Kitchen Garden Forum

I have quite a few spuds I haven't eaten yet and some are starting to show sprouts.

Do any of you ever re-sow last year's spuds? I've always bought new "seed", but because they're sprouting I suspect I can't now use these spuds to eat.

Any risks or special steps I should follow when doing this? Or is this basically going to be doomed to failure?

Yes, you can use them and many people do but you run the risk of carrying over any disease that might be present. Having said that, I've imported blackleg on new certified seed potatoes so they are no guarantee of being disease free.

Dear Colin,
sprouts on potatos are not a reason for throwing them away. Simply remove them and continue to eat them. The potatoes will continue to keep and will probably continue to grow more sprouts. It is just what they do at this time of year and in no way affects their eating qualities.

This should be a reminder to everyone, myself included, to go out and de-sprout their potatoes.

Regards Sally Wright.

I'll get cook to get out there and check.....

Thanks Sally and OH.

However this was a slightly obscure variety & I forget where I ordered it from. Thus I am quite happy to keep some to sow this year, if this is recommended.

So does anyone else have any views on whether it is a good idea of trying to use these, or would you recommend not? After all, by the time I discover any problems, I may then have missed the chance to re-sow.

Hi Colin, There is another recent thread on this subject you might like to read - on the lines of Is it alright to grow potatoes from ones you've saved.

Hello Colin

Yes, of course you can use last year's potatoes as the following year's seed potato. Obviously in an ideal world you would buy certified seed but what have you to lose by using them as this year's seed potato? In the past I often used to save my own seed potatoes for a couple of years running before buing in new certified seed.

Barney

Thanks Plumpudding.

I've just tracked down this thread which comes to a similar conclusion that many people have done this.

Hi Colin,
During WW2 there were no seed potatoes available to home gardeners and if we hadn't used those from our previous crop we would not have had any potatoes at all.
We had some potatoes of unknown variety that were not that good but my grandfather used to collect the food waste from a prisoner of war camp that was local to us. The waste was very thick peelings with sprouts on them and they were very clearly King Edwards.
We had no potato equipment but we managed to get a magnificent crop from planting those peelings. From those peelings seven families had superb potatoes right up until the end of the war and beyond.
I never bought a potato for the first ten years of my gardening life because they simply were not available. Blight was what had caused the Irish potato famine and was very rare on mainland Britain unlike today when blight seems to be the bane of most growers.
If you have had blight on your potatoes them in my opinion it would be foolhardy to save any for seed but if they grew without any signs of disease there is no reason why you should not grow from your previous crop.
JB.

Thanks JB, no they grew well and were earlies so had lost all foliage by midsummer.

Interesting to hear what you said about using peelings. I've heard other people discussing how in countries like the US, it's common to use "slips", which I take to be a whole potato, cut into two or more pieces.

Hi Colin,
Years ago back in WW2 the common treatment was to cut seed potatoes in half and sealing the cut with flowers of sulphur which would ward off any diseases.
In the case of sowing the peelings we had no F of S and also there were what we used to call chits which are potatoes not really large enough to be peeled and the POW's just bunged them in the bin. With the chits and the peelings we sowed two rows of about 500ft each and the result was truly amazing. There were 6 large dustbins full of these"seed potatoes!"
These were sown by using a horse drawn single plough by my grandfather and me throwing the peelings along the row by hand then ploughing back down the other side of the row and for about a fortnight it was my job to make good the soil into mounds and make sure everything was covered.
I'm afraid the pigs didn't really have that much to eat that day.
The following years were different and seed was saved and peelings were never used again.
I am tempted to have another go at planting sprouted peelings again just for old times sake but not this year or maybe not but just keep it as wonderful memory.
JB.

What a wonderful memory.

Johnboy wrote:Hi Colin,
I'm afraid the pigs didn't really have that much to eat that day.
JB.

Nice one

Brilliant story JB - and a reminder to us all that we don't have to spend a lot to grow our own veggies.

I say just after deciding I really really do 'neeeed' a new hoe, asparagus knife - even though my crowns haven't arrived yet and won't be picking this year, and spending £25 on seed spuds and over a 100 on seeds and other interesting things to grow....can you spot a newbi allotmenteer?