[Boating in a field]

Hi all

I was speaking to someone today who said that they never buy seed potatoes - they just keep some over from the previous harvest and use those. Apparently, its worked well for them.

Do you do this, or have you tried it? If you did, how well did it work? And, how did you do it?

Questions, questions but it seems like a winner if it works.

Thanks  

[Aunt Sally]

I prefer to buy my seed potatoes as they will be free from diseases.  Saved potatoes or supermarket ones may not be !

[Trillium]

To mix things up, my mum and I regularly save our own spuds for seeds as some of the varieties are hard to find some years. However, that said, we don't keep the same seed going for more than 5 years, due as Aunty says, to possible accumulation of any diseases. By the 5th year, we buy fresh spuds for seed from organic growers in another area, mostly market gardeners who usually use fresh seed each year. We've been doing this for about 40 years and haven't been disappointed yet.

[Boating in a field]

To mix things up, my mum and I regularly save our own spuds for seeds as some of the varieties are hard to find some years. However, that said, we don't keep the same seed going for more than 5 years, due as Aunty says, to possible accumulation of any diseases. By the 5th year, we buy fresh spuds for seed from organic growers in another area, mostly market gardeners who usually use fresh seed each year. We've been doing this for about 40 years and haven't been disappointed yet.

That sounds good. We grew three varieties this year and were especially pleased with one, so that's the one that we would like to re-grow next year. We will be trying two other varieties from shop-bought seed too. Might be worth a little experiment just to see if it works.

Now, the technical bit - what should I do with them now? Do I just store them normally and then chit them after Christmas or should I do something else?

[traceyr]

My neighbouring gardener as always told me and my husband not to use cropped tats for seed - apparently they never work!!!  

Then again this is the man who also told us that white potatoes are no good at our allotments - only redskins grow......funny that cos I'm still digging whites up from the previous plotholder.  I've also planted some supermarkets whites that went to seed and had a fab crop two years in a row!!

[sclarke624]

I'm going to risk using the same compost next year on one lot of tats.  I will put some chicken poo in the compost to enrich it.  We'll see what happens.

[Aunt Sally]

To mix things up, my mum and I regularly save our own spuds for seeds as some of the varieties are hard to find some years. However, that said, we don't keep the same seed going for more than 5 years, due as Aunty says, to possible accumulation of any diseases. By the 5th year, we buy fresh spuds for seed from organic growers in another area, mostly market gardeners who usually use fresh seed each year. We've been doing this for about 40 years and haven't been disappointed yet.

Cold winter weather like Trillium has in Canada is just the condition needed to keep the soil "clean" for growing new seed potatoes.  That is why seed potatoes in the UK are mainly grown in Scotland !

[johnhar]

if you do save your own seed tates then be very careful to check the tubers for blight as this overwinters on the seed tuber. it is not really good practice to grow from the same stock for more than 2 years without a change of location. i personally always use new scotch seed every year as the extra vigour you get is worth it. the only exception to this is with the sarpo varieties, and mine are in there fourth year on the same plots with no degradation at all (growing them under test for a seed supplier)

[gobs]

if you do save your own seed tates then be very careful to check the tubers for blight as this overwinters on the seed tuber. it is not really good practice to grow from the same stock for more than 2 years without a change of location. i personally always use new scotch seed every year as the extra vigour you get is worth it. the only exception to this is with the sarpo varieties, and mine are in there fourth year on the same plots with no degradation at all (growing them under test for a seed supplier)

Ooh, so I'm warned by several sources that the resistant ones are the most worrying to save seed from - if there was the particular disease around, that is - , whom are supplying?  

[Trillium]

Now, the technical bit - what should I do with them now? Do I just store them normally and then chit them after Christmas or should I do something else?

Just treat them like any seed potato, nothing special. Look them over before chitting to make sure there's no overwintering rot or mushy spots. And yes, they will shrivel a bit during winter storage but that's normal. They'll still chit, often by themselves.