Growing potatoes from supermarket potatoes

[littlemoney]

Is it possible to grow potatoes from supermarket potatoes. I have never grown pototoes before but wondered if it was possible.

I purchased a bag of Vivaldi yesterday in the supermarket. If I want to try this, what should I do. Am I likely to get a useful crop or am I just wasting my time. Thanks.

[veggiechicken]

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...oes_69783.html

[ameno]

There's no reason you can't, but supermarket potatoes are not necessarily virus-free, and so could harbour viruses which will then affect the growing plant, and potentially spread to other potatoes. Most potato viruses don't cause serious, fatal problems for the plant, but they do stunt growth and reduce yield.
Gardening Which have done side-by-side tests with supermarket potatoes on a couple of occasions, and found that supermarket ones always seem to give a noticeably lower yield than certified virus-free seed potatoes.

[Snadger]

I try to garden on a budget. I grow Elfe spuds whose seed can sometimes be hard to get a hold of. We eat a lot of Elfe spuds and there are always a few that get missed and start to sprout. I gather these up and put them on the windowsill to chit.
Seed potatoes can be expensive, but I do like to use certified Charlotte seed potatoes.If finances were better I would naturally only use virus free certified stock, but the lure of spuds for free sometimes gets the better of me.
I have never had any problems using supermarket spuds, but I have never done a trial, back to back with the same variety of certified seed.

[littlemoney]

Thanks for the advice I will give it a go.

[Babru]

My gardening club was given a talk recently by a potato expert (had been an inspector in the past), and he strongly advised against using anything other than certified stock. Once things get into your soil they can persist for years apparently.

You can buy seed potatoes in places like Wilko for £2.50. Perhaps you could share with a friend if you only want a few.

[Snadger]

My gardening club was given a talk recently by a potato expert (had been an inspector in the past), and he strongly advised against using anything other than certified stock. Once things get into your soil they can persist for years apparently.

You can buy seed potatoes in places like Wilko for £2.50. Perhaps you could share with a friend if you only want a few.

I may be wrong but it is my belief that potato viruses are usually spread by sap sucking insects from the leaves of the potato plant rather than being soil born.

[bikermike]

I've lost a crop of charlotte grown from supermarket spids (blackleg), never lost from seed.

I save and regrow for a couple of years. This year my pink fir (year 4) have been iffy, but have been good every year before. I don't tend to save earlies or second earlies, but maincrop gives me 3 years crop from a packet.

Also, can you split with another grower? If you don't plant many, that can be another way to save

[piskieinboots]

I never have - I've always used seed spuds for all the reasons mentioned above, such as virus, low yield etc.

But you've piqued my curiosity now and maybe I'll give it a go at some point. Not this year though, because I've already bought all the seed spuds I need.

[Mark_Riga]

I've planted a few seed potatoes in a spot where I've never grown them before and intend to save the resulting potatoes for next year's planting. not being sure how many to plant, I've sowed 3 each of earlies and first earlies and about 9 main crop. I was thinking of covering with fleece to exclude aphids which spread the viruses. Planted closer together than usual and not bothered to earth up as greening will not be an issue.

[bikermike]

How are you planning to store them?

I fend my maincrop are pretty keen to sprout after winter in the garage, to keep earlies for that bit longer seems a challenge.

(My wife was listening to a farming documentary on radio 4, and apparently it said commercial growers keep that 2.2-2.4C with ventilation but no light, if they want to keep them for more than one season).

[Bonjour]

How are you planning to store them?

I fend my maincrop are pretty keen to sprout after winter in the garage, to keep earlies for that bit longer seems a challenge.

(My wife was listening to a farming documentary on radio 4, and apparently it said commercial growers keep that 2.2-2.4C with ventilation but no light, if they want to keep them for more than one season).

Quite by accident, and my failure to dig them up on time last year, I ended up leaving some Accord "earlies" in the ground, eventually digging them up about the end of October. They then languished in a cardboard box in a cool shed and were forgotten about. I found them in a rather wrinkly and well-chitted state in early February and planted them up in pots in my cold greenhouse, where they are now roaring away.

Lets face it, before refrigeration was commonplace, potato seed growers would manage to keep them from one season to next, so why shouldn't that still be the case? Maybe because wrinkly and chitted seed potatoes don't look so attractive on display in garden centres?

[bikermike]

That's only a one-year keep isn't it?

Maybe farmers didn't keep them for multiple seasons?

Finding anywhere cool (not cold) and dark and ventilated in modern houses seems tricky.

[Snadger]

I tried building a clamp on the plot one year when I had a glut. It worked really well. Recently watched a video of a bloke who buried an empty broken chest freezer in the garden and stored his spuds in that.

[Bonjour]

That's only a one-year keep isn't it?

Maybe farmers didn't keep them for multiple seasons?

Finding anywhere cool (not cold) and dark and ventilated in modern houses seems tricky.

Sorry BikerMike, I didn't realise you were thinking in terms of storing seed potatoes for a second season. In which case, yes, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prevent them sprouting in their first year.

I don't think (but I may be wrong) that Mark Riga was thinking along those lines. I think he's planting a few seed potatoes this year to increase his stock of seed potatoes for next year.