Topic: Anya Potatoes

[Duke Ellington]

Just Checking....The last of my Anya potatoes in storage from last year have just started to sprout again. Could I bring them out to chit and plant them up again?

Duke

[pumkinlover]

So do .. some don't.
some do this for one year then buy fresh seed pots. next year.
The problem with saving your own is that they can have viruses which may not be obvious at this stage.
But yes you can if there is no obvious problems with the actual potato but it is "best practise" to buy fresh certified virus free seed potatoes each year to plant.
Anne x

[Jayb]

I often select a few tubers to keep for seed the following year, even though it is not the 'correct' way to do it. I do remember my grandparents saving their own seed potatoes for a couple of years before replacing it.

[goodlife]

I save my charlotta seed potatoes every year..and been doing so more than 5 yrs..but..I only select tubers that don't show anykind of blemish..I wash mine in autumn in washing up liquid water so that there is no soil left on skins that may contain something 'nasty'..they are absolutely polished clean..left to dry before putting away...so far so good..and I have not failed to get good clean potatoes yet from my 'own' seeds.

[Vinlander]

This is how blight gets out - but there's always going to be the odd discarded potato somewhere - so as long as you are vigilant!!!

Unfortunately early blight is a completely different organism and can give a false alarm - but best not to take any chances.

I suppose the hard winter will have killed a lot of discards, and the rats  mice might have got hungry enough to deal with the rest.

What do you think? do we need to be extra vigilant after a hard winter to ensure that we don't end up shouldering 100% of the blame for an outbreak???

Cheers.

[galina]

I often select a few tubers to keep for seed the following year, even though it is not the 'correct' way to do it. I do remember my grandparents saving their own seed potatoes for a couple of years before replacing it.

Same here.  An old market gardener told me that he regularly gets better yields in the second year, because the tubers are better adjusted to his own soil.  Two years is fine.  

Years ago I chose potato Witchill from the HSL catalogue (they did potatoes one year) and have been growing them ever since, carefully selecting the best.  This year I found commercial Witchill seed potatoes and will eat all my old stock after this year's growing season and grow the new ones quite separate from the old stock.  Can't remember exactly how old the HSL seed stock is, nearly a decade , and I have not seen significant deterioration.  Good sense dictates to replace them all the same.  I have never offered any of these Witchill potatoes to others either, just in case.  

[galina]

This is how blight gets out - but there's always going to be the odd discarded potato somewhere - so as long as you are vigilant!!!

I thought blight gets out from tubers left in the soil, or in compost heaps etc?  I can see no blight problem using stored, non-blighted potatoes. 

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think blight in a tuber would be obvious by spring. Most of them rot, but it only needs one surviving to start the disease up again.

[calendula]

blight would almost always be noticed in the spud that is being selected to over winter for seed so one would hardly select those - personally I think if you are diligent it is a great idea to save spuds for next season's seed and I will be doing it this year - I tend to only grow first and second earlies anyway so virtually never see true blight, although you have to remember that all related species can carry it and I think it has at least a 40 mile wind/air spread