[CnySolar]

Hello all,

Well we are finally seeing the sun for maybe the 3rd time this winter and I am ready to plant as soon as the 4 foot chunk of ice leaves my yard.

I have a whole 10 pound bag of store bought Red Potatoes that are sprouting like crazy. Can I plant these and harvest some potatoes from them?

Thanks for any help,

Brian
Parish, NY

 

[goatlady]

If they are sprouting they are viable - cut the potatoes so there is 1-2 eyes/sprouts per piece and plant. You can trench and lay the sprouting part longways.

 

[gnatgnome]

I never buy potato sets to plant. I always plant leftover potatoes from last fall that have sprouted and storebought ones that sprouted. Sometimes the sprouts are 1 to 2 feet long! The only problem I have had is when the sprouts get long and I can't get them out of the store sack they came in. I would advise putting the potatoes in a box or large paper sack, carefully cutting the plastic bag so as not to break of the tender sprouts. When you go to plant, make your trench as mentioned in the previous post and cover both the potato and almost all of the sprout, leaving just the end uncovered. I then mulch my potato bed with grass clipping, or you could use straw. I keep adding mulch as they grow to keep them from getting any sun on the little tators. I have grown some HUGE potatoes this way, from potatoes the book experts say won't grow. Good luck, hope you can hold out till the ice leaves your yard. I know I'm not being very patient waitiing for planting season myself.

 

[KrisW]

I had the same thing happen, planted them last month or the month before that, can't remember.
4 small yukon golds and a large sweet potato, they are just peeking up thur the straw.

We could hardly eat the store bought potatoes, didn't taste very good.
Adding garlic and onions hardly helped at all.
Hopfully they taste better the second time around.

Last year I bought seed potatoes, (expensive) If this works I'm not buying them again.
The way I figure it, gardening isn't brain surgery, if things don't work out, nobody's gonna die.
The chicken will eat garden mistakes as well as anything else.

Kris