Pulling potato plants from sprouts

[wingnut]

I know it may be a little late for this, but I have potted up a number of pulls from austrian crescent, red thumb, and french fingerling. I also got some discount adarondack blues that had big fat 10"shoots with no roots; I planted them with about 2" of the shoot sticking out of the pot. I'll dig them and snap off in a few days when roots have formed.

[wmontanez]

Wingnut,

That's lots of potatoes! 180ft plus 140ft whew. My patch is a dwarf by comparison but each plant is unique.

I am having 2 pulls going strong as little clone plants from Skagit Valley Gold ...

[wingnut]

Next year I plan to put in 1000 feet of raised potato beds, this year is about getting my stock up and tested.

[owiebrain]

I have a question about pulls: How big is too big for planting?

My tubers (in moist mix) sat unattended for over a week (I've been stuck in bed with a back injury) and the shoots are humongous, several inches tall. I know when hilling, you shouldn't let them get too tall before raking on some dirt, because they won't form tubers after some point/amount of exposure. So now I'm wondering if these shoots are fairly pointless to work with. If they'll do something worthwhile, I'll get them removed and planted tomorrow but I don't want to waste my time (and still-screwy back) if not.

Geez, I hope I'm making sense. I think the medication is fogging up my brain.

[wingnut]

I don't think they can be to big, the ones I mentioned above are a good 10" and fatter than a pencil. I will take pics. I know they will grow, I just don't know if they will yield well. There are six or so 2" shoots around the base of the big ones. So I figure to let them replace the ones I'm removeing.

[macmex]

Diane, hope you feel better soon
Weeds are getting ahead of me, presently. There just aren't enough hours in a day!
The potatoes are
Looking better than anything else in our gardens.

George

[Tom Wagner]

I have placed tubers in the ground with 3 ft. long sprouts and that because the tuber was too far gone and flaccid to produce new shoots.

[wmontanez]

I have surviving only plants from pulled sprouts, the cuttings did not grow too big and once outside they didn't make it. So far one plant is looking good...soon pictures

[wingnut]

Some of my pull sprouts are bigger than most of my early planted stuff, and they have been in for only 30 days or so. The adirondac blues are especially vigorous. I will post pics tomorrow.

[DiggingDogFarm]

I just found this thread.
I've been working on the same subject, but can see now, according to Tom that it's a good idea to let leaves develop, although I have had some success otherwise.
I'm also experimenting with node cuttings.

Here's some interesting information I've found.

From the book "Potatoes: How to grow and show them." by James Pink
Printed in 1879.

"By this means an immense number of plants can be raised from one pound of tubers ready for planting out at the proper season, and at the least three to four thousand pounds of potatoes could easily be grown from one pound of seed, by this method, in one season."













I was able to get almost 200 lbs. of taters from a lb. of seed....nowhere near 2 tons! Not yet anyway! LOL

I'm also rooting node cuttings from the sprouts in sand....

Single-Node Cuttings: A Rapid Mutiplcation technique for potatoes.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Oc_...page&q&f=false

Here is a 5 oz. Cheiftan seed potato that I buried in pine bark fines.

I've snapped off 15 sprouts which I'll plant for the node cuttings.

I'll continue burying the seed potato and repeat the sprout harvest until the seed potato is spent.





~Dig

[wmontanez]

I think I saw those pictures from HomeGrown goodness, am I right? I read info there but don't post since I got into too many forums already
welcome! and do you have pictures of those 200lbs by any chance? We love pictures here at tomatoville. I got 15lb per 1lb seed last year and I declared sucess ...but 200lb beats that hands down. Cool.

[wingnut]

Now when you can plant 1 lb of seed potatoes and get 200 lbs.....let me know. Still fun to se how many pulls/cuttings you can get from a potato, and what they produce.

[wmontanez]

Pulled sprouts now young plants from Skagit Valley Gold...

[DiggingDogFarm]

Originally Posted by wmontanez

......do you have pictures of those 200lbs by any chance?

The 200 lbs. was from last year, no pics.
Hopefully I can get some pics this year.
But this year I started with just one 5 oz. seed potato.


~Dig

[wingnut]

I believe with the aeroponic seed production unit I'm constructing, I will be able to plant a few acres of uniform seed potatoes from one cutting. I will be posting pics as soon as I get started.