Superscrimpers on C4

[shushkin!]

I watched all the Super scrimper episodes and got lots of great ideas

Now one regarding potatoes got me wondering. One of the ladies used old
sprouting potatoes for growing purposes.

She threw into a hole the sprouting peeling of a potato and planted that

Now...

would that really work? Doesnt the potato need that starch to continue drawing
from in the growing process?

[Florence Fennel]

I've had potatoes grow all over the place from peelings thrown into my compost bin. I don't put them in there anymore!

[womble]

Yes it works, they used that way during the war, used old potato peelings.

But I've read that the yield is low compared to a seed spud. Also you would use shop bought spuds I presume, so you have all the problems with possible disease.

[solway cropper]

It works but don't do it. Sometimes super scrimping ends up costing you more in the long run.

[mrbadexample]

It works but don't do it. Sometimes super scrimping ends up costing you more in the long run.

I have no plans to do this, but wondered if you'd share your reasoning?

[snohare]

share your reasoning?

It'll be exactly what Womble said. If you have clean, disease-free ground and then you use ware potatoes which were infected with spraing or some such nasty, then for forever more and a day your yields will be reduced.
And short term, you will be far behind the curve with your growing season if the seedling root is lacking energy to get up to the surface or develop leaves, and you eventually realise that it either is not going to appear, or will never come away to be a decent plant.
The Irish, pre-Great Famine, always cut their seed potatoes into pieces when planting time came along - but then, they lived in grinding poverty and near starvation, and virtually all they had to grow was potatoes.

[mrbadexample]

ware potatoes which were infected with spraing or some such nasty, then for forever more and a day your yields will be reduced.

Ware? Spraing? Reduced yields in perpetuity?

I'm quite new to spuds. First time in the ground this year.

[Flummery]

Ware? Spraing? Reduced yields in perpetuity?

I'm quite new to spuds. First time in the ground this year.

It just means don't chance it. If I were starving I'd have a go but I'd rather keep my nice clean ground nice and clean - in perpetuity - or even forever!

[shushkin!]

Thanks for the feedback. I thought it all seemed too easy!

I'll stick with the seed pots then

[mrpaulbradley]

Some commercial growers also spray their potatoes with an inhibitor to prevent, or slow their crop from sprouting so they store longer. Not saying it wouldn't work in some cases, but follow advice above. Proper seed potatoes are the way to go ;-)

[womble]

And cheap really, you can buy them in cheap shops and they are exactly as good as the expensive ones from the big firms.

[zazen999]

I've grown a potato in a root trainer from a peeling.

If I was on t'breadline then I'd consider it...

[Snadger]

Ok, I'm probably going to get castigated for this but I have to confess that every year I grow a certain proportion of shop bought potatoes along with seed potatoes!

OH was going to chuck out a bag of Cara that had sprouted so they are growing well in allotment now.
A box of catering spuds had also sprouted Cultra (a variety I'd never heard of?) a Desiree X Cara cross is also growing well.

The two that I always grow are Kestrel and Duke of York and they were bought as seed tatties.

Sometimes I keep my own grown tatties over from the previous year and grow a proportion of these also.

*Ducks and waits for the flack*

[Flummery]

Or even, flacks and waits for duck!
I am growing some Shetland Black given by a friend that were eating potatoes which sprouted. I shan't get into the habit though (as the actress said to the monk!)

[womble]

I grew Kestrel last year from saved spuds from the year before. This year I bought proper seed spuds and shall save some for next year. Tattieman said that was an acceptable way to do it and it cuts my seed spud bill in half, worked well too.
Of course you only save tubers from good plants that have shown no problems.

I have also grown shop bought in pots before, but I wouldn't do it too often and probably not again.

However, is growing a shop bought spud, any worse than putting the peeling from shop bought in the compost?