Can You Plant Different Types of Potatoes in the Same Container?

Potato Types

• Hundreds of potato varieties, or more properly called cultivars, exist for gardeners to grow in vegetable gardens and containers. Horticulturists generally group potato plants based on the length of time needed for harvest-ready tubers. Early potato varieties mature in 75 to 100 days after planting, medium-season types in 100 to 120 days, and late potatoes need more than 120 days to grow and yield good-sized tubers. Among any of these varieties, the shape of the tuber, skin color or flavor and starch level varies. Early potatoes are better-suited to container culture.

Mixed Plantings

• It's feasible to mix the seed potatoes planted in a container. The trouble arises if the various potatoes planted do not mature at the same time. A container with multiple plants of early and late potatoes, for example, will find the early potato plants withering earlier and requiring digging for harvest of tubers. Digging would disrupt the growth and development of the late potatoes. Moreover, if the different types of potatoes produce similar-looking tubers, you'll have a hard time distinguishing which plant variety yielded which tubers.

Container Size

• As with any plant species, spacing plants too close together leads to weaker, leggy-stemmed plants because the higher density leads to increased competition for light, nutrients and water. An ideal spacing for potatoes is one plant or plant cluster every 12 inches. The larger the container the better when growing potatoes. You need a spacious container with at least 10 gallons of soil for roots to expand and develop good-sized tubers. Planting too many potatoes in a container diminishes the growth of the potato plants, and if the leaves are robust and receive enough light, only a few or overly small tubers form.

Growing Tips

• It is acceptable to grow different varieties of potatoes in the same container, provided the container is large enough for good plant growth. The container bottom must have drainage holes, as wet soil causes root rot. Use a potting soil mix, not topsoil, in the container. Potting soil should be crumbly in texture, contain organic matter, such as compost, and be moist but drain well. Do not mix sweet potatoes or yams into the same container as potatoes. Sweet potatoes and yams are more voracious growing plants with vining, sprawling stems that need a lot of growing space. These plants will out-compete and choke the potato plants in the container.