Last years Potatoes popping up!

[peanut]

Ok....I clearly didn't dig out all my potatoes last year, and they are now popping up all over the place.

My question is, do they produce a worth while crop or are they a waste of time?

Thanks in advance folks

[zazen999]

Well, they are usually called 'volunteers' and the advice is usually to dig them up.

It is because potatoes usually get blight and the last thing you want is the new plants transferring them to this year's potatoes.

This year I am leaving mine, as due to manure problems I've lost half my crop and have had to start again with the others. So any potatoes that give me even a small crop are staying.

[weekendwellies]

me too. I am leaving mine as i didn't get blight last year, even though I left a few plants until late autumn before digging up. Something to do with all the horsetail I have I believe. Apparently it helps stop blight.

Will have to see how they crop as I am just entering my second years growing so no prior experience.

[Flummery]

Unless they are in the way of something I leave them. It's an extra crop and they don't do too badly. As said above though, don't do it if you've had blight. Blight is passed on through infected tubers. I only grow earlies so I don't have any trouble.

[BUFFS]

after having a house fire,my pots got left in,i dug them out when we moved back in and was surprised by the amount we got out,filled over 4 bags,still finding volunteer pots this year,they seem to come from really deep down,also when getting rid of old plants,dont bury crocosmia,i did, over 3ft down two years ago,they are popping up again and again..never mind, the veg patch will look very pretty..

[geoff]

I've divided ny plot into quarters, and try to keep to a rotation, so each quarter only gets potatoes every 4 years; that way I can immediately identify any volunteers. I used to remove them as I couldn't be sure of the variety, any disease it had picked up or other problems
This year I've tried something different; I carefully lift and examine the volunteer. If they look reasonably robust and healthy I've transferred them to this years potato quarter. But most of the volunteers are poor - just foliage from very small potatoes, last year's rotten old seed potatoes that fell off, or bits of peelings or cut & damaged potatoes that somehow escaped being composted
There probably not much harm in leaving them, but don't expect a high yield. Try it, learning by experience is all part of the fun!

[NewbieGardenerRow]

I found what I call my rogue potato in my compost heap...must have come from a peeling. I only had one volunteer from last years crop which I planned to keep but accidentally dug up while de-stoning and raking. I've left the rogue spud to see what it does but moved it from the compost heap into a new spot but it has moved ok and is growing fast.

[Currysniffa]

As this it the first season on my plot any volunteers that I've found have be squashed and composted. I'm not taking any prisoners lol

[peanut]

Thanks everyone....i've dug some up and they're perfectly good potatoes so i'm going to let the rest stay and see what I get....it's quite exciting and a lot cheaper than buying new each year!!!