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An old gardener told me today that seed potatoes are taken from the tomato like fruit that grows on the potato, he said that if you plant the seeds in them in a few years you would have your own seed potatoes, surely it cant be true, I didnt believe a word of it.

The seed potatoes you buy are simply potatoes that have been grown and dug up just like those on the lotty except they should have been inspected and certified free of disease.

BUT

The seed from the fruit could be grown if it is ripe when harvested. The results would be unpredictable at best and a far greater demand of resources required. The seed would probably require heat to germinate but if the plant was started early should produce potatoes the same year.

I've never tried as it is so much easier to dig a hole and pop a spud in.

Ah!! but it IS true!

It is a misconception by many that the TUBERS we plant commonly known as SEED potatoes are NOT seeds at all.

The old fella is indeed correct, but it is a long drawn out process and at the end of it you may end up with a poorer variety than the original parent.

It usually take four years plus to get the crop to an edible size.

The first year after germination expect to get potatoes that are pea sized.

The following year after planting the pea sized potatoes you will probably get potatoes up to about 1" (25mm) in diameter, the following year up to 1½" (40mm) diam the year after that you might get potatoes of edible size i.e. in excess of 2"(50mm)

Then the next thing is they might not be as 'disease resistant' as the parent.

I say all this from experience as I tried it once and gave up after five years. My only consolation is; I have done it and my advice is; leave the breeding to the experts and their mono-culture etc.

Agreed Tee Gee.  In my enthusiastic youth I also grew potatoes from the seed pods and came to exactly the same conclusion as you, although it was good fun while it lasted.

In some parts of the world where conditions are right daylength neutral potatoes are grown from seed to edible crop in one year, which has obvious economic advantages

In fact I usually pull up a few seedling potatoes most years from the previous year`s potato beds.  Last year there was a bumper crop of seed pods on my Nadine, and although I managed to pick up most of them when I removed the haulm I`ve had to pull out quite a number of seedlings - and these were genuine seedlings, not volunteers.

If you do wish to have a try Simon, all you need to do is split the pods, empty the contents into a bowl of water, stir it round until the seeds separate, then save them and sow them in the spring.  It is not necessary to ferment them, as you would with tomato seed (and as I saw advocated on this site last year), which may in fact reduce the fertility.

Can't be bothered myself but that is how new varieties are developed...
:)

Quote from: Tee Gee on July 25, 2007, 19:47:50

Ah!! but it IS true!

It is a misconception by many that the TUBERS we plant commonly known as SEED potatoes are NOT seeds at all.

The old fella is indeed correct, but it is a long drawn out process and at the end of it you may end up with a poorer variety than the original parent.

It usually take four years plus to get the crop to an edible size.

The first year after germination expect to get potatoes that are pea sized.

The following year after planting the pea sized potatoes you will probably get potatoes up to about 1" (25mm) in diameter, the following year up to 1½" (40mm) diam the year after that you might get potatoes of edible size i.e. in excess of 2"(50mm)

Then the next thing is they might not be as 'disease resistant' as the parent.

I say all this from experience as I tried it once and gave up after five years. My only consolation is; I have done it and my advice is; leave the breeding to the experts and their mono-culture etc.

thanks for the replies, I didnt think that it was true, you learn something new every day, I wont be trying it though, too much hassle.

Quote from: Kepouros on July 25, 2007, 21:54:31
Agreed Tee Gee.  In my enthusiastic youth I also grew potatoes from the seed pods and came to exactly the same conclusion as you, although it was good fun while it lasted.

In some parts of the world where conditions are right daylength neutral potatoes are grown from seed to edible crop in one year, which has obvious economic advantages

In fact I usually pull up a few seedling potatoes most years from the previous year`s potato beds.  Last year there was a bumper crop of seed pods on my Nadine, and although I managed to pick up most of them when I removed the haulm I`ve had to pull out quite a number of seedlings - and these were genuine seedlings, not volunteers.

If you do wish to have a try Simon, all you need to do is split the pods, empty the contents into a bowl of water, stir it round until the seeds separate, then save them and sow them in the spring.  It is not necessary to ferment them, as you would with tomato seed (and as I saw advocated on this site last year), which may in fact reduce the fertility.

thanks all for the info, but as I said it saves alot of hassle just buying seed potatoes.