[permaculture] Slowing potato sprouting?

Lisa Rollens rollens at fidnet.com
Mon May 18 23:07:28 EDT 2009


Hi Shivana,

I've been growing potatoes for about 30 years.  Even now I have a perfect 
place to store them and they come out of the winter not shriveled at all, 
BUT they are sprouting by late Feb or March.  I rub the sprouts 
offperiodically and the potatoes will still be edible by June.  (Old timers 
made it a practice to rub sprouts of stored potatoes.)  Potatoes are just 
ready to sprout in the spring.  My suggestion would be to try some other 
varieties that are long season and good keepers.  I am trying a short season 
one this year.  It should be ready to dig in August, so we can eat those 
while we are waiting for the longer season ones to mature.  If you have good 
keepers, they should be fine until the cold storage is actually cold enough. 
The potatoes usually go thru a rest period.  I have trouble getting them to 
sprout in the garden in the early summer if I want to try a fall crop.

My thoughts.....Lisa, in the MO Ozarks



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <SArjuna at aol.com>
To: <permaculture at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 7:29 PM
Subject: [permaculture] Slowing potato sprouting?


> The potatoes I saved in my root cellar for planting this year are 
> sprouting
> like anything.    Someone told me that even if I refrigerated them they'd
> sprout at this time of year.
>
> I don't want to plant them all now, as they would be ready long before the
> root cellar will be cool enough to store them in, in fall.     Last year 
> (my
> first real year of potato growing), I got the last of my potatoes planted
> on the 4th of July.   (Ones I purchased by mail.   They had not sprouted
> much.)   Still, they were ready long before the root cellar was cool, and 
> I was
> lucky enough that the fall was cool and not too wet, so I left them in the
> ground till midOctober.
>
> Is there something I can do to slow down or stop my seed potatoes from
> sprouting?   What do you do, in order to grow potatoes that are ready in 
> fall?
>
> Shivani in WI
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> .
>
>
>
> **************
> A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See Yours in Just 2 Easy
> Steps!
> (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221322941x1201367178/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&amp;hmpgID=115&amp;
> bcd=Mayfooter51809NO115)
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subscribe or unsubscribe here:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
> Google command to search archives:
> site:http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture searchstring
>
> 



More information about the permaculture mailing list