My best friend has planted supermarket potatoes from her cupboard.
They have had babies, but I am sure I read somewhere on here that they are no good, can someone clarify please :D
They're no worse than any other spud. The only thing is, they're not certified disease-free.
A survey a few years by Bayer indicated that over 80% of the land used in this country for commercial potato growing was affected by one or other of the two varieties of potato eelworm. Throw in a sprinkling of blackleg and one or two other viruses and you would be able to make a wonderful mess of your plot. Play safe and buy Scottish Certified seed
Potato diseases do not respect boundary's like fences and allotment sites soon get contaminated.
Using peelings in the compost probably introduces them too.
I know that our site has problems, so many of us have just started to grow the ones from the shops which have sprouted, simply because the results have been so hit and miss over the last few years.
Planting early and lifting early means we do get a few decent spuds. So, most of us have had ours in for a couple of months already. Looking good so far too. Well earthed up, ready to crop at the beginning of July at the latest.