Testing two common potato growing methods

[projectej]

Moral of the story if you give something a head start it's going to be ahead

[terrivance]

Kevin,
Next time, run the experiment in reverse. 1st, plant half of the potatoes w/ just eyes, then wait & plant the other half once they sprout. Then note the point(s) when each batch pokes its head out of the soil. That will give a more accurate production value comparison between the 2 methods.

[susanm.jeavons]

When my kids were young, we lived on a farm. We planted a garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and potatoes. We ended up with 2000 lbs. of potatoes. We shared them with the church.

[invisiblevfx]

And uhh how long does it take for the eyes to sprout? ABOUT THREE WEEKS!

[Sassy_Alaskan]

Remember, when you're planting your potato's make sure to point the eyes they can see where theyre growing.

[clarencedaniels_]

If you refrigerate them for a week before planting they will sprout quicker like other bulbs, I learned when you want bulbs to grow faster let them have a cold spell before you plant and they will sprout quicker because they think the warmer soil, means spring forth.

[dianepeters]

I worked for a major potato farmer in Idaho one summer when I was a college student. They chopped their potatoes up before planting. That was my job, cutting seed potatoes. You don’t have to waste a whole potato for planting. As long as there are eyes on the part you put in the ground, they’ll sprout.

[lazaruslazuli]

You can also cut the potatoes into quarters and let the dry for 2 days in the refrigerator before planting, so they've developed a 'skin' on the cut surface. 4x the plants from the same amount of 'taters.

[Ed]

They may be 3 weeks behind, but as you do not need to wait to sprout them, you can plant them 3cweeks earlier

[patriciatardugno]

You don't need to plant the entire potato. You can plant ONLY THE EYES. Peel, cook & eat the rest of the potato. Let the eyes with some of the peel, (& 1/8 thickness) of potato, dry out over night, & then plant those potato eyes. A green vine with white flowers will grow, but under ground potatoes are growing everywhere.

[wilsoncrystal]

I have the most compact clay soil on my backyard slope and so I decided to plant leftover potatoes all over like whatever. Some made it and some didn’t. Buuuutttt they have been helping with bringing life back to my soil! And I love it!!

[Moffenson]

In Norway, planting potatoes without buying potato seeds are illegal. Even in seperated containers off the ground. It's literally called "The potato Law"

[AL-fljk]

If you cut the potatoes and let them dry before planting, they’ll focus on the 1-2 eyes they have giving you faster growth and less wasted energy

[russellwirta]

You can also chop multi-eyed potatoes into separate pieces and plant the pieces, with intact eyes, individually.

[Rebecca-nn]

Learned from Dad to cut potatoes in wedges around the eyes. Each one is a plant. I'm 74 and when I was a kid this us the way everyone did them.

[juanraro]

But maybe those roots takes 3 week to appear 🤣

[gregwesterman]

When I was a kid, my dad had 2 spoons with sharp edges to "eye" the potatoes. Then we dried them for a week.
The rest of the potato was peeled for mashed potatoes, salads, and fried. We planted them on Good Friday as tradition. Worked out very well.

[waterisgold]

I love the little potato field it's just so cute and adorable💚✨️💪

[fearthehoneybadger]

Presprouting potatoes is called chitting.

[ElizabethMilnes]

My potatoes sprouted so I planted them in bags using the added soil method. Worked great so far!