Potato Sprout Inhibitor: Myth or Fact?

The potato will always overcome the inhibitor, but it can take a bit longer to take off -- there's a ton of stored energy in a potato. Once it takes off, it is creating it's own growth hormones from the growth tips, so the inhibitor no longer has any effect.

The goal is to delay potatoes from sprouting in the time it takes to get them to the grocery store for sale, not to prevent them from ever sprouting at all. Pretty much any potato will eventually sprout, sprayed or not.

There have been some studies comparing those sprouted with bud inhibitor vs. not and the delay is pretty striking, but it is only at the beginning so the plants catch up. You might not notice unless you grew them side-by side.

The real issue with using seed potatoes is they are certified virus-free (oh the irony of the times). Potatoes can get a serious virus and once it gets in your soil is very difficult to grow potatoes for a while. Store bought potatoes may be just fine, but run some risk of having gotten the virus.

If you want to use store bought, just go to the organic aisle and get a few. They aren't hit with bud-not and will sprout faster.

a reply to: zosimov

Never encountered this in England, probably something some country's were more lax food standards are allowed such as the US were all manner of nasty treatment's, preservative method's etc are allowed in the interests of profit over public safety.

I think that now we in Britain have come out of the EU which was despite all it's other - and quite terrible - flaw's at least good on this point keeping food safe that we may slip down into this same trap that the US has allowed it's food industry to fall into with steroid filled beef and chlorinated chicken currently being a major concern to many of our consumers as we watch the Tory's making there trade negotiations with the states, it is a very strong feeling for most British that allowing our food standards to slip would be a very serious failing on the part of our government and a trade deal is no excuse to allow such to happen.

But we shall have to wait and see.

In my experience ALL potato's I have purchased over here from those in paper to those in plastic bag's invariably sprout after a couple of day's, but that is probably as we do not have a nice cool pantry and if we did then putting them in there would slow this behavior, since they sprout however like any plant putting them at the correct depth in soil they like will ensure that they grow, if the potato's you are buying have however been dosed in some chemical then to be frank I would actually suggest not eating them since if it kill's the spud what is it doing to your insides.

Garlic is the same way; they spray it so it won't spout in the head.

But nobody BUYS garlic seeds. They just leave em in the pantry and plant them when they have shoots.

They grow best in the south, where they can stay alive in the dirt for their 13 month growing season.

a reply to: zosimov

Well here's a quick update.

Yesterday I found a bucket in the kitchen (after a daytime nap...tut tut, I know) which contained five enormous potatoes. Still dirty and freshly dug up looking. Didn't give it much thought, assuming that a neighbour had perhaps been round and dropped them off as a kind gesture. Nothing unusual there.

Got some coffee and went and asked Euryale where they came from and I'm told they were from the compost. She'd been out doing some digging around to air the end bay of compost and there they were.
There's been no peelings dumped in there for ages so they must be a remnant of way back so certainly a persistent bunch.

Anyway, long story short....

Fried with bacon and served on top of cheesy oatcakes with tinned tomatoes poured over.

Delicious and free. The best kind.

I have used them many times as well. I cut them into quarters that each have eyes on them. I set them out to air dry overnight in front of a fan(so they get a skin on the cut parts) and plant the quarters . . . it has always worked great for me. I have also planted onion tops that will regrow an onion and celery. There are a few more plants that you can do this with. I have never tried carrots which were referred to above.

a reply to: Tulpa

Ha! There is a big healthy looking potato plant growing out of our compost too.

Glad you enjoyed a delicious breakfast.

The potatoes mentioned in the OP went into giant buckets and look like they're doing fine. Looking forward to seeing how they yeild (buckets are super easy to harvest too, lol).

As the inhibitor has been covered, I thought I would add my two cents on planting the seed..


I noticed a lot of you saying you cut up the potato and plant wedges. I highly recommend against that.

I grow football sized Yukon golds. By planting the entire potato.. all that flesh is stored energy to help the plant take off.. if you are cutting up your seed that means each plant has less stored energy to work with..meaning smaller plants and smaller potatoes.

The seed is cheaper than store bought potatoes as well.. 60 lb.s of Yukon gold seed is around 28 dollars.(fingerlings are more expensive)

60 lbs is about 200+ plants (depending on the size of potato seed,obviously bigger seeds will mean less plants by weight) when planting whole.

Good Luck Zozzi-bear

Respectfully,
~meathead

a reply to: nonnez

I'd like to try celery sometime. Any growing tips? I've read about growing celery and it sounds a bit finicky.

a reply to: Mike Stivic

Hi Joe

Thanks for the good info and for the extra luck!

Good point about seeds being cheaper than store bought. But I'm also glad that when I slack off and don't use potatoes on time I can sometimes put that to my advantage.

Have fun in the garden, and I hope all is well with you and yours.

a reply to: zosimov

I was worried this year, with the 'Rona my agway didn't end up getting seeds until mid may. I didn't think they were going to get any at all.

I usually have them in by may 1st.

But this year it also snowed up here mid may 3 inches, so it actually all worked it self out..

My plants are about 4inches tall now.

Celery has been a real pita for me up here, but another really easy crop to grow is carrots.

And then you will be halfway to a stew


Respectfully,
~joe

originally posted by: Tulpa
a reply to: zosimov

I can't speak for the States but here in my experience with potatoes they certainly do grow.
We have a compost bay divided into three compartments at various stages.
We don't even try to compost our potato peelings because we ended up with plants growing in the bay! Complete with little spuds so don't think they're too inhibited.

Hope that's helpful.

Same for me in the UK too.

I think there may be some controls in the US by seed regulation where crops or plants are treated to inhibit growth and regulate where people get their seeds/crops from.

After the invasion of Iraq the first law the US imposed on the newly formed Iraqi government wasn't anything to do with oil. It was to make it illegal for farmers to plant or produce their own seeds for farming and food and they could only buy from approved US producers. Some GMO have been altered not to produce viable seed to ensure farmers have to buy new ones each year and a lot of US food gets a small burst of radiation to kill bugs but may also inhibit new growth/produce weak or damaged crops.

originally posted by: bastion


After the invasion of Iraq the first law the US imposed on the newly formed Iraqi government wasn't anything to do with oil. It was to make it illegal for farmers to plant or produce their own seeds for farming and food and they could only buy from approved US producers. Some GMO have been altered not to produce viable seed to ensure farmers have to buy new ones each year and a lot of US food gets a small burst of radiation to kill bugs but may also inhibit new growth/produce weak or damaged crops.

This nauseates me. I've also read that the US raided Iraq's seed storage vault, which housed some of the worlds oldest heirloom seeds.

I'll have to look for this information again. (fact check my spotty memory)

I can't fathom the mindset of certain people in power.

But nature and humanity finds a way to thrive despite the despots, imo.

a reply to: zosimov

There's a good article here: I'm rusty myself, there were certainly initial reports of farmers having traditional crop seed confiscated but these turned out to be incorrect and it's modern farming/agriculture that has been taken over by the worldwide seed cartel - I'm not sure of the details on who was responsible but it is true the Iraqi Seed Bank was looted in the chaos (Abu Grhaib early 2003) which wiped out 1,200 plant species. 200 were moved to Alepo in Syria but that was also destroyed in the ongoing conflict there.

www.grain.org...

The proper name of the law is (Coalition Provisional Authority Order 81), the same law was passed in Afghanistan in 2006 (called Seed law 2006) and it's been used by the US all over sub-saharan Africa. None of the laws were passed or approved by sovereig nations but imposed on them by occupying forces.

a reply to: zosimov

The 'celery from the root' was more of a novelty thing I did a few times with my daughter. It grew into a small bunch each time that we were able to incorporate into a couple of meals but didn't produce anything on the level of planting from seed and allowing it to grow in the garden for the season. This was fun for us to watch though. It piqued my daughter's interest in gardening . . . well all except the weeding anyhow.