RpR_, How deep did you plant them? I planted them 8" deep the first year and added soil as the season progressed, sort of to duplicate the potato tower effect. There were no potatoes on any of the stems so I counted the "Potato tower" as ineffective. The second year I planted them 8 or more inches but did not add soil. Surprisingly some of the ones that were forgotten sent up sprouts the next year so they were deep enough not to freeze. These early potatoes were true vectors for the flea beetle, and were consumed before the newly planted ones came up. (I didn't have a problem with the new ones and flea beetles, however) What did you amend with? I amended with B.O.S.S. compost. I also made fertilizer as described by Steve Solomon in Gardening When it Counts. (page 22). How did you care for them after planting? I watered them but not much else. When did you plant? In mid-May There is also The Maine Potato Lady and The Potato Garden if you wish a truly large choice. I ordered from Ronniger, AKA Potato Garden. Here is a link that might be useful: B.O.S.S. Compost

Hmm. Just found this section, all good to know. Sulfur - interesting, grocery vs certified, light or no light, etc. I purchased some seed potatoes this year from WalMart not good results. My solution with reasonable results is buy a bag of potatoes (5lbs more than I can use for cooking) then dump them out of bag into a serving tray I keep in kitchen at end of island. When some start to sprout I use them for cooking but peel thickly, allow peelings to dry for a day then plant-they grow!! Had a fire ant problem this year so I pulled mulch back and spread diatomaceous earth then recovered with mulch, seemed to work ants gone. This continuous planting works for me in Central Florida because of climate, I also replant some of the potatoes that are produced from the plants produced from peelings. Have noticed increase in grubs in my raised beds will be treating them with milky spore powder this year. I don't know where I heard or read that regular grocery stores potatoes may be treated to prevent sprouting so I wash all then dry before spreading on the tray.

Most of the confusion about this comes from using the term "seed potatoes" which is short for "certified seed potatoes". Certified seed potatoes are grown with special attention to monitoring and inspection so that they don't bring diseases into farmers' fields. That is the main difference between them and potatoes grown for eating. All potatoes grown from tubers will be true to type. They are clones of the parent plant. Jim

I have a couple of related questions about this--- we have a bunch of taters in the garage that we dug from our CSA last year. They are organic and not treated with any growth inhibited stuff, Anyway, there are some left that are soft, and others that are still hard but all seem to be covered with varying degrees of sprouts. We thought we might try planting them again. How to we prepare them? I'm assuming we toss the soft ones out (into the mulch pit) but the sprouty hard ones-- do we plant the whole tater, or cut the tater up and plant individual sprouts, or trim the sprouts back then plant? The garage is cool but not super cold. Thanks for the help!