I know this is a really old thread but I have only just started a veg garden this year. Living in Central Florida does have it's challenges I can tell you so I thought I could try some seed potatoes this winter before the hot weather arrives by March next year,which from what I have heard and read, will be their death.....they are Organic spuds (1 pound each of Russian Fingerling and Yukon Gold I think) ordered online back in October and only arrived finally last week (Dec) but no sprouts on any of them yet.....ugh! Ok so they tell me to put an onion/apple or banana in the paper bag to speed up the growth, I've got the onion in each now for 2 weeks but still nothing.....can anybody help here, really would appreciate your input as I'm desperate to get them in the ground before Xmas to have enough 'cool' weather time for them to grow, thanks :o)

Really!!?? well that was pretty easy. Thank you Chris! :)

I'm interested to know if you have any luck as well. Maybe if you take the slip right from the rhizome, like with dahlia? I wonder if you'd have better luck with smaller growth? I grow many varieties, hummmm...now you have me think'in to. :o) LMK Sylvia

Mari, If I have a choice, as one does in the spring, between certified seed potatoes and potatoes from the grocery store, I will always choose certified seed potatoes. The "certified" means that they have been tested and are certified to be free of diseases that can cause you to lose your crop. I think probably they have been sprayed with something, too, to prevent disease. Because potatoes are prone to many diseases, you increase your odds of getting a good, disease-free yield if you plant certified seed potatoes. I've grown them both ways over the years--from grocery store potatoes and from certified seed potatoes, and I always have more disease issues with grocery store potatoes. When planting for fall, it is virtually impossible to find certified seed potatoes either locally or online for planting in late summer for a fall harvest. No one carries them locally in southern Oklahoma because so few people plant them (or anything else) for fall. Online retailers, like Wood Prairie Farm, usually sell out of their year's supply of seed potatoes by May or June. Sometimes, I harvest spring-planted potatoes early enough that I can use some of them for fall seed potatoes. (They have to go through a dormancy of a couple of months before they can initate sprouts.) For that to work, I have to harvest them in early June to have even a chance of them sprouting in August. Usually, for fall potatoes, I go to an organic Grocery Store like Whole Foods or Central Market (in the Dallas-Fort Worth area 80 miles south of us) and buy organic potatoes to use as seed potatoes. Why organic? Because conventionally-raised potatoes are often sprayed with an anti-sprouting agent to prevent them from sprouting. Also, I like to grow some of the unusual heirloom fingerling type potatoes, and Whole Foods or Central Market have a larger selection than any store near me. I don't make a special trip (especially with this year's fuel prices) to get seed potatoes, but pick them up when we are on a shopping trip for school clothes. (No kids left in school, but DS's fiancee' is still in college and we like to go clothes shopping in July before she heads off to college in August, so I'll get my seed potatoes then--maybe this week.) It is possible to plant potatoes for fall, but it is sometimes difficult to get them to grow in hot soil. Your chances for success are best if you plant them in soil that is mulched to keep it cooler. Also, temporarily shading the ground OR the containers to keep them cooler during the hottest part of the day helps. As the weather cools, the shading will not be necessary. Green-sprouting the potatoes indoors is preferable....I do it both in the spring and the fall. I'll find and link some info on growing potatoes above the ground....people do it in flower-pot type containers, plastic or rubber trash cans with holes drilled for drainage, wire cages filled with compost and mulch, bushel baskets, or even just potatoes laid on bare soil and then covered with compost and mulch. As the plants grow, you pile up more and more compost, soil or mulch around them. This is called "dirting" the potatoes and it increases your yield. If you have potato bugs in your area, nothing will keep them away from your plants, but they are easy to hand-pick and drown in a bucket of soapy water OR flick off the plant and squish under your shoe. Or, you can use the specific Bt (a bacteria) product that targets the Colorado Potato Beetle. I didn't have any Colorado Potato Beetles this year, and usually I do, so maybe they are not too bad this year. I usually plant fall potatoes in August, but you are further north and probably ought to plant them in July there. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Potato Growing Info