Growing Potatoes in Car Tires
We seem to have 2 complimentary factors here:
- Potatoes grow well in bags, containers, or other semi enclosed setup (like a car tire)
- There are so many car tires for the taking you will never need to look hard to find them
The idea is to start with a few potatoes in the base of a single tire, then when the plants are about 6 inches in the air, you place another tire onto the first one and fill it with quality soil, leafmold, lawn clippings or coffee compost, leaving about 2 inches of foliage above the surface. That is it really, just keep repeating the process until you get as high as is practical. I’ve found that 3 standard car tires is about right.
The end result here is a bucketful of Kipfler potatoes.
There were a couple of earthworms sticking to this one, but I encouraged them to go back home!
As mentioned, there were a large number of worms in with the potatoes. So much so that I’m going to try the three tires as a worm farm and see how that goes.
You can also use those polystyrene containers to grow potatoes, and I’m seeing good results so far. In the mix here is matured compost, wood shavings, and plenty of coffee grounds.
Growing potatoes is relatively easy and fun to do. I’ve heard some objections to using old tires as a container for growing potatoes, and can appreciate those concerns. I may not use them to grow potatoes next year but it was worth the try.
Give it a go for yourself, and let me know how you find it. Hopefully as productive as I have.
What would you like to start growing in car tires or a container?
+Shane Genziuk
Related Articles
- Worm Farming with Coffee Grounds – Video (groundtoground.org)
- Hints and Tips for Planting Seed Potatoes (brighthub.com)
- How old tyres can boost your potato crop (etyres.co.uk)
Ground to Ground 
If you grow sweet potatoes, you can eat the leaves from the vine. Called Kamote or camote tops. Very tasty, look it up.
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Interesting idea, and I am a little late on here but I was told years ago that NO veg should be grown in tyres/tires due to the heavy metals that they apparently can contain!! NOT nice !!!! I have grown LOTS of flowers in them though !!!
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That might be the case Susan, which can be fixed by lining the inside of the tyre with plastic sheeting like with a pond. The soil sites surrounded by the plastic which is all held in place within the tyres.
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What a neat idea to re-use old tires! I bet they could be stacked to simulate a large pot as well…
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Yes they could Dimitri, and thanks for stopping by. Besides using old tires as potato grow bags, stacking a couple would make for a great environment for a plant, much the same as a large pot. The temperature is well managed within the tires, meaning it will not get too cold for Winter frost, and seems not to mind direct sun and high ambient temperatures.
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Is it safe to use a car tire to grow potatoes?
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Good question Crystel, and there is no one answer on the subject, although most of the evidence suggests that there is little to no danger in using car tires for gardening, be it for growing potatoes, herbs, or as a worm farm. You might also find this link useful- http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/2009/03/how-to-recycle-tires-in-your-garden/
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Very cool!
do used coffee grounds need to be dried for gardening
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No they do not Christine, and you will find that moist coffee grounds will do just fine for all your needs. However by drying them you can store them for months, and that can come in handy. Check out my post on drying used coffee grounds which you might find useful.
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It sounds like a good idea!
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Yes indeed it is. I’m getting kilos worth of potatoes growing in those tyres, and then I keep using them as a worm farm. When planting time comes again, I’ll strip out all the vermicast and start over again. A great natural system.
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