How long can I keep seed potatoes? - Garden Plants and Gardening Forum

cia007 · 04-26-2008, 05:28 PM

I ordered some seed potatoes from Seed Saver Exchange, and they are beautiful...but the containers I have suggest only 4 seed potatoes per pot. Sooo....I have maybe more than I can use. It says you can start another crop as late as June to get a later harvest...so I could order some more grow bags to use some up...if the seed potatoes will keep that long. Anyone know how long they keep? I also plan on sharing some with my grandmother and mother, but I think we will still have too much.

I got 3 varieties

Ozettes
German Butterball and
Red Potatoes!

imp · 06-19-2008, 09:38 PM

Late reply, but just found this site.

Seed potatoes often keep a bit if you keep them cool and dark at a stable temperature. I don't think I would try to keep them a year, but a couple months may well be more than possible.

Lucky you- I forgot to order the Ozettes early enough and they were out!

mangus · 12-06-2008, 10:28 AM

My friend used to make his own seed taters. His grandfather told him they would never last through the winter but they did. He did just like imp said, kept them in a nice cool dark place.

Basically what he did was use all the small taters for seed in a different container than the one he kept his eatin taters in.

Sometimes the eyes or roots get long but you can break them off to a managable size and plant them just like you always do.

One other tip his grandfather told us was to plant our taters after June 8th to avoid getting potato bugs, it worked too as long as there wasn't tater bugs there from the previos year. Once you got 'em they are hard to shake. What you do is move them to a different location in the garden. You should do that anyway though. Sometimes potato bugs will attack other veggies so be careful what you rotate to the tater spot from the previous year.

Of course the time of year to plant would likely vary from different locations. Who knows it might now even work in other places, but it does here in michigan.

SummerDays · 05-26-2009, 11:59 AM

Seed potatoes will always last longer if they are kept in a cool dark place. My uncle is a farmer and he stores his seed potatoes in the pit that is lined with straw, he has stored them like this for as long as I can remember.
Hope this helps

___________________
Garden Hammock

04-26-2008, 05:28 PM	#1
cia007 Green Thumb Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Olympia, WA Posts: 48	How long can I keep seed potatoes? I ordered some seed potatoes from Seed Saver Exchange, and they are beautiful...but the containers I have suggest only 4 seed potatoes per pot. Sooo....I have maybe more than I can use. It says you can start another crop as late as June to get a later harvest...so I could order some more grow bags to use some up...if the seed potatoes will keep that long. Anyone know how long they keep? I also plan on sharing some with my grandmother and mother, but I think we will still have too much. I got 3 varieties Ozettes German Butterball and Red Potatoes!

12-06-2008, 10:28 AM	#3
mangus Green Gardener Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2	My friend used to make his own seed taters. His grandfather told him they would never last through the winter but they did. He did just like imp said, kept them in a nice cool dark place. Basically what he did was use all the small taters for seed in a different container than the one he kept his eatin taters in. Sometimes the eyes or roots get long but you can break them off to a managable size and plant them just like you always do. One other tip his grandfather told us was to plant our taters after June 8th to avoid getting potato bugs, it worked too as long as there wasn't tater bugs there from the previos year. Once you got 'em they are hard to shake. What you do is move them to a different location in the garden. You should do that anyway though. Sometimes potato bugs will attack other veggies so be careful what you rotate to the tater spot from the previous year. Of course the time of year to plant would likely vary from different locations. Who knows it might now even work in other places, but it does here in michigan. Last edited by mangus; 12-06-2008 at 10:31 AM.

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06-19-2008, 09:38 PM	#2
imp Green Gardener Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: North Texas Posts: 12	Late reply, but just found this site. Seed potatoes often keep a bit if you keep them cool and dark at a stable temperature. I don't think I would try to keep them a year, but a couple months may well be more than possible. Lucky you- I forgot to order the Ozettes early enough and they were out!

05-26-2009, 11:59 AM	#4
SummerDays Green Gardener Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 14	Seed potatoes will always last longer if they are kept in a cool dark place. My uncle is a farmer and he stores his seed potatoes in the pit that is lined with straw, he has stored them like this for as long as I can remember. Hope this helps ___________________ Garden Hammock