Anyone save their own seed potatoes

[maverick451]

Hi guys

Just wondering if anyone saved their own seed potatoes? and if so how do they go about it?

Looking at seed potato prices personally I think its worth a go and im prepared to take a bit of a risk

[Number76]

Saved my own charlotte this year and so far things are looking great, just coming into flower. All I do is save however many smaller potato's I need. Have done so for years with no complaints.

[maverick451]

How do you store them?

[Bigmallly]

I always save some tatties for the following year. Stored in polystyrene boxes with the tatties layered between wood (pet) shavings. I guess any box will do as long as it has a lid if kept in a shed or similar.

[Snadger]

I usually get a few 'green' potatoes near the surface of a requisite size of a hens egg, which I use as seed tatties for the following year. Desiree and Kestrel have both stored well in a drawer in my shed and are growing well.
Because I like a variation I still buy a few seed tatties each year though and it keeps freshening things up in case of any viral issues.

[sparrow100]

I wouldn't chance it myself, I grow on a busy site and wouldn't want to risk disease that would spread but I am interested in growing from True Potato Seed.

[Number76]

I store all my seed potato's in cool boxes, they are well insulated and so keep the frost out.

[Guest]

Do peeps wash their saved seed spuds or just brush off most of the dirt?

[Bigmallly]

I just brush any dirt off before storing.

[Snow]

This is how people used to do it, right, so I see it as totally normal. I would do it (and may well do this season) unless you have some bad disease or something in which case you might chose not to.

[Penellype]

Do peeps wash their saved seed spuds or just brush off most of the dirt?

I think you woudl risk them going rotten if you wash them.

[Martin H]

Last year I put a bag of Ratte potatoes in the fridge. They had been fully ripened, washed and dried first.
By Chr1stm@s they were sprouting so I thought I might use them as seed. I moved them into egg boxes in the cold greenhouse. Planted out in April they are now doing just fine and I'm expecting a decent crop in a couple of months.

Washing a ripe potato shouldn't make it rot as long as you dry it off before storage. None of these ones did and I've got 100% growing.