Potatoes as houseplants? Although they won’t last as long as most of your favorite houseplants, indoor potato plants are fun to grow and will provide dark green leaves for several months. If you’re lucky, your potato plant houseplant will reward you with star-shaped blooms as the plant nears the end of its lifespan, and you may even harvest a handful of tiny, edible potatoes. Here’s how to grow potatoes as houseplants.
Growing an Indoor Potato Plant
Follow these tips on caring for a potato plant in a pot indoors and you'll be well on your way to enjoying this unique houseplant:
Although you can purchase seed potatoes, plain old Russets from your supermarket make fine indoor potato plants.
Cut the potato into chunks of no more than 2 inches (5 cm.). Be sure each piece has at least one or two “eyes” with sprouts. If the potatoes haven’t sprouted, or if the sprouts are tiny, just put the potatoes in a small container or egg carton and place them in a sunny window for a few days.
Spread the cut chunks in a dry area, on a newspaper or a layer of paper towels, for about 24 hours, which allows the cuts to heal. Otherwise, the potato pieces are more likely to rot before they grow into potato plant houseplants.
Fill a pot with commercial potting mix, then water until the soil is moist but not dripping wet. A 6 inch (15 cm.) container is good for planting one potato plant in a pot. Be sure the pot has a drainage hole in the bottom. Use a larger pot if you’re hoping to harvest a few small potatoes after the plant dies down.
Plant a potato chunk about 3 inches (8 cm.) deep into the potting soil, with the healthiest sprout facing upward.
Put the pot in a warm room where it is exposed to several hours of sunlight per day. Watch for growth to appear in a few days. Water the potato pot houseplant when the top inch (2.5 cm.) of potting soil feels dry to the touch.
Plant potatoes every few months if you want a continuous display of potato plant houseplants.
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