Seed potatos

Would like to make seed potatos out of the fingerlings that I can get at Winter Farmers Market.
Do you cut them up in chunks with more than one eye? Then what to do..let dry..dust with antifungal powder??
Any help appreciated.

I planted my fingerlings last weekend. Cut each potato into chunks with at least one eye. I don't need to use an antifungal powder because it's so dry here but it may be useful for you in WI. Maybe someone else will have more info about that.

thanks Mary. We are wet here, as an unusually mild end of winter is melting the snow. Glad to hear about just using one eye per chunk.

No, I said "at least one eye"... I don't think you need only one eye per chuck. You can of course, but I don't think it's a 'requirement'.

It's not a requirement, you can plant them whole and be alright.

This message was edited Feb 7, 2012 5:37 PM

Marcia, like both Doug and Mary said, you can either leave them whole or cut up with at least one eye. Standard potatoes (non-fingerlings) are normally cut with 3 eyes per piece if possible; fingerlings might not be able to offer 3 eyes since they are so long and slender.

As for cutting them, don't cut them at all now. Cut them just before setting out, or perhaps a week before so the skins harden over. If you like you can dust them but it is usually not necessary. I used to dust mine, or at least dunk them, in bone meal just before planting...that seals the cut edge and also gives a bit of phosphorus. You can skip that by chitting, basically cutting them and letting the pieces sit to harden over and it will also bring the eyes to life before setting out.

Hope this is helpful!
Shoe

Just leave them whole. You're less likely to lose plants to diseases introduced through the cut surfaces. The young plants use the stored carbs in the tubers, so they'll start out stronger and should produce better. Especially fingerlings - there's little enough there to start with.

-Rich

Thanks to everyone. there should be fingerlings in the future:) Sunny and in the 40s with mud today..then back to winter...WI :)

The Russian banana fingerlings(white/tan skin, kind of yellow inside) are the easiest to grow and are a faster crop (70 to 90 days). The blue ones are a long crop, taking about 120 days. French fingerlings (red skin, pink inside) are mid season. Fingerlings have one main sprout if left whole, but if you cut them the other eyes will make sprouts also. I cut them and let dry for 24 hours. Sometimes I dust them with powdered sulfur.

I grew these two side by side last winter. In my garden (sand, often moist) the French fingerlings came out looking like they did from the grocery store. The Russian bananas did not do so well; the skins were very coarse and tough, and the yields lower. I like to eat the skins, believing as I do that most of the vitamin and mineral value is in the layer just under the skin (which is invariably removed during peeling). That part also seems to me to have the best flavor.

-Rich

ditto here, Rich, seldom peeling a potato (same is true with carrots).

Did you get a decent "pound harvest" from your fingerling crop? In other words, plant a fingerling and get a ten-fingerling harvest? I had a terrible harvest from mine but I imagine that is why they cost so much per pound at the store and mkt...not much weight per plant.

Thanks, Calalily, that's what I do, too. Cut the spuds and let them heal over. My soil is acidic enough to spuds though so will dust with bone meal instead of sulfur. Texas soil is highly alkaline, isn't it? Even in your area I guess.

Shoe

The yields weren't great, at least in terms of pounds, but I started them late and didn't realize that as the sun went further south the plants would only get about 8 hours of sunlight before they were shaded by a heavy stand of Live Oaks to the southwest. The French fingerlings got a bit more shade than the other varieties.

I figure the difference in yield between the French fingerlings and the "recommended" waxy varieties is all about total weight at maturity anyway. Don't get me wrong - I do love a good "new" red- or white-skinned potato straight from the ground to the pot. They're sweet as candy, a real treat almost never found at the grocery store - but if you harvest them all that early then you probably aren't getting any more yield weight than you do from the fingerlings anyway. To me, it's the skins I grow them for (and the flavor), and the surface-to-weight ratio of the fingerlings makes them far more nutrient-dense (nutrients per calorie) than the bigger blocky types like the La Sodas and other commercial varieties usually grown down here.

I see the FL Extension Service has started recommending Yukon Golds for home gardening - I may have to try a short row next fall.

-Rich

Thanks. Exactly the info I was looking for.

I grew Yukon Golds some years back, too. Not much of a harvest but I have to admit they grew in a very poor section of land. I'll have to try them again and see how well they do.

Shoe (who probably needs to get to bed!) Thanks!

Good to see you, Shoe- have missed seeing your input recently.

Howdy, Jo...always good to see ya.

I'm here and there on the site, as time allows. I move pretty slow these days, seldom getting around to all the places I want to be! :>)

Will it soon be tater planting time out your way?

Shoe

I do a few potatoes in barrels, but don't get too carried away with it! I'm just chompin' at the bit for tomatoes & the other spring stuff. My one fig cutting is sprouting nicely- nothing from the rest yet, but I'm being patient.

Some fingerlings give much more in yield than others, Red Thumb made 20 potatoes or more per plant compared to Peanut (small white fingerling, waxy with a nutty flavor). Peruvian Purple is delicious and loaded with nutrition but takes at least 4 months to mature and is one of the slowest to sprout. Yield from that one is so-so most of the time but we still grow it. It has very firm flesh and is delicious. This year I'm growing Blossom, Red Thumb, Peruvian Purple and a white one, can't remember the name but it is smaller than Russian Banana, pure white inside with smoother skin and more disease resistance. Red Thumb, if left to mature in the field instead of noodling for new potatoes is red inside! We also harvest the teeny little potatoes that continue to form on the fingerlings. They are great in soups.

My customers love new potatoes and pay a premium for them. I plant some for that purpose (we plant 350 # of seed potatoes every year) and leave some to finish in the field for storage. I am trying La Soda for the first time this year. They are not doing well compared to Red and Purple Viking. Red Lasoda is weaker, some are dying now even though tests showed no disease. We are growing Purple Majesty and Mountain Rose this season, replacing All Blue and Cranberry which we have grown in previous years.
Last year I grew Red Colorado. It did okay. I've grown Yukon Gold, Red Gold, Russet Burbank, Irish Cobbler, Kenebec, Red Norland and Red Pontiac. Red Gold and Irish Cobbler had the best harvest of those. I bought la Soda this year because it is supposed to do well with wind, heat and hostile growing conditions.

I found French Fingerling to be very susceptible to diseases in our alkaline soil. I have brought my pH down to around 7 (still high for perfect potatoes, which like it around 5-5.5 according to research). We heat up early so potatoes are a winter/early spring crop here which is also our rainy season.

What a delightful description! That is exactly what I do. ;o) (The potato sounds good too!)

-Rich

Yep, everything I've read suggests potatoes really DON'T like alkaline soils. I'm surprised you're able to grow so many successfully.

After years spent in sticky, dense and poorly-drained red Georgia clay, potatoes are one reason to be glad I'm gardening in Florida "sugar sand" now.

-Rich

Rich, we have sand, but it's at least 2 feet below delta muck!
I have a few tricks up my sleeve for growing potatoes. The other market growers in our area would love to know my secrets!

I won't ask ;o). I'm guessing it has at least something to do with improving the drainage. That's not a problem here. If anything, the soils that are above the ground water level (which is pretty consistently dropping) drain TOO well. What's needed here is more retention capacity (both water and cations).

-Rich