There are thousands of different types of potatoes, ranging in size, color, and flavor. The varieties you choose to grow will determine the size of potatoes you should expect.
The largest potatoes are maincrop varieties. They take longer to grow than earlier varieties, but you are rewarded for the longer growing season with larger potatoes come harvest time.
Some of the best potato varieties for large tubers include ‘Kondor’ – which holds the world record for the heaviest potato – ‘Cara’, and ‘Russet’ varieties.
You can grow bigger potato varieties in raised beds or small vegetable gardens too. They are suitable for growing potatoes in containers, buckets, or grow bags. Keep tubers in a bright, warm spot to encourage your seed potatoes to develop strong and healthy shoots. Tubers can produce many shoots when chitted. Removing some of these to leave two or three shoots per seed potato will mean you get fewer tubers, but bigger potatoes. If you want to grow bigger potatoes, planting them further apart than normally recommended allows plants to take in more nutrients and water – which will mean larger potatoes.
Planting maincrop potatoes 24 inches apart, rather than 12-15 inches as often recommended, can reward you with bigger potatoes. Keep a distance of 24-26 inches between rows.
