I have a basket full of new potatos and small seed type that we grew last year. I would like to use them this year but I am worried they will rot before it is time to plant?? I have them covered in a dark room but they are starting to sprout can anyone tell me the right way to do this I have a family of 4 I don't think I have enough to plant next year for all of us Thank you.

Here are a couple of links that might help.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/s...

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/...

Damian, "new potatoes" won't store until next year, they're too young. You'd be best off eating them before you lose them. Potatoes for storage are best harvested when the plants die down and then either let them cure under ground a few days/a week, or dig them up and let them air-dry for a bit so the skins harden up. And, of course, you'll want to brush them off of any dirt so they are fairly clean before putting them in storage.

Your new potatoes are sprouting because they are too warm and/or not getting proper ventilation. Again, best to eat them and enjoy them while you have 'em.

Patti, the blog you referenced isn't quite up to snuff on some facts. Allowing the spuds to turn green for storage won't put them into dormancy, it'll only cause them to create solanine which is natures way of protecting the potato from insect and fungicide attack. (Ain't Ma Nature smart!? :>) As for dormancy, potatoes naturally go into a dormancy period - under proper conditions - and don't rely on needing the solanine to do so. I think, depending on the variety, dormancy periods are normal for 80-120 days or so.

Damian, if you still have some plants that are producing let them keep on keeping on and harvest the more aged potatoes for your storage and seed stock. Keep them cool (if you can in Florida) around 40º or a tad less, and in the dark with ventilation. I imagine Florida has a fairly high humidity so maybe you can use that to your advantage as well.

Shoe.

Thanks Shoe, I removed that link. Can you tell that I don't grow potatoes?

Shoe, haven't seen you around for a while, maybe I just haven't visited the right places. I Love your cross eyed Rooster!
I have had the best luck with planting certified seed potatos, and one year out from certified seed potatos, but when I've tried to plant the second year, I ended up with a poor crop. I'm not sure why, or if others have had this experience.

Howdyt TVE/Tom....
Nice to see ya!

Yep, I've been pretty busy with lots of things this summer and just pop in when I can. And of course, when I DO get some computer time my hard drive, mouse, keyboard and cursor are trained to automatically go to ATP!!

As for taters, I've heard they lose their vitality several generations down the way but am not sure I understand why or even if that is true. After all, it is not like saving the very same potato year after year like we'd winter over certain plants year after year (foxglove comes to mind, which does tend to lose it's vigor for existence after a while.) Perhaps it is like inbreeding and the spuds tend to lose resistance to disease along with their loss of vigor (like the great potato famine.)

Patti, I didn't mean for you to remove the link to that blog. Sorry if I came off as being hoity-toity...that woman actually had a nice blog but the parts I read about potatoes would be misleading to folks in this thread so just wanted to clarify things a bit.

Shoe (watching the black clouds roll in and bring MORE rain. sheesh.)

Shoe, I removed the link to that blog because like you said, it would be misleading to the folks on this thread and I didn't want to be responsible for that. And by the way, you probably couldn't come off hoity-toity if you tried

I can't for the life of me figure out why either, but I had come up a bit short on certified seed potatos a few years ago, so just finished the row with about 8 hills of the 2rd year potatos. They all got treated the same, watered the same, and when it came time to dig them, the certified were all nice big, and lots of them. The 2nd year potatoes were tiny little things. It doesn't make sence to me, but I never did that again. I thought it was the same genetic material, but maybe not.

"And by the way, you probably couldn't come off hoity-toity if you tried"

Hehehe, Patti, well I tried it once but it made my neck hurt to point my nose up towards the sky. Reckon I was just made to be common folk, it's much easier!

Tom, maybe second-year tater harvests are where "fingerlings" came from, eh?

Shoe

Shoe, These were more like toes then fingers, lol, and little toes! I don't know what role the blossom plays in a potato, maybe it is a polenation process. But I always found that the blooms would make small seed pods, so I thought the potatoes were not new genetic material. I will have to study this some I guess.

Hah! "more like toes than fingers"...

So THAT's where "tater tots" come from!!

As for the potato plant flowers, they play no role at all in the formation of the spuds, just in the forming of seeds. I think most folks just use the flowers as a signal when you can begin to harvest the young, "new" potatoes. And of course some folks who like to grow new stock or new varieties collect the seed (known as TPS) and start their crop with those.

Shoe (who had country-fried taters with his stir-fried chicken and eggplant for supper tonight. *burp)

That sounds good! What do you season it with?

Re: the first post...
In Florida, it's time to start your autumn planting... no need to save these taters til spring...

Here's a guy that isn't afraid to experiment:
http://www.floridasurvivalgard...

Horseshoe said:
As for taters, I've heard they lose their vitality several generations down the way but am not sure I understand why or even if that is true. After all, it is not like saving the very same potato year after year like we'd winter over certain plants year after year (foxglove comes to mind, which does tend to lose it's vigor for existence after a while.) Perhaps it is like inbreeding and the spuds tend to lose resistance to disease along with their loss of vigor (like the great potato famine.)

When we save taters, we're saving clones. No way to lose vigor unless they're being planted in the same soil year after year... without adding organic material to feed the soil...

When we're growing foxgloves, those biennials are sexually reproducing, and inbreeding is conceivable, if surprising... as the plant breeders produce stable colours by selecting against the variations in the same seeds year after year...

tveguy3 said:I can't for the life of me figure out why either, but I had come up a bit short on certified seed potatos a few years ago, so just finished the row with about 8 hills of the 2rd year potatos. They all got treated the same, watered the same, and when it came time to dig them, the certified were all nice big, and lots of them. The 2nd year potatoes were tiny little things. It doesn't make sence to me, but I never did that again. I thought it was the same genetic material, but maybe not.

Stone, I thought the same thing, but I remember my Ag teacher in High School telling us that if you plant too far out from the certified seed potatoes that they wouldn't do well. I always rotate crops in my garden, and I have a bunch of horses, so organic matter is not an issue. I always add steamed bone meal to root crops. I haven't replicated that experiment again, as I didn't want another crop failure. These were Red Poniac potatoes. I also know that the people who grow potatos for patato chips use a high bred potato. They are really nice big firm white potatos. People who have tried to grow them using the previous years potatoes say they get a very poor crop.

Ok I see this an old thread but I ran across this and wanted to comment. I have always heard that when you store potatoes for long term you should not wash them. Just gently brush off any loose soil and store them like that, if you wash them, they rot faster and won't keep for some reason. Does anyone know if that is true?

Also you can can potatoes. Just cut them up into small chunks and can them and you can put them in soups that way and they are really yummy. Great way to keep them if they are going to go bad before you can use them all. I have tried freezing potatoes before but they got kind of watery and we didn't like them. I'm not sure how they make french fries frozen? Of course I guess they are partially pre-cooked and maybe that helps them to freeze better than just freezing raw potatoes.

http://readynutrition.com/reso... here's a link to making homemade instant potatoes, but I suspect that it would take a long time and a lot of electric to dehydrate a lot of potatoes!

Last year I tried my hand growing sweet potatoes. I had them growing in three large "potato" bags. Most of what I harvested in the fall were very small, way too small to really do anything with them. I only had a handful that were large enough to bake. Perhaps I planted them too late. All these potatoes have been stored on my enclosed porch since they were dug up. They all still have a bit of dirt on them but I see no growth/sprouting on any of them.

Is there a way that I can plant those small ones? Some of these are 4-6" long and about the thickness of an average size thumb. I would like to try to grow sweet potatoes at least one more time, just to see if earlier planting will produce a larger-size crop.

Any advice would be helpful.

Here's a picture of some of my taters.

Re: sweet taters... there's nothing like trying.
At my house, leaving the taters on the kitchen table (or where ever) causes vines to form on the taters. Those vines (when long enough) can be plucked off and potted / or placed in a vase of water... they grow roots, and can then be planted.

Prolly should wait until danger of frost is past...

I've seen those missed sweet taters survive the winter in the deep south, and send up greenery in the spring.
Those vines can be cut back and rooted... leaving part of the vine to continue growth.

Sweet tater vines root easily... I've found that simply digging a hole and planting an unrooted vine suffices...

I've really enjoyed this thread a lot. My Sweet potatoes are nice but I could definitely stand to benefit from the knowledge of others on regular Potatoes. Horseshoe, I like and appreciate what you've taught us a lot, and I'm believing you know Potatoes!