Should I buy proper seed potatoes or can I use supermarket spuds instead?

giantmutantbroccoli

Yes, it's another question about growing potatoes:T
I grew some spuds from seed potatoes last year in giant growbags, and they grew pretty well. Not amazingly well and I can't say I was that impressed with the yield but they grew. This year I've got a couple of giant trugs to grow them in plus a bit of vegetable bed space, and I'm hoping the extra room will encourage them to produce more lovely spuds.
However, I'm not sure what I should start off with. I keep seeing packs of 10 seed spotatoes for £4 and it seems a bit steep to me, especially if they grow as well as they didn't last year. Am I just being a cheapskate? I have a couple of bags of ordinary, shop-bought potatoes that have started sprouting and I'm wondering if I could just use them instead. Is there a big risk of them carrying diseases like blight, and is there anything I can do about it?
I don't know what kind of potato the supermarket ones are, there's one pack of "white potatoes" and one of "new potatoes" but that's as descriptive as they get.

If growing supermarket spuds isn't such a good idea, can someone recommend me a type of potato that's relatively easy to grow and has a nice waxy texture?

donnaw30

Hi, I'm planning on growing alot this year with the kiddies, but don't really have any experience-though my family is full of gardeners I can ask questions of!
I'm going to do potatoes in the big bags this year (remember doing them with my parents like that years ago!) and I know some people use the normal potatoes ok, but I found some Rooster seed potatoes in Wilkinsons for 98p for about 5, so I've bought those, as I really like Rooster potatoes. They had other varieties too, so may be worth a look?

MrsBartolozzi

I've (alongside many people on here, or so I've read) planted sprouting supermarket spuds before and got varying results. They are supposed to not give as big yields as seed potatoes, but I've had a good amount from my "free" potato plants, and in your position, I'd plant the sprouting ones and see how they go. If you are looking for a decent yield to see you through the year then you might want a few seed potatoes as well. Poundland were selling seed potatoes last week - maybe see if your local has them in?

macma

Wilkos are quite good but if you live near a garden centre many of them do a pick n mix where you choose what you want and they weigh them by the kilo and in my experience it works out cheaper than any of the pre packs.Personally I wouldn't use the supermaket ones.
ps you don't have to buy a KILO just as few as you want:)

giantmutantbroccoli

The garden centre near me doesn't do a pic'n'mix for potatoes, which is a shame! I'm going to pop round there tomorrow and see what they have. There's a homebase up the road from me but I just checked their prices online. £2 seems a bit high for just 5 potatoes, or is it just me?
MrsBartolozzi - Thanks, that sounds like a good idea! I'll pick up a few cheap seed potatoes and give the supermarket ones a go as well. Unfortunately there isn't a wilkinson's near me, or a poundland so I'll have to do a bit of searching. I'm also going to look for some more cheap containers. What does everyone else use to grow their spuds in?

Grebe

I have used seed pot's and supermarket ones over the past few years.
While it is true that you get a bigger yield with seed pot's I always love that I can just buy a bag from the supermarket and grow them. IMO Lidl's are the best, they sprout really fast and before you know it they are ready for planting. I tried Rooster a couple of times and was not impressed by the yield.
BTW I always grow them in any old spare pots or bags handy. Last year I used 4 blue reusable tesco ones that had decided to wear away a bit at the edges. They were great.

rosie383

I bought 2 bags of seed potatoes in B&Q for £6. They were 2.5kg bags and had lots of varieties available. I got about 30 in each bag of varying sizes but hardly any very small ones. I think they were £3.99 for a bag or 2 for £6. I got Pentland Javelin and Arran Pilot and got a few bags of 5-10 spuds for 97p or £1 in Wilkos and Poundland to try a few other variaties.
I had my first go at spuds last year, planting 5 or 6 from my veg rack and got about 4 meals from them. No idea what variety. This year I have also saved the smaller spuds from a whoopsie bag of King Edwards bought for 37p and have those chitting too.

katskorner

I have grown seed potatoes and supermarket ones. Last year I grew Rooster from supermarket stock and they did well. This year I am doing the same again plus some Anya too. I have bought seed potatoes for the Kestrel. I have an allotment to grow mine in.

Seed potatoes are better because the disease risk is far lower btu I must say it hasn't affected my plot. I do practice rotation though.

Prices - I wouldn't pay more then £3.99 for 2.5kg bags and packs of 5 should be no mroe than 99p - forget homebase - they are way too overpriced.

RAS

If you go to Poundland they have packs of 10 Rocket (very early) and Pentland Javenlin for £1. They are basic Scottish seed which is good quality.

valk_scot

Ha..in my younger days I used to work for the Scottish Seed Potato Inspectorate so here's one I feel qualified to answer. Seed potatoes are grown in controlled and tested soil conditions and the crops rigorously inspected in the field to keep the burden of diseases they carry in the tubers down to under certain set levels. Potatoes can carry a lot of diseases..viral and bacterial...and the aim of using seed potatoes is to keep the incidence of these diseases down when growing the ware (eating) crops and thus keep yields up. A ware potato will be carrying a lot of disease by the time it's harvested but that won't matter because it won't be used to grow the commercial crop again the next year.

For the home grower? I would use seed potatoes if growing on the allotment or in the open ground in the garden because really, you don't want to be planting diseased ware potatoes in your soil and having these diseases build up in it. Think of it as quarantine. As to planting ware potatoes in pots or such well, less risky but I'd still dispose of the compost at the end of the season rather than use it as a mulch. TBH I'd just go for seed potatoes.. Less to worry about.

Incidentally does everyone know not to put potato peelings from ware potatoes into the compost bins, for the same reasons given above?

Primrose

Last year I grew both seed potatoes and red-skinned supermarket potatoes in containers. By far the best result came from the sprouting supermarket potatoes in my kitchen vegetable tray. I know experts warn against growing these because of disease but if you use fresh compost in your containers every year I don't think this forms too great a risk.