[New shoot]

I think the thing to bear in mind is that if you introduce a nasty potato disease into your plot, you could knacker your chances of growing spuds for years, plus put your plot neighbours at risk of the same.  Is it really worth that for saving a couple of quid on proper seed potatoes 

I didn't think DD was being sarcastic either.  This is not a sarcastic or newbie bashing forum and everyone is welcome to ask whatever questions they want.  You will, however, get an honest answer and I think that was what was provided in this case by an very experienced grower who knows his spuds, and peas, and onions ........... this could go on forever

[azubah]

Are volunteer potatoes really such a threat?
They have survived the winter, and any disease around the previous year, so should be resistant to most things.
If they had blight they would have rotted and never seen the light of day.
Is anything wrong with my logic?

[DD.]

Well, think on this.

A lot of the early detected blight outbreaks are in "outgrade" piles. These are spuds that were not quite the physical quality for the market.

They've sat there in the open all winter, harbouring blight and still have not rotted.  It only needs a spore or two that will have been inactive over winter to get a little warmth and .............

[azubah]

Interesting..point noted. Thanks.

[seedman]

Seed potatoes: To avoid introducing pests and diseases, only plant certified seed potatoes. Home saved seed from healthy crops may be used for a year or two, but virus and other disease levels may build up quickly. Never save seed from a pest or disease infected crop.
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/factsheets/pc24.php

Seems the higher source says YES you can use your seed spuds for a couple of years.
Just be carefull

[Yorkie]

Bear in mind that you cannot tell from looking whether a seed tuber is infected or not.

One of our members on here is a professional potato seed merchant.

He had to destroy a plant he was growing (luckily it was in an area away from his main crops) because of a very infected tuber.  It had looked fine on planting.  If he hadn't been more careful about quarantining that tuber from the outset, he could have been wiped out professionally.

People on here don't have the luxury of quarantining space if they grow on an allotment, and how certain would you be about spotting an infected spud if a professional was unable to do so?

It still isn't worth the risk in my view.

[DD.]

How can you take care against something you can't see?
 
How can you tell if you're safe for 2 or 3 years? The third year may be the year too far.

I'm not going to give them even one, once the unseen enemy has built up - you're too late.

[Iain@JBA]

Just a quick reply for you all to think about. Last year has probably been the worst year on record weather wise. This has caused shortages in seed and eating potatoes.

I have emails and letters from various groups warning me about potential dangers of buying in potatoes from outside the UK. Many eating potatoes you purchase in the shops just now are from abroad and could potentially contain new strains of blight or other diseases that could cause havoc with how we grow things over here.

Please this is not a sales pitch but do try and only use potatoes that have either been grown in the UK or even better seed that has been produced in the UK to try and limit any possible diseases.

[pdblake]

Just a quick thought.

If it's that difficult to tell that a tuber is disease free, juts how do suppliers guarantee them to be disease free? Obviously they test them, but surely they can't test every single one and, if DD's assertion of the single tuber out of a pile of waste ones spreading blight is correct, then no amount of testing can possibly guarantee anything. Can it?

[DD.]

You can't guarantee - but you can vastly reduce the risk.

And I'm all for that.

I suggest that you listen to the professionals.

[JayG]

To be "certified" seed potatoes have to be grown according to the rules set out by the Seed Potato Regulations, but they don't come with an actual guarantee that they are completely disease-free.

All you can do is try to minimise the chances of introducing a disease into your (and possibly other people's) potato crops, and using certified seed potatoes is the best way of doing that.

(Oops, pretty much the same as DD, but they're my first words on the subject so I'll post them anyway!) 

[pdblake]

I suggest that you listen to the professionals.

I have ordered my seed spuds from kings this year. I was merely asking a question.

I suggest that you read back to yourself what you write before you post it as you really do come across as sarcastic.

[mumofstig]

I'm sorry, but I really don't see how plainly spoken advice, can be taken as sarcasm.....

[JayG]

I suggest that you listen to the professionals.

I have ordered my seed spuds from kings this year. I was merely asking a question.

I suggest that you read back to yourself what you write before you post it as you really do come across as sarcastic.

DD merely advised that you listen to the professionals (Iain@JBA clearly being one of them.)

What is sarcastic about that?

[pdblake]

It suggests that by asking a question I wasn't heeding their advice already. That isn't only sarcastic, it's presumptuous.

The answer to the question was welcome, but was that last point really needed? That said, it's hard to judge meaning from written text and it is very easy to take something that was well meant the wrong way, but that needs to be remembered on both ends of the post.

Thanks for the answer.