No-TIll Potatoes | How to Grow, Harvest, Store

Simplifying the process of no-till potatoes in today's video.
We cover: how to cut potatoes, top sprouting, chitting, planting depths of potatoes, how to store and harvest potatoes, how to grow potatoes at home, and more!
Jadam books: amzn.to/4as8NCD
5% off Neptune's Harvest Fish Fertilizers and More (offer Code: NOTILL) 👀: store.turbify.com/cgi-bin/cli...
NO-TILL FARM FIELD DAYS AT MY FARM: roughdraftfarmstead.com/1wmuy...
Maine Potato Lady: www.mainepotatolady.com
🚨 Support Videos like this 👇
The Living Soil Handbook 📕 👉 www.notillgrowers.com/livings...
Hats 🧢 👉 www.notillgrowers.com/livings...
Forum 💬 👉 notillgrowers.community.chat
Music 🎵 👉 via empidemicsound.com
👕 MERCH 👉 www.notillgrowers.com/livings...
Support our work (👊) at
www.notillgrowers.com/support
or
www.Patreon.com/notillgrowers
seeding paper pot trays vid: • Kwik Klik Drop Seeder ...

[@TheDhammaHub]

In Germany, we sometimes use a similar method for increasing potatos vitality after using them as your own seed potatoes for a while. It is called "Äugeln" where we simply cut out the slightly sprouted part of a potato with a maybe penny-sized cone-shaped piece of potato. Works surprisingly well! It seems that method has been discovered during some famines in Europe where people had to eat their seed potatos but still wanted new plants obviously

[@geronimoflyingfree]

Spannend! Werde ich googeln.. 👌😊

[@jeannet9592]

Necessity is the mother of invention!

[@geri7942]

DahammaHub...This is what I always did on my own, and got great results...then "learned" to plant the whole potato, with equal and maybe even less production!!

[@bernardcribbins7083]

My mother used to visit her cousins in Ireland every spring in the 1950s and 60s. They did exactly this. It was definitely a more efficient use of resources. They could eat more of the potatoes and keto fewer for seed.

[@breakdown2878]

I use this method, I’ll cut the eyes off of the potatoes that chit In the pantry when I’m cooking, then plant the chittings a couple days later after they callus

[@SgtSnausages]

We get double yield by sprout planting. Been doing it for 12 years now. Our storage is room temps ... so the saved seed sprout in storage. Usually goin' hard at it by late Jan early Feb. The key is to get some light in there so you don't end up with 3-footer white vines but the nice stubby green/purple thick guys. You DO NOT have to root them like you stated. Simply break them off and plant. They will root on their own just fine. Plant them. Now, with the remaining potato tubers stripped of the planted vines ... chit and cut as per your normal process for a second planting 3 to 4 weeks later. The act of stripping the first set off also helps break the Apical Dominance on most cultivars - where the sprouts are all concentrated at the top end of the tuber. Once that Dominance is broken, more sprouts will show up spread more evenly over the entire surface, rather than at the top. This makes cutting/dividing easier, and you'll get more cuttings/pieces per tuber.

[@davidfoley4347]

Going to try this this year.

[@TheFamilyFarmstead]

Great information.

[@jeannettegraves4749]

Great! Definitely going to try this

[@elizabethhuff2750]

This is some wonderfully helpful info! Thanks for sharing what you’ve learned. How long would you recommend to let the first set of sprouts grow before stripping them off?

[@markwheeler2669]

I'm in! Thanks

[@wmpx34]

“There’s also some research that says the opposite” Ah science, how I love thee 😂

[@joeyharris67]

Jesse just remember that if you plant your potatoes late you have to wrap them in newspaper. That way dirt don't get in their eyes and they can see to come up.

[@RizeTB1]

My mom got a hang of KZbin and was on my account with the tv. She lost her mind about this video😂. I’ll be planting potatoes for her this coming weekend

[@ashwyld]

😅🤘🥔 go mom!

[@bradlafferty]

Very exciting information about using potato sprouts instead of larger potato pieces as plant “starts!” The production value for commercial growers would be significantly increased. I recently saw that method used in a home garden channel, Live on What You Grow, and am trying it myself this year. Thanks for sharing the burying method to produce more sprouts. Love your content and always get a chuckled from your humorous quips.

[@hakonmella5514]

Thanx, Jesse/No-Till Growers! After many years of trialing we have ended at almost the exact same method here in Norway. Haven't been cutting the seed potatoes, but are effectivly planting in trenches (using an old gardening tool that looks a bit like the "Zipper", but more pointed), two rows per bed, fertilizing with alfalfa pellets (horse feed), raking over and then tarping until sprouts emerge. Then we are mulching with leaves and spoiled silage hay. The layer of leaves reduces greening. In the autumn, before it gets too wet and when the plants are dying back (frost or pseudofungal disease), we pull the tarp over again. This way we have less loss to greening (since the shading plants wilt) and to fusarium dry rot (which enjoy the wet autumn conditions), and it makes us harvest dry, clean potaoes until the frost really kicks in. (Also saves storage space and the burden on having to harvest potatoes at the same time a lot of other veggies also need to be harvested). Keep up the great work!

[@brokenmeats5928]

I love ALL No-Till Growers videos!

[@sam85f]

Unrelated to potatoes, I love the into music that sounds like it comes from a 60s game show. Above all else, I appreciate your subtle sense of humor. It keeps me coming back. Keep the awesome videos coming! ❤

[@birdman1174]

Dad experimented with potato peels and had great results year after year. Dig a furrow, plant peels, cover peels with dirt and hill it up after foliage starts.

[@ml.5377]

Sure, free potatoes from a compost trench... and for us they turned out huge.

[@angelad.8944]

I discovered the same success when building my hugel mounds. Was surprised when potato plants started popping out.

[@fourdayhomestead2839]

Great research. Thank you. I accidently grew potatoes from sprouts (forgotten baking potato) in a basement bin. Sprouts layed on surface of an old carrot storage bin, never watered nor checked on. Harvest was 2+ x compared to same potatoes in the field. 😊

[@SiarlW]

Again, more great info, especially “That rhymes so it must be true.” 😂

[@DK6060]

I shared this video with my Irish mother-in-law. I thought that the Jadam material would be able to bit edgy for her. Instead, I got back, ‘ach, my father used “mura” on his potatoes, which was basically manure-soaked water that had stood for some time.’ This seems to be old knowledge. Also recommended for tomatoes.

[@ximono]

Hey farmer Jessie, nerd here. The last method reminds me of a method from the Soviet Union. I've only had this relayed to me in Norwegian from a Russian biologist, so some details may not be entirely correct. Take everything I say with a pinch of salt. A mad potato scientist named Piotr Balabanov, who dedicated his whole life to potatoes, invented a method we refer to as "dark sprouting", as opposed to sprouting potatoes in the light. The common methods involving light will produce short thick sprouts, intended to be easier to handle. Sprouting in the dark, however, produces long white stolons. Yes, they are fragile, but white stolons is where the tubers are formed on the potato plant. The longer the stolons, the higher the potential for tubers. Balabanov's method is about growing long stolons underground. He used only whole seed potatoes (~100g/3.5oz) planted directly in the field with a wide spacing (1m/40" rows, 30cm/12" in-row), with rows going north-south to maximize sunlight. Planting has to be done at the right time, which Balabanov specified as when the birch tree has leaves the size of a 1 ruble coin… I assume it's more or less when we typically plant potatoes, i.e. when the soil temperature is 8-10°C/45-50°F at 10cm/4" depth. Once planted, you earth up by 5cm/2" once every week or so. It has to be done before the sprouts break through the soil, because as soon as they reach light, they will turn from white tuber-forming stolons to green non-tuber-forming stems. Remember, the goal is to get long stolons underground, ideally 20-25cm/8-10" according to Balabanov. So you earth up 5cm/2" three times, once a week or so, for a total height of 15cm/6". During the growing season, you should earth up another two times to prevent disease and the greening of tubers. The result is a higher capacity for tubers per plant, and therefore a higher yield. Balabanov's record was 119 tubers from one plant. I think weight is a more interesting metric, but that's an impressive amount of tubers! I've done this for a few years now, with some variation. While I haven't done any comparisons or blind trials, I can at least say that it does produce good yields. And the science checks out. Note that this is only applicable to indeterminate varieties, which AFAIK are typically late varieties. If I understand correctly, determinate varieties won't necessarily yield more tubers by giving more space for stolons to grow into. But I'm not a mad potato scientist, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, as you should with any comment on the internet. One variation is to start potatoes inside in the dark, in crates of moist sawdust, producing lots of roots and long white stolons. While the seed potatoes did get a head start this way, I found it really hard to plant them out without breaking the long and fragile stolons. I prefer Balabanov's original method of growing long stolons underground by earthing up. This year I did choose seed potatoes that already had some cm/inches of white stolons and ideally some roots, as that's preferrable to still dormant ones. It's all about understanding the biological principles and working with what you're given. Bonus potato fact: Seed potatoes sprouted in the light are physiologically older than those sprouted in the dark, therefore terminating sooner. That could be a pro if it means you'll avoid late blight, or a con if you have blight resistant varieties, because you'll then get a smaller crop than you otherwise would. I only grow blight resistant varieties, so I want a physiologically young seed potato that stays longer in the ground, achieving a higher yield.

[@MrJlcurl]

Dude. You totally rule at these videos and I so appreciate the info you’re share and spread. The pace and digestibility of info is spot on.

[@metalchips]

This year im planting my potatoes in a box with a wire mesh bottom. The moles and voles eat literally everything i plant in the ground even garlic. They suck the leaves down into the ground and eat until nothings left. Savages.

[@geri7942]

You have a cat deficiency!! lol

[@bastionwolf]

I have gophers, same problem but I've now got a solution

[@WesternMONo-TillGardening]

Last year I set my seed potatoes on top of the ground and covered one row with leaves and straw and covered the other row with woodchips. The potatoes covered with woodchips did much better. Thanks for the info on presprouting. I'll definitely be trying that!

[@jayjohnson3724]

The presprout is a time machine. You gain weeks in growing time,

[@joshuahoyer1279]

I can personally attest to planting pregrown sprouts. I sproutjacked our potatoes last year, and we got an incredible harvest! Not only were we able to spread out our harvest over time, because these sproutjacked plants had s head start before the growing season started, but we were also able to plant way more potato plants than we had anticipated. We only had about 3.5 lbs of seed potatoes, and harvested over 100 lbs through the season. I strongly recommend it.

[@quinnhuhmann9936]

Grow them in leaf mold. Throw them on top of the soil and put 6” of leaf mold on top. Hill them with more half way through growth cycle with another 3-4” of leaves or more leaf mold. It’s super economical and they grow very well even with modest levels of fertilizer.

[@jvin248]

One trick I saw in a potato genetic research program is to have a pot/bucket/pan of higher PH Lime Water to keep your seed potato chopper knife in while cutting seed potatoes so you avoid transferring fungal infection problems across your whole garden.

[@kannmann97]

We have also had amazing success with fully washing the potatoes right when they come out of the ground and then placing them directly in the cooler in vented crates. The excess moisture will evaporate but also create humidity directly around the potatoes while also allowing the skins to cure. Even new potatoes have kept for a few months for us with this process

[@fouroakfarm]

I do the same, I wash right after harvest. The warnings against it I think are overblown. You obviously need to store them with enough airflow after the washing but its worked well for me

[@ballincobalt4184]

I grow 1200 acres of potatoes in Canada, we have gotten better results from cut seed over whole seed, the cut seed had better emergence and had higher yields

[@jpppbarbosa]

Amazing! We are, at this right moment, planting our potatoes here in Italy (north region). We do as Farmer Jessy (or Jessie, I am sorry 😅) does. Adding a layer of mulch helps to save A LOT is water, specially in dry and super hot summers as we have here (also a windy zone), but allows herbs to grow and this could be a problem. So, we try to understand which herbs could grow together and I have to say that leaving plants like camomile, water-pepper and papaver keeps a LOT of pests away.

[@shawnueda8909]

Yup, cut out the eyes out heal the cut surface and plant the eyes out into a pot or into trays in February. Keep it warm on a heating mat and let it grow good amount of roots. Transplant in late Mar to mid April (our last frost date is anywhere from mid Mar to late as late April depending on the year). Off one seed potato, I can get 4-8 descent sized plant by the regular planting date. And eat the potato with missing eyes. I can send you photos of potted potato plants. They been out in an unheated greenhouse for the last month. Potatoes harvested off these eyes only grown plants do yield SAME size or slightly bigger potatoes as regularly chitted seed potato plants. Total weight of the yield is bigger than the chitted plants. Like you gotta go and xplant several hundred feet of onions, cauliflower ... today bye.

[@geri7942]

I would love to see the photos of your potted potato plants @shawnueda8909!!!

[@Chet_Thornbushel]

I will definitely give that sprout planting method a try this year. I am just a home grower and have about five lbs of chitting potatoes right now and have about a month before I will put them in the ground. Maybe I will do them half and half- sprouts and potatoes for a mini trial on the idea.

[@jontaylor1365]

For the last three years i have made a slurry of milk, compost, a small amount of molasses and powdered mycorrhizal fungi (plus trace elements like gypsum, manganese and zinc) in a large bucket and plaster my chitted potatoes in it. I have very good yields (40+ tonne per hectare) and no pests. They take a little longer to emerge, but I've dug some young plants out and the roots are really heavily colonized wirh bacterial sheaths. This year I want to take some potato beetles from my neighbour (who always has them) and see if they eat my plants. I hope that doesn't backfire 😂. I found a few beetles last year, they were wandering around lost in the beds next to the potatoes 😂. It great to read everybody's strategies in the comments.

[@geri7942]

😆

[@brockrubsam5448]

Jesse you are rapidly becoming my hero. Live down in Berea and starting my small homestead with wife and four kids. Your videos make much of it possible. Thank you friend

[@billshepherd5090]

I live just north of Berea on old 25. Good to see another Kentuckian here. I planted my potatoes last week. Waiting for the coming frost to pass before I put out the sweet potato slips. Take care.

[@emilykelly2815]

I've used potato peelings (thicker peels) with eyes to grow my potatoes. Usually i cut them off and cook and eat the good part of the potato. I've stored the thick peels in a bag the refrigerator and accumulate them over several months until I'm ready to plant them. The other method i use is just old potatoes from the previous year. They are organic and sprout pretty fast so in the spring i usually have several bags of old potatoes that are ready to cut up & plant. We grow several hundred pounds of potatoes every year and so far haven't had to buy any seed potatoes.

[@UncleLooney]

Jesse experimenting again. Grasshoppers devastated everything last year. Only one rare variety potato plant barely survived with 4 quarter sized and one 6 oz. This vid had me scoop the eyes out of it with a melon baller all, the same size, stuck in potting mix. Today there's 11 healthy sprouted plants in soil balls back under the lights. Everything gets netted this season. Thank you Jesse.

[@josephkerxhalli3238]

After watching this video I tried cutting long potato sprouts into 1" sections and planted them in pots. They are rooting and forming vegetative growth. I will report back how they produce.

[@RjGold5.12]

My folks used to store their harvested potatoes under the house and sprinkle lime on them. It would have been cooler and higher humidity under the house, but I don't remember what the lime was for. Does anyone know?

[@EighteenandCloudy]

Kitty cat you're the wor... best! Thanks for this video, very interesting to hear all the methods you've tried and what's working best on your farm. The pre sprouting method you're trialling sounds similar to how dahlia farmers duplicate their plant stock from stored tubers. I suppose that's no surprise, dahlia tubers aren't too dissimilar to potatoes!

[@adamschaafsma5839]

The last 3 years I have been using leaf mulch, saved from autumn, over my potatoes and have had great success with that without having to hill or add any additional mulch prior to harvest. No bugs the only pests I had were ducks that wanted to use the potato patch as a nest site, they would dig up potatoes and sit on them like eggs, so there was certaibly some loss. Not sure if it will work for everyone but this has been my experience. North MS zone 8a

[@briannalaird7974]

Please do a follow up video on your experiment with growing from potato sprouts! I love that you read the research! This coming from a research junky myself.

[@WR4SSE]

Looking forward to the sprout trial

[@AnyKeyLady]

I grew potatoes from a potato skin that had sprouted in the composter. I didn't have any decent new compost so i put it in a 25 cm pot with native clay soil and got several large potatoes. Over 1 1/2 lb worth planted in July and harvested in Oct. I always grow potatoes now in our UK garden. For us, it's not about the amount as we don't have enough space to be self sufficient but the flavour it better for a lovely Sunday dinner treat.

[@sheelaghomalley5459]

Dahlia propagation is done this way to increase plant numbers. It makes sense. I had never thought about the link between the two. They are both edible tubers.

[@tinkeringinthailand8147]

Unbeknown to me my wife cut up and planted an old sprouting potato we got from Tesco and we actually got some small potatoes from them. So what's the big deal I hear you ask? Well I live in Thailand and the temperature is currently around 37 degrees C, it got into the 40's last week so I was super impressed they survived :)

[@amandaflynn126]

Thank you for this video! I’m super interested in your trial. I’m mainly in the flower world but this year, I’m stepping out to attempt to grow some of our own foods. One I’m attempting is potatoes! Back to flower world, dahlias are kind of a big deal in flower world and are grown from tubers. Many people will presprout their dahlia tubers, take cuttings to increase their collection and in turn have more flowers. This seems to me to be the same deal with your experiment. Happy chitting!

[@GoneBattyBats]

Almost one month in and my taters set in trays and covered with potting soil are all growing and making leaves. Also trying just stating the chits by themselves and that is very encouraging with a reminder to start earlier next year. We have one to 2 more weeks of potential frost so I will then set these rooted taters out alongside other taters so I think I gained a month on growth.

[@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919]

Thank you for that informative video. I don't grow commercially and because of that I'm much less concerned about yield. Generally we always end up with old wrinkly sprouted potatoes that get overlooked in the pantry, and I will bury those about 10-12 inches deep in the winter in normal soil with a little compost mixed in and then covered in mulch. I have had enough success growing this way that it's my general method because I forget to buy seed potatoes in time for a spring planting. In addition to the "old pantry potato" technique, some potatoes in the ground are not harvested and they will stay in the ground all summer and into the next winter, and shoot up through the dirt with a new plant in the spring. With that said, I'm someone who likes to experiment in my garden because it's fun, so I am going to try a few different things this season and see what happens.

[@DenSvaraTradgarden]

I pre-sprout my potatoes by placing them on top of a thin layer of soil in a tray. After a few weeks they are essentially plants with a potato attached. Easy to plant out and will grow so much faster than a potato that has not been pre-sprouted (or pre-planted...?) which is helpful here in the short Swedish growing season.

[@jvin248]

For three or more years I have pulled sprouts off potatoes and planted just the sprouts separate from the potatoes and gotten harvests from both. Sprouts alone don't have as much yield as the tuber will, but it's still extra "free" food. Treat the sprouts just like you do the tubers when planting except leave a bit of t-p above the soil surface when back filling the trench. If they are super long sprouts like nine twelve or more inches I lay them down in the trench letting the tip inch or so stay above. It's quite possible you can section the sprouts into six inch lengths and double sprout output but I haven't tried that yet.

[@rochrich1223]

I found cutting a 1/4" of potato along with an eye then growing them in a small pot works. When the soil is warm transplanting them. It's a good method for small children since the pieces are easy to handle and growth can be seen in a few days and children like digging in the dirt. Bonus, you can eat most of the potato.

[@kannmann97]

We use a 3-4” plant auger with our brushless power drill!! It works wonders and is a dream to plant potatoes and 4” pots with it.

[@notillgrowers]

Auger bit! I did that once, too. worked fine and just forgot about it haha But that's a good tool for it--thanks!

[@sharpland]

We're conducting an experiment using saved TPS seeds from our 2023 potato berries. We'll note the average productivity spread over the TPS plants (~70), compared to the yield from plants that grow from 14 lbs of seed potatoes. They'll all be grown in the same in-ground conditions, and we're documenting the process, and will be sure to share the result!

[@codyhunt3]

I have a fully anecdotal example to share. I wasn't able to consume all of the potatoes I grew last year. The extra potatoes had loads of 6"+ light starved growth points. I snapped off the wispy growth points and tossed them in my compost bin mid winter expecting them to freeze and decompose (they did get buried). I had quite a tangle of potato sprouts to knock down shorty after. I would agree that after a certain amount of growth, the potato is no longer needed to support the growth point.

[@johnlakey4983]

So you're saying that you buy seed potatoes that you cannot use your own potatoes to grow the next year's crop? That's crazy!

[@codyhunt3]

You absolutely can save and replant your own potatoes. Every successive generation loses vigor (according to what I've read) and accumulate diseases so commercial growers have a cut off point where it is no longer commercially viable to replant generation 6 or 7 (or whatever the number is) potatoes. Generation 0 potato plants come from tissue cultures which are guaranteed disease free. The tiny potatoes these plants grow (the 1st actual potatoes) are called pre-nuclear potatoes. The next generation of potatoes are called nuclear potatoes. The potatoes grown from the nuclear generation are called generation 1 potatoes, and so on with numbered generations.

[@alandeacon1988]

When you chit for long enough, some varieties (eg Charlotte, Arran Pilot) start to grow what look like tiny potatoes at the foot of each chit: I'm imagining these could easily be planted as their own little potato factory!

[@Detour4it]

I do the sprout harvesting with my sweet potatoes and red taters (I get my red taters fromnthe grocery vs. buying seed taters... works for me) in florida (ocala). I grow sweet potatoes year round in containers and harvest the vines as well. Not sure about some folks saying its not a good idea to use generational cuttings, but it works for me. I get great yield in my small backyard planting areas.

[@crimsonlu89]

@Detour4it what do you mean by generational cuttings off the SP vines? Do the vines root like a traditional stem or herbaceous cutting would? How many generations in have you propogated from the orinal planting?

[@Detour4it]

@crimsonlu89 I understand "generational" cuttings to be the succession harvesting of the original plant. I've been doing this for the last couple of years (cutting and planting directly into the ground 2x/yr); I keep the original plants in containers (some are hanging containers that I keep in my screen room during winter; they grow like ivy) and then I harvest the vines as needed. Once harvested, I direct plant the vines, seldom water, and I do not fertilize; I find they thrive on abuse 😶😒🤷‍♂️

[@crimsonlu89]

@@Detour4it awesome info, I'd like to try this. Thank you!

[@HomesteadWithTessa]

I can't wait to see the results!

[@samgriffiths1017]

Great video, perfect timing for me

[@sterlingchuckalaska9834]

Sure do appreciate your time and knowledge !!!!! Thank you from Alaska

[@momshielucyvlog]

Great research. thank you for sharing potatoes video.

[@lisagallant118]

I love the book. Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge.☀️

[@jacobwilliams3249]

I will attempt this sprout process planting this season to give it a try.

[@ronniebrace2917]

Great video! Thanks!

[@Dav3523]

We have 1/4 acre, so potatoes aren't great (and organic seed potatoes are $11 CAD per 500g - $8USD per lb) but they bring people to the market stand that might pass by without new potatoes for sale. I am trying grow-bags at the ends of the greenhouse, and in spots between rows where I can get around it. When it warms up past 15C (we're zone 8b) I could put the bags in other spots under apple trees, etc. I can even put the bags in weedy areas to clear them out. I grow sweet potatoes using slips - I think that's a great idea for potatoes. I like Warba potatoes and with a 65-75 day turn around, I could be emptying and filling grow bags pretty consistently.

[@gchrom]

Thanks for sharing; the seed potatoes I buy are golf ball-ish size, about 240 spuds per 5kg sack(~0.7oz/seed potato in imperialist swine units) so it just doesn't make sense to cut them in half. These are imported "Actrice" seed potatoes from the Netherlands, they are early and finish by the time the scorching summer heat starts, so I don't need to put in extra work watering them.

[@lisamcdonald1415]

We laid some in an old bed and through straw on top. Did nothing else and had an amazing harvest.

[@jeremystanton8302]

Super interesting on the potato sprout research, will definitely test that. Thank you, Jesse.

[@waynesell3681]

Great video really like growing and eating potatoes. Excited to see new videos!

[@nancyseery2213]

Thank you for the information. Very well put together and I'm waiting to see how the trial goes!

[@kenpernak9944]

Always enjoys the info after Sunday mass. Planting potatoes this week in N.C. Happy Easter... God bless...

[@terijennings6808]

I have planted my potatoes for this year, but will definatelymkeep this video in mind for next year.

[@bigonprivacy2708]

that is an amazing tidbit! Just like sweet potatoes? Possibly? AWESOME. Thank you!

[@homestead.design]

Old book I've read, called it "dividing potatoes" I've done it, with some success, but at a homestead scale the input costs are not huge so I just do what you do, The process was simple, do a early planting of healthy seed potatoes, on mounded/raised rows. As the shoots begin to come up, at a specific height or number of fresh new leaves you would carefully remove the 'sucker' from the seed potato and go plant in rows. You would do this on a succession basis of says every 5 days. After a month you get a LOT of suckers to put out into the main rows from the 'mother plants'.

[@elizabethhuff2750]

Thanks for sharing! I’d love to know the book where you learned this- I’m sure it has lots of other helpful tips too. :)

[@donfredricks8965]

Thanks for coming out to Grow Riverside! Really enjoyed your talks!

[@gmaster716]

nice video Farmer Jesse ! I was preaching about the compost teas a few years back with you !! its the way to do it!!keep farming !! BK from PA

[@ifeelikedyeing360]

Wow! This video blew my mind 😅

[@Followyourlight420]

Great content. I never thought about the shoots…🤯

[@stantall7855]

Thank you

[@benmoffitt7524]

Thanks for sharing the research you’ve done a d what is working best for you. I’ve always had difficulty getting much yield out of what I’ve planted and have been debating about whether or not to even try this year, so this was helpful. Thanks again!

[@nicolephillips9991]

It makes so much sense to me what you are describing about growing them like sweet potato slips. It's probably too late for me to try that this year, but next year I can definitely giving that a go.

[@mayethdelatorre6888]

Thank you for sharing, because i love gardening.i have my seeds growing now here in Italy.i always watching here in your channel.God bless

[@jen_jen8595]

Thanks for such a an informative potato video! Hi from western Washington, zone 8 I seem to struggle getting potatoes going but it may be that I'm not waiting for warm enough soil temps. We were already doing no dig and we've started to get into KNF so it was awesome that you included your method of "tea." Thanks again, you're content is very helpful

[@kathivy]

Interesting Thanks

[@Mbenham04]

Thanks for the information. Please do a follow up video after the trial. Awesome find.

[@mattiasdarrow8667]

Cool video! Would love to learn more about your research process and how you go about finding answers in the scientific literature.

[@cliffpalermo]

Planted mine Friday. Going to clean my goat beds of their straw that's been mostly outside for the winter, the chickens seem to clean the houses out for me and I put a freah bail on top so lots of fertilized straw outside of the houses. Going to put this on my row of potatoes. Fingers crossed.

[@dennismarks6133]

I planted some potato sprouts last year. Some died but I got some decent harvest from the ones who survived.

[@Crystal-il3jl]

Thanks!

[@notillgrowers]

Thank you!

[@dantheman9135]

ThankQ

[@GoneBattyBats]

I tried Rooted Chits from Organic Russet last year and basically got nice seed potato for this year. Going to try planting more rooted slips again this year along with the seed potatoes from the slips. We'll see.

[@growingmyown]

Very informative, I planted my potatoes earlier this month I wood chips..keeping my fingers crossed thanks for sharing.. New subscriber here..

[@mariondunn6580]

I never grow enough potatoes - the cost of good seed potatoes is high - so seeing your presentation of the research on planting sprouts is great. My precious seed potatoes are chitted so I'm putting them into a tray of compost and will give this way a try. Thank you.

[@jahmic]

I live in the WNC mountains. Our local guru (who historically has predicted the last frost date within days) recommended pre-sprouting. I used coco coir in small bins on a heat mat in the garage. I'm a few weeks from planting, but have 15 plants waiting to go into the ground once the temps warm up. Can't wait to see the results.

[@mykindpharm]

We are preparing our second year with organic ‘All Blue’ potatoes Yes, I live in Idaho but that doesn’t mean I know anything about potatoes Yes, I am in my 50’s but that doesn’t mean I know anything about potatoes In all my previous efforts over the years with ‘traditional’ potatoes The ‘All Blue’ will always be my go to from here on out!! And I have saved some of my potatoes from last year to plant again this year… We kept some over winter in our spare bedroom, in a cardboard box layered with dry straw And we cut back the plants and heaped a Marge mound of dry straw over our potato bed in our high tunnel… both storage ways held up… just dug up the potatoes in our high tunnel this weekend so we can prepare the bed for spring planting Love learning this information of different ways you found success in Kentucky 😊

[@bruceabell3373]

I have been trying every technique out there for all plants and i have had great success with rooting sprouts a couple potatoes and a worm bin can create potato abundance

[@Syzygy629]

I am in Ky also. This year I bought a bag of taters that were the big baking kind. I kept the peels and planted the eyes with some garlic on my kitchen table. They are both sprouting. I guess at the end of the season I'll let you know how it went lol. I'll take some pics for sure. My kitchen table looks like a jungle. I forgot I had a great big green thumb. I'm doing corn, beans, taters, peppers, maters, punkins, watermelons, sunflowers, flowers, squarsh n zukes. My dad says I don't have enough room but I plan to make room. lol

[@jesshorn257]

in the fall we make lesfe so I end up peeling 20-30 lbs of spuds... with just the skins I use them as a slip and have them under an 1/2 in mulch with a grow bed inside with a light to grow seed spuds over winter. for a 2' by 6' by 12" deep I can get about 10-14 lb with minimal work. I'm sure I could do it more eff but I'm sure your ideal can work as it sounds close to my little winter hobby to grew plants indoors.

[@flatsville9343]

I lived in a Swedish & Norwegian area of Wisonsin where some of the older ladies still did this.

[@jesshorn257]

@@flatsville9343NW "minneysowda" myself...got to have lefse and rommegrot for Thanksgiving.

[@catreeves963]

Potato sprouts- interesting concept! I grow flowers and we take multiple cuttings from each dahlia tuber to grow more plants - wonder if it’s a similar concept. Much more time intensive, but great way to scale up

[@lmullens75]

Oh my gosh! Such good info. I do not have a market garden, but I watch your channel so that I can work smarter and not harder because it’s just me by myself doing the garden with weekend help from the muscles in the family. I may call around and see if anywhere still has sea potatoes here in Oklahoma City And try out the slips idea, although we already have potatoes sprouting in the tunnel in my bags. For home gardeners, I really like the grow bags because you can fold them down at planting and then unfold them to give the plant more support in the last half of the growing season, and also add the straw on top to keep from greening. I’ve used some of the same grow bags for four years now. The plants don’t care how ugly they are… Lol.

[@waynebusse6376]

Hey Jesse, I talked to you at the conference in Covington last fall, enjoyed your presentation. To beat the high cost of organic seed each year, I save a large portion of my crop to build up stocks of seed. I don't have any issues with build up of diseases by saving my own seed.I tried some Aderondack Blue last year and had trouble with internal rot from hollow heart, all my other varieties were fine. I've been covering my taters with chopped hay for years and the only insect problem is flea beetles when plants are small. Did have some greening issues where the plants put out such long stolons they had spuds out beyond my mulch. I posted a couple videos on my channel showing some of last years crop and of the collection flail mower I use to collect grass clippings. I plant on raised beds to prevent swollen lenticels from saturated ground. I love all your videos, always learn something new even after 30 years of growing veg for a living.

[@JoyoftheGardenandHome]

Ok, I've seen this almost sprouting technique here and there. Simplify Gardening used this method years ago but went back to showing conventional methods. He does say it's good. I will do a mini trial myself. Hope more of us do and save the potato 🤑

[@MrIan1086]

Cool video, and well timed too! I'm sprouting the seed potatoes that I saved from my first attempt last year (Yukon Gold), and plan on trialing container potatoes this year. Twenty 10 gallon pots using the instructions from a Welsh content creator (I'm enchanted by the way he says compost). Not cost effective for a market gardener, but hopefully enough yield to feed the family.

[@arnoldzoschke1079]

My dad did a few different ways for different taters . Whites we jus used feelings let them chit in a bag and plant them . Reds were chitted n cut n planted . Fingers were split in half n planted . Sweet potatoes were chitted n slips were rooted in ice cream bucket with Manure and casting teas then planted . Thank you for doing these videos . Edmonton Alberta Canada

[@sethl3702]

I have been saving my own seed potatoes for 6+ years. I've never had disease issues, possibly because I only save good looking seed stock and store them in small quantities 5# bags. I also save small potatoes golf ball size or less. No cutting needed plant 4-6 inches apart center of 30 inch bed. On a good established bed I get 2+ lbs per linear foot and selll them for 5/lb at the market. Lots of them will come out small but people at the market like the mix of different colors and small sizes. I don't know how those numbers stack up to other people but it seems profitable for us.

[@markward6076]

I can remember when straw was one dollar a bale and hay was two dollars a bale. 70s.

[@aileensmith3062]

Interesting view on potatoes and the total harvest. Right about now many have these how to plant potatoes. So in ways we have heard them all. Until the next "fool" proof method pops up on our screen. We will be getting our seed potatoes this week. So to getting them ready and then getting them planted. Thinking we might speed up the planting process and getting our potatoes two weeks earlier next year. Then forecast and a possible lows of 33 tomorrow night? This year we will be trying our "abbreviated" method used by Ruth Stout. Going about six inches into the soil with the chitted potatoes and using some straw mulch above. Definitely will be interesting and seeing how your small trial works out. As always Thank You for another fun and informative video!