Tesco's Potatoes ....

[gigleypants]

Hi everyone,

I know this might seem a really stupid question but I have got some spuds from Tesco in my kitchen that have started sprouting, just normal spuds you buy to eat. (I know I know I should have grown my own lol).

What I need to know is can you plant these, I asked my all knowing Mum and she said no because you dont know where they have come from ie overseas, but I can't see this making any difference.

Has anyone done this or knows if I should or shouldn't.

Thanks for your time.

[jacob marley]

They should be no problems in planting them Tesco's potatoe's are molly coddled on the farm like no other their used to be a potato packing plant close to where i live and there spuds came from Herefordshire and Scotland and these were packed for Tesco's and no other so as i said should be no problem jacob

[carlseawolf]

yes you can as i don't buy seed pots but use the small ones that no one want's to peel so saving money.

[gigleypants]

Thanks everyone will get them in asap..

[smallblueplanet]

As has been said, one of the reasons people chose to buy seed potatoes is so they can be certain they carry no diseases. Potatoes to eat carry no such assurance, but lots of people will be growing 'shop bought' spuds. I have an organic veg box place nearby and I shall be growing some of their 'eating' spuds - but I know where they've been!

[kethry]

I'd go with what others have said about disease etc., but having said that, last year i had a spare bed, some spuds that had been left a bit too long in a kitchen cupboard and had chitted all on their own so i thought.. oh what the hell, can't hurt, (this was before i knew about disease etc.) and chucked em in. got 2 meals worth of lovely new salad spuds out of it last summer, even though the slugs ate all the stems and leaves..

i think the exception to doing it with shop bought potatoes, is if, like me, you want to grow the more unusual types of potatoes, the kinds that you can't really buy in shops (i'm absolutely itching to get my mitts on some of those purple spuds..), or are more expensive. This year, for that reason, I'm growing anya and nicola, both second earlies, and pink fir apple, a maincrop, but all are supposed to be really good tasty spuds. I got them from wilkos, 10 each, for about £1.60 per bag. i could have bought more, cheaper, but i have space issues so reasoned that the rest would just have been a waste and i don't have anyone else to pass them onto.

one thing to think about: i don't know if blight spores can live on in eating spuds in storage without actually harming the spud, but you may want to avoid the risk of it, (especially given that blight was so prevalent last summer) as it has the potential to spread to other things in the garden - such as tomatoes.

HTH

keth
xx

[carlseawolf]

i,ve got a copy of the veg expert and in that it shows the major potato diseases so i can check them before using them , that way i at least reduce the risk.
i also plant potatoes in a diffrent part of the plot each year.