hi,
i read that its much better to buy pototoes for planting from suppliers rather than use shop one - is this really required ? or just good marketing - they say the disease in shop bought ones will make it a waste of time to plant them
i want to buy mars piper and i see them in morrisions.
i intend to grow them in old tyres.
thanks
hendrik
It is not clever marketing. It is true that shop bought spuds are best not used. For a more guaranteed success of potato crop you are definitely best to use potato sets from reputable suppliers. Spuds that you buy to eat from your local supermarket are not really supposed to be any good for sowing. What you have heard is correct.
I have ordered my seed potatoes from http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/ (http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/) 7.5Kg for £17.92 (including £5.95 carriage, = £3.99/2.5Kg). This is about half the price of some growers.
am not the worlds most experianced grower in the world but last year i was given some red roosters and they grew a treat maybe i was just lucky hey !!! ;D
I grew both seed potatoes and ones I found "chitting" in the back of the cupboard.
The result was the same.
The normal shop bought ones were Desiree and we are still eating them now!
I think the risk is that you might introduce disease into your soil. Seed potatoes are certified as disease-free. Supermarket potatoes aren't as they aren't intended for planting.
if we have any of our own, or shop bought ones sprouting, we plant some in containers
As Ceres says they are certified disease free, we've all used supermarket ones when we knew no better but why take the chance, but in containers like the Scousers is a different matter, I buy mine in our local nursery, a lot cheaoer than sending off for them. ;D ;D ;D
thanks for all the advice
i intend to use containers (tyres - to be precise)
but as it is my 1st time i wont take the chance and get them from supplier.
strangely enough - my bought garlic has not yet showed signs of growth but the morrisons ones have - will see what happens ....
My seed potatoes cost 14.95 for 25kg, certified scotchish seed. I buy for fellow allotment holders.
Squashman, can you tell us who your potato supplier is please?
You should conduct an experiment - try growing some from the supermarket and some from the suppliers :)
I am going to try growing spuds in tubs next year for the first time, havent decided what yet. Any advice to a beginner would be appreciated.
http://www.britishpotatoes.co.uk/
Thank you :) Didnt realise they can start going in from January !! Will need to start planning now!
just read old tyres leak cadmium and thus making pototoes not that good for you to eat. effectively poisioning the pototoes ....
Hmmmmm............ Best not to use them then !
I am just gonna use good old plastic tubs with holes in the bottom.
The only difference with shop potatoes and the ones from garden centres etc is the certification.
It is always better to start off with certified seed potatoes and when your crop is ready for lifting keep some for seed the next year.
I have been growing potatoes for over 3o years and only buy certified seed potatoes every third year.
Our allotment pays £10 per 56llb bag of certified seed potatoes which we get from a seed merchant in Burlenton Couper Angus in Scotland.
Shop potatoes will grow just the same.
Think i have replied to this question a few times over the last few years but just to say again when i was a market Gardener we used to plant half certified Scotch Seed Potatoes and half own saved tubers out of the previously planted Scotch Seed. There was never no difference in production.
Things seem to have changed a bit over time .
Shop potatoes that we bought to eat until few years ago didn't have the variety on the bags, so buying them to plant was a bit of a lottery as to what variety they were ..Now folks are a bit more discerning with them and usually know which variety they are buying .
I remember when we could buy from our local seed merchant two sorts of potatoes to grow . One was Scots seed potatoes and the other was once grown Scotch seeds which were cheaper.
I save my own seed from my PFA as I only grow a couple of rows of these I have never had no trouble with these.
Like others I buy my seed potatoes from local society as they are cheap enough and available but if availability or finances didn't allow me to do this, I would have no qualms setting potates which had been bought for the table as long as they weren't the foreign out of season imported ones..
Think you have hit the nail on the head Growmore with your comment on " if finances allow " as i think this will be one of the main things next season...... if people have the finances
Hosta before you get too excited I feel the information given on that website is a little missleading, January is far too early for planting out spuds on open ground, you should put them in about March time, after the frosts, if the ground is workable, admittedly I do put a few in earlier but cover with clothes to keep the frost off, but only a couple so if they don't make it I'm only a couple of seeded spuds down, buy your spuds in January and leave to chit. ;D ;D ;D
Thanks - but I plan to grow them in tubs, will that make a difference as to when I plant them ?
See I knew this veg growing was gonna get complicated ;) LOL
Hi Hosta are you growing on a lottie or in a garden.
If you grow in tubs you can control the wettness of the soil.
If they are outside the frost will kill the leaves on your plant.
Take these off and the plant will still grow but set you back a bit.
If your growing in a heated greenhouse you might get away with if, but as I have no greenhouse others may advise better.
Hope this helps. ;D ;D ;D
but cover with clothes to keep the frost off,
;D ;D
Well if I may have my 10 pence worth:
I'm saving all last year's Sarpo (Mira and Axona) for this year's seed, as everything else was wiped out with blight (again ::)) except for these, and they're bloody expensive. Also my next door plottie did this last season and ended up with a bumper harvest.
As for the rest (first and second earlies, maybe some Cara or Picasso too), they'll be shop bought seed spuds.
I still will expect blight, it happens every year without fail, but hopefully after the earlies are done and there should still then be the Sarpo to keep me going.... :)