden, but don’t rely on them as your only pest protection.
2. Slugs may also pose a threat, as they like to hide out in moist, dark places, which you’re setting up in this straw bed. This article has advice for controlling slugs organically.
3. Know where your straw comes from. It doesn’t matter as much whether the straw is from oats, barley, or wheat plants, but don’t use any straw that may have been sprayed with herbicides or other chemicals that you don’t want on your garden.

Sensational spuds

Growing potatoes in straw presents little in the way of drawbacks. Whether you choose this method or another is largely up to personal preference. The method I covered here is great for spaces big and small. Choose your varieties, narrow down your timing, get your hands on some straw, and grow some of your favorite tubers in this new way.

I happen to think that once you harvest your taters without the stooping and digging required in traditional garden practices, you’ll be sold on growing potatoes in straw. Go ahead and assure your garden shovel that you’ll put it to use for other purposes, but this season, give it a little bit of a rest.

For more advice on growing healthy potatoes (and sweet potatoes!), please visit the following articles: 

• How to plant seed potatoes 
• Growing potatoes in raised beds 
• Sweet potato growing how-to
• How to freeze sweet potatoes
• Potato-planting depth