Living out in Austria as I do, all I can seem to get my hands on are a
couple of varieties of seed potatoes (unimpressive varieties) and onion
sets of "Stuttgarter Riese" and some generic red sort. So I'm really spoilt
for choice. Not. The variety of vegetables is so poor here that even yellow
tomatoes are treated with suspicion. :-(

I understand there are disease concerns with potatoes being transferred to
and from mainland Europe, I don't want to be responsible for a potato
blight outbreak! That means I can't really get seed potatoes sent out to
me.
I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.
Thanks.

--
Tim C.

I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.
Thanks.

I know nothing about potatoes from seed - i have only ever seen it
being disregarded as a practice for home growing.
As for onions, i have my first lot of seeds sprouting at the moment.
Apparently (according to last months KG) a healthy sized onion can be
achieved from a early sowing, if they are kept warm. I guess i will
have to see if this is true later this year. I get the impression tho
that onions from seed are very possible just less reliable/speedy than
sets.
sarah a

"Tim Challenger" wrote in message
news:1109315361.069fcc064ca7ecf26d712b4a0296e59c@t eranews...
Living out in Austria as I do, all I can seem to get my hands on are a
couple of varieties of seed potatoes (unimpressive varieties) and onion
sets of "Stuttgarter Riese" and some generic red sort. So I'm really
spoilt
for choice. Not. The variety of vegetables is so poor here that even
yellow
tomatoes are treated with suspicion. :-(

I understand there are disease concerns with potatoes being transferred
to
and from mainland Europe, I don't want to be responsible for a potato
blight outbreak! That means I can't really get seed potatoes sent out to
me.
I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.

I have never grown potatoes from seed nor indeed ever seen any seeds other
than tubers but onions I have grown from seed and with good success
although rather labour intensive compared with sets. I'm not sure about
the rules these days but it was not possible to legally send any onion
seeds from UK to Ireland although the seed merchants would happily send
other vegetable seed.


--

Chris Thomas
West Cork
Ireland

Hi Tim,

I am not sure about potatoes but I had grown onions quite successfully from
seeds. I got those seeds from cheap chain shops. However, you can find
there are at least 4 varieties of onion seeds from Thompson & Morgan which
accept international order. There are more choice from 'the organic
gardening catalogue'.
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/

You can post your question in the 'guestbook' of T&M, usually you will get
your answer if you enquire about buying suitable seeds from the company.

Hope it can help.
CK

On 25 Feb 2005 03:31:03 -0800, sahara wrote:

I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.
Thanks.

I know nothing about potatoes from seed - i have only ever seen it
being disregarded as a practice for home growing.
As for onions, i have my first lot of seeds sprouting at the moment.
Apparently (according to last months KG) a healthy sized onion can be
achieved from a early sowing, if they are kept warm. I guess i will
have to see if this is true later this year. I get the impression tho
that onions from seed are very possible just less reliable/speedy than
sets.
sarah a

Thanks Sahra, I thought they'd be really difficult.

--
Tim C.

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:37:10 -0000, CK wrote:

Hi Tim,

I am not sure about potatoes but I had grown onions quite successfully from
seeds. I got those seeds from cheap chain shops. However, you can find
there are at least 4 varieties of onion seeds from Thompson & Morgan which
accept international order. There are more choice from 'the organic
gardening catalogue'.
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/

Thanks, I'll definitely check them out. I'll try anything.

You can post your question in the 'guestbook' of T&M, usually you will get
your answer if you enquire about buying suitable seeds from the company.

Hope it can help.
CK

Ah, I didn't realise T&M had anything like that. I've never really looked.
Thanks.

--
Tim C.

"Tim Challenger" wrote in message
news:1109315361.069fcc064ca7ecf26d712b4a0296e59c@t eranews...
: Living out in Austria as I do, all I can seem to get my hands on are a
: couple of varieties of seed potatoes (unimpressive varieties) and onion
: sets of "Stuttgarter Riese" and some generic red sort. So I'm really
spoilt
: for choice. Not. The variety of vegetables is so poor here that even
yellow
: tomatoes are treated with suspicion. :-(
:
: I understand there are disease concerns with potatoes being transferred to
: and from mainland Europe, I don't want to be responsible for a potato
: blight outbreak! That means I can't really get seed potatoes sent out to
: me
..
Several merchants sell potato microplants.
These are laboratory bred and are virus free.

You wouldn't get much of a crop the first year.
but should get plenty of sets for the following year.
Also I don't know how they would travel round the world.

Edwin Tucker sells 11 varieties
http://www.edwintucker.com/Seeds/seeds%20index.htm

Ted R

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:13:32 GMT, Ted Richardson wrote:

"Tim Challenger" wrote in message
news:1109315361.069fcc064ca7ecf26d712b4a0296e59c@t eranews...
: Living out in Austria as I do, all I can seem to get my hands on are a
: couple of varieties of seed potatoes (unimpressive varieties) and onion
: sets of "Stuttgarter Riese" and some generic red sort. So I'm really
spoilt
: for choice. Not. The variety of vegetables is so poor here that even
yellow
: tomatoes are treated with suspicion. :-(
:
: I understand there are disease concerns with potatoes being transferred to
: and from mainland Europe, I don't want to be responsible for a potato
: blight outbreak! That means I can't really get seed potatoes sent out to
: me
.
Several merchants sell potato microplants.
These are laboratory bred and are virus free.

You wouldn't get much of a crop the first year.
but should get plenty of sets for the following year.
Also I don't know how they would travel round the world.

Edwin Tucker sells 11 varieties
http://www.edwintucker.com/Seeds/seeds%20index.htm

Ted R

Cheers Ted!
I'm not too bothered about getting a crop straight away - I guess you grow
the seeds one year to get a crop of seed potatoes to plant the next.
Microplants would be great of course, but I think they may suffer in the
post - assuming someone were prepared to send them. They'd be in the post
for a week. I'll investigate that.



--
Tim C.

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005, Tim Challenger wrote:

I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.

I have grown potatoes from seed. However you need to realise that you
may not get the same strain as that which produced the seed in the first
place. Secondly the first season of potatoes grown thus will be quite
small. The following season will be bigger. In the long run the fun is
in seeing what you eventually end up with.

Certainly if you grow from seed you are not going to have the usual
infections to which potatoes are prone - not for a few years, at any
rate.

Having said all that I consider that my experiments at growing potatoes
from seed were very successful and I found it easier than, say, growing
tomatoes.

David
--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

Can potaotes be grown from seed...the simple answer is yes and seeds are
available.....the last time I grew them from seed must have been ten years
ago so am not up to date on a seed supplier. From seed they perform quite
well altho from 'seed to eating ' takes somewhat longer than when using
'seed potatoes' they are worth trying if nothing else is available......HW


Tim Challenger" wrote in message
news:1109315361.069fcc064ca7ecf26d712b4a0296e59c@t eranews...
Living out in Austria as I do, all I can seem to get my hands on are a
couple of varieties of seed potatoes (unimpressive varieties) and onion
sets of "Stuttgarter Riese" and some generic red sort. So I'm really
spoilt
for choice. Not. The variety of vegetables is so poor here that even
yellow
tomatoes are treated with suspicion. :-(

I understand there are disease concerns with potatoes being transferred to
and from mainland Europe, I don't want to be responsible for a potato
blight outbreak! That means I can't really get seed potatoes sent out to
me.
I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.
Thanks.

--
Tim C.

"David Rance" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 25 Feb 2005, Tim Challenger wrote:

I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.

I have grown potatoes from seed. However you need to realise that you
may not get the same strain as that which produced the seed in the first
place. Secondly the first season of potatoes grown thus will be quite
small. The following season will be bigger. In the long run the fun is
in seeing what you eventually end up with.

Certainly if you grow from seed you are not going to have the usual
infections to which potatoes are prone - not for a few years, at any
rate.

Having said all that I consider that my experiments at growing potatoes
from seed were very successful and I found it easier than, say, growing
tomatoes.

I concur with this. I grew potatoes from seed I harvested from red Desiree
( IIRC )
potatoes that I let develop those little tomato-like fruits. I planted the
seeds in compost
in a cold greenhouse at the beginning of march, and had small potatoes by
the end of summer,
which were a mix of red and white, so obviously they don't come true from
seed. Easy
enough to grow though, with the added complication of pricking out and
replanting.

Andy.

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:12:40 GMT, Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message 1109338103.891b80adb6b2b82df061e5caddb35e0c@teran ews
from Tim Challenger contains these words:

I'm not too bothered about getting a crop straight away - I guess you grow
the seeds one year to get a crop of seed potatoes to plant the next.

No. "Seed potato" doesn't mean the tuber was grown from a potato
seed; they're grown from tubers in the ground. When potatoes are sold as
"seed potatoes" it means they are guaranteed true to named type and
they, and their licensed commercial producer , are certified free of
potato diseases.

Janet.


Aha. I thought it was just a phrase with a similar meaning to "sets". The
"seed" bit meaning what you would start growing the full crop from, rather
than having been grown from seed.
--
Tim C.

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 00:54:28 -0000, andrewpreece wrote:

"David Rance" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 25 Feb 2005, Tim Challenger wrote:

I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.

I have grown potatoes from seed. However you need to realise that you
may not get the same strain as that which produced the seed in the first
place. Secondly the first season of potatoes grown thus will be quite
small.

Oh that doesn't bother me too much - the fun is in the growing as well as
the eating. I can always plant some seed potatoes for dinner ... :-)

The following season will be bigger. In the long run the fun is
in seeing what you eventually end up with.

I was wondering that. it would have been the next question. Assuming I buy
seed from a supplier, do you think they'll be relatively true, or are they
seriously variable, like apples?

Certainly if you grow from seed you are not going to have the usual
infections to which potatoes are prone - not for a few years, at any
rate.

The biggest problem in my garden (northern Austria) is Colorado beetle but
I can pick them off by hand, followed by a bit of common scab, but nothing
really worth bothering about so far.


Having said all that I consider that my experiments at growing potatoes
from seed were very successful and I found it easier than, say, growing
tomatoes.

Really? Well, I can cope with tomatoes.


I concur with this. I grew potatoes from seed I harvested from red Desiree
( IIRC )
potatoes that I let develop those little tomato-like fruits. I planted the
seeds in compost
in a cold greenhouse at the beginning of march, and had small potatoes by
the end of summer,
which were a mix of red and white, so obviously they don't come true from
seed. Easy
enough to grow though, with the added complication of pricking out and
replanting.

Is there any trick to getting them to fruit? My attempts have always wilted
before I noticed any seed pods/fruit in the growth. IS there a trick? Or
did I just stop caring for the plants too early?

Thanks, I think I might well give it a go. Whether I'll try and get seeds
from a supplier or grow my own and see what comes up I don't know.

--
Tim C.

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 05:16:39 -0500, Harold Walker wrote:

Can potaotes be grown from seed...the simple answer is yes and seeds are
available.....the last time I grew them from seed must have been ten years
ago so am not up to date on a seed supplier. From seed they perform quite
well altho from 'seed to eating ' takes somewhat longer than when using
'seed potatoes' they are worth trying if nothing else is available......HW

Tim Challenger" wrote in message
news:1109315361.069fcc064ca7ecf26d712b4a0296e59c@t eranews...
Living out in Austria as I do, all I can seem to get my hands on are a
couple of varieties of seed potatoes (unimpressive varieties) and onion
sets of "Stuttgarter Riese" and some generic red sort. So I'm really
spoilt
for choice. Not. The variety of vegetables is so poor here that even
yellow
tomatoes are treated with suspicion. :-(

I understand there are disease concerns with potatoes being transferred to
and from mainland Europe, I don't want to be responsible for a potato
blight outbreak! That means I can't really get seed potatoes sent out to
me.
I was wondering if it would be feasible to grow potatoes from seed. I'm
sure I could get seed from some specialist growers in the UK. I'm not
really looking for any weird or rare varieties, anything other then
"floury" would do. The same goes for onions - Can anybody tell me if I'm
wasting my time, and if not how and when do I start - any hints and tips
would be very helpful.
Thanks.

--
Tim C.

The positive answers I've been getting have been very helpful.
Obviously the reason people don't do it is because seed potatoes are more
reliable and just that bit more straightforward to grow. Which is good
enough reason.
I'm spending tonight on the web looking for seed suppliers then ... :-)

--
Tim C.

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 12:25:47 GMT, Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message 1109577624.593983e696f1a54fe9e8e6f7150597de@teran ews
from Tim Challenger contains these words:

Is there any trick to getting them to fruit? My attempts have always wilted
before I noticed any seed pods/fruit in the growth. IS there a trick? Or
did I just stop caring for the plants too early?

Austrian summers could be sunnierand drier than UK summers. so potato
haulms dry off and die at an earlier stage? Here, they often stay green
long enough to set fruit.

That could be it, really. They can get quite warm and dry (except last year
:-( ). They flower well, but then start going dry and wilting.

Just one word of warning..the fruits look very like green tomatoes,
but don't be tempted to try eating one and make sure children don't.
They are very poisonous (lots of solanine, the reason you should cut
green bits off potatoes).

My kids know tomatoes and generally what fruit/plants can be eaten in the
garden. But as you say, if they look like tomatoes it could be risky. I'll
just have to tell them ... if I get any fruits.


--
Tim C.