Can You Plant Potatoes In The Fall For A Late-Season Harvest?

In most cases, the home gardener times their potato (Solanum tuberosum) crop to be ready for harvest in late summer. That means planting potatoes, which are cool-season vegetables, in the ground in early spring before the soil gets too warm. However, as a cool-season plant, it seems likely that potatoes would also do well in the cooler weather typical of fall. Many gardeners find it easy to plant things like lettuce, kale, and broccoli for an abundant autumn harvest. Planting potatoes in the fall is possible and can be just as rewarding for a late-season harvest, but only with proper logistical planning.

A gardening mistake everyone makes when growing potatoes is planting them too close together, but another mistake can be even more harmful. Potatoes do not tolerate hot temperatures, especially without enough moisture. Planting them before the soil temperature is cool enough, around 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, leads to problems with germination and growth. By choosing to plant in the early fall months, when temperatures are usually starting to dip, your potatoes have the best chance at success. Plan backwards from your first frost date, calculating to ensure 110 days of growth before harvest.

Growing potatoes in the fall has its caveats. Frost typically damages or kills potato plants. For gardeners in more northern areas, planting in fall might not be feasible. If your area often experiences mild winters, like many areas in the southern U.S., including Texas, potatoes can thrive in the cooler fall temperatures.

Not all hope is lost for northern gardeners if they'd like to get a late-season potato crop. Investing in row covers for your potatoes can protect them from the first frosts long enough for the potatoes to mature for harvest. Just how long it takes from planting your seed potatoes to harvesting new or mature potatoes will depend on the variety you choose, too. Potato varieties range from early-season to late-season, based on days to maturity. Although you do want a late-season harvest, consider choosing an early-season potato cultivar that takes less time from planting to harvesting. 

'Red Pontiac' potatoes, for example, require 60 to 75 days before you can harvest. You have a better chance to harvest an early-season potato if you want to avoid truly cold, freezing weather. And always follow the helpful tip that will ensure a bountiful potato harvest and plant any kind of potato cultivar deeply enough in the ground.

Thankfully, there are several easy tips to know when it's time to harvest new potatoes, like checking to see if the top of the plant has started to die back. However, smaller potato tubers can be dug up before this point, which means you could easily have a late-season haul. As long as your fall weather remains somewhat mild, neither too hot nor too cold, your potatoes can thrive in the fall.