Chit your own potatoes yes or no

[Dynamo]

All my family have been gardeners over the years, I first went to my grandads allotment in my pram with me mam, and sometimes we bought seed potatoes and sometimes we planted what was left over in the pantry, but I've never had any problems either way. Now however I've just seen this warning from the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society. Basically they are saying we shouldn't chit our own taties and should always buy from a registered seed potato merchant. Personally I think they are wrong but what do people here think?

[Zelenina]

They're actually not wrong. Any diseases affecting the parent plants can be passed on to the next generation via seed potato tubers. But the rules are much stricter in Scotland than other places because the seed potato industry is so important to their economy.

It looks as if it's illegal to plant anything other than the highest grade of seed potatoes in Scotland, whereas in other parts of Britain it would just be a recommendation, and most people would use certified seed potatoes which are not the highest grade. It's often said that if you start with certified seed you can replant from your own for one or two generations before decline sets in, and you then buy fresh certified seed. Maybe that's what your parents used to do.

Presumably you wouldn't plant seed spuds that looked obviously diseased. But you can't see viruses, which are injected into plants by aphids and other sucking pests and build up from one generation to another in vegetatively reproduced plant parts, leading to a gradual weakening of stocks.

That's one reason why old favourite varieties of spuds used go out of favour and be replaced by newer, healthier varieties. Viruses are mostly not passed on in true seeds that are used to breed new varieties. Scotland and other highland areas originally became centres of seed potato production because aphids were less abundant there.

But nowadays science has stepped in. The highest grades of seed potatoes are reproduced from micro-tubers that result from a micro-propagation process that cleans out the viruses. The different grades of seed reflect how many generations away from the micro-propagated plants they are.

So probably most potato stocks, even those from supermarkets, are much cleaner from viruses than they used to be. And if you only plant very clean, healthy looking tubers on a small scale you can probably get away with it. But it is more risky for you and other growers in your locality.

[Snadger]

I use both means, I'm sorry to say!
I grow Charlotte certified seed which i can pick up from the local GC a bit later in the year for about £3.50.
I also like to grow Elfe which i CAN'T get at the GC but can get online at one of the seed merchants. The problem is that they are £5.99 plus a hefty carriage charge.
Yesterday I went to Lidl and bought two bags of Elfe potatoes, one for to use at home and the other to plant. They were £2.00 a bag.
Along with a few potatoes I have kept myself from last year (mainly ones that had green on them) I will now have enough potatoes to plant for a total cost of £5.50.
I also have five small potato tubers not much bigger than a pea that I grew last year from Russian TSP and I will be planting these very shortly and coddling them on to maturity.

[Kirk]

I can see the point of only using certified seed potato's but I equally question the guarantee of how infection free they are. Somewhere I am sure I have read there is an allowance made on seed potato's concerning the amount of infection that is allowed, it was a couple of years ago now. However I do recall the amusement that there was an allowance. The data base I had a link for has gone. So in effect this 100% non-infection is not necessarily 100%

The ones you as an amateur planted last year could build up infection and so eventually the crop fails and disease is effectively integral to the soil. Blight is wind bourne so any potato home produced could have it.

If you have produced say 10 acres of seed potato and you suspect there might be a potential problem are you going to wipe out this years total income from them?

Do all the seed potao's in Scotland come from Scotland, if not who supplies them and are any of those sold on. There are too many ways around it all.

The information says that the lower grade cannot be bought in Scotland but then seems to warn against buying them. Where therefore did they come from. The point being they would appear to be getting imported.

Agreed that supermarket ones are for eating but I also bet that a supermarket has more exacting criteria then a seed importer or seller.

Concerning the internet and purchases, well sorry but the reality is people do purchase and will purchase, and there is likely little that can be done. In areas of Scotland I suspect there are numerous locations where it is easier to order from the internet and have them delivered then to drive to somewhere that sell the variety required.

I was in Wilko today and they would appear to have more varieties in then most garden centres do. Also you could buy small quantities. GC's tend to have larger prepacked amounts.

[Penellype]

I think the warning for Scotland is probably more relevant now than it used to be. In the past, if you couldn't buy the lower grade seed potatoes in Scotland then that would go a long way towards keeping Scotland disease free. However nowadays you would probably find that supermarket potatoes in Scotland may not have been grown there, and people can buy seed potatoes over the internet which may not be of the highest grade. This could definitely pose a threat to the seed potato industry if diseased potatoes were planted near a seed potato producing area.

In 2016 I had blackleg on some of my potatoes. I have never had blackleg before, and if you look it up you will see that it usually results from planting diseased tubers. These were certified seed potatoes (although I doubt they were the highest grade) bought from a garden centre. Variety was Lady C.

[KevinM67]

Do people think this warning should be UK wide ? - I'm veering towards Yes (I think)

[jackarmy]

No , like mentioned before its a massive buiseness as is f1 strains of anything ,take a chance but use your own quality control.
I tend not to use f1s much but do admire the likes of Cad who has a go, has to be worth the effort.

[KevinM67]

take a chance but use your own quality control.

This may be the problem though.....

[Thelma Sanders]

SASA advises for potatoes for eating

Scottish potato Ware growers are permitted to plant farm saved seed from classified seed but this seed may only be grown for one generation ie to produce the final ware crop.

The community grade region status also requires that all crops grown should meet the Basic seed progeny tolerance for virus of 4%. Any potato crops grown in Scotland (seed or ware) with virus levels above 4% may be subject to compulsory destruction, however the vast majority of crops contain little or no virus.

So even farmers are only allowed to sow home grown seed once, the next year they need to buy new seed tubers.

[Snadger]

According to the article we shouldn't even buy Certified seed. I thought seed certification was to ensure they were virus free? The only seed spuds for sale in our local GC are certified seed.:

I always thought that certified seed was grown is Scotland anyway, partly because it was colder and windier and there were less aphids about to spread the viruses.

[veggiechicken]

No , like mentioned before its a massive buiseness as is f1 strains of anything ,take a chance but use your own quality control.
I tend not to use f1s much but do admire the likes of Cad who has a go, has to be worth the effort.

The risks attached to growing saved F1 seeds are quite different to growing saved potatoes.
The seeds will not carry disease, just may not grow into anything like their parent.
Saved potatoes, however, may carry and spread infectious disease, not just on your plot, but to neighbours too.
We are encouraged to buy certified raspberry canes and strawberries, and not share old plants because of the risk of spreading the viruses with which they become infected over time.
These diseases don't just stay on our plots - they spread and, if they spread to a commercial grower of spuds/fruit etc and destroy their livelihood, we would be rather selfish.
If I acquired a "hen" from an infected farm, knowing that it may be sick, and it died, and so did all my neighbour's chooks that happened to have picked up the disease from my "hen", how bad would I feel - especially if all of his had to be culled as a result.

Just saying really! I'm not an angel with this as I do grow on my own saved spuds and have grown supermarket ones.
Time to think about this more deeply.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I'm a goody two shoes me.....I usually only use certified seed but I have strayed a couple of times...

However I am also honest so have to say the reason for using certified seed is I can order it over the net and have it delivered.... in other words I am .................. bone idle

[Martin H]

If I have a nice clean crop I'm happy to save some potatoes for next year's seed. If there's been any problems, e.g. blackleg, I'll buy fresh seed potatoes. I won't plant any ordinary supermarket spuds because I don't know their history. Not that I buy many for eating, obviously.

[bramble]

I always buy certified seed.
Not worth the risk of spreading infection or disease.

[Ananke]

Wow! This is news to me. Thanks for posting.

These days I only ever buy at the Glasgow Potato Day, which I believe is supplied by JBA who would ensure the relevant classification but I grew true potato seed a few years ago (more than 5) and have been saving one variety every year since.