Potato?

[cmricha2]

So, I had decided that I would take a spud from one of the bags we bought at the store, stab him with some toothpicks and place in a cup of water and let DD see what happened. Well, that was well over a month ago and now my little spud has some crazy roots on him. Should I plan him (indoors of course)? Will he grow me some more taters? Any advice, I had never actually left a potato growing so long that it managed to grow such long roots.

[billig]

I think you should try it and then report the results to the rest of us.
You'll need a big pot for the room should the potatoes grow.
And plant the entire potato under dirt...it shouldn't be in the light.
But if the plant grows, it should be in the sun.

[janastanley]

If you plant it, you will need a fairly deep pot or container. You can cut your potato into 3 or 4 parts. Just make sure each chunk has its own roots growing. Fill your container 2/3 full of dirt, then plant your potato. Each potato chunk should have its own container. As the plant grows, you need to add some dirt. Potatoes grow in hills or mounds that need to be cultivated with more dirt to form a larger hill as the plant grows. We usually plant our potatoes in late April and harvest them in early August. Plan on at least 90 days. Some potatoes take 120-140 days.

[meggers]

My mom once planted a potato OUTSIDE in the middle of Winter & it produced potatoes. Since it was underground, it didn't freeze. It would be a neat experiment to cut one part off as described by Jana & plant it outside. Ya never know...

[TiggerToo]

...Meggers...do you ever sleep?????

[TiggerToo]

As far as the spuds...I have never done them from an actual spud...just from the 1/4s that you get out of the actual garden stores. I usually plant taters every other year in my veggie garden and luv luv luv digging for buried treasure when I get ready to harvest. I just know that they tell you to cut the tater in 1/4s (the ones from the store) then bury with the eyes of the potato downward into the soil.

[meggers]

...Meggers...do you ever sleep?????

Yuh-huh! In fact, I was sleep-posting.

[TiggerToo]

Yuh-huh! In fact, I was sleep-posting.

Hmmm....Mebbe I should try that so I can increase my number of posts

[janastanley]

My mom once planted a potato OUTSIDE in the middle of Winter & it produced potatoes. Since it was underground, it didn't freeze. It would be a neat experiment to cut one part off as described by Jana & plant it outside. Ya never know...

If you plant it deep enough it won't be a problem! Some people around here plant them in the ground, then cover it in straw. This helps the plant from not freezing once it is above the ground.

[Nascar88]

I am planting potato's in garbage cans this year. I will fill the bottom with about 6 inches of good soil with peat moss in it. Lay the potato seed on top of the 6" of soil and then cover the potato till I am 2" above it. Once the plant grows about 6-8" I will cover the plant about 2/3rds up with more soil and so on till the garbage can is full then let the plant just grow till it flowers. Once it flowers you must stop watering. Once the plant dies off, wait about a week or so and then get a tarp and dump the garbage can out onto it and dig out the potato.

Important info is.... You cannot use the soil again for potato's or any other vegetbale as it leaves alot of acid in the soil when it grows. Not recommended to use the soil for any other veggies or potato's again.