Potatoes are relatively easy to grow and often produce large harvests. But will they grow no matter which way you place them in the ground? What happens if you plant potatoes upside down?
If you accidentally plant potatoes upside down, they will still grow just fine. It’s best to plant them with the eye facing upwards to give them the best head start on growing, but they’ll be able to grow normally either way. If your potatoes were planted upside down, it’s not worth digging them up to change their positioning.
In the rest of this article, we’ll talk more about what to do if your potatoes were planted upside down.
What Happens If You Plant Potatoes Upside Down?
Planting guides always recommend placing the eye (the little growth sprouting from the potato) facing towards the sky. This is so that the new sprout can easily find the surface of the soil. But what happens if you accidentally plant them with the eye facing down?
When this happens, it will take the potato a while longer to grow. Since the body of the potato will be in the sprouting stem’s path, the stem will have to grow longer before it gets to the soil surface.
However, in the long run, this won’t affect the potato’s growth whatsoever. In fact, it can be extremely difficult to perfectlyplace all of your seed potatoes, especially the ones with more than one eye.
Once the potato sprout pops up out of the ground, it will receive the same amount of sunlight and nutrients as potatoes planted the “correct” way. While you may notice your right side up potatoes sprouting a few days earlier than upside down ones, it’ll be impossible to tell the difference within a few weeks.
Should I Dig Up And Fix Upside Down Potatoes?
In most cases, you should leave upside down potatoes alone. Since they’ll reach the surface of the soil eventually, digging them up to flip them around won’t do much good.
In fact, if they’ve already started growing, changing their positioning can actually do more harm than good. The plants will have to adjust to their new surroundings, which may stunt their growth.
However, if you’ve just planted your potatoes a few hours ago and realized they’re upside down, there’s nothing wrong with digging them up to plant them the right way. You’ll make it a bit easier for the potato sprout to find its way above the ground.
Final Thoughts
Even though it seems strange for potatoes planted upside down to be able to grow, plants have an incredible way of knowing which way is up and which way is down. Even if you planted every single one of your potatoes with the eye facing downwards, you’ll still have a great harvest in a few months’ time.
However, if you’ve just planted your potatoes, feel free to turn them around so that they’re facing the right way. Either way, your potatoes will thrive.
