Potato. . .potato . . .potato. . . (NHDC) YUMMY UPDATE

[rodekyll]

So I'm at  the hardware store and they got Yukon Gold seed potatoes @ $5.47/lb.  I move on down to the grocery store and Yukon Gold eatin' spuds are $1.47/lb, with a 5#bag @$4.99.

My question is . . .   if the 5# bag leaves new York travelling 60mph . . .  no, wait.  Wrong forum.

My question is:  Why should I buy a pound of seed potatoes @ $5.47 when I can get 5# for less?  The eatin' ones also sprout .  . . .

[segesta]

That, my friend, is what we call Economy of Scale. Just like why a pencil costs 17 cents at Staples but would cost you about a thousand dollars to make one on your own.

[Waterbottle]

My dear old mum would have me drive her all over Townsville to buy her groceries , potatoes are on special here, tomatos over somewhere else etc. She saved on the veges , I paid for the fuel  :D
In the end, it was easier and a lot quicker to get everything at one shop, and I paid for the groceries. She was horrified that I would pay so much for fruit and Vegetables, but I figured I saved more than that on the fuel bill  ;D

[acogoff]

     The spendy ones may have been raised as seed potatos with a lot of hoops to jump thru and inspection criteria to make sure they are disease free-more slanted toward the commercial grower, but they had better have a certificate with them or it is just BS. For your own garden I would not worry about it.

[rodekyll]

I'm leaning toward not worrying about it.  It's been a long time since I planted spuds.  I think I remember my dad simply setting aside the more pimply ones for next year's crop.  He'd say "The eyes have it!"

[Rough Edge racing]

 Potato, potato, potato...Is this a Harley exhaust thread?  Non organic spuds may be sprayed to prevent sprouting in the bag...

[rodekyll]

You mean the potato in the HD pipe? 

When I was in high school I was on a team that travelled via VW bus to competitions.  We encountered a team from an all-girl's school that were staying in the town for extra days.  We thought we'd like to hang out with them, so some clever guy shoved a spud up the tailpipe of the team bus.  We got our extra day in town.  Also some detention when we got back.  It was worth it.


Thanks for the word on spray.  I've noticed the seed variety aren't washed at all -- still have crusty field dirt.  I'll rinse the eatin' ones before planting, should I go that route.

[Guzzistajohn]

Although taters are a pretty plant that's easy to grow, I stopped planting them, they're cheap to buy and I really shouldn't be eating them anyway. I'll use My garden time/effort on maters & 'sparagus.

[rodekyll]

After ten years, my asparagus won't sprout anymore.  It was a major excavation to plant the crowns.  I don't think I'll be doing it again.  I do prefer the perennials though -- less work, and I'm hungry, but lazy.

[Guzzistajohn]

We're knee deep in the stuff and lovin' it!

[Rough Edge racing]

You mean the potato in the HD pipe? 

 The sound a big twin makes when guys turn the idle down real slow...

[dlapierre]

The literature suggest sprayed potatoes won't sprout. So, I doubt washing them prior to planting will help. Might try pricing organic potatoes to see if there is a price difference from seed potatoes.
Personally, for the few bucks difference, I'd go with the certified seed potatoes and then maybe aim for storing enough from harvest to plant next year.

[tpeever]

Taters from the supermarket may not sprout. Generally sprayed with sprout inhibitors. Also, growing your own food isn't always cost-effective but you do have the satisfaction of watching something grow and being able to control how you grow it. A lot of pesticides are used in commercial potato production. I find growing things very satisfying personally so it's not an economic thing for me. What kinds of potatoes do you like? Me, I like waxy potatoes that are used for boiling, roasting, mashing, and potato salads. Not interested in starchy potatoes used for baking, french fries, chips etc. Most Americans don't pay much attention to potato varieties, starch content etc. presumably because they don't eat boiled potatoes. For the past 20 years or so, I have experimented with probably a dozen different waxy potato varieties and have found an old Dutch variety called "Nicola" to be the family favorite. WAY better tasting potato than a Yukon Gold but the seed can be hard to find. This year I am also planting Makah Ozette (read up on this variety, very interesting story!!) which is a fingerling type and rumored to taste even better than Nicola. We'll see! I get my seed from a seed potato farm in Colorado called "Potato Garden" (http://www.potatogarden.com). Seed from them ain't cheap when you factor in shipping but it's more cost-effective if you can share shipping costs with other waxy potato farmers!

[Turin]

I've had great luck growing chili peppers. Happened by accident actually. The neighbors cat was crapping in the wifes succulent garden. She wanted me to go and buy here cayenne pepper to sprinkle around there. I brought red pepper flakes home from work (the ones in pizza places and italian restaurants) and sprinkled away. Ended up with 3 plants, each about 3-4 feet tall.

[cruzziguzzi]

So I'm at  the hardware store and they got Yukon Gold seed potatoes @ $5.47/lb.  I move on down to the grocery store and Yukon Gold eatin' spuds are $1.47/lb, with a 5#bag @$4.99.

My question is . . .   if the 5# bag leaves new York travelling 60mph . . .  no, wait.  Wrong forum.

My question is:  Why should I buy a pound of seed potatoes @ $5.47 when I can get 5# for less?  The eatin' ones also sprout .  . . .

"Cheap spuds save lives!"

Todd.

[rodekyll]

That's a true statement right there.

Some people think of them as famine food, but they keep millions of people alive.

[Rough Edge racing]

That's a true statement right there.

Some people think of them as famine food, but they keep millions of people alive.

 The Irish potato famine was because of a lack of potatoes due to  disease...It's said, prior to the famine, the Irish diet was primary a few pounds of potato's a day washed down with goat or cows milk...

[Chuck in Indiana]

All I know is we were poor dirt farmers when I was a kid. We *bought* seed potatoes, so I'm guessing there was a reason. <shrug>

[oldbike54]

The Irish potato famine was because of a lack of potatoes due to  disease...It's said, prior to the famine, the Irish diet was primary a few pounds of potato's a day washed down with goat or cows milk...

 Wonder what the Irish ate before the potato was introduced to Europe ?

  Dusty

[Tobit]

I just put in a small garden this week.  Built a raised bed of 6'x3'x12".  We have 'maters, bell peppers, jalapenos, strawberries and Chinese long beans.  So far it's cost me about $120 for materials, plants and soil.

The strawberries are in pots, the long beans in their own box.

Now to keep the possums, squirrels, birds, and other organic ailments away.

Good looking asparagus John.  We eat it often.

Tobit

[HDGoose]

The Irish potato famine was because of a lack of potatoes due to  disease...It's said, prior to the famine, the Irish diet was primary a few pounds of potato's a day washed down with goat or cows milk...

And the rest of the food the Irish peasants grew went to England. The farms and crops for most things other than potatoes were owned by the English.

[tpeever]

Seed from them ain't cheap when you factor in shipping but it's more cost-effective if you can share shipping costs with other waxy potato farmers!

Sorry, that should read "farmers of waxy potatoes"  ;D

[rodekyll]

Glad you cleared that up.  I was thinking Brazil . . .

[nikwax]

I asked my wife, who is a master gardener...she says seed potatoes will have much higher yields and are free of blight.

[rodekyll]

I decided to settle it by planting the retail and seed potatoes side-by-side.  We'll see which grow.

[lorazepam]

I live in Amish country, and it is much easier and cheaper to buy veggies from them than to have a garden. I have been spoiled by the abundance here in season.

[Rough Edge racing]

I decided to settle it by planting the retail and seed potatoes side-by-side.  We'll see which grow.

 Yes, a great idea to get to the truth...actually do it and see what happens!!!! The man of action has spoken...

And please take two and a half minutes to watch this video.....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exBEFCiWyW0

[dlapierre]

Cute video.
Apparently not all potatos are sprayed. I was able to sprout store-bought sweet potatos last year. I'm too far north, I guess, to grow them because I didn't get much yield, but they did grow. But, I buy from a local produce store, not a chain store, so maybe that store uses different sources for its veggies.

[rodekyll]

We have a fresh veggie event a couple times a month in the summer.  A produce truck loads up in Chelan, WA and takes the ferry through SE Alaska, spending a day or two per town as the ferry allows.  So after a day or so collecting the produce, a day getting to the ferry, a few days on the ferry, and a few days in other towns, we get food that's only a couple weeks old. 

Without the Chelan truck (also does special orders)  we get some really awful stuff.  In the spring and summer we get the inventory they're clearing out of the warehouse to make room for the new crop.  In the winter we get stuff from the warehouse.  Right now with the new crops coming in and us getting last year's stuff we're paying $1.19 for bruised russets, and pushing $2.00/lb for basic red or Yukon Gold spuds.  Sweet onions run up to $3/lb, and ducks would turn their backs on the starchy, sour ear corn.  For a guy that grew up eating dinner in the garden that's unacceptable.  So although I'm really growing for the sake of watching them sprout, there is a practical return.

There is no local agriculture.  That's partly because we have a median temp of 42ºf and 115+ inches of rain a year.  The rest is because there is no dirt here and not a lot of horizontal landforms.  Alaska is very young, geologically speaking.  Dirt is a product of erosion and the organic cycle and takes a lot of time to produce.  The glaciers scraped away most of what may have been here and ancient tsunamis scoured the rest.  I buy bags of dirt from the store and try making more.  Once I retired a raised bed.  I put a notice up on our radio show "Problem Corner" that everyone could have a white bucket of free dirt until the bed was gone.  People lined up for it.

Even the Russians gave up on trying to subsist agriculturally.  Their farm colony was at Ft. Ross in California (possibly the only part of coastal California where nothing grows).  The little bit they did in Alaska was in raised beds.  They planted Siberian food -- kale, beets, and cabbage mostly -- very bleak.  They planted some sour apple trees that can still be seen but probably never produced.

We do have a good variety of currents and berries up here if you don't mind browsing brakes and bushes with brownies.  The skeeters stay in world-class condition eating blueberries.

[rodekyll]

Yukon Gold spuds from both sources are in the ground.  Half a row to one, and the other half to the other.  Now I'll pull up a lawn chair and wait.  . .