Russet Potato House Plant - February 2014

At the end of January I posted about the russet potato that has sprouted…and been planted in a pot to grow as houseplant. The sprouts have grown very rapidly in the past 10 days. One of the sprouts has averaged in inch of growth per day and both are thriving better than the sweet potato that is growing in the same pot (the yellow leaves in the picture are the sweet potato; perhaps the temperature even in the house is too chilly for the sweet potato to thrive).

I have added another grow light and hope that both plants will manage to get through the winter so I can put them into the garden after the last danger of frost this spring.

I like watching the early rapid growth of plants. The russet potato leaves unfurl from a stalk that has bumpy ridges. And on the stems there are fine hairs. Every day there seems to be something new to notice about its growth.

Russet Potato House Plant - January 2014

I started a sweet potato vine back in October when I found a sweet potato had sprouted before I could eat it; I posted about the lush houseplant it has become earlier this month. Just after that post I discovered a russet potato that had sprouted. I cut of the end that had sprouted and put it in the same large pot as the sweet potato and it is growing very rapidly. The two short stalks to the left in the picture above are the russet potato. The sweet potato vine winds around the pot and some of its leaves are visible to right.

Tomorrow I’m going to rig a grow light so that both plants with thrive until I can put them outdoors for the summer. The pot is large but maybe not large enough for both of them!