Grow Potatoes in a Wire Cage

You can grow easy-to-harvest potatoes, with a minimum of fuss and effort. Using a piece of wire stock fence rolled into a cage, growing them is a snap!

Steps

  1. Take a piece of wire stock fence or similar sturdy wire fence. Make it about ten feet (approx. 3 meters) long, and roll it into a cylinder about 3 feet (approx. 91 centimeters) wide. Fasten the end to the fence with wire to hold it together. It should form a strong but easy to open cylinder that stands about four feet (1.2 meters) tall.
  2. Prepare the soil. Loosen it, and add a bit of fertilizer. This will get the potatoes off to a good start.
  3. Plant the potato seedlings as you normally would. Place them about three to four inches (approx. 7.5 cm - 10 cm) deep, hand tamping the soil around them.
  4. Place the wire hoops so that they are standing upright. Place them around the planted seed potatoes, centering the future plants.
  5. Keep the space filled. Your potato plants will soon be popping out of the soil; as they grow, fill in the space inside the fence with leaves, straw and additional dirt. Do not bury the plants; only bring the soil level up inside the cylinder two to three inches (5 cm - 7.5 cm). Once the potato shoots grow to about 1 foot, do cover completely with leaves, straw or a similar material. You want to keep the light off the developing tubers, as it can cause them turn green.
  6. Continue to fill in the cylinder as the plants grow. The plants will use this extra soil to grow even more potatoes in. Soon, the cylinder will be filled with leaves, straw dirt and potatoes. Potatoes do not need a lot of additional rich organic material, but they do need additional water, at least 1 inch per week. Enough to soak them thoroughly without drowning them.
  7. Harvest the potatoes when ready. When the plant tops dry and wither, the potatoes are ready to harvest. Simply undo the wire fasteners and pull away the fence.Your potatoes will be ready to harvest, without digging, right in the cylinder of soil. Gently spread out your new potatoes and allow them to air dry for at least a day, to help "toughen" the skins. If rain is threatened move them to a covered area. Once they are matured, they can be stored in a cool dry place until you're ready to feast on them.



Tips

  • Plant your potato plants as you normally would, except plant five or six of them close together, so that they will fit inside the upright cylinder of fence when it is stood up over them. Stand the fence up first, and use it to mark a circle in the soil where you should plant the potatoes. You can plant them right next to one another, as the plants will grow upright in the fence, and not spread out. You can actually plant the groups of cylinders right next to one another, saving a lot of garden space.
  • Be sure to mix in compost or other organic material together as you fill in the hoop; just using soil alone will often result in compacted soil, that won't allow potato tubers to develop. Chopped or dry whole leaves are a very good add-in.
  • If you have trouble with potato beetles in your area, you can cover the entire cylinder with one of the various materials used for row covers, or even cheesecloth, to keep them at bay. You can also use oak leaves, as well as compost and other organic materials. Oak leaves contain tannin, which seems to act as a repellent for the beetles.
  • The same concept can be used with old car/truck tires. Just stack them around the plant and fill with compost or leave (or even pine needles and straw) as the potato plant(s) grow.

Warnings

  • You should use soil and or compost to fill in the cylinder. Even grass clippings can be used , but don't use them if you have Chem-Lawn or any other chemical lawn services.

Things You'll Need

  • Sturdy wire - 10 feet/3 meters in length
  • Fertilizer (suited to potatoes)
  • Potato seedlings
  • Additional soil
  • Compost
  • Row covers or cheesecloth if you have potato beetle problems

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Sources and Citations

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