Topic: spuds.........again I know

[Mrs Ava]

I have started grazing thru the hundred weight of seed catalogues I have received  :o planning the old plottie for next year and am thinking about my potato crop.  ???There are lots of different deals, however, when we had our family plot, an old Irish fella used to grow a huge crop from reds that he bought at the supermarket.  This saved him a fortune  :o I know this subject has been broached before, but is this something that really isn't recommended?  Have any of you had great success using supermarket spuds?...or disaster come to that!  Anything I can do to save the pennies will be a good thing as I still have to buy some rhubarb!  :-/

[good_life_girl]

Well, I used some supermarket spuds this year as like you every penny counts. I'd bought them for eating, forgotten them, and felt that as they seemed so keen to climb out of the cupboard I ought to give them a chance. They were something like 'Maya' but can't remember the exact name. They grew, and were very nice - BUT did get blight (which then of course despite my best efforts spread to main crop and some tomatoes (Marmande of course)) so I'm wondering if would have been better off sticking to 'proper' seed spuds that would perhaps be more blight resistant...

[cleo]

I have to admit that I have not had a lottie for some years now but many of us bought spud collections and had some going spare-worth a thought?

And as for rhubarb surely some one will split a crown for you-or have those days gone??

Stephan.

[tim]

don't know where that went  - so, try again.

Our sprouting s/mkt Cara were excellent last year. But it's the luck of the draw, isn't it? Every year is a gamble. And even the best, organic pots are only 'blight resistant'. -  Tim

[Hugh_Jones]

Growing potatoes from Supermarket spuds is rather like (for tim & me) going without the annual `flu jab.  You might be lucky, or then you might not.

Certified seed potatoes are grown in soils that are tested annually for horrors such as scab, eelworm, blackleg etc, and if the level of any one of these exceeds the permitted limit the seed can not be certified.

Supermarket spuds can be grown by any farmer with the acreage, either here or abroad.  As long as the potatoes look o.k. the supermarket will sell them, but you don`t know what`s in the farmer`s soil or lurking in the potato you plant - possibly to infect your soil or your other potato crops.

[Mrs Ava]

Stephan, unfortunately only a couple of people on our site grow rhubarb and they only have a small patch each.  I am begining to think rhubarb isn't an Essex favourite  :-/ , however I shall put the word out before parting with  (my husbands) hard earned.  Also our site is very small, probably only 20 plots in total, and a few of those are unworked, and I hardly see anyone up there! (moan moan moan moan....no not really  ;D) so I don't know if I would be lucky enough to receive others left overs.
I am torn!  What to do, try supermarkets spuds or bight the bullet and go with a seed collection......I think I will probably go down the seed collection route this time as it will be my first year on my own lottie, at least then I will have an idea how they grow.....and should some spuds get left in the cupboard and start to grow...well maybe they will be a wee experiment......  Thanks for the advice chaps and chappesses.