There are a lot of mixed opinions about this on the web. Some say you shouldn't plant cupboard sprouted potatoes because of diseases they may have and how that will ruin your soil. Then the other side of the argument is that seed potatoes are just another way for companies to make a buck. What are your thoughts? Should we plants these sprouted potatoes? Or toss them?
What do you do?
Let me know. I am very curious about this one!
7 comments:
those in the picture look healthy. I say plant them. I bought seed potatoes and cut them up as advised per intructions to have them mold in two days. If you do not live in an area that the farms grow lots of potatoes then the risk of disease spreading is reduced. While GMO potatoes are illegal to grow without Monsanto's permission which you have to pay them to grow but I am sure you have organic natural potatoes;)
free food! don't throw them away! get those babies in the ground and enjoy their produce later this year. i've had no problems with disease and this is the method our grandparents used, so its good enough for me.
I always plant anything that sprouts in my pantry, including potatoes, onions, and garlic. So far, no issues at all. Then again, my area doesn't have major growers of any of these, so the risk of disease spreading to major operations is very low.
Plant 'em! If they're not so tiny that they'd produce ridiculously small offspring (like the ones I have left -and sprouting- in my pantry...lol), I say go for it!
Yum - those look like perfect candidates for your garden.
I have done it numerous times without issue. I suppose there is always the chance that you might be planting a potato that is diseased, all I can say is that it has never happened to me. I guess there is only one way to find out.:)
I'm assuming these are not potatoes that you grew, rather, potatoes you purchased for consumption?
If they were ones that I grew myself and witnessed that there weren't diseases present, then I would not hesitate to plant. But, if you haven't seen the plants it can be hard to tell.
Potatoes do very easily catch diseases.
The other consideRration is rotation--if you do plant and the plants harbor disease, will you be able to plant your potatoes in a different area next year? Is your garden big enough to do that? If not, then no, I would not risk it. You can purchase fairly inexpensive seed through Peaceful Valley, Ronnigers, or Fedco.
Thanks for all of your input! We went with the majority opinion. We planted them! Free food is the best food. We are trying to grow potatoes in different ways this year to avoid the mice problems we had last year. Hopefully the mice don't like cupboard sprouted potatoes!
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