Potatoes/ Seed potatoes....the same??

[LovinLife]

What's the difference between seed potatoes and a sack of pots you buy from the store?

 

[lighthawk]

Actually none. Except. When you purchase seed potatoes they come treated with a rooting hormone. You can plant potatoes from the grocery store but you would need to cover them with the hormone yourself.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Actually none. Except. When you purchase seed potatoes they come treated with a rooting hormone. You can plant potatoes from the grocery store but you would need to cover them with the hormone yourself.

No rooting hormone is needed
But store taters are sprayed with a sprouting retardant.

You can purchase true potato seed though.
They come from the seed pod that grows from the blossom on many varieties in the right conditions.
Its a different ballgame for growing those.

 

[lighthawk]

Actually none. Except. When you purchase seed potatoes they come treated with a rooting hormone. You can plant potatoes from the grocery store but you would need to cover them with the hormone yourself.

No rooting hormone is needed
But store taters are sprayed with a sprouting retardant.

You can purchase true potato seed though.
They come from the seed pod that grows from the blossom on many varieties in the right conditions.
Its a different ballgame for growing those.

My Bad.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Its ok. This is why we cannot be an island. We need people
None of us are immune.

 

[CrimsonRose]

I use store potatoes every year... just give them a good washing about a week before you plant... that way it washes off the stuff they spray them with and they start growing with no problems! I can't believe the prices places want for "seed" potatoes when you can buy 10lbs of regular potatoes at the store for 2 bucks! No way I'm paying 10 bucks for a lb...

 

[LovinLife]

I use store potatoes every year... just give them a good washing about a week before you plant... that way it washes off the stuff they spray them with and they start growing with no problems! I can't believe the prices places want for "seed" potatoes when you can buy 10lbs of regular potatoes at the store for 2 bucks! No way I'm paying 10 bucks for a lb...

My thoughts exactly!!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I use store potatoes every year... just give them a good washing about a week before you plant... that way it washes off the stuff they spray them with and they start growing with no problems! I can't believe the prices places want for "seed" potatoes when you can buy 10lbs of regular potatoes at the store for 2 bucks! No way I'm paying 10 bucks for a lb...

Its because they are guaranteed blight free, something that store taters may not be.

 

[lwheelr]

The spray they put on them won't wash off. It soaks in, clear through the whole potato. Enough to make me sick if I eat non-organic potatoes (that includes french fries, potato chips, instant mashies, any kind of commercial potato product). It is enough to stunt the growth and production of standard potatoes if you try to grow them.

You can get a bag of Organic potatoes, and grow those - I've done that, and it worked, as well as potatoes will work in Wyoming. They are cheap this time of year - under a dollar a lb at most whole food stores.

You just cut the potatoes so you have two eyes on each piece. Some people let the edges dry before use, I rarely do because I forget to prepare them ahead. They grow just fine, but we are also in a region with a low disease and pest rate.

 

[CrimsonRose]

yeah but honestly they can still get blight if it is common in your area and the "guarantee" is that they will replace the potatoes seeds... you still have to pay to have the reshipped in some cases as well... and that doesn't help if it's ruined your whole years crops you were counting on... so if planting 10lbs of potatos I would much rather make a 2 dollar mistake than a 100 dollar mistake even if the store won't replace my 2 bucks worth of potatoes...

and if you think about it... if a farmer has blight problems it's highly unlikely those potatoes make it to market... if a plant has blight it doesn't make for nice sized potatoes... So chances that the store potatoes have that seem slim to me... Just like seed companies need healthy plants to have good seeds... same with farmers need healthy plants to have good crops to sell...

To me they just jack up the price because people think they NEED the "seeds" instead of using the things they eat... They condition us so that we don't know any better... people don't realize where their food comes from so companies use that to their advantage...

Another example is "wheatgrass" they sell little one ounce packs of this stuff for 3-4 bucks each... when you can buy a 5lb bag of wheat berries for the same price sometimes even cheaper... but they prey on the fact that people don't know those grow too...

Or a farmer up the road from me sells "hatching" eggs for 10 bucks a dozen and from the same flock of birds she sells "eating" eggs for a dollar a dozen... But she still has people who pay the 10 bucks!