Harvest · Signals, not a promise
When to harvest potatoes
When to harvest potatoes here is cited harvest cues and methods. Dates, sizes, and signals stay on their own sheets. Those cues are not how long yours keeps.
Growing guidance is general information. Timing, spacing, and care depend on cultivar, weather, soil, and local conditions. Check the sources and adjust the plan for your garden.
Illustrative photograph — harvest signals stay on the cited sheets.
Growing lives on growing potatoes. Timing lives on when to plant potatoes. Care lives on potato plant care.
What the sources say — at a glance
One source per card. Facts are not averaged.
Maryland Extension (Maryland)
New potatoes 6–8 weeks after planting, usually once plants have flowered. Gentle fork. Cue — not a keeping promise.
Details and limits (2)
New
Maryland Extension (Maryland): new potatoes can be harvested 6 to 8 weeks after planting, usually once the plants have flowered. Gently dig the soil around the young potatoes with a garden fork. Cue — not a keeping promise.
Limit
Maryland potato garden page. New-potato cue and fork method as cited. Not a storage page.
UMN Extension (Minnesota)
New 7–8 weeks; above seed piece; dig ~1 ft and turn, or take a few and leave the plant. Mature after plants dried or full size. Dry, warm day. Spading fork.
Details and limits (3)
New
UMN Extension (Minnesota): you can dig new potatoes about seven to eight weeks after planting. New potatoes will have formed above the seed piece; dig down about a foot, and turn the whole plant upside down. Some gardeners dig beside the plants and take a few potatoes, but leave the plants in place. Cue — not a keeping promise.
Mature
UMN Extension (Minnesota): harvest mature tubers after the plants have dried or when tubers have reached full size. Choose a dry, warm day. Dig the hills using a spading fork. Minnesota harvest — not a BioArva protocol.
Limit
Minnesota potato sheet. New vs mature stay distinct. Not a storage page.
Illinois Extension (Illinois)
After vines die. Fork. New before vines die (usually July), 1–2 in. Late usually August or early September. Illinois calendar — not a national date.
Details and limits (3)
Harvest
Illinois Extension (Illinois): harvest potatoes after the vines have died. Handle as gently as possible. Tubers develop 4 to 6 inches beneath the soil surface; a shovel or spading fork is a useful tool. Potatoes for use in early summer (new potatoes) may be dug before the vines die (usually in July). When the potatoes reach 1 to 2 inches in size, you may dig a few hills. Illinois sizes and July are their sheet — not a national date.
Late
Illinois Extension (Illinois): late potatoes are usually dug in August or early September. Illinois calendar on their sheet — not a national harvest date and not a storage protocol.
Limit
Illinois potato page. July, 1–2 in, and August–September stay Illinois. Not a storage page.
Sources differ
Make it yours
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How do you know when new potatoes are ready to dig?
Compare new-potato cues on the cited sheets. Maryland: 6 to 8 weeks after planting, usually once the plants have flowered; garden fork. Minnesota: about seven to eight weeks; above the seed piece; dig about a foot and turn, or take a few and leave the plant. Illinois: 1 to 2 inches, before vines die, usually July.
When are mature potatoes harvested?
The sheets do not agree on one cue. Minnesota: after the plants have dried or when tubers have reached full size; dry, warm day; spading fork. Illinois: after the vines have died; late potatoes usually August or early September on that sheet — not a national date.
How we know — methodology. Ranges and assertions are cited per source, not blended.