"Ivan" wrote in message
...

Hi there..
Thank you kindly for your advise!
How would you recommend I'd encourage the potatoes to grow shoots?

-

if they're not just naturally shooting all by themselves because it's time
(which mine are), put them somewhere with a bit of light, which is a bit
warm, & they'll soon hop to it.

---

As this is my first time planting these, I'm not sure what to do!

-

i, too, panicked about potatoes at first (it's because you can't see what
they're doing while they're in the ground!! ;-) however, they are very very
easy & very low maintenance too. the worst that might happen is you get scab
or something like that, but you're virtually guaranteed a good usable yield
anyway, considering the low effort put in.

they love rotted manure & straw & a generally slightly acid soil (which
manure helps with); or failing that, compost or similar or even rotted
leaves or soemthing like that. just keep piling it on as the plants grow.
kylie


I did, however, plant them whole, and not cut them up .... Even though
it was recommended I do so by many sourses..

On Sep 3, 3:47 pm, John Savage wrote:

You planted seed potatoes without shoots?

What do other readers think?

So long as they have eyes, I don't really bother about whehter they have
sprouted growth at time of planting or not. Can't say I've noticed nay
problems with the resulting harvest.

FarmI wrote:

On Sep 3, 3:47 pm, John Savage wrote:

You planted seed potatoes without shoots?

What do other readers think?

So long as they have eyes, I don't really bother about whehter they have
sprouted growth at time of planting or not. Can't say I've noticed nay
problems with the resulting harvest.

I don't buy seed potatoes but I often take old potatoes bought at the
Supermarket out of the cupboard and plant them in the garden 15cms
apart. I suppose they would all have eyes with some starting to sprout.
If ever I run out of potatoes I can generally always dig up a spud or
two in my garden.
--

Terry

"0tterbot" writes:
"John Savage" wrote in message
m...
Ivan writes:
I've also planted some potatoes in the back yard ------ Nothing coming
up yet.
In fact, they've not even sprouted.

You planted seed potatoes without shoots? That is not recommended.
I'm not sure that you can depend on them all developing shoots while
underground.

i promise you, they do :-)

Then that's good enough for me! Actually, I'm sure they might *eventually*
but we've all dug up a fallow bed and discovered a few 4 month old spuds.
So I still suggest that he plant spuds that are shooting so they emerge
quickly. Otherwise, he's wasting part of the growing season. And those
that fail to emerge in short time can be assumed lost and so replaced with
a new seed potato to ensure maximum use of the garden bed.

that's how you end up with volunteers everywhere - it's how they grow

Err, *some* come up, but considering the number of discarded tiny taters,
only a fraction come up next season as plants. I've noticed some volunteers
emerge from discarded kitchen peelings, too, but not reliably.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

"John Savage" wrote in message
...

i promise you, they do :-)

Then that's good enough for me!

good! g

Actually, I'm sure they might *eventually*
but we've all dug up a fallow bed and discovered a few 4 month old spuds.
So I still suggest that he plant spuds that are shooting so they emerge
quickly. Otherwise, he's wasting part of the growing season.

it does seem to take longer if they're not shooting. i'm not sure if this is
some type of psychological effect, but it seems likely they shoot when warm,
so if unchitted taties are put in the (colder) ground they probably have to
think about things for a while before they shoot. also, you know any with
shoots are good ones, if they haven't any, you can't of course be sure they
will grow anything anyway.

i am wondering how commercial growers do it(?)

And those
that fail to emerge in short time can be assumed lost and so replaced with
a new seed potato to ensure maximum use of the garden bed.

that's how you end up with volunteers everywhere - it's how they grow

Err, *some* come up, but considering the number of discarded tiny taters,
only a fraction come up next season as plants. I've noticed some
volunteers
emerge from discarded kitchen peelings, too, but not reliably.

i give peelings to the chooks, otherwise i should feel oppressed by random
potatoes everywhere (should that happen) ;-) i'd really rather eat the
peels, but i'm mostly not the cook at my house so apparently i can't have
opinions about it.

we eat even the tiny ones, so i'm not sure about what fraction go on to
become plants in nature. i just found another few potatoes from last year
stashed in the garden that i swore i went over really thoroughly. (where
does it end?) they\re not rotting nor shooting yet, so i'll see what they do
now i have left them where they are. there have been taties growing there in
that spot since we came here - i just can't find the end of them, the tricky
things! which makes me fairly convinced all manner of spuds (small,
whatever) left lying around tends to result in potato plants :-) (or at any
rate, sebagos, as i think they are).
kylie