I found mine last year at a local Nursery in Aurora called "Nick's Garden Center" pretty popular place. I grew "German Butterball, "Cal-White", some reds, Purple Viking, Purple Airondack (sp).The Butterball and Cal-whites grew HUGE, the reds and the purples were only baby new potato sized. I grew them in ground with straw, the reds and purples may have grown bigger but I used grow bags which I think slowed them down. I dont usually shop anywhere else for gardening except last year started going to a place called Tagawa Garden Center in Parker. For me, I'm just so used to Nick's Garden Center b/c my parents have known the owners for years and I believe in their growing techniques. Good Luck in growing your spuds, this year I'm trying Sweet Potatoes....I cant wait!! I just started eating them last year & I already LOVE their leaves =)

Thank you for your response, vlselz. I live in Westminster but going to Nick's is certainly doable if no where closer sells them.

I don't have enough room to grow as many varieties as you did, at least in the ground, but I think they will all do well in containers - and I am sure the plants would prefer the soil I can put in the containers as opposed to growing in the lovely clay soil I have in my garden - so I am hoping to grow 3 or 4 varieties. One that is on my "wish list" is Mountain Rose, if I can find it here. ($15.95 for two pounds of seed potatoes from Territorial Seeds, but not sure what the shipping would be, could get rather pricey.)

I love sweet potatoes and yams, but the only sweet potatoes I have grown have been relegated to my water gardens, lol - lovely vines they are indeed. I figured they love water too much to grow here in Colorado, so I hope you give us some follow up later to let us know how they did for you here.

Holly

Wow, Holly! I was thinking about you not long ago. Nice to hear from you!

I think seed potatoes will be showing up in the garden centers soon, maybe in the next few weeks. I think it's just a bit early. You could check with O'Toole's and Paulino's, they're closer to your end of town.

HD, Lowe's and WM carry them, too. Once in a while I am surprised by what I find there.

I've grown Kennebec, Yukon Gold and Austrian Crescent and Kipfel fingerlings and liked all of those. Most of those came mail order from Potato Garden. I've also tried All Blue, but didn't like them much. They grew well and the color was cool, but not a lot of flavor.

Barb

Just about all if them do sell seed potatoes. Even some Wal Marts sell them, too. Though they may not have hit shelves yet, they will shortly. What part of town are you on?

If you would like I have some Sangre Red, a redskin potato (which I believe was bred by Dr. David Holm down in the San Louis Valley. He also bred Mountain Rose, which is an all-red variety, and probably many others I don't know about) it did great for me last year! I didn't expect them to last as long as they have in storage so I ordered more, but I see no reason why these ones ought to go to waste. I also grew purple majesty (which I believe is a Colorado State U. Selection, though, I believe it comes from Idaho) that was pretty good except I dug them up too early. Left longer they undoubtedly would have produced better. I have left over of them but they've got some pretty long, spindley growth by now

Colorado is a prime potato growing area, on par with Idaho and Maine. Any variety, I would imagine, will succeed here, though, some of the eastern bed ones might require more water.

EDIT: It appears I got them mixed up! Sangre red is the CSU introduction and purple majesty is the Dr. Holm Variety. But, he works for CSU, so, maybe I wasn't too far off lol!

I also should have read through all the posts, but GW is not really compatible on my phone, so I'm trying to fix this post now, as I have my computer handy. I see that Wal-Mart was already brought up, as was mountain rose.

Sangre red and purple majesty or pretty common. I got mine last year from O'Tooles in Littleton, packaged by Van Bloem Gardens, a large bulb retailer out of Mississippi. Mountain rose may be a bit harder to find, at least, I have not seen it at the garden centers here on the SW side.

If you do ever go the mail order route, I would suggest Potato Garden. Because they are located right here in the Centennial State, their shipping is a little cheaper than others like Territorial, who ship our of Maine, I believe. (Plus you get to support a local Colorado company at the same time, if that sort of thing is important to you.)

This post was edited by ZachS on Thu, Feb 5, 15 at 10:37

Grew ours last year with seed potatoes from Tractor Supply. They did very well, both growing and storing, and finished with the last one last night.

Thank you all for your replies. I obviously have not been very observant since from what you folks are saying, almost all of the local nurseries as well as the big box stores carry seed potatoes. I agree that it is probably too early to see them as yet, but as I am planning my garden for the year, I wanted to find out what my options were. I hadn't even thought about Tractor Supply, so thanks for adding that one to my list, luckybottom; closest store to me is in Brighton, but that is certainly not too far away.

Also good to hear that Colorado is potato country; our clay soil along the Front Range has to be good for something besides growing invasive weeds like bindweed!

I had "discovered" the existence of the Potato Farm on the western slope when I started looking for seed potatoes; if I do decide to order instead of buying locally they are the ones I will order from. Always happy to support my fellow Coloradans when I can!

@Barb - I have been thinking of you lately, too; we really need to plan another "nursery expedition!" Paulino's had some amazing conifers for sale last year; they were little trees and thus affordable even for me. They had Japanese Umbrella Pines, for example, which I had not seen available locally before. I bought one of them and hope it will make it through the winter. (Getting tired of having to treat expensive dwarf conifers like annuals, lol.) Yukon Gold is one of the potatoes I was considering growing so good to hear that it did well for you; I will also check out the other cultivars you liked.

@Zach - I would love to try out the Sangre Red, so if you still have "extra" seed potatoes, I would be happy to take them off of your hands! I live in Westminster; a trip to Littleton would not take long. Please send me an email if a visit from me suits you. :-) We are very lucky to have CSU and their "plant experiments" here - what a great resource the CSU Extension service is for those of us that garden in this difficult region!

Holly

Holly,

Yeah, I have plenty that I grew last year that have just started to bud. They have about 1/4-1/2" growth on them. But, be aware, these are not certified disease free, they are just leftovers from last years crop. I did not see any disease on them, any blights or leaf spots, but, I want you to have all the information before putting them in your soil.

Speaking of soil, the dirt you put them in will need amending. It's Colorado's climate that does so well for them. They are native to the high & dry Andes, similar conditions to what we have here! The cool summer nights, while not necessarily great for maters, are awesome for taters! The soil, however, would be best to be a loose, friable one. If, for no other reason, than digging up your tubers in the late summer/fall. Also, if you can at all not walk in the area they are growing, even moderately loose soil wont be too compacted in a single season and you should be able to expect a bumper crop with minimal effort.

Some issues I have had with potatoes are frost. Everyone says "they can handle a light frost" and yes, the underground parts will survive. But, anything above ground, in my experience will get burned. They will regrow, but, it will set them back a little bit. The nice part is, is that if a frost is forecast, just cover anything above the soil line with more dirt! If you have run out of dirt, a light covering (I use typar landscape fabric for covering) will usually protect them.

Flea beetles feast on them like me at a Chinese buffet (and boy do I do love orange chicken). I haven't seen any of the dread Colorado Potato Beetle yet, but flea beetles just adore the leaves! I think they even prefer my potatoes to my radishes (which they typically decimate in a matter of days, unless I grow potatoes, then the radishes don't get touched!)

Frost and flea beetles - what fun for the potatoes! Thank you for the warning.

My soil is not what I would call loose and friable, more like gummy and clumpy, lol. I didn't decide to try potatoes until earlier this year, so I did nothing to amend an area for potatoes; I have some raised beds with decent soil in them, but have them earmarked for other vegetables. Kind of why I was considering trying to grow potatoes in barrels/large containers so I have more control over the soil.

I hadn't considered the possibility of introducing diseases into the soil - forgot that your seed potatoes wouldn't be certified DOH! Probably not a problem in a container where the soil can be discarded, but perhaps I should make my first attempt to grow potatoes relatively painless by planting only certified stock? Thoughts?

Holly

My soil is not what I would call loose and friable, more like gummy and clumpy

Yup, that sounds about right haha! Though, I have been fairly surprised by some small areas of my yard that turned out to be pretty good, the majority of it is just like everyone else's. Containers will definitely be your best bet. Less labor intensive anyways.

I grew some in 18 (I think it was 18) gallon Rubbermaid totes with holes drilled in the bottom. I would say it was, overall, a success, although, lack of diligence on behalf of myself caused early die-back of the vines in one container so I dumped both of them out early (also due in part to my notorious lack of patience, coupled with bad information on the packaging which said 80 DTM, it was wrong. The tubers I planted were in fact main-crop potatoes, not early). One of the biggest perks I found with growing them in the Rubbermaid totes was they come with lids, so when frost or snow is forecast (I plant potatoes in mid April), all you have to do is pop on the lid! Course, that won't work on the other end of the season when the vines have grown 2 feet beyond the tub.

Thoughts? Oh geeze, here comes trouble! My personal opinion is that you will very likely be just fine. Even if you do plant certified potatoes, you can still have disease. Many (most?) pathogens can be airborne and given the right conditions, can infect plants that were not, themselves the carriers. HOWEVER! If, for your peace of mind, you prefer to remove variables from the equation, well, you wont offend me by not taking up the offer. I know I would certainly feel terrible if it came back to me as the cause for ruining a whole years crop, and, possibly many years subsequent if you wound up planting them in the ground. But, I will leave it up to you. Like I said, I wont be offended if you say no, so, don't feel obligated by any means.

Sorry for the slow response, Zach. I got distracted by my seed catalogs and playing outside so didn't spend much time on my computer. I would like to get some of your Sangre Red seed potatoes - you had no problems with disease last year so they will be "safe." Let me know how to go about this, please.

Went to Paulino's yesterday and picked up a few seed packets; they said their seed potatoes and other vegetable supplies, etc., should be available by mid-March. The warm weather we have had the last few days is giving my spring fever too early.

Holly

Haha, no worries! I should probably doing homework anyways (I have a historical image analysis due Wednesday that haven't started...yeesh).

No problem Holly, Lets see if I can figure out how to get you the information so I can get you those seed potatoes, without blasting my personal information all over the internet haha!

I think O'toole's down here gets their potatoes, garlic, onion sets, and a bunch of fall planted bulbs on shelves in late February, something I have never understood.

I agree with you on the spring fever, if it's any consolation, old man winter is supposed to be back by mid-week.

Thanks for the email Holly!

I recommend Potato Garden online.

Last week I saw seed potatoes at O'Toole's Littleton. They usually have pretty good quality stuff...