How to Harvest Potatoes

Harvest technique protects both yield and storage life. Bruises and stab wounds become rot later.

Before you dig

Confirm readiness → When Are Potatoes Ready to Harvest?

Choose a dry day. Wet soil sticks, skins smear, and digging is messy.

Tools and method

1. Use a spading fork or broadfork
2. Start a foot or so from the stem to avoid spearing the hill
3. Lift and turn the soil gently
4. Gather tubers by hand
5. For new potatoes, you can sneak a few from the side and leave the plant growing

UMN tip for new potatoes: tubers form above the original seed piece — dig carefully and explore that zone.

Handle like eggs

• Do not toss tubers into hard buckets from height
• Sort out cut or bruised potatoes to eat first
• Keep exposure to bright light short to limit greening
• Knock off loose soil; do not wash before curing/storage

Maryland: leave tubers in light only long enough for soil to dry and fall away — often about 1–2 hours, not all afternoon.

After harvest

For storage crops, move to curing, then storage.