What to do with a bag of sprouting potatoes

Last winter we had a bag of "Maine potatoes" that "went bad" before we could finish it. There were about 7 full-size potatoes sprouting from multiple eyes. I kept them in a paper bag in the basement until spring. Then I cut these into about 32 chunks, each about 2"(5 cm) in diameter. I set these in a tray covered with paper bags in a cabinet under my basement sink for a couple weeks to scab over. In the early spring I sowed these chunks into a 12' x 3' (3.6 m x 0.9 m) bed. Over the following weeks plants started to emerge. I have been tucking straw around the bases and in-between these plants as they grow.

Just a warning -- The only problem I see with this is that you could be introducing diseases into your garden that you didn't have before. I've actually had this happen to me.

I only used either certified seed stock or my own homegrown potatoes for starting on my farm. But a few years ago the farm hosted our area's community garden. One of the volunteer gardeners brought store brought potatoes from home and planted them into the garden, without my knowledge. Regretfully those potatoes introduced early blight, a problem that didn't exist in my area before. As a result, growing potatoes in my main garden is now difficult. I have had to resort to using raised containers filled with virgin soil for growing potatoes and tomatoes.

I soaked some sprouted eyes in peroxide before planting. They recovered and are doing well.

Today I observed that Colorado potato beetles have arrived to investigate.

Following directions I planted the 'Earlies' when the dandelions bloomed, about two weeks before the last expected frost, in 5 inch depressions and then mounded them as they grew. I had a bright idea and formed the sides of a raised bed with pieces of firewood to hold more fill around the potatoes, and then...I cut the bottoms out of 5 gallon buckets and upended them over the plants adding another 12 inches of soil around them. I figured I have at least 24 inches of soil bermed up around them now.

Most of the time, my potatoes sprout in inopportune times. Nine out of ten times they end up in the compost bin.

My potatoes usually start sprouting months before I can get them into the garden. I just leave them and plant them when I can, even with three feet of dangly stolon or whatever. It seems to work out.

When your potatoes in winter storage show sprouts, break them off immediately. This buys you time.

If you leave the sprouts alone, the potatoes will start to change. A hard lump will form around the sprout, and the rest of the potato will turn mushy and black as enzymes start to break it down.

Potatoes showing a sprout are still perfectly good to eat, provided they aren't showing any signs of green (chlorophyll) in the flesh, which makes them somewhat toxic.

I boil unsalvageable potatoes in a giant pot when I'm making char. This kills any pathogens and makes the simple starches more available to organisms in the composter.

Christopher Weeks wrote:My potatoes usually start sprouting months before I can get them into the garden. I just leave them and plant them when I can, even with three feet of dangly stolon or whatever. It seems to work out.

My potatoes have done the same thing, I have sprouts that have grown to about a foot long. Do you notice a difference in harvest when planting potatoes with long sprouts?

Tough call. I find that leaving the long sprouts intact actually slows down the plant -- it then has to decide what parts it should abandon. I snip them down to one or two "leafing out bits" (highly technical term) and make sure those are mostly buried. It seems to work out okay, though there may be better methods.

I haven't noticed any differences. But I'm pretty sloppy with planting and record-keeping, so I'm not sure that I would unless it was really stark.