Allotments 4 All

so we have about 12 old potatoes that we harvested from last year that we ve never got around to eating. They ve sprouted..actually they have stems about 8 inches long now (they re in a plastic bucket..no compost..inside the house).

Can i plant them?

I'd say yes spudcounter. Food for free now that's my kind of gardening :)

I'm sure you know once planted they will grow quickly even with shoots that long although you may want remove all the long shoots. ( dont worry they will grow new ones)

Or half and half it's up to you. Those old potatoes of yours could produce a worthwhile crop. And it will be far better than throwing them away. ;)

Just be careful that they have not diseased in any way..  I planted some with 8" chits I bought late in the season from the local  garden centre and they grew fine..

I should check with other plot holders first as some allotment groups will not allow ware potatoes to be planted because of the risk of virus etc.

Quote from: spudcounter on March 30, 2012, 22:07:28
so we have about 12 old potatoes that we harvested from last year that we ve never got around to eating. They ve sprouted..actually they have stems about 8 inches long now (they re in a plastic bucket..no compost..inside the house).

Can i plant them?

It is last years volunteers  you need to be wary of............the ones growing from those left in the ground from last year.You should get rid of those.

I dont really understand about volunteers being problems if there hasnt been any blight. Also volunteers that do come up on my plot arent diseased so not sure why they would be a problem (I usually take them out because they are in the wrong place though). I am not disagreeing - genuinely would like to know why it is seen to be a problem.

It's not just blight, though farmers are the big sinners there not allotmenteers, but there are several eelworms, potato cyst nematodes, some nasty mosaic virii, a whole host of things... that more than anything is why old varieties disappear (unless well stewarded), the disease load of those builds up at sub-lethal levels in the seed-stock... my personal view is that with really hard-to-find stuff and with varieties you've raised yourself form the seed pods then you have no choice... otherwise I'd be inclined to use new stock.... that said I had one epically productive PFA last year that put up tons of big tubers so some of its smaller tubers are getting replanted this year to see if it is a particularly good one or just one I got lucky with....

Virus is a lesser problem; it will build up, but over time. You should be all right for a few years. The big problem is blight. If you had it last year, be very careful. Don't plant anything which shows any sign of rot.

I think what I may do is to plant them in bags. I have quite a number of bags with soil lying around (transported it from old raised flower beds from our yard). It seems the safest option...if they re virused, it'll be contained..if they don't do anything, I won't have spent that much on them by way of compost..and if they do produce, That d be great. Thanks for your replies.

VIrii spread via potato aphids, hence the seed-raising bit of the UK being in Scotland... although they can't grow the spuds very big cos their season is short, the aphids can't get up there whilst the spuds are in to spread diseases and they can't overwinter cos they more cold-sensitive than normal aphids... I've grown spuds in dumpy bags of soil before (8 spuds to a bag) and got a decent enough crop but they do need a lot of water, I was giving each bag at least two watering cans a day and it probably should have been more....