I Need Answers from Gardeners - badly

[The Flying Dutchman]

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*Mods please move this to the correct forum after a little bit.

Folks, I must admit - that after 50 years there are some things I have forgotten (especially about gardening).


Question: Can one still take potatoes that you buy in the supermarket and use them for 'seed potatoes'? Or are those potatoes now rendered inert by the commercial food sellers!.

I intend on building potatoe mounds out of old truck tires (it made it easy for us, in the bygone days. to just pull the tires away from each other to harvest the potatos.

*Next question - how many potatoes (pounds) might be expected by say 2-3 potatoe plants in a three stacked tire 'potatoe mound'?

I am 'aiming for an hoped for 300 pound potato harvest this autum.

I have also forgotten just what my grand mother did to the soil composition to keep it from compacting - so as to allow the potato plant to distribute it's potatoes to a greater dept... Anyone know about that.

FWIW - I am hoping not to have to spend a great amount of time on the goggle searches (I'd rather not take away the time I use to hunt the news). But I admit that I will have to so so, before I am forced to shut down this computer - and get myself ready for being away from the internet for a unknown lenth of time. Right now - I do not think that there is anything like cable that far out of town.

(heh! I may well have to be content with dial up. And that would really slow down the news searching I'll tell you.

I'll have more questions later; but right now the matter about how do I turn store/grocery store potatoes into seed potatoes (with out being robbed by being forced into buying the commerical seed potatoes in packets - ($4.00 per 30 seed potatoes).

Plus not being able to reuse my potatoes the year after as seed potatoes.

(on another note)
We checked today, and so far, neither Wally World nor Lowe's has heirloom seeds of any kind in stock this spring. I'll try the local nurserys this week-end.

Likely I'll have to look for them on-line.

TIA

Dutch

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[jolara]

From what I have learned, you can use some grocery store potatoes to try and grow at home but many are grown to 'not' sprout at all or not sprout prematurely. If you try to grow them at home, You might want to go with organic ones and even then I don't think you will be able to continue to save potatoes produced by the grocery store for many consecutive plantings due to their mutated genetic make-up. This may not hold as true with organically grown potatoes as much as 'regular' ones.

I found some potato 'seeds' at www.gurneys.com (http://www.gurneys.com) last year when all the other companies were sold out.

[GWHM]

One big potato, one plant.

Idaho & red potatos do well for me right out of the store. Plant it whole, maybe leave it inside until it has eyes then plant it. Don't plant while ground is still soggy or it will rot.

I tried Yukon Gold last year & failed miserably, they barely took off, I got nothing. Spent $8 bucks on those too. :)

[Dee74]

Dutch, hope you get some good answers on this one as I too have the same questions. There was a video online doing them in a trash can but can't find it now. They can also be done in straw. Have not tried that method myself. On some of the garden forums they mention using store bought and sometimes organic and have good results. The thing tht matter most is what does well in your area. Try gardenweb for texas as a good starting point.

[curlysue]

Dutch, the women folk are going to flock to you like crazy now. I'll start. No, you can no longer use the oes in the grocery. If you are wanting to get them locally, I would go to the nursery and let them know you would want some set aside for you. Give them your number so they can call you when they get in. That way, if they need to they can make sure they are not going off of last years sales. They may already have a list.

I know locally, they only order a few extra. But, if you are on their list you are guarenteed to get your plants.

[colonel holman]

Most store-bought potatos are treated with anti-sprout chemicals by the grower, so they will store well over winter. Get organic, untreated ones instead. Store in dark ventilated container at about 50 degrees F. Do not plant whole. Cut potato so that there is one "eye" per chunk and plant chunks foot apart. Keep "hilling" them with surrounding dirt as they grow.

[Argonaut]

I have had NO problem growing potatoes from the grocery store. Some sprouted in the pantry and I put them about 4" down in a compost pile I had and new potatoes were growing in no time. Had problems with the wee beasties in the neighborhood digging them up and shorting my crop. (Skunks or raccoons I think) They actually grew over several seasons. Good luck.

[Freeholder]

Yukon Gold has never done well for me, though they are a nice potato if you can grow them (low yields, though, compared to most other varieties, even when they do well).

Dutch, most potatoes purchased at the grocery store have been treated to retard sprouting. Even if they sprout, they usually won't produce very well. Organic might help, but you'd be better off to spring for seed potatoes at a feed store or from a seed potato catalog (Ronnigers comes to mind.) http://www.ronnigers.com/ Fedco would be another good place to get seed potatoes.

The first year we were here, I planted several different kinds of potatoes from Ronnigers. Two didn't do anything. Three varieties of standard potatoes produced approximately ten pounds of potato per pound of seed planted. The three varieties of fingerling potatoes produced between thirty and forty pounds of potatoes for each pound planted. Of course, because the fingerlings are *usually* (but not always) smaller than the regular potatoes, you will get more hills from a pound of seed potatoes, too. But IMO, if you want the biggest yield, plant fingerlings. Unfortunately, nearly all of the fingerling varieties are late-season, but they still mature here, and we have a short growing season.

Kathleen

[momof23goats]

you can get seed potatoes from a farm store this spring. or get a bag of organic potatoes, from your grocery store, they will grow and make. i didn't get all of mine out of the ground last year, so I am sure they will come up this next year. i will be watching, for sure.

[Stonecolors]

I bought seed potatoes yesterday, Red Pontiac. According to the back of the bag,

"Soil should be light, fertile and acidic between 5.0 to 5.5. Do not use lime soil for potatoes, high ph soils encourage scab disease.

Mix a general purpose garden fertilizer into the soil before planting.
Generous additions of compost will also help.

Rotate your potato planting from one year to the next (but not with tomatoes since they are in the same family). This will prevent disease problems.

Seed Preparation: Cut the potato into planting pieces containing one or more eyes. (The eyes are indentations from which sprouts will grow.)
Allow the pieces to dry and the cuts to callus over for a few days before planting.

Yield: A good yield for 5 pounds of seed potatoes will be 50 to 75 pounds of usable potatoes from 50 feet of row."
____________
Good Luck
Carl

[KuernoDeChivo]

Mine worked fine.

A few years ago I gave an old bag of sprouting store potatoes to some friends to seed their garden. They worked fine so last year I did it.

I am going on my second year from store potato starts although I have heard they could be GMO with insect DNA. Never the less they worked great. However Utah is very close to Idaho and they might be different then what is available in other parts of the country. By the time I got my tiller running last year it was very late into May. My potato starts came from my basement where I always go into the winter with 50-100 pounds of spuds basically as an insurance policy. They were very soft almost starting to rot and most had numerous spouts.

I did 3 40' rows with them. While they weren't in the ground as long as I wanted we still had a pretty good harvest and have been eating them this winter. I still easily have 30 pounds in the basement. I figure I had about 45 pounds of nice large potatoes and about 35 pounds of medium potatoes, perfect for my kids. Then I had about a Gal size ice-cream bucket full of the little golf-ball size that you can use in stew. Since I have been dieting I haven't been able to eat them as mush as I like.

There may be some "one potato one plant" or others that won't reproduce but those Idaho potatoes seemed to work fine although I might be eating Black Widow DNA... lol

[Nicho1]

You may want to re-consider using tires to surround your potato mounds. The new issue of "Mother Earth News" has an article that says some of the chemicals in the tires that can be harmful have been found to leach out of the tires into the soil and then into the plants...and then into the eater. Makes sense to me so you may want to check it out.

[GardenerGirl]

Organic store bought should work just fine - but seed potatoes are probably cheaper!

BTW, get them in the ground soon. They need to be fully developed before they are scorched in your summer heat. We have the same prob here in central ca. I used straw this past year to grow mine in and it worked great! (I'm also a big container gardener). Straw is cheaper than hauling in dirt and it is certainly lighter to work with. Good Luck!

[SheWoff]

Many of the store bought potatoes are treated with a chemical that retards sprouting. Some of the cheaper taters from say save-a-lot or even krogers will sprout. If they do, you can use them but you run the risk of introducing rust and other diseases into your soil. And once there, you will have to change out the soil in your tires. It will infect every crop after that if you don't. So if at all possible and if available, I would use regular seed potatoes that have been treated against fungus and disease. The best place to get those for your area is either a farm store or your local farmer co-op. The guys at the co-op are a wealth of info too, so it wouldn't hurt to get to know them.

While you can plant whole potatoes, it's easier to chunk them in quarters or plant eyes. Start with just a couple of tires high and plant your potatoes. Then put a tire on top. When the plants have gotten tall enough, start filling in that tire with soil/compost. (Try not to do this when the plants are wet, that spreads disease.) Add another tire to the top. Keep building them up until your plants start dying off. Once they have died off, you can harvest your potatoes. Or you can "rob" a few early if you like new potatoes.

As far as yeilds, I always remembered that a 100' row will usually yeild 150-175 pounds of taters. And it's 1 plant per foot of row. So if you were planting them in a regular garden, you would need 2 - 100' rows. I am not sure what a stack of tires usually yeilds, but I do believe they usually get more lb/plant. Maybe someone else can speak to that.

Hope that helps some and happy gardening!

She

[nharrold]

FWIW, we tried growing potatoes a year or two ago, but failed miserably. Why? Our female Labrador Retriever was sneaking into the garden and digging them up, eating a lot of them. (We'd thought it was raccoons or skunks.)

[Sly]

Do not plant anything around anything "man made". Put your tater's in a cool dark place. in a month or so, you will see those that want to seed. One tater can turn into twenty with the right patience. I know. The "EYE's" will tell you. Each "eye" is a new plant.

[Birdlady]

Mods: Move if not applicable on this thread.......

Just an aside (someone mentioned heirloom seeds), and this is what "Heirloom seeds" has on their website:
http://www.heirloomseeds.com/main/index.html

"Due to the heavy volume of orders we receive at this time of the year, all orders are now taking a minimum of 35 business days to process. We appreciate your business and ask for your patience during the busy season. Thank you."

Tho, this may not be the case with other heirloom seed providers....YMMV

[Moonsabie]

Potatoes are to be planted on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, by the light of the moon and sprinkled with a bit of beer on the new planting, or so I have been told.

Actually the potatoes that I have grown were all planted around this time of the year and did well.

[hunybee]

the ground is still frozen here in march. what do ya do with that?

[GardenerGirl]

March is too late here.

It all depends on your zone.

Check with your local ag extension office or better yet, check with a locally owned nursery. They'll give you the best planting time for your area. Good Luck!

[The Flying Dutchman]

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Thank you all very much - you have helped me tremendously. Please keep any thoughts on the subject of potaotes coming - heh! My Lady is Irish; and boiled whole skin potatoes (Russet) we could live on - with onions and pinto & lima beans....

Dutch

[Mama2littleman]

the ground is still frozen here in march. what do ya do with that?


Sweetheart, that's what the rest of the beer is for . . . to make sure you don't notice the pain in your back whilst you are digging in the frozen ground.

Nikki

[hunybee]

LOLOL!!! :mrgreen:

[GardenerGirl]

Hey, have you thought of Jerusalem Artichokes? Much more heat hardy than potatoes, although they don't have the calorie content. Just a thought! (If you need some tubers, pm me)

[HS-LD]

I planted about 8-10 pounds of certified organic seed potatoes in June 2008. In October 2008 I dug up about 125 pounds of perfect potatoes. I had 4 - 10 foot long rows. Two rows of some kind of red and two rows of some kind of yellow. (Got to see if I can get the names this year!)

I dug a trench about 1 foot deep, placed the seed potatoes in and covered with about 6 inches of dirt. When the potato plants were about 6 inches tall I then covered them up, and then did the same again so in the end I had about 1 foot deep trenches next to my 1 foot high rows, and the potatoes were then at an original depth of about 2 feet.

Storage is the interesting thing.

Dark, cold, with ventilation and no vermin. So they're in a back closet stacked in milk crates and doing well.

This year, I'm going to plant again from the potatoes grown last year the same 4 - 10 foot rows and then add another 4 - 10 foot rows with two other kinds of potatoes. So by the end of this year I should be self sufficient with 4 different kinds and 250 pounds of potatoes.

The tire thing is interesting, but the key is to know that potatoes only set new potatoes from above the depth of the original seed potato. Hence the trenches and mounding. Also, potatoes don't like too rich a soil, so they're perfect for planting where last years corn was.

[The Flying Dutchman]

Hey, have you thought of Jerusalem Artichokes? Much more heat hardy than potatoes, although they don't have the calorie content. Just a thought! (If you need some tubers, pm me)

I "thought* That Jerusalem Artichokes needed to have 'their feet' planted near a standing body of water (like the cat tails do)?

I know that they are hearty - saving for the need fo be emerced in a 'low water table'..

Dutch

[GWHM]

Lol. Lots of people say you can't grow from store potatos.

I do it every year. :)

[Freeholder]

Dutch, Jerusalem Artichokes just need good garden soil. I'm pretty sure that standing water would kill them (they are in the sunflower family, but perennials). They are a good thing to grow, though.

Kathleen

[The Flying Dutchman]

Dutch, Jerusalem Artichokes just need good garden soil. I'm pretty sure that standing water would kill them (they are in the sunflower family, but perennials). They are a good thing to grow, though.

Kathleen

I remember reading about them - I use to have every magazine that "Mother Earth" had published. Heh! Yup! I have been preparing "for this day and time" for a long, long time.

Now that it is upon us! I find that I wish I still had those Magazines. Then and the Fox Fire books had all the knowledge of the old timers.

We, all of us need that information; And we. all of us will have to grow our own food this next growing season. And for many seasons to come.

Be it by economic collaspe and/or war. We are facing the "Perfect Storm" and it will come, not "if" or even "when!" Because, for all intents the "hour" is upon us... ALL OF US!


Dutch

[Disastercat]

Hi - also check your local blight and soil information. Even here in Ireland the St. Patrick's day tradition doesn't always hold. Our Winters & Springs have been getting weird along with everyone else and sometimes in March the ground is too water logged to grow anything.

Now, for the really bad news, Ireland may no longer be able to grow potatoes as a substance crop without modern chemicals. Folks at Seed Saver's Ireland and other hard working places are trying, but it seems like the potato blight (the one from the 19th century) is now so endemic here, that growing them without spraying at least three to five times for a private gardener (and often thirty to forty times for a farmer) the potatoes get blight and rot. This has happened to us every single time we have tried to grow them out side of a conservatory.

However, the conservatory, back porch or green house with tires, old laundry baskets or even garbage/grown bags is one way around the problem for personal use. The is the only Seed Savers Ireland has been able to get enough organic seed potatoes for everyone. Some places (like sunny Waterford) do OK some years. One of our neighbors got huge, American sized potatoes outside this year in mounds of store bought plant compost. They gave us a bunch of them because the Irish, these days, are used to tiny potatoes and thought something was wrong with them! They did have a short shelf life, but they were OK while they lasted.

In blight areas, another trick is to grown short season baby potato and harvest early.

Oh and I'm shocked that in the US you can't use supermarket potatoes anymore! We can here, of course now I know why the potato here sometimes are sprouting almost as soon as they get in from the grocery store (which is why we don't eat a lot of potato pealings except during new potato season). If you have to use store bought, go organic, but then the feed store may be cheaper.

[kelee877]

Potatoes....

Try a little experiment first.....

buy 3-4 differnt types of potatoes from your local hardware store(only place we can get them up here)...and then buy 6-8 bags of potting soil...

once your potatoes have the eyes on them you can begin to plant..take your bags of potting soil and remove about 3/4 of the dirt and place aside..plant your potatoes eyes up making sure they are sturdy in the dirt..water a bit...as the eyes grow and get leaves add a bit of soil back into the bag..oh roll the bag down so you can roll it up as you add more dirt...

as the potatoes grow add more dirt...you can start these at any time of the year...you may need to give them artificial light(grow lights) depending on the availability of sunlight you have...

you can transplant some of these potatoes to your gardens in the spring,by simply diggin a deep hole(deep enough for your leaves and the roots...

the reason I have suggested different varieties is so you can a feel for what grows best in your surrondings...


The place I get my potting soil for my spuds has the soil out now...I will be getting a few bags in the next few days...once I can get the green houses up in the apartment...I have some potaoes left over from last year, have to bring them in from the patio(yup they are froozen) lol...and I am going to see if they will still grow...

anything else just pm me..caue I amnot fully awake right now and I hope I typed in all the directions as needed

[Limner]

Last year we planted Yukon Golds and store bought potatos that were sprouting and whimpering on the kitchen counter..."I want to LIVE!!!" Half we put in tires, the other half in hills. We got hit with every potato loving bug in Indiana, in tsunami waves. Potato beetles, flea beetles, Japanese beetles; I sprayed with pyrethirn spray until we could afford it no more, and then gave up. The only ones that did well at all were the "tire" grown ones. We probably got about what we put into the ground; it was sad. I saved some to try again this year; I'm thinking about row covers. Our friends who tried the tires used lots of Sevin onthem and had great luck. :oP

[Jubilee on Earth]

Also, too... don't forget about the wonderful website of Seed Savers Exchange (http://www.seedsavers.org/). They have all heirloom seeds, and great books on seed saving. You get a discount if you're a member (it's a co-op, but you don't have to be a member to buy).

Good luck!

[jrboat]

the ground is still frozen here in march. what do ya do with that?

As they say in Alabama.."Hold your taters"

[motherdear]

Use wood ashes for the beetles. Just sprinkle the tops lightly.
Rotate your potatoe plot this yr. if you had a big problem last yr.
Not one beetle here last yr. as we did have to move our field.

I have no problem growing potatoes from the grocery store.
Peek in the bag and you can pretty much tell if the eyes are
showing any tiny growth.
We get ours from Runnings, TSC, grocery store, and always
from the previous yrs. crop. Plant plenty so some will be available.
We got 1500 pounds off of a 1/2 acre which was kind of low due to
lack of rain. Plant potatoes on good friday.
Not so easy as I live in the north.
For us in a too warm basement the yukon golds keep the most
crisp.
Good luck
MD

[RevDoc]

Dutch, You'd have to be pretty broke to not be able to afford potatoes, even in a world class depression.

Potatoes take a lot out of the soil, so your plot will have to be rotated every year.
The looser the soil, the bigger the potato. Many people now plant potatoes directly on top of the ground, cover with newspaper and straw, and water regularly. To harvest, fork the compost back and pick the spuds off the ground. The straw compost is turned under in the fall.

I used to ridge plant and hill and mulch with cow manure to smother weeds and top dress, but it's a lot of work. Haven't used the lister, middle buster, or potato plow in years.

Nearly all store bought will sprout and grow and reproduce. If they don't go soft and grow eyes, they're dead, and not good to eat in the first place.

[GardenerGirl]

I "thought* That Jerusalem Artichokes needed to have 'their feet' planted near a standing body of water (like the cat tails do)?

I know that they are hearty - saving for the need fo be emerced in a 'low water table'..

Dutch


The darned things are weeds. Once established, just try to kill them! And by the way, no standing water - they would just rot. In a dry climate, don't rely on precipitation, throw a bit of water their way once in a while. Jerusalem Artichoke's are not our favorite but they would be in an extreme situation! They're not the least bit fussy (unlike potatoes) and they seem to be fairly immune to disease. Good Luck!

[PrairieMoon]

Dutch - I believe you are thinking about the Globe Artichoke, which requires a warmer climate. I was totally excited about my 'artichokes' that came up so well last spring...I bragged...only to find out they were Jerusalem artichokes! Not the ones used for yummy dips :( . But...Jerusalems will always grow and never die (according to some). So if we get hungry in the winter, I'll send DH out to pull up some artichokes!

Gardengirl, how do prepare and cook your Jerusalems?

[Bps]

the ground is still frozen here in march. what do ya do with that?

I have always followed my grand father's rule and planted my tatters on good Friday. Our average last frost date is April 21 so some year's like this one- I take a risk of a freeze, but I have never had them fail.

[Almost Ready]

You can get the best use of your space, Dutch, by planting 3 to 4 oz. tubers, rather than the tiny ones you buy in sets. The little 1 1/2 oz. ones fit in a mechanical potato planter, but the larger spud spaced 9 inches apart will give better yields per square foot.
ref - Garden Secrets by Patent and Bilderback. A treasure of information to have on hand when the success of your garden really matters.

Although we have successfully grown store potatoes in a pinch, we buy our main crop seed potatoes every year from Irish Eyes

http://www.gardencityseeds.net/index.php?cPath=30&osCsid=affded1d2d179ef5c1c1fa5e67f95812

Their free catalogue has a fantastic potato chart including important details like the potatoes' yield, heat tolerance, best cooking use and storage characteristics. THe spuds in your local grocery may not do well in your microclimate. Check their variety names against Irish' Eyes online description to see if they'll do OK before you put your time into the project. Many potato varieties take too long for us here in Idaho, except for early-potato use. I grow Red Norlands successfully every year, but couldn't grow Red Lasodas, although they look the same on the outside.

We grow Red Gold although they aren't the best keepers, aren't as disease resistant as some, and aren't the highest yielders (not as sparse as Yukon Gold, though). They just taste the best. They are the potato equivalent of fresh cherries in the summer. Use them up over the holidays.

Happy gardening!

[GardenerGirl]

Dutch - I believe you are thinking about the Globe Artichoke, which requires a warmer climate. I was totally excited about my 'artichokes' that came up so well last spring...I bragged...only to find out they were Jerusalem artichokes! Not the ones used for yummy dips :( . But...Jerusalems will always grow and never die (according to some). So if we get hungry in the winter, I'll send DH out to pull up some artichokes!

Gardengirl, how do prepare and cook your Jerusalems?

Just got home from work and am wiped out. I'll post some recipes for you in the Kitchen tomorrow. But mostly, I like them raw sliced thin in green salads.

[Rustic Rose]

I have organic Yukon Golds that I bought last fall. Some of them have 1-2 1/2" sprouts already.

I've cut off the sprouting eyes as I'v used them the last couple of days and am considering planting them in medium-sized pots and putting them in a window for now. Hate to waste the sprouting eyes. We still have 1-3 feet of snow on the ground and 20s to 30s at night and 30s to 40 during the day.

We live in Washington state 18 miles south of Mount Rainier in a small recreational community. Four years ago we were at 70 degrees in February and 80s in March. Last two years I have been cleaning the yard and the weather was in the 40s to 60s by February.

We keep joking that this snow won't be melted until July. Wish me luck.

[goatlady]

Just found this thread - apparently it was posted when I lost power. Last year I planted "store" taters that had sprouted (as I usually always do). I tried then in big 5 gal pots, used only straw, no dirt, planted 7 pots and harvested a bit over 30# of Idaho bakers and Yukon Golds. So that equals a bit over 4# per plant for me.

[Homesteader1]

Okay I'm late posting to a subject again:-|. We plant organic OP potatoes, these will produce a true potato seed( looks like a small tomatoe on upper plant, after it flowers and inside are TRUE seeds) Seed potatoes loose in production after about two seasons( if you save your own seed taters from season to season) Thus the need for "true seed" and these will need to be started on the second yr., for seed stock for your thrid season. Plant the seed as any other seed and get a plant, transplant this into your garden or a pot/ tire and in Fall collect the small seed potato( this will be your first yr seed, you'll repeat the process when you plant your second yr seed potato, clear as mud?) Oh and don't forget to harvest the TRUE seeds, dry and store in a cool dry dark place.

Now as for the best storing taters, we grow Caribe( it has a purple skin and white flesh) and are excellent for storage. We also grow Russets and they store fine, but begin sprouting sooner than Caribe. Red potatoes are grown for use throughout the summer( snitch them from hills), as they don't store well for us.

Jeruselum Artichokes are as mentioned earlier a weedy sort! They produce well in our sandy loom soil and definately do NOT like wet areas. Here in MT it's a problem storing them as well as digging them in winter( even when thickly mulched), so we eat fresh in Fall and store some in the frig( keep for a few months before shriveling and molding. They should NOT be eaten in the Spring, as can make one ill( or so I read somewhere)

Good luck Dutch, you've gotten loads of good info.

[jewlz]

Jerusalem Artichoke's are not our favorite but they would be in an extreme situation! They're not the least bit fussy (unlike potatoes) and they seem to be fairly immune to disease. Good Luck!

That's my understanding of them in zone 5, too. Additional benefits
is they're rather a stealth food- not every tom dick and hairy will know
those sunflower looking things have edible tubers. Better still, this type
of sunchoke is supposed to be good for diabetics- i believe due to having
insulin or insulin like properties. At any rate, a nice addition to the medicine chest garden perhaps.

j.

[SagebrushSue]

Question: Can one still take potatoes that you buy in the supermarket and use them for 'seed potatoes'? Or are those potatoes now rendered inert by the commercial food sellers!.

I have done this so much...I actually buy the potatoes, peel them (thick peelings) cook the potatoes for dinner and plant the peelings and I get potatoes every year. We must have different kind of potatoes here, cuz every bag we buy, sprouts. If they get too sprouty, of course we don't eat them...just cut them up in chunks cuz usually if they are too sprouty they are wrinkled and soft . . . But it's always been cheaper to do this than going and buying seed potatoes. And I don't do anything extra to the taters...just stand there in the garden along my trench....chunk em and throw em in the watered rows and cover em up and let nature take its course.

[Petedtom]

Question: Can one still take potatoes that you buy in the supermarket and use them for 'seed potatoes'? Or are those potatoes now rendered inert by the commercial food sellers!.

I have done this so much...I actually buy the potatoes, peel them (thick peelings) cook the potatoes for dinner and plant the peelings and I get potatoes every year. We must have different kind of potatoes here, cuz every bag we buy, sprouts. If they get too sprouty, of course we don't eat them...just cut them up in chunks cuz usually if they are too sprouty they are wrinkled and soft . . . But it's always been cheaper to do this than going and buying seed potatoes. And I don't do anything extra to the taters...just stand there in the garden along my trench....chunk em and throw em in the watered rows and cover em up and let nature take its course.
I would stay away from store potatoes. They may sprout but not grow new tubers. they can also get a type of blight/mold. Better to get seed potatoes that have been dusted with fungicide to be sure.

[Limner]

If the stuff hits the fan, store 'taters are better than NO taters. We planted some last year that were screaming. "I want to LIVE!!!!' from the depths of the tater bin. Turned out they did better than the Yukon Gold seed potatoes that were planted the same day. Go figure. I had a few talking to me a few days ago, and I cut them up into sections and buried them in a plastic "window box" that I had brought inside. Figured if they survived until planting time, they would go out with the Yukons, again.

[SagebrushSue]

I would stay away from store potatoes. They may sprout but not grow new tubers. they can also get a type of blight/mold. Better to get seed potatoes that have been dusted with fungicide to be sure.
I'm sure you are right PetedTom...it's just that I never had any bad luck with the potatoes but I was just planting a small garden. This year I have enough room now that we are plowing up a bunch of ground and putting in a HUGE garden. It will be fenced off for deer/elk/antelope but it will be the 2-legged critters we will have to fight off. We all know it's coming...people are gonna start stealing everything. They are already poaching like crazy...heard two gunshots yesterday. Second one sounded like it connected.
But we decided to put in two huge gardens...one by the house and one over the hill for potatoes, corn and beans. Everyone here stores the potatoes in big underground root cellars in big wooden tater bins. The potatoes last all winter and yes we eat them in the spring too...haven't died yet.

One year I had a good producing garden and hated to see it run out, so I put some long poles up, tee-pee style along the whole garden, and connected them with long poles on top so they wouldn't fall down. Then I put a good heavy mill clear plastic over the whole thing. It was tall enough to walk through and I Had tomatoes clear up into November. a couple other neighbors tried it and it worked for them too.

I've heard of some folks who buried their broken down chest freezers and put their taters/produce in there and then cover tho top with straw/old carpet/pads/blankets and then a board etc....and the stuff keeps pretty good. I wouldn't want to leave the lid on just in case some little kid decided it would be a fun place to play in the summer, but some folks who don't have kids do I guess. I wish us ALL good luck in our garden endeavors this year.

[SagebrushSue]

A person might reconsider this year and instead of putting flowers in your flower boxes and flower beds up by the house, plant more veggies. I know several people who have tomatoes under the front window or by the front door, in their flower beds and window boxes and they are pretty neat. Parsley and mini tomatoes are nice in a window box. Also when the weather starts cooling down, your veggies will be getting a bit of warmth off the building at night and helps them last a big longer. Don't want tomatoes by your front door? Consider putting herbs in. They flower up pretty and you can use the herbs for lots of things.

[Petedtom]

I'm sure you are right PetedTom...it's just that I never had any bad luck with the potatoes but I was just planting a small garden. This year I have enough room now that we are plowing up a bunch of ground and putting in a HUGE garden. It will be fenced off for deer/elk/antelope but it will be the 2-legged critters we will have to fight off. We all know it's coming...people are gonna start stealing everything. They are already poaching like crazy...heard two gunshots yesterday. Second one sounded like it connected.
But we decided to put in two huge gardens...one by the house and one over the hill for potatoes, corn and beans. Everyone here stores the potatoes in big underground root cellars in big wooden tater bins. The potatoes last all winter and yes we eat them in the spring too...haven't died yet.

One year I had a good producing garden and hated to see it run out, so I put some long poles up, tee-pee style along the whole garden, and connected them with long poles on top so they wouldn't fall down. Then I put a good heavy mill clear plastic over the whole thing. It was tall enough to walk through and I Had tomatoes clear up into November. a couple other neighbors tried it and it worked for them too.

I've heard of some folks who buried their broken down chest freezers and put their taters/produce in there and then cover tho top with straw/old carpet/pads/blankets and then a board etc....and the stuff keeps pretty good. I wouldn't want to leave the lid on just in case some little kid decided it would be a fun place to play in the summer, but some folks who don't have kids do I guess. I wish us ALL good luck in our garden endeavors this year.
Oh they will work most times for sure but a word of caution I used them about 3 years ago in one of my gardens , by the end of the season I had a mold problem that just cleared up this year. in a pinch they work but never use the same spot twice

[greensman]

+1 on rotating the location you plant for disease and pests-worms. my grandfather always planted taters in rows and had great results. he used an old turn plow behind an old farmall to dig them up. unfortunately we don't have the space that he had and we grew our in tires last year. they did great. i used old semi truck tires=very heavy, and cut the sidewalls off with a sawzall. tilled the ground, worked in compost, placed the first tire and planted the taters. as they grew i layered straw in on top of the plant leaving the main stem 3-4 braches exposed. continued this adding tires as needed. ended up with a stack three tires high. seemed to grow well enough, but it increase yield to layer with soil. the straw method is nice if you want to harvest a few taters and not disturb the rest. i have read that in scandanavian countries that they grew pototoes in straw piles. i used store and seed taters and did not notice any difference in the harvest. i didn't weigh the harvest, but fell a little short of the 70-80 per pile that i have read abou. my uncle grows them in plastic barrels with the bottom cut out with good results. good luck!

[Percysgirl]

Has anyone ever done potatoes in a square-foot garden? How close can you plant them?

I was thinking about using some big rubbermaid totes I have to grow potatoes. I wonder how that would work out. I can add hay on top of it as they grow, and then use the hay at the end of the season for compost for my lasagna garden.

[betsy baker]

I don't know if I would use the totes to plant in. The major problem is drainage. If you put a few holes in the bottom it might work. I have used cheap plastic flower box containers. I've grown sweet potatoes in them before. You could also try 5 gal buckets with a hole in the bottom.

[Martinhouse]

If you notice, on nursery pots the drain holes are sort of down at the bottom of the sides of the pot.

If you use barrels or buckets, make you drainholes this way and you won't have to put little sticks or rocks under them to let the draining water get out from under the container. I do this for containers I put on concrete or flat, hard ground or even on tarps.

Carol

[Brosia]

I've been reading all the posts, thank you all for the great info.

I am a first-time gardener. This was my plan this year, let me know if you think this would work out.. from what you all said, I think I'll be okay

I've got store-bought red potatoes growing out their eyes in a cabinet. I want to plant them in 5 gallon buckets (with drainholes) instead of having to dig for them in the ground. Cut the potato into chunks and plant each eye that is sprouting separately? Should each chunk be in its own bucket or can I have 2 plants together?

I should just cover the chunk with dirt and as the plant grows, add more and more dirt (and/or straw?) keeping it loosely covered.

AT the end of the season, when I've dug out my potatoes, I just toss the dirt/straw into the compost bin.