potatoes under straw

gardadore, can I cut my potatoes now and let them cure until at least the 15th of this month?

I'll have to either convince my DH to build us a fire with some wood or go buy some sulfur at the store just to make sure that they don't rot. The weather here is very humid and also it does tend to rain a lot expecially as the weather starts to warm up.

I bought several little organic taters at the Farmer's Market this past weekend... Yukon Gold, Red Pontiac and some little purple guys I can 't remember the name...

I'm growing a purple this year just for fun! I've never even seen a purple potato, but it does look interesting!

Now, can you just imagine a bowl of purple mashed potatoes???!!! Sprinkled with YELLOW cheese and GREEN chives???

I am sooooooooooooooooo loving that we're all gonna be doing this together and at the SAME time!!!!

I LOVE group projects!!!!

The purple potatoes that I ordered are white on the inside, just have purple skin. However, I did see one that was all purple. I don't know that I could bring myself to eat something that color! LOL

My point exactly!

The insides of mine are purple - lol. Haven't eaten any yet. What I don't plant I will eat so I'll let you know how that goes...

The purple ones fry up really well.

Ooooooooooooo, purple fries with RED catsup!

Good to know...

To the best of my knowledge they are Purple Majesty, a new variety from Colorado...

Mid-Season Potatoes > Purple Majesty

Majestic purple flesh inside satiny purple skin beautifully describes this newly-released variety from Colorado. All Blue crossed with a white fleshed chipping variety has produced a royal potato exceptionally high in anthocyanins, an antioxidant. Oblong tubers make stunning chips or fries. Resistant to most viruses, susceptible to fusarium dry rot. Ideal for early market or summer eating; good for short-term storage only.

They supposedly do not lose the purple color when cooked either - freaky!

Too bad I don't like mustard! I do like the purple and yellow color combination. Garnish of yellow nasturtium would be lovely.

purple potato majesties! I'm feeling patriotic now!

I bet they taste delicious, and best yet you can get your kid to eat it!

I'm surely gonna try!

Carminator,

I should think there would be no problem cutting them now and letting them cure until the 15th of this month. I let mine cure a lot longer than that while they are sprouting. I like mine to have good solid sprouts (not leggy) before planting. My impression is when I plant potatoes without letting them sprout first I have more that don't come up. Maybe they rot before they can even get decent sprouts. If they sprout before planting I think they have a better chance of growing on once planted. Just a theory of mine!!
Do you have a fairly dry area in your house? I can't give very good advice for you in Alabama as I don't know how much humidity you have to contend with at this time of year. In the Spring here in PA I have no problems with mold unless I cut the potatoes too small. Then one or two might dry out before planting.

Seed Savers Exchange says the following about potato sprouting: I must admit I tend to allow a much longer time period before planting and after cutting.
"A week or two before your planting date, set your seed potatoes in an area where they will be exposed to light and temperatures between 60-70 degrees F. (I usually go 2-3 weeks before - it depends how they are when they arrive) This will begin the sprouting process. A day or two before planting, use a sharp, clean knife to slice the larger seed potatoes into smaller pieces. Each piece should be approximately 2 inches square, and must contain at least 1 or 2 eyes or buds. Smaller potatoes can be planted whole. A good rule of thumb is to plant them whole if they are smaller in size than a golf ball. In the next day or so, your seed will form a thick callous over the cuts, which will help to prevent it from rotting once planted."

They do not mention sulfur or wood ashes so I don't think they are mandatory unless your want to use them.

Thank you gardadore, I sure hope the weather changes in here, right now we have freezing temps and for what I have learned potatoes have to be planted in fairly mild temps.

Here is the link to the Seed Savers article. It says the soil should be 45 degrees before planting! http://www.seedsavers.org/potato_guide.htm
Hope it warms up a little for you. I guess the South is getting a lot of cold weather at the moment. It's cold here but we expect it as this time of year!

This message was edited Jan 6, 2010 9:35 PM

Thank you gardadore, yes it is pretty cold for about another week, not sure if I'll be able to plant them even by the 15th, worst case scenario maybe either I have to let mine sprout a little longer or buy a new batch of potatoes, I bought mine at an organic store here in mobile. I guess a lesson to learn is to not buy your taters too early in advance, I just did not expect mine to sprout as quick as they did.

Even if they sprout too much and some break off you can still plant them. You will get something. One year Ronniger's really goofed and sent them in March! We were away for several weeks and my aunt did not realize the box contained potatoes. They were supposed to be sent after April 30! When we got home and opened the box they were fully sprouted and totally entangled in the net bags. I spent two hours the first night sitting on the floor amid all the luggage meticulously cutting around all the sprouts to remove the netting! You can see where my priorities are! LOL I accidentally broke a lot of sprouts. Ronnigers did apologize and even gave me a partial credit for the next year. I planted them in the middle to end of May and despite losing many sprouts they still produced very well! I have since learned to immediately remove them from the box and net bags upon arrival or have someone else do it if I am away!

I got my seed potatoes yesterday! ^^_^^ Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Now what do I do with them?//

I opened the box. I read the instructions. Tonight, I'll cut the netting off and label the potatoes.

I left them in the open box on the floor in a warm, quiet corner that gets a bit of daylight. I should leave them in that box until they sprout, right? Then I cut 'em up to where each 2" piece has a couple of sprouted eyes? Then let them scab over, and then plant them, correct?

Who else has their order?

Gardadore thank you this makes me feel better, I really thought that I messed up, the roots are not extremely long just yet, just poking out a little bit, but with this cold weather I am not sure if I'll be able to make it by the 15th unless the weather changes dramatically. I much rather plant leggy potatoes than plant too early when it is cold outside.

Mine I did not purchase from a seed company, I just went to my local organic market and bought some organic yucon gold potatoes, I just did not need 2 or 5 pds of potatoes since I am just planting them in a container, and have limited space.

Since I am increasing the size of my garden I am sure next year I'll have a lot more room for more veggies, this year I am just experimenting with what I have.

Linda that's grea!, mine I actually left in a cold dark place in my laundry room and they are sprouting fine, but I've heard you can place them in a warm sunny place as well, as to what works better I am not sure.

Now how big are the potatoes they sent you?, I thought that they would send ones that are small enough so that you would not have to cut them.

Some are smaller than a golfball, so I don't need to cut those. Others I could just cut in half and end up with a golfball size. They aren't huge potatoes. Also, I got approximately 4 potatoes of each variety I ordered. Wondering if I ordered enough!

P.S.

CONTINUATION THREAD CREATED. THIS IS THE LAST POST ON THIS THREAD...

GO HERE: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1067896/