Planting last years left over spuds

[George the Pigman]

Has anyone any experience of planting last years leftover potatoes (positive or negative)? I had such a good crop last year that I have loads left over and they are sprouting.
I know the official line is that you shouldn't because of the increased risk of carrying over disease but the seed producers must do that to produce next years crop of seed potatoes and they are hardly going to encourage us to do that are they?!!

[George the Pigman]

[BarriedaleNick]

Mate of mine on my site does it all the time - he has grown the same spuds for years with no real issues. Always saves the biggest bestest looking spuds and grows them on.

[goodlife]

Yes..I do it..though I'm being very selective about them. What I choose to grow must have 'clean' skins without any signs of desease or damage. If they've stored well without problems this long...you have pretty good starting point there.
I just brought bag of charlotte seed potatoes as we had in our lottie shop some going spare for the requirement..they were from well known 'seed' supplier. Through the net bag they were looking good but when it came to laying them out on tray, I had to get rid of 1/3 of them as they didn't pass my standards. No matter how well commercial seed potatoes are looked after..they are not handled individually and with machinery too, some gets bruised/damaged in storage and packing.

[laurieuk]

Has anyone any experience of planting last years leftover potatoes (positive or negative)? I had such a good crop last year that I have loads left over and they are sprouting.
I know the official line is that you shouldn't because of the increased risk of carrying over disease but the seed producers must do that to produce next years crop of seed potatoes and they are hardly going to encourage us to do that are they?!!

If your allotment has a set rules please check them before you plant self saved seed as some groups will expel you for doing it because of the high risk of spreading virus. seed potatoes are grown at an altitude where there is little if any aphid. I use to save catriona seed when they stopped us having it but I was very careful to pick out seed as I lifted to ensure the plants were clean.

[Tee Gee]

I agree with Goodlife

I save my PFA's every year and have done for as long as I can remember.

Regarding commercial suppliers testing /checking think of it this way;

There are around 13500 tubers in a ton and let say they check 5% that means they have to check around 700 tubers per ton,

Then multiply that by the hundreds of tons they handle, thats an awful lot of tubers to inspect......or do they????

At least with the 35 tubers I save I know each has been looked at, so I guess its odds on that my saved tubers are more likely to be free of of disease than the commercial ones.

I do buy in my First & Second earlies each year for convenience

Obviously if I had been hit by blight I wouldn't have saved them.

So as I see it...........you take your chances...........I have done so for years and have got away with it.

Now that I have said that!.......Sods law is going to kick in 

[winecap]

I'm sure I read somewhere, that certified seed potatoes have to be over 90% virus free. That was several years ago, and I have saved my own since then. Most people who save their own run a zero tolerance towards infected plants, and my feeling is I'm better off that way. I would happily be corrected if you can find another standard for certified seed potatoes.

[gavinjconway]

I agree with Goodlife

I save my PFA's every year and have done for as long as I can remember.

Regarding commercial suppliers testing /checking think of it this way;

There are around 13500 tubers in a ton and let say they check 5% that means they have to check around 700 tubers per ton,

Then multiply that by the hundreds of tons they handle, thats an awful lot of tubers to inspect......or do they????

At least with the 35 tubers I save I know each has been looked at, so I guess its odds on that my saved tubers are more likely to be free of of disease than the commercial ones.

I do buy in my First & Second earlies each year for convenience

Obviously if I had been hit by blight I wouldn't have saved them.

So as I see it...........you take your chances...........I have done so for years and have got away with it.

Now that I have said that!.......Sods law is going to kick in 

Hi TG - the seed growers have very strict growing regulations etc. throughout the growing season so no viruses can normally get into the fields.

I wouldn't chance growing my own for the saving of a few quid.. just not worth it.

[goodlife]

the seed growers have very strict growing regulations

Yes they have but within reason...they have list of potato health issues that they have to avoid...but only up to certain acceptable % from the WHOLE crop...in reality it means only certain amount is tested and if the amount of 'issues' doesn't go over the allowance the bulk is allowed to go through process.
If you have 100's of tons of potatoes going through the system...these are graded into 'food/eating' grades and seed grades...those that pass to go for growing may have allowance between 0.5-5%...that will still leave lot of potatoes with 'issues'.
In practice they cannot pick each and every potato to see if there is problems or not...only to reduce any occurrence to minimum.
Like I already mentioned...I paid good money for 'good quality' seed potatoes..and in that bag there was potatoes with 'issues'...I suspect they were just down to being knocked about during handling and/or transport (that bag has gone through many different storage stages before I got it) My gut feeling says it is just that, BUT..it could be that there was already problems 'brewing' in first place...
Here is good page about potato standards... http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/publications/documents/SPCSGuide0313.pdf

[Robert_Brenchley]

There doesn't seem to be anything in the document about the % allowed to carry blight. I believe infected seed is a nown cause of outbreaks in the States, so I'm surprised it's not there.

[goodlife]

There doesn't seem to be anything in the document about the % allowed to carry blight. I believe infected seed is a nown cause of outbreaks in the States, so I'm surprised it's not there.

No, I can't find it mentioned neither..but it is here in 'Scottish seed potato list'...0.2 % allowed!

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/plant/18273/potatoexpconds/Seedminimum

[Robert_Brenchley]

I believe it's 1% in the States, going by memory. Perhaps something to watch out for, even at 0.2%.

[George the Pigman]

Thanks for your comments. I have decided to combine things. I have bought 3 maincrop, a first early and a second early seed potatoes and am reusing my last years Harlequin. I will let you know what happened!