We raised potatoes for years. Here is a little I know about seed potatoes. Potatoes (tubors) are "clones" unless you use TPS (true potato seed). (very small seeds produced on the top of the plant in small pods) TPS can produce off spring that are different from the parent. There are a couple of ways of propagating new seed potatoes. Tissue culture is one, and there is a newer one that uses hydroponics. There is pre nuclear, nuclear, G1-G6 (generation) As each year goes by for producing seed stock the offspring have a higher probability for getting disease. Also the yield can start to taper off for each successive generation. After G6 we say the seed is "run out" They use stringent testing to check for disease. Good quality eating potatoes can be as good as seed potatoes but are not tested for certification. For example G3 seed grown for table stock might be as good as G3 grown for seed. However table stock is not tested for disease. G3 grown for seed becomes G4 for the following year. If you cut the seed, make sure the cut side "heals" for several hours to a few days (depending on humidity and temp). Tops mancozeb is a common seed treatment used to prevent disease in cut pieces. Also, eating potatoes can be treated to prevent sprouting so they may not work for seed. One disease that is particularly bad for potatoes is late bight. The newer A2 mating is very aggressive. Humidity plays a big part in this disease. Monitoring stations keep track of humidity and after adding numbers up in a special formula spraying notices are sent out to growers. After you start spraying you have to continue through the season to keep it from getting a toe hold in your field. This winter I took some sprout tips and grew some potatoes in small pots. I am going to try to try them this spring for seed. They look disease free and I am curious how well they might produce. Here is a link for some info on potato growing. http://www.panhandle.unl.edu/peyes.htm Alex Pavlista is well known in potato circles.

You already mentioned most of it. If your seed potatoes are about the size an extra large egg, no need to cut. Plant about two per hill(about 3" apart, about 4" deep. The next hill should be 12 to 14" away. In other words, hill spacing is 12" to 14".But if they are bigger , cut them in half, such that each has 2 to 3 eyes. If you plant more than one row(several hills in a row), the next row should be 2 to 3 ft apart. Professional farmers leave more space because the rows because they plant, cultivate and harvest with machines. If you have plenty of garden space, place them 3 ft apart . But I can do with much less than that; i.e. just enough space to walk and work between the rows.. Now that you arranged your hills and rows and planted your seeds, Depending on soil condition you may dress the top of hills with manure, all purpose fertilizer, Needless to say that you could have amended the whole bed with compost, manures etc before planting too. Now that you planted the seeds, wait till they sprout. When the sprout are about 8" tall(+ or - an inch) start HILLing. It means filling around the stems with some nice fluffy soil. This s the medium in which future tubers will grow. You may repeat this(hilling) one or twice later , when the stems are again sticking out 8_10". But after that just leave them alone. Water them regularly and fertilize once or twice. The purpose of hilling is bobble or triple folded: to provide enough under soil stem length, on which tubers should grow. It is also a medium for tubers. And lastly, it keeps the root system cooler and moist longer.

George, This has my imagination going. We eat at least once a week, but they never produce well. Given they are native to the Andes, I could see where the majority prefer a colder climate. It is said that potatoes have great diversity, but not in the potato seedlings available to us. Once of my dreams is to have enough room to test things like potatoes and quinoa. Andria OKC

Thanks. I think I might have been better off hilling the pots with compost than straw (though I'll still use straw for in-ground potatoes). Last year was my 2nd year with potatoes. I did one bin in 2008 but DH overwatered (and killed) them while I was out of town. We got an unusual amount of rain last summer and when I'd try to check the moisture in the pots it was misleading b/c what I could feel was wet but it wasn't wet enough farther down. :-(