I have some potato questions for you growers out there

Here where I am in East TN you can buy two types of seed potatoes. Either Kennebec or Pontiac red potatoes. That is it. It has been that way as long as I can remember. Is there a reason why? Do certain potatoes only grow well in certain areas or soils of the country or is it just that everyone here long before me always grew those two types and now that is all they sell? Im just curious on why that is and I hoped someone on here would know the answer. I thought about buying a bag of russetts in the grocery store and letting them sprout and planting them just to see if they would grow here. Also how often should you hill up potatoes? In the past I have hilled them up about once a month but can you over do it? Thanks for all your help.

I think most potatoes sold to eat are treated so they will not sprout.

must be preference, we started planting Yukon Gold several years ago and prefer them over any others. Ours were in the weekend before good Friday and are up looking ok. had to cover them last night because of the frost today

I planted the same potatoes for years here in MD. I planted (4) 100 foot rows of the Kennebec and one row of the Pontiac. The Kennebec would grow huge. My basement was too warm so I buried an old upright freezer on its back.
The potatoes were kept in it. They never froze. Hal

I always bought 50 lbs of seed potatoes from the local farm store. I also planted potatoes for my mother when she had a garden. Hal

(quoted from post at 14:14:17 04/23/15) I think most potatoes sold to eat are treated so they will not sprout.

Click to expand...

Not true, I have thrown out many potatoes that had sprouted from the potato bin that were purchased at the grocery store for consumption.....

I have never planted potatoes before, but am planning a 40' row this year. We are having frost every night through Sunday so I am planning on planting possibly Monday. I have 2 kinds, but I have to go back to the feed store to write down which kinds. 1 baking and 1 round white. I had septoria in my tomatoes last year and the research I have done online says not to plant tomatoes for 3 years after having Septoria. I guess I'll just buy tomatoes this year but I'm going to also plant some Texas sweet onions (yellow) and more bell peppers and some sweet peppers to munch on. And a row of beans.

I'm guessing your limited selection is due to regional demand. Kennebec is all we have planted for years. They keep very well for us and we like
the taste . But that is just "us".

I can't address your hilling question as we have never hilled . We just plant deep (6-8 inches) then straw them after they emerge . As they say,
"Different strokes for different folks".

We always plant cull sized potatoes from the previous years crop . No seed cost, no cutting, it amazes me that a ping-pong sized, shriveled sad
looking potato will grow a plant, but seeing is believing I guess .

Frost is rarely a problem for an emerged potato plant. I have seen them burned from a freeze all the way to the ground, then regrow and produce a fine crop. If your ground moisture is such that you are able to plant, I'd go ahead..... but that is just me. Good luck with your spuds !

If you'd like some variety, check out the link below. Pretty difficult to not get potatoes no matter how you approach growing them. Stacking tires I have not tried.
Ronnigers Potatoes

I know potatos like a soil that is more acidic

The treatment delays the sprouting but does not "kill" the potato.

Around my neck of the woods and with my family - kenneybeck ruled. It wasn't until I started making a garden that I tried different potatoes. I've planted a bunch of different varieties,
one of my favorites is yukon gold. Funny story - they are so yellow in appearance, when my kids were little, they always wanted to heap the butter on the potato. We would tell them the
yukon gold potatoes already had butter and only a little was needed - LOL.

I ordered my different varieties online.

Jason S.,

I grow potatoes (just for 2 families), but I am a long ways from your location.
In my location, we have many, many varieties to choose from.

I find that the Pontiacs have very deep eyes, so my choice is Red Norland.
These are an excellent early variety with white flesh, but not the best for longer term storage.

For longer term storage (and good bakers), I plant Russet Burbank.
These have been my favorite for years, but they will sometimes have "hollow heart", which is not a disease but just causes the potato to possibly have a hollow spot in the centre, more so in the larger sized potatoes.

This year I have purchased Russet Norkotah also; they are similar to the Russet Burbank, but mature a bit earlier and have less tendency toward hollow heart.

Myself, I am in favor of purchasing new Certified seed potatoes every year; they are very inexpensive.
Planting your own from last year is OK, but we are starting to get warnings about something called Late Blight in our area. This can be carried over from your old seed stock. This disease is what caused the potato famine in Ireland way back when.
I don't use any chemicals on my potatoes, and have been very lucky in not having Potato bugs.

The attached picture shows the color of the blossom on the Red Norland. The date is accurate, so 4 days later we had our first feed of new potatoes with cream, onions, and dill!

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Potato_LateBlt.htm

I am no expert, but this is just my 2 cents, to add to this interesting discussion.

Potato Info here

If you want to store for the winter Kennebec will keep a long time if kept in a cool place.
We hill them once after they reach about 8" high. Cultivate to get the soil loose then hill to almost bury the plant.

Good luck

I plant some Kennebec, some Red type, and lots of Yukon Gold. We really like their flavor. Not good for long storage though.

Plant whatever is available to you in your area. Potatoes like a soil ph of about 5.5. Hill them often, not only for weed control, but bulking potatoes exposed to sunlight turn green, and become toxic.

to clarify re: the sprout inhibitor: not all potatoes purchased at a grocery store or other store as tablestock have been treated with sprout inhibitor. However, for those that have (and there is no way to tell other than trying to grow them), it is permanent; they will not grow. back when we grew potatoes for wholesale, we would have multiple storage barns, and would only treat the ones we weren't able to empty by a certain time of winter, the idea being, it's expensive to treat, so only treat the ones that are in real danger of sprouting.

That's a issue I have no way to keep them tell me more about the coffin deal...

Jason S.,
In our Burgess Seed & Plant 2015 Spring catalog page, 44 they list Burbank Russets and a host of other type potato. For the list under the Burbank they list them by number of seed potato,ie 20- 40- 80- 160 seed potato's cost for as follows 20/ 4.99- 40/ 9.49- 80/ 18.49- 160/ 34.99. We haven't ordered them from Burgess, we have a local farmer who sell them to anyone name Klinger Farms, in Chippewa Falls,Wi. We haven't had to buy for a few years,we have excess from last years picking that turn to seed for us and we just replant them next year. I don't think it has to do with a regional thing,but more of what the sellers think they can get rid of for popularity of spud.As long as you follow the fertilizer and watering requirements along with the spray for bugs and diseases that each potato has you will be fine. They save almost a year for us (Burbank russets) and make very good fries and baked,along with whatever we desire at the time. Orida used to buy from the farmer we used to drive for,Orida became too picky and specified what equipment and break area size the farmer had to have,so he quit. Talked to another big potato grower and according to him, Orida told the farmer to plant them and at the harvest time orida would tell the farmer what they would pay for them. He quit and went to soy beans and corn. Hope the info helps.
LOU