# need help planting taters



## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

I haven't planted taters in over 25 years and I can't remember if I planted them whole or if I planted them cut in quarters. I remember something about putting "dust" of some kind of powder but don't remember what it was or why. I will be planting baking potatoes from the store that sprouted. how long to they take to grow and can I plant them now? please help me.


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## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

I haven't had much luck with grocery store taters. I buy seed taters, wait for them to sprout, then cut them into pieces so each piece has at least one sprout. I've never dusted them with anything, unless you're talking about the plant itself, & you have pests. As for when to plant, I guess it depends on what zone you're in.


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## Locutus (Apr 24, 2012)

I've read that cutting them up increases the chance for plant diseases. But if you do cut them, put them on a rack for at least 24 hours before planting to allow the exposed flesh to dry out and crust over.


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## ONEOLDCHIEF (Jan 5, 2012)

Try to get your seed potatoes the size of golf balls, maybe a little bigger, other than that cut them (but YOU MUST LET THEM AIR DRY FOR A FEW DAYS, THAT KEEPS THEM FROM ROTTING), and plant 2 inches deep eight inches apart and have fun...

ps: the potatoes you bought for baking may not produce like you want if they were hybrid.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

There are actually tons of varieties of potatoes, with many different characteristics, you might want to check out some good seed stock. 
We cut them up and drop them right in the hole, no drying involved, one eye/division but we don't have significant disease problems here and we do not irrigate. Dropping the whole potato will work excellent as well, just takes a lot more potatoes.


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## twiggie (Jan 3, 2009)

I cut my potatoes and let them dry over, I did this 2 days ago and plan on planting them Monday. I think I've heard of dusting with sulfur before planting but I don't remember why you might do it. I intend to work some bone meal into the soil below them before planting this year. If anyone's interested I'm trying the Adirondak Blue potatoes this year, they look fun.


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## boomer (Jul 13, 2011)

We plant potatoes cut up, generally immediately prior to planting with one or two eyes per piece. We plant them with a spade as deep as the spade and then wait for them to emerge. They do not seem to rot or anything else, and we do it as soon as possible, often before tilling the garden. The reason for all this is later in the season we may be too busy with other more sensitive items to be planting or hilling potatoes. Planted this deep they can manage with minimum hilling and cultivation during the growing season.

I have also had reasonably good succes planting potatoes as transplants after they have real leaves as well as sprouts. This happens when I have been doing something else when I needed to have been planting potatoes. These I plant in a bit of a trench and fill the trench as they continue to grow.

Both methods and possibly some inbetween work well here. Planting away from other nightshades and away from where nightshades were grown the previous year or two seems to be the most critical factor. I cannot say we have had a potato crop failure in a very long time. Even blight can be worked around by letting the surface of the ground have a hard frost before harvesting suspected hills of potatoes.


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## 8thDayStranger (Jan 30, 2013)

Never grown taters before. This may be stupid question but if I plant some next week how long do they take to grow? I've got some regular idahos sprouting on the table that we just didn't eat fast enough and I have some red ones I just bought that I've set aside some to sprout.


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## lilmissy0740 (Mar 7, 2011)

I buy organic small potatoes and let them sprout, then I plant those. Every time I have bought seed potatoes I have never had any luck with them. I have a box right now in the basement waiting to be planted. 
Tis si from Mother Earth News, Your next step is to determine the recommended planting time for your climate. Since it takes potatoes two to three weeks to emerge from the ground, the earliest you should plant seed potatoes is two weeks before your last anticipated freeze date of 28 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. (If you don't know your local last freeze date, you can find it here.) About a week before your planting-out date, bring the seed out of the fridge and place it in a bright warm window for about a week. This will help break the spuds' dormancy and assure they will grow quickly when you put them into the still-cool spring soil.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real...-and-How-to-Plant-Potatoes.aspx#ixzz2LkrjaUAT


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## GrinnanBarrett (Aug 31, 2012)

We are planting this weekend in our community garden and we cut them up ahead of time. GB


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## Locutus (Apr 24, 2012)

My best producers last year were red potatoes from the grocery store.


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