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Vegetables · Tuber

Growing potato

Solanum tuberosum · also called Aloo, Olu (Kashmiri)A cool season tuber crop planted from seed tubers on ridges. It needs cool nights to form tubers and is hurt by frost.

West coast: Kerala, Goa, Konkan, coastal Karnataka, south Gujarat

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Nights on the coast stay warm all year, and most potato varieties do not form tubers when night temperatures stay above about 21 °C.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
A flowering potato plant with white flowers and a lifted tuber resting on its leaves
Photo: Forest & Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0
Not suited here

Not a crop for this region

Nights on the coast stay warm all year, and most potato varieties do not form tubers when night temperatures stay above about 21 °C.

Where it grows nearest

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Not suited here

Sowing now in:Gangetic plainsCentral plateauDeccan plateauSouth interiorEast coast
  • Sow
  • Harvest
  • Today
  • Not suited here
West coastKerala, Goa, KonkanNot suited hereSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluCold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
West coastNot suited here
Temperate HimalayaMid-March to AprilApril to MayJanuary to FebruarySeptember to OctoberSeptember to OctoberMay to June
Cold desertApril to MaySeptember to October
Sub-tropical foothillsSeptember to OctoberSecond half of JanuaryJanuary to FebruaryApril to May
North-west plainsLast week of September to mid-OctoberSecond half of JanuaryFebruary to MarchApril
Gangetic plainsMid-OctoberEnd of October to mid-NovemberEarly NovemberFebruary to MarchJanuary to February
North-east hills and valleysMarch to AprilJuly to August
Arid westMid-OctoberMid-SeptemberFebruary to MarchMid-November to December
Central plateauMid-October to NovemberEnd of JuneFebruary to MarchSeptember to October
Deccan plateauEnd of June to JulyMid-October to NovemberSeptember to OctoberFebruary to March
South interiorMarch to AprilAugust to SeptemberJanuary to FebruaryEnd of JuneMid-October to November
East coastEarly NovemberOctober to NovemberJanuary to February

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH1

    6.5 to 7.5

    Grows in alluvial, black, red and laterite soils. Alkaline and saline soils do not suit it.

  • Sunlight3

    Full sun. Grows well when days are sunny and nights are cool.

  • Temperature1

    Grows best at 15 to 20 °C

    Frost: none tolerated.

    Monthly temperatures for the West coast aren't in the library yet.

Good neighbours4Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

Grows well with

Keep it away from

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed1,3

Plant a seed crop from healthy, virus-free seed tubers. Pull out sick-looking plants as they appear. Renew seed every 3 to 4 years: yield falls when the same seed is replanted year after year.

When the seed is ready

Cut the haulms once aphids reach 20 per 100 leaves, then leave the tubers in the soil for about 15 days to mature.

Grade the tubers and keep them in cold storage at 2 to 4 °C until the next planting season.

After the last picking3,4,6

Collect and destroy crop debris and cull tubers; do not leave rejected tubers lying in the open.

Rotation

Grow potato in a rotation with cereals and pulses, for example potato, mung, paddy, rather than potato after potato.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 1Package of Practices for Vegetable Crops 2020 (Potato)Directorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source
  2. 2Package of Practices for Vegetable Crops 2016 (Potato)Directorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source
  3. 4Potato: package of practices (source NHB)Vikaspedia (Government of India), citing National Horticulture BoardRead the source
  4. 5Production Technology of Vegetables and Flowers (VSF-231), Part I: Vegetable production (Potato)CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture)Read the source
  5. 6AESA based IPM package: PotatoNational Institute of Plant Health Management and Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, Government of IndiaRead the source
  6. 7Horticulture: Vegetables: Potato (TNAU Agritech Portal)Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source

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