Potatoes???!!!

[momofdrew]

I read on here somewhere at some time with in the last few weeks how to get organic potoatoes to form eyes... DH went online to Johnny's and they are sold out of all their seed potatoes...if you remember where it is I would really appreciate it...

 

[digitS']

I think the potatoes really "want" to form eyes, Pam.

Organic potatoes should not have been sprayed with sprouting inhibitors either in storage or in the field (or both ). So, they just require a little time to mature - unless they are coming from the southern hemisphere, they should have had plenty of time since harvest. And, they need a little warmth - they have probably been in cold storage.

Here is what the University of New Hampshire says about what to do for the first 2 weeks after your potatoes come out of cold storage: "'green-sprout' them at room temperature with high humidity, spreading them in a single layer exposed to light. A greenhouse is ideal, but a barn, shed floor or similar area with plenty of light will do. Turn the seed potatoes every four to five days to insure uniform green sprouts. The aim of green sprouting is to develop very short, strong sprouts that emerge and grow rapidly when planted." (UNH - click)

Steve

 

[momofdrew]

thanks Steve I knew I could count on you to have an answer...

 

[digitS']

Thanks but gosh, the answer came from New Hampshire .

(I could have told you all about "inhibiting sprouts" with info from the University of Idaho .)

I'm counting on the University of New Hampshire again this year! Yep, I'll have their Passport melons out there again (UNH release) and, new-to-me, the Goddess cantaloupe (UNH release)!

Steve

 

[momofdrew]

Well I guess I should surf the net more often... Lots of good stuff from UNH... but thanks anyway for always being helpful

 

[digitS']

Not to change the subject, but . . .

As I was moving the eggplant out for a couple hours on a warm afternoon yesterday, I was reminded of another UNH introduction that I grow: Apple Green Eggplant.

Here is what North Carolina State says about this variety: "Parentage: N.H. x Solanum integrifolium, cultivar Chinese Red. Characteristics: very early green fruit on highly productive upright plants; sets fruit under adverse northern conditions. 1964."

I had to look up "Solanum integrifolium" but it is mostly grown as an ornamental. The "N.H." is apparently the New Hampshire Hybrid that was developed in 1938 as a cool region choice and variant of Black Beauty. Wow! So, they crossed their hybrid with an ornamental and that with a red eggplant from China . . . The horticulturalists must then have "stabilized" this crossbreed because Apple Green was not a hybrid when it was released nearly 50 years ago. Busy, busy, busy . . . Reminds me of what goes on at Oregon State .

I have not been to New Hampshire, stopped in Connecticut before crossing the border. Still, I believe it is fairly similar in many ways to where I garden. I have repeatedly met people from Vermont who move here and claim that there is little difference in climate. I think I'm a little farther down in the dryness of the Intermountain West than the higher country, more similar to that part of New England. It if wasn't so far to drive the olde Dodge, I should go check .

Steve

 

[momofdrew]

If you ever get to Conn. again take a few hour s to go through Mass. and you'll find New Hampshire...which has many different growing zones...and many different soil types...I live in a valley and there is sand a foot down no rocks bigger than my fist... if you go up to the ridge and futher north you'll get rocks hence all those beautiful rock walls that are all over the place...and some rocks that are actually ledge and only dynamite can move...