Can i grow decent potatoes

from normal ones from the supermarket that have shhots on them from being in the cupboard too long,or do you have to buy proper seed potatoes

that will work , although you will get a better crop from seed potatoes

You are best to get certified seed potatoes for a proper crop as the ones in the bottom of your pantry are prone to viruses and also may not produce much for you. You can always experiment if you wish by putting some in an old tyre, away from the others. You will get a potato plant from each "eye" on the potato that hasa shoot, so you can cut your potato into pieces with an "eye" on each piece.
Certified Seed Potatoes are generally stronger, more aggressive growers and are a lot more resistant to disease than non seed potatoes.

cool thanks,ive got an old car tyre,how does this work?like how do you prepare it

http://www.permaculture.org.nz/showOneQA.php?qnum=425

Personally I would not use them.

Google toxicity car tyres and see what you get apart from the link above.

never thought of that,but i found a very large pot(about 2 feet in diameter)and put some in,although its still potatoes from the cupboard

Good luck danchop - make sure it never dries out completely! Not soggy - but well watered :)

Just pop one on top of the other and fill with soil.

Here are instructions for growing from Eion Scarrow and my own experience:

They need a warm, sunny position and prefer a deep friable, well-drained soil. For best results, the soil must contain plenty of humus or compost. Add a dressing of superphosphate (140g) and sulphate of ammonia (56g psm).

Now you should put your potato very close to the bottom of the pot (give some soil for roots though). As the green shoots come through cover them up with a layer of soil. Keep doing this till you get fed up with doing that or you get to the top of your pot. If you can add another pot with the bottom cut out, to your original pot then keep filling with soil. Some people just add hay instead of soil. Potatoes will form at each leaf juncture (I think that is what happened with mine).I not sure when you can start harvesting but they are definitely eatable when the exposed greenery dies off.

This is what poster one asked

danchop, if you are going to buy some seed potatoes, you could try Jersey bennes, they are delicious,especially at Christmas time and if you get them in you will have them for Christmas day.
We have them as well as "swift" and "Desiree" this year.

yup...get PROPER seed spuds as you have been told... If they are big , you can cut them, but leave at least one eye on each piece...
Best to cut them the day before you plant them so the cuts dry out.
gross feeders for compost etc.. and need water as told before but not water logged or they will rot.. Jersey Bennies are an early so ready by xmas.. and also agria are great for most things especially roasting and chips but ready round March...

hmm now i feel guilty chopping up my cupboard spuds,might go buy these proper ones and dig up the ones i stuck in the pot,.i only need one or two for my pot though and i spose you have to buy a whole bag which leads me to this question.
can you eat seed potatoes?

hi danchop, they are not always sold in bags, the garden centre over the road from me sell them individually. would recommend using seed potato as last year we grew some from the cupboard and although they grew well, flowered well and had plenty of spuds they must have had some sort of virus as all the spuds were yuck inside.

yeah thats what i dont want,id be rather peed off looking after these things,talking to them and feeding them for months only to have horrible spuds

yep was bit of a bugger as we were looking forward to nice new spuds for Christmas.

you don't need certified seed spuds to grow potatoes. The only thing is with table potatoes they are often sprayed to stop them sprouting. We keep small ones from the end of growing season when we dig our potatoes. Most importantly, set them out on trays inside but in the sun to encourage the "eyes" to grow. If your potatoes send out shoots while in a dark cupboard they will produce weak spindly shoots, which are not the best to plant as seed. I don't know where you live but I'm in Southland & I always have new potoatoes for Xmas. If the weather is reasonable I would have them planted by now but will wait for this nasty storm to blow through!

bumping for stasi21

I have grown my spuds in black plastic rubbish sacks and had a huge crop just recently I harvested 7.5kg of king reds and jersey bennes yum

cool thanks,ive got an old car tyre,how does this work!like how do you prepare it

http://www.permaculture.org.nz/showOneQA.php!qnum=425

Personally I would not use them.

Google toxicity car tyres and see what you get apart from the link above.

Just pop one on top of the other and fill with soil.

yup.get PROPER seed spuds as you have been told. If they are big , you can cut them, but leave at least one eye on each piece.
Best to cut them the day before you plant them so the cuts dry out.
gross feeders for compost etc. and need water as told before but not water logged or they will rot. Jersey Bennies are an early so ready by xmas. and also agria are great for most things especially roasting and chips but ready round March.

hmm now i feel guilty chopping up my cupboard spuds,might go buy these proper ones and dig up the ones i stuck in the pot,.i only need one or two for my pot though and i spose you have to buy a whole bag which leads me to this question.
can you eat seed potatoes!

you don't need certified seed spuds to grow potatoes. The only thing is with table potatoes they are often sprayed to stop them sprouting. We keep small ones from the end of growing season when we dig our potatoes. Most importantly, set them out on trays inside but in the sun to encourage the "eyes" to grow. If your potatoes send out shoots while in a dark cupboard they will produce weak spindly shoots, which are not the best to plant as seed. I don't know where you live but I'm in Southland & I always have new potoatoes for Xmas. If the weather is reasonable I would have them planted by now but will wait for this nasty storm to blow through!

Can i grow decent potatoes

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