Saving seed Potatos

I have read a lot of conflicting advice on Potato Seed.
We recently put in a row of potatoes from seed that was "not eaten"
the spuds were all about 1 1/2" dia. and some a bit smaller.
These were saved from a lot we had the previous season grown from certified seed.

I've read that some permies just leave a few in the ground, mulch
and they'll grow when its their time.
Others say buy only certified seed.
another mentioned never grow from "physiologically old" seed ie. wrinkled.
Some folks have success with store-bought spuds they planted.

My one experiment had, supermarket, certified and wrinkled seeds.
There was little difference between the supermarket and certified
but the wrinkled ones did not do well.

In general potato does pretty well here.

Soo, does size matter? and ok to save your own seed Potatoes,
or just leave some in the ground ?

This thread about saving potato seed  was really good - keep reading, the best bits were quite a way in.

Thanks Burra, I read it through before but
did not think it addressed my questions.

Size does not matter. I leave most of the tiny ones in the ground and I always get plenty potatoes from them. I disturb the soil in spring and they immediately start to grow. The big ones are easier to harvest by hand and that's another reason why I leave only the tiny ones in the soil.

Dunkelheit. I assume you are from Europe, but what zone are you in that you can leave them in the ground. How deep a mulch do you use, and what is the mulch material?

if you start potatoes from seed they wont reach full size maturity until 2-3 years. the first year is when you should do your tasting and selecting the ones that you like best and grow best. as time goes on if your soil is fertile your potatoes will grow to the mature size whatever that may be.

same goes with garlic bulbils(garlic seed), the first year you get tiny heads of garlic, but after a few years you can have giant garlic.

Hubert, so the seed you save from your potatoes, gets climatised to your soil ,
then may improve to their potential.?
They do ok with us, but can be better.

Mostly I understood that you need to save good bigger ones for seed, then cut up.
If cutting is not neccesary, the the genetics of the smaller ones
may be same as the bigger potatoes...?

Smaller potatoes left in the ground grew but did not produce well -
maybe being "out of season" as they grew into winter.

Wrinkled, sprouted old potaoes did not do very well as seed.

Garlic has regrown for a second time now without re-planting - I'll be watching them.

Robert, I'm in Zone 8. West Germany. Maritime climate. River Rhine region. I use a plant called Forget-me-not as main mulching material. They grow wild in my garden. I just ripp them out of the soil when they turn brown and put them upside down back on the soil. Then I cover them with reed clippings and dead annuals. Everything I can find.

Dunkelheit wrote:
Robert, I'm in Zone 8. West Germany. Maritime climate. River Rhine region. I use a plant called Forget-me-not as main mulching material. They grow wild in my garden. I just ripp them out of the soil when they turn brown and put them upside down back on the soil. Then I cover them with reed clippings and dead annuals. Everything I can find.

Wow, thats a great zone. Im in zone 6 so I can't leave them in the ground