Seed potatoes?

[hendi_alex]

I'm just wondering about the use of seed potatoes, for growing red new potatoes. When we buy five pounds of potatoes at the grocery store, almost always some begin to sprout and are not eaten. This year I just started saving those sprouting potatoes after January, and planted them in the garden this spring. They appear to be doing fine. Is there anything special about the use of "seed" potatoes.

[TZ -OH6]

Two problems. Grocery store potatoes are often treated with sprouting inhibitors for better storage life, and commercial potato fields are full of diseases, which will be transfered to your soil and plants via fungal spores. Seed potatoe fields are inspected to ensure that the product is disease free.

[!potatoes!]

yeah, 'certified' seed potatoes are tested for the presence of disease.

[hendi_alex]

I hear what you are saying, but all of my kitchen scraps go to the compost bin and then make it into the garden. So all of those many pounds of potato peelings from commercial potatoes are already there to taint the soil. Is there any difference in adding the potato peelings to the compost/soil than using the sprouting potatoes to grow new plants, as long as the plants grow green and healthy?

Kind of funny, I never add old tomato vines to my compost, will not add potato vines either, but never think any thing all all about adding tomato and potato waste to the pile.

[Kisal]

I wonder if you could try growing the potatoes in a container, just as an experiment. You could see what kind of results the grocery-store potatoes give, without risking contaminating your garden soil.

IMO, however, potatoes are so cheap to buy at the store, the only reason to go to the trouble of growing your own is to have better-tasting varieties. My husband grew yellow potatoes from starts he got from friends in the Netherlands. They were wonderful!

[TZ -OH6]

Well, you stumped me, so I asked on another forum where a professional seed potato breeder-grower sometimes hangs out. I'll let you know what I find out.



The seed potatoes available here are pretty much grocery store varieties (Yukon Gold, Red Pontiac, Russets, Kennebec) but they did have some blue ones. People around here are pretty conservative (I.e. scared to try anything different). The local nursery can sell seven types of potting mix but only four types of potatoes I may be the only person who bought any of the blue potatoes.

[2cents]

Cost of veggies and potatoes.
Although potatoes may not seem expensive in the super market they are 10 times as expensive as it cost to grow them.
If I don't eat many potatoes, maybe I would forgo growing and just buy them 2-3 times a year.
Of course potatoes store better than most vegetables, so once you've grown them, they don't have to be eaten right away. In fact you can leave them in the ground for several weeks.

There is not many veggies I can let sit on the vine without going bad. And most of them I pick have to be eaten within a couple days to a week.

I just see them as a lot of bang for the buck. And sweet potatoes produce even more fruit.

[hendi_alex]

Here is a photo of one of three container plantings (approximately 12 gallon containers) of those store boughts that went to seed. Just planted them to see if they would provide a few new potatoes to go with the green bean crop. They look pretty healthy at this point.

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3326/3559599173_89158cfd18.jpg[/img]