Hi Sarah,

BABY SEEDLINGS:
Congratulations on the 'birth' of your little green shoots.
If you are using lights, be sure to keep the lights so close to the plants that they almost touch one another. That will keep your seedlings from stretching for light, getting leggy and falling over and dying.

PLANTING SEED POTATOES WHOLE OR IN PIECES?
You can plant potatoes just about any way you want. Some people swear by one method while others swear by another. A lot depends on the size of your seed potatoes. If they are about ping pong ball size, I'd tend to plant them whole. If they are tennis ball size, I'd cut them into two or three pieces, depending on where the eyes are. If they are significantly larger than tennis ball size, I'd cut them into as many 2" to 3" pieces as I could while making sure each piece has a viable eye or two.

TO SPROUT OR NOT TO SPROUT?
Sprouting them inside is optional. Most years, you'll get a good crop either way. If you have very well-drained soil or extremely dry soil, I don't think it really matters because they are going to sprout in the ground as long as they get adequate moisture. On the other hand, if you have very slow-draining soil that holds excessive moisture for a long time, or if your soil is very wet at planting time, pre-sprouting them lessens the chance that the seed potatoes will rot (cold soil + excess moisture = potato disaster) before they sprout. Another way to decide which method would work best for you is to look at your seed potatoes and see how many eyes they have. Each eye that sprouts will produce foliage above ground and set potatoes, but if you plant whole seed potatoes with a lot of eyes, each sprout may be too crowded and less productive than if you'd cut the potato into 2 or more pieces. So, if I had 6 eyes on a relatively small potato, I'd cut it in half with 3 eyes per half, if possible.

HOW TO PRE-SPOUT YOUR SEED POTATOES: When I was a kid, this was called curing or green sprouting. Purchase your seed potatoes at least a week before you're planning to plant them, and I prefer 10-14 days. Cut your seed potatoes into the appropriate-sized pieces containing the appropriate number of eyes. If you've had disease issues in the past, you might want to put some garden sulphur in a paper bag, add the cut pieces, and shake the bag to coat the seed potato pieces. I don't usually do this unless it is a wet year because I don't tend to have a lot of soil-borne disease issues, but some people wouldn't think of starting potatoes without sulphur.

Place your cut seed potatoes in a well-ventilated box or crate, or on a surface lined with several layers of newspaper. They'll sprout best if you can put them in an area that has good ventilation and high humidity. If you have to put them in an area that has low humidity, create some humidity by placing a couple of containers (buckets, pans, whatever) of water near the seed potatoes, but not so close to them that someone could kick them over and drench your seed potatoes. Of, if you have burlap or some similar material that is fairly thick and holds water well, wet it down and lay it on top of the seed potatoes. Check every morning or evening and keep it damp but not sopping wet, as needed, but remove the burlap at once if any sign of mildew or mold appears.

In a mild, humid environment, your seed potato eyes should begin to sprout while at the same time, the seed potatoes shrivel lightly. The cut surfaces of the seed potato, if you have cut them, should be slightly healed over, which is a good thing because slightly healed cuts are less likely to become diseased once they are in the ground.

HOLDING SPROUTED SEED POTATOES: Sometimes rain falls when you least need it--perhaps the day before you're going to plant your sprouted seed potatoes. Should this occur, don't worry about it. Sprouted seed potatoes can be held for an extra few days as needed until planting is possible. You should try to plant in slightly moist soil but never plant in very wet, soggy soil. If you're in a part of Oklahoma that has poor soil moisture due to the expanding drought conditions, water lightly about 4 or 5 days before you're going to plant so your soil has some moisture at planting time. Potatoes in extremely dry soil at planting time will not grow well until they begin receiving some moisture.

Do you know how to plant in a trench? If not, let me know and I'll give you a brief description of it.

Dawn

Dawn, thank you SO much for your advice! I have my seed starting kit directly under a flourescent light that I've been keeping on 24/7, the top lid of the box (about 3 inches from the soil surface) is almost touching the light. is this close enough, or do I need to figure out a way of keeping the humidity in with a lower lid?

As for the potatoes, it seems like in my case I'll want to cut them up, they're just a trifle smaller than tennis ball size. one of my books discussed sprouting, but your primer will be very helpful. They're probably going to go into a trash can filled with garden soil, so I could probably go either way on sprouting. I may sprout half the pieces and see which works out better. One of my books (SFG, I think) discusses methods for planting potatoes, but I would have to look back to see if it discusses the trench method. Thanks again!

Sarah

I don't use a light until I have sprouts and I don't use a cover after I do. As soon as I have sprouts, I remove the dome cover and put the light as near the plants as I can without touching them.

I use a shelving unit, and as soon as I turn the lights on, the shelf ABOVE the light is a good place to sprout more seeds.

Sarah,

Like Carol, I don't use a lid after I have one single sprout. The lids often hold in too much humidity and encourage damping off. Remember, you don't want to keep your seedling soil too wet or you'll have diseases and also fungus gnats. I don't use a cover at all with anything I'm starting inside, but that's mostly because I soak and presprout seed, so the higher humidity isn't as essential.

If you're going to plant in a trash can, you don't have to do the trench method. The point of trenching is to get the seed potatoes deep in the soil, and gradually fill in the trench so they'll continue to grow up, up, up and give you more potatoes. I'm assuming you'll plant near the bottom of the can and then add compost, soil, straw or chopped leaves (or a mix of all of them) as the plants get taller, so that works the same as trenching.

I will plant my main crop in trenches in a raised bed, but am toying with trying some in grow bags and some in smart pots just to see what happens.

Dawn

OK--removing cover now! :-)

ok, the lid is off and the tallest seedling (not quite an inch tall, probably), is almost touching the light. it's an under-counter light in the kitchen so it isn't perfectly centered over the plants, so I'm rotating the tray every 12 hours or so so things don't get too crooked. mental note for next year--build a proper sprouting rig in an old bookshelf we have in my den/guest room. :-) as far as potatoes, yep, that's how I intend to do it. I was planning to get a trash can but i saw some grow bags online that look intriguing too. I have about a 1/3 acre lot, so I'm trying to do everything as compact as possible--plus i don't want to go too large the first year.

It's best not to leave your lights on 24/7 if by this you mean you are never turning them off. Your little seedlings need a time to rest. I turn my lights off between 9 and 10 pm and leave them in the dark overnight. Then they get sunlight untill midafternoon at which time I turn them back on. Turn them on in morning of cloudy days of course.

Dorothy,

That's a great point about the lights. I leave mine on 16 hours/off 8 hours. I've never known anyone who got "improved" growth or better seedlings from having lights on 24/7. I think the plants need a rest/recovery period of darkness too.

Dawn

I stopped leaving the lights on at night back when that was first mentioned. the broccoli looks like it's nearly ready to sprout its second pair of leaves--I'll probably transplant those and move them to the front window as soon as that happens, then start hardening them off around March 1. most of the lettuce has sprouted, and I'm seeing signs of life from the tomatoes and peppers. shanks for all the advice! :-)