How are seed potatoes grown?

[bikermike]

I was just musing on this for no good reason.

AIUI they are simply potatoes (ie there isn't a separate fruit/bulb/etc that is the "seed potato") as you can grow from saved as well.

But as they are treated separately for sales etc purposes, what is different about how they are grown/stored/etc?

[1Bee]

I don't know, but my seed potatoes form Mr Fothergill appear to have a bad case of scab. I'm thinking that's not a good thing...

[Baldy]

afaik they are just spuds - but they have certification against viruses and other diseases ?

(apart from scab )

[Thelma Sanders]

Tiny micro plants are grown in a lab, to start the process. Once these plants have grown mini tubers, they are sold to seed merchants.
They are planted in certified fields, and the tubers that grow that year will be tested and confirmed virus and disease- free. Those are the seed potatoes we buy to plant the following spring.
I hope the link works, it explains better than I can

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media...thy%20Seed.pdf

[burnie]

Perthshire and bits of Angus are where a lot(I'm told most) of seed tatties come from, I pass their greenhouses pretty much every week. I was told the ones growing in the fields are "trials and not what we buy, that link(although from Ireland, pretty much tells the same story for Scottish seed tatties as I understand it), so produced in greenhouses not fields.

[keat63]

I read somewhere last year that they are ordinary potatoes but grown in Scotland where the temperature is cooler so less prone to disease.
How accurate this is, I don't know.

[Thelma Sanders]

They certainly don't start out as 'normal potatoes' ..

"All seed of British origin is produced
from disease-free nuclear stock (micro
plants), grown in sterile conditions
in government laboratories at SASA,
in Edinburgh, Scotland. These micro
plants are subject to stringent testing
to ensure they are free from harmful,
pathogenic organisms and are true to
varietal type.
These micro-plants are then planted on
a large scale to produce mini-tubers in
government-licenced micro-propagation
facilities, of which there are only six
in the whole of Great Britain. The vast
majority of mini-tubers are grown on
in sterile peat in sealed, temperature controlled
greenhouses and poly-tunnels,
with a limited number of mini-tubers
being produced using the hydroponic or
airoponic systems."
More info here

https://potatoes.ahdb.org.uk/sites/d...%20booklet.pdf

[bikermike]

gosh!

there's a lot to it, isn't there?

[Aberdeenplotter]

What a pity Tattieman (Ian Barbour of JBA potatoes) doesn't come on to the forum any more.

My understanding is that commercial seed production starts from the tubers produced from growing on the mini tubers. Scottish seed tends to be virus free because the aphids which spread disease don't do very well in our climate.

[Snadger]

Tiny micro plants are grown in a lab, to start the process. Once these plants have grown mini tubers, they are sold to seed merchants.
They are planted in certified fields, and the tubers that grow that year will be tested and confirmed virus and disease- free. Those are the seed potatoes we buy to plant the following spring.
I hope the link works, it explains better than I can

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media...thy%20Seed.pdf

Avery informative article.Thanks Thelma.

[rary]

A few years ago when I was still at school in the summer I did the tattie howkin and any potatoes about egg size were collected separately and these after the farmer had his pick went off for seed potatoes, and the ones he kept were laid out in perforated wooden boxes which were stacked, with an air space between them, on top of one an other and of course used the following year, and I only remember him buying in new seed potato once and that was to trial a new verity, so if they are now grown in lab conditions things have changed in a few short years

[burnie]

It's the difference between modern certified varieties and some of the old heritage ones, modern is scientifically produced, heritage is cultured the old way. I have grown tatties years ago that produced tomato like fruits above soil where the flowers were, tried sowing them, but nothing germinated.

[Thelma Sanders]

A fair few more than a few years ago, rary LOL

[rary]

^^^^^^^^ Hoi

[kitty12345]

Just got my seed potatoes and they are chitting on the window sill. Potato newbie here.

I know some people grow potatoes every year, wouldn't you just use last year's to grow this year's spuds? Unless you are trying a new variety. Was puzzling why they are so expensive!!