Why Do Store Potatoes Not Work in Gardens?
The 5-lb. sack or display bin of loose potatoes at the supermarket contains plump, nicely shaped tubers for eating, but they don't grow well if planted. When exposed to warmth and light, buds or eyes on the potato tuber sprout. To prevent this unattractive look on grocery store shelves, a growth-inhibitor spray likely coats potatoes to prolong their shelf life. Use certified seed potatoes to grow plants in your garden. Such tubers were properly stored and kept clean so they're free of diseases. Does this Spark an idea?
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Limitations to Store-Bought Potatoes
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Besides being coated with various chemical residues to prevent eyes from sprouting, potatoes sold in stores likely have not been stored at temperatures that promote growth. The inhibitor chemical residues persist up to one year on the potato skins. Therefore, they remain just long enough to prevent sprouting on store shelves before the new, fresh crop of taters arrive from the farm. Alternatively, if potatoes were stored at average room temperatures, the eyes may not sufficiently sprout even when exposed to light or moist soil. Temperatures around 50 degrees Fahrenheit and above 75 F trigger eyes to later sprout.
Sprouting Inhibitors
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Sprout inhibitors applied to potatoes prevent cell division. This stops the eyes from elongating and become long, white stems that become plant leaves. Maleic hydrazide is one potato sprout inhibitor chemical. It is applied to growing potato plants in the field where it is absorbed and stored in the underground tubers. Chlorpropham (CIPC) is another inhibitor compound, but applied after harvest onto tubers while being stored.
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Certified Seed Potatoes
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Gardeners and farmers do not plant true seeds to get potato plants. Seeds would yield a wide, variable array of plants with tubers of different qualities. Small tubers, called seed potatoes, contain one to five eyes and are carefully prepared annually over fall and winter to become new plants when planted in spring. Certified means horticulturists guarantee the varietal purity, such being as Kennebec or Yukon Gold, as well as proper storage temperature and being free of known fungal spores or other pathogens known to harm potato plants.
Saving Old Potatoes
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In some parts of the southern United States where the frost-free growing season is long, gardeners may plant potatoes twice per calendar year. Sow certified seed potatoes in early spring around the last spring frost date, and harvest tubers in early summer. Use clean harvested tubers from that crops as the seed potatoes for planting in late summer. That fall crop matures in mid to late fall. Store seed potatoes in a cool, humid cellar with temperatures around 50 F to ensure sprouting when planted in late summer.
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