Potato is a high-value, short-duration crop that fits well into a rabi rotation where cool weather and irrigation are available. It also has a high seed cost and a disease that can destroy a crop in under a week, which makes it a crop to grow carefully rather than casually.
Seed Tubers — The Largest Cost
Seed accounts for a large share of the cost of cultivation in potato. It is also where quality decisions have the biggest effect.
- Use certified seed from a reliable source. Potato accumulates viruses through successive generations, and degenerated seed yields poorly
- Seed tubers should be firm, disease-free, and of the recommended size grade
- Tubers should have sprouted lightly before planting — short, sturdy sprouts, not long white ones
- Cut tubers, if used, should be cut so each piece carries adequate eyes, and the cut surfaces allowed to suberise before planting
Buying cheap unreliable seed is the most common false economy in this crop.
Field Preparation and Planting
Potato needs loose, well-drained soil. Tubers form in the soil and cannot expand properly in compacted ground, which produces small, misshapen potatoes.
- Prepare a deep, friable seedbed
- Plant in furrows at the recommended spacing for your variety and seed size
- Cover and form ridges over the rows
- Ensure good drainage — potato rots quickly in waterlogged soil
Planting time is important. The crop needs cool weather during tuber bulking, and planting too early or too late in the season costs yield.
Earthing Up
Earthing up — drawing soil up around the base of the plants to build the ridge — is done once or twice during the season.
It matters for three reasons:
- Prevents greening. Tubers exposed to light turn green and develop solanine, which makes them unmarketable and unsafe to eat
- Gives tubers room to expand in loose soil
- Controls weeds mechanically at the same time
Skipping or delaying earthing up produces a proportion of green tubers, and those are a direct loss.
Late Blight — The Crop Killer
Late blight can destroy a potato crop within days under cool, humid, overcast conditions.
What to look for
Dark, water-soaked patches on leaves, often with a pale halo, spreading rapidly. In humid conditions a white fungal growth appears on the underside. The whole canopy can collapse within a week.
Management
- Watch the weather. Cool overcast humid spells are the trigger. Blight risk warnings are issued by agriculture departments in major potato regions — act on them
- Use healthy seed, since infected tubers carry the disease into the field
- Scout daily during high-risk weather
- Preventive fungicide applied before symptoms appear is far more effective than curative application afterwards. Once blight is established, control is difficult
- Rogue and destroy infected plants at first appearance
- Do not irrigate overhead during risk periods
Rotate fungicide groups. Resistance to single-site fungicides has developed in blight populations in several regions.
Other Problems
- Early blight — concentric-ringed spots on older leaves, slower moving than late blight
- Aphids — the main virus vectors, which is why seed degenerates
- Potato tuber moth — a serious storage pest, entering through exposed tubers in the field
Haulm Cutting Before Harvest
Cutting or killing the foliage some days before harvest allows tuber skins to set. Properly set skins resist damage during harvest and handling and store far better.
Harvesting immediately after cutting the haulm gives tender-skinned tubers that scuff easily, and every scuff is an entry point for rot in storage.
Harvest and Handling
- Harvest in dry soil conditions
- Avoid harvesting in strong sun — exposed tubers green and heat quickly
- Handle gently. Bruises are invisible at harvest and become rots in storage
- Cure in shade for a period before storage, allowing minor wounds to heal
- Grade and remove damaged, cut or diseased tubers before storing
Storage
Cold storage is the standard route for potato in India and is widely available in producing regions. Booking space in advance matters, as capacity fills quickly at harvest.
For on-farm storage, keep tubers in a cool, dark, well-ventilated space, off the ground, in shallow layers rather than deep heaps. Darkness is essential — light causes greening and sprouting. Inspect periodically and remove any rotting tubers promptly.
The Market Reality
Potato prices swing sharply between harvest glut and the storage period, similar to onion. Cold storage costs money but converts a forced sale at the bottom into a choice about timing. Work out the storage cost against the typical price spread in your region before deciding.
Varieties, planting windows, spacing and disease management vary by region. Consult your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for local recommendations and follow label directions on any product applied.
