Saving True Potato Seed- Small Batch Method

[@quercusrobur5004]

Nice, I think I'm gonna give this a try. How long do you think will the fermentation process take without any fermented juice to kickstart the process?

[@oxbowfarm5803]

Hey Quercus Robur, I realized that I didn't mention how long to ferment them. Without prefermented juice or existing "pre-fermenting" berries it takes about 2-3 days. You can jumpstart it a bit by adding a pinch of sugar as well. With the "starter" from a previous batch that cuts the time in half I'd say. You could also set it in a warm spot, like raising bread, that would also speed it up. Do you work with Oaks a lot? I've got a small planting of Burr oak that I'm hoping will be nice majestic trees for my grandchildren (Quercus macrocarpa)

[@quercusrobur5004]

Hey Oxbow Farm, thanks a lot for your reply. I’m gonna add some sugar then and set my jar up on a warm spot. I planted a small number of English Oak (Quercus Robur) two years ago to restock our woodland. I really wish i had some mature oak trees here but it’s mainly just spruce and some pines. Your grandchildren will definitely appreciate your Burr Oak planting one day ;-)

[@trumplostlol3007]

I NEVER ferment my tomato seeds. I just collect the seeds, wash them, then put them inside a paper towel. I then put the paper towel into the fridge and let it dry. I have no problem germinating them 100%. I suppose you can do this for potatoes too.

[@MountainwithaView]

I did this lat year and all my seeds sprouted & my potatoes are growing......why use chemicals when the natural method works.... plus why spend the money & what if you can't get it....

[@fridomsnowbird6678]

I always put a single layer of cheesecloth over the fermentation Jar secured with a rubber band. You have a great channel and I have been subscribed for a while. Great info.

[@johnwayne3085]

I subscribed because when he said his " wife didn't care if he did it inside" then the next clip he's outside whispering and never says anything about having to go outside. My kind of subtle humor.

[@1stBumbleBeeMaster]

Awesome Video. I have been growing potatoes from TPS for many years and here is a trick I learned from one of the old guys. If you get a potato berry and keep pressing it with your fingers and keep turning it. You will feel the berry start to soften, Keep doing this until its really soft but not broken. Then leave this in a window sill for about 3-7 days. Preferably a sunny window sill. Then Squeeze the berry under some water in a bowl and all the seeds should sink to the bottom. If you have hundreds to process this is one of the best ways. I have also cut the fruits into pieces and plant quaters about 1 inch deep in good peat soil mix in the fall and leave out side. Using this method I have potatoes coming up like weeds. That seem to be blight proof and no disease. I am sure the seeds that survive the frost as seeds then come up in the spring produce wild type healthier potatoes, You can create so many new varieties that no one else has got with TPS, Its fascinating and fun if you have the patience. If you have the old varieties they are the best for TPS Yours have done amazing! Keep the good work up and happy growing! :)

[@jswhosoever4533]

I pulled some berries last fall and set them in my window sill. Just tried your tip and it worked great!! There's no sack on the seed so I may just plant them in the spring and let them grow through til next year. Thanks!

[@gosia3032]

Thank you !

[@margaretantee1916]

Ty

[@pallavisharma5464]

From where we get TPS seed

[@terrim.602]

​@@pallavisharma5464From potato plants that have produced potato fruit berries after flowering. Just don't eat the potato berry fruit or even lick your fingers as they are deadly poisonous. Only potato tubers are edible. Good luck!

[@samcarlos1276]

Got one tps out of 6 pots this year , I presume they have been grown with pollen inhibitors, so must have been one variety that was not altered. Pray for me , hope I can get good plants next year when I will get the next chance to try grow from seed for the first time. This video was good and helpful. Many thanks

[@revisingknowledgemaga2498]

I'm doing this now, my berries are already soft, the potato farmer I met told me to throw them out so I have done that in the past. My fellow gardner neighbor told me about this and I was a little irritated with the potato farmer at first but decided to give it a try this season, I'm so excited to find out what my next potato harvest will look like, it's a shame that many people will tell you to discard something because they want to make money off of you. I want to learn to provide a sustainable nutritional future for my family and this is absolutely amazing! Thank you so very much for this incredible video and gift of knowledge!! May our Father bless your future harvests!!

[@theghostofsw6276]

You won't get "standard" potato plants from the seeds. The plants will be thinner, and more "vine like" than from a seed potato, and the tubers will be small "spud size", but they will make good seed potato for the next year's crop and give you a more standard potato.

[@MissBetsyLu]

​@@theghostofsw6276thanks so much for telling us. All news to me. Many grand blessings everyone everywhere

[@garden_geek]

Awesome. My potatoes grew berries for the first time ever this year and I was wondering if I could save the seeds just like tomatoes. Thank you for this video, it answered all my questions!

[@OsirusHandle]

did you have any luck germinating them/ ive heard many potato varieties are sterile

[@gapey]

Thanks for the tips. Saving my first TPS now. I've saved tomato seeds before this way so I think I got it. :)

[@peteacher52]

Here's my 10-cent's worth. I wait until the berries are all soft then cover them with water. I blitz the lot with a stick blender with tape around the sharp edges for about 20 seconds. The first washing takes place in the strainer partly submerged in water using a brush to rub the seeds on the mesh. The rest is much the same as what you do except that tapping the strainer on a sponge cloth gets rid of excess water so drying is faster. Good germination rate. I've used fermentation as well but it's slower and gives no better germination.

[@tclodfelter8789]

I like the note book paper... been drying my tomato seeds on paper towels and this would be better I think!?

[@emlillthings7914]

How cool that a semi-random search of mine lead me to your vid on potatoe-seeds :) Been a while since I've strayed to your channel, but then again, much of your content is evergreen. I was planning on planting the seeds as soil-amendment, and see if when left fallow would build good soil. Reasoning being that potato from seeds are by most sources described as usually bad in taste etc, but they do put a lot of mass into the soil, so that's gotta be good I reckon. Ever tried something like this? All I know is that the potatoes from seed tend to be smaller, but should otherwise be much the same regarding growing direct compost in the soil.

[@preppermomof2333]

After I squeeze the berries out and leave the seeds to germinate for a couple days then I just rinse and dry the seeds and store until I'm ready to plant? Did I get that right?

[@3_16]

Thank you so much 💜

[@selfrelianthomestead7842]

I'm trying to save my seeds to grow next season. This is my first time doing this. When I ferment the seeds how will I know there done? Should I ferment the seeds before storing them or when I'm ready to plant? Thanks for the great content! 👍

[@blackkennedy3966]

Ferment the seeds, filter in the strainer then dry and store. That’s the way I do it for tomatoes and black knight shades.

[@redapple3256]

Would it work to save the seeds the same way tomato seeds can be done? I personally have always have just squeezed tomatoes onto paper towels and spread/separate them on the towel. Then I let them dry several days. I throw a desiccant tab in a ziplock and store them in a dark place til the next year. Then a tear a square off and plant it with as little paper as I can. I’ve never had any trouble growing tomatoes this way. Would it work for potato berries too?

[@oxbowfarm5803]

It would work but you would see very low germination rates compared to cleaning the seed. Potatoes have much more seed dormancy compounds in both the seeds themselves and in the gel. Removing the gel is pretty important. Also, potato seeds are MUCH smaller than most tomato seeds and the gel basically will glue them together almost permanently if you dry them with the gel still on. It also helps to age the potato seed for at least one year, to reduce the internal seed dormancy, you usually see much better and more consistent germ from year+ old potato seed than fresh.

[@redapple3256]

@@oxbowfarm5803 thanks so neat. Thanks for the reply. I never have any difficulty with my germination rate with tomato seeds I collect that way. Glad I didn’t bother doing a whole bunch of potato seeds that way! Maybe I’ll try a few and compare. Thanks so much

[@johnwayne3085]

Could I use citric acid instead of trisodium phosphate to wash the gel off without harming the seed. I only farm organic.

[@tclodfelter8789]

How long did it take for the seed/water to ferment?

[@Jeffreymart]

Liked and subscribed ☮

[@smithpianoservicing3421]

I figured out that wax paper works really good so the seeds don’t stick after drying.

[@にはおさおあ]

This would change the potato varieties wouldn’t it?

[@phantomkceb]

How do you keep your ferment from getting infected? Salt?

[@MissBetsyLu]

Cover it???

[@CultivariableSeeds]

Regarding trisodium phosphate, you should probably try both methods. I currently process about half a million seeds per year and I have found that germination is consistently better with TSP treated seeds. I also found damping off much more common in fermented seed than treated, which is a likely sign that Alternaria solani or other fungal pathogens are surviving on the seed coat. Of course, if you are producing many more seeds than you can use, which is often the case, it doesn't matter much. TSP is not particularly dangerous. It is used as a food additive, among other things. A concentrated solution has a high pH, which makes it about as dangerous as bleach. You wouldn't want to get it in your eyes, but otherwise it isn't too worrying. The main concern with TSP is that it is a phosphate and phosphates can be damaging to the environment. TSP used to be a common ingredient in laundry detergent and all of that phosphate getting flushed was not good for the planet. The extremely small amount that you would use for cleaning even buckets of potato berries is not going to hurt anything.

[@oxbowfarm5803]

Thanks for that William. Can you get it off the shelf in the store in Oregon? I don't feel like its a commonly stocked item in the cleaning aisle around here anymore.

[@CultivariableSeeds]

I get it at Home Depot. It is used for cleaning surfaces before painting, so you usually find it in the paint section.

[@oxbowfarm5803]

What is your protocol with big batches of berries and using the TSP? Do you squeeze out the gel or blend them?

[@averteddisasterbarely2339]

How much do you use per berry ? I'm going to try this and want to apply your knowledge! Thanks

[@binauralboost7401]

If I want to be super lazy, it would still work to just bury all the berries somewhere and let them do their thing naturally too right?

[@kenrisse1336]

That’s what I do. After harvesting my potatoes, I rototill the soil and the seed pods get mixed in. The next year I have little potato plants coming up like weeds. This is in interior Alaska.

[@mariamarymiriam293]

How many days the seeds have to stay fermenting in water? by the way, trisodium phosphate with baking soda is used in many toothpaste brans to remove stains. The baking soda lowers trisodium phosphate's high pH to avoid acid burning.

[@oxbowfarm5803]

it depends on the temperature I'd say, the warmer it is the less time it takes to ferment. I don't do the fermentation process anymore, I've switched to experimenting with chemical washes, trisodium phosphate and calcium hydroxide both work well and are much faster.

[@oscarherrera9049]

What about the potatoes roots. Were potatotes in the roots of this plant?

[@MissBetsyLu]

Yes

[@tclodfelter8789]

Once you're ready to plant the seeds... how long does it take for them to germinate?

[@lauren9373]

Hiya I need some advice, when do you start fermenting/sowing tps? I live in southern England? Thanks in advance

[@oxbowfarm5803]

Hi Lauren. If you want to be fermenting the berries to extract the seed it is typical to harvest them from the plants and then let them sit for a month or so before you ferment. This is usually in the late fall at the end of the growing season. In terms of sowing TPS, I would do it right now. You probably could have gotten started even 2-4 weeks ago, but right now is not too late.

[@charlesniyomugisha]

How fermentation is done , how many days it take

[@TheOxenmantim]

couple days to a week.

[@radow869]

I did not know what the berries were.

[@karle.6101]

Out of curiosity, because I don't know, can the flesh from the berrys be used for chicken feed etc, or are they poisonous and just goto the composter?

[@oxbowfarm5803]

They are poisonous. I don't have any idea if a chicken would eat them. They contain typical nightshade alkaloids, especially solanine. I don't think its very likely that a chicken would willingly eat enough of them to get sick or especially to get a fatal dose of poison, but why test it?

[@karle.6101]

Thanks, I hadn't seen the berries before so I was curious if they were usable. Potatoes, onions and garlic are on my starter list when I get a garden going again. Had luck with them in TX, but most things got cooked by the sun before fully mature.

[@mudpiemudpie785]

How do you know when it's done fermenting?

[@blackkennedy3966]

When you see the seeds at the bottom and all the junk is kinda suspended in the water. seed separates and naturally sinks as it swells with water

[@shinjibing8364]

Would be interesting if humans cultivated potato berries to create tomatoes. I think heard somewhere that tomatoes are actually heavily modified by human cultivation so it wouldn’t be too far fetched to find out that they were cultivated from potatoes

[@blackkennedy3966]

wild potatoes and tomatoes still exist and they’re distinct plants. Neither was created from the other.

[@buckaroobonsaitree7488]

I have 2 everglades tomato plants, it is believed that they are the ancestor of the modern tomato

[@qudsiasultana1987]

You take alot of time

[@leasttrending]

Are u doing the most

[@philipmcdonald3678]

i used hydrogen poroxide

[@virgilbohall6665]

So are typical seed potatoes basically a scam. They always looked like smaller regular potatoes to me .

[@virgilbohall6665]

I have never seen these potatoes. I have been growing potatoes from old potatoes for 20+ years. If this is better I'll try it for sure.

[@virgilbohall6665]

This is mind blowing. It might as well be magic to me. Thank you so much. I'm going to do this next season for sure.

[@angelarogers3137]

They are not a scam. The reason that they are sold a seed potatoes is because they are not treated with inhibitors to keep them from sprouting. Potatoes in the grocery store are treated so that they not sprout as easily

[@averteddisasterbarely2339]

​@@angelarogers3137they are also a strain of potato that has been designed to resist diseases and grow exactly the same ( determinate) for farmers !

[@MissBetsyLu]

No. Seed potatoes are much faster to produce. And only way to get the veriaty you want. Many grand blessings everyone everywhere