I, too, am very impressed with my pulled sprouts. I planted tubers, pulls, and TPS this year. The tubers and pulls are difficult to tell apart since the pulls are so incredibly vigorous. I'm sold and, assuming I get a somewhat comparable harvest, I'll concentrate on pulls from here on out and not worry about the expense of loads of seed tubers. (Of course, I'll still play with TPS because it's fun!)

My pulls and TPS seedlings are the same size, the tuber plants are way ahead. The main reason is that I planted tubers in early may and the tps seedlings and pulls at the end of may. Next year for sure at least one tuber is my favorite(s) potato are going for pulling sprouts. I am not fussing with tip cuttings since mine were weaker. I wonder how David Marek did with them....

My pulls of adirondack blue are far bigger than most of my other plants.

My lone SVG pull plant is still alive. I am waiting until completely dies down or frost kills it to harvest my seeds for next year.

I finally finish the potato harvest and the I am saving the potatoes from one pull plant as seeds for next year.
[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-GSiLuK8dW0c/TpIw3Vy808I/AAAAAAAAERo/KDCdEoXSDYg/s640/IMG_0351.JPG[/IMG]

This is a great thread. I had no idea sprouts could be pulled from potatoes. I am experimenting with two of the Kennebec seed tubers I bought. When planting pulled potato plants from sprouts, how many do you plant per hole (ie., when planting a seed tuber, it usually has multiple sprouts; therefore do you plant multiple pulled potato plants from sprouts per hole or just one pulled plant per hole)?

I am no expert ...only one per hole and bury the stem deep. I got a decent amount of potatoes like that more than once... the Moie-Moie thread was the same way :)

One per Hole, yes yes.

[QUOTE=Indyartist;210990][LEFT] In this article it says that yield from growing from seeds (TPS) is lower, "Yield is typically low compared to cultivars started from
tuber seed pieces, making true seed cultivator mainly of
interest for container culture rather than high production."[/LEFT]

[URL="http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-62W.pdf"][/URL][/QUOTE]

As has already been pointed out in another thread regarding yields of TPS versus tuber sown,yes the yields from TPS do seem to be lower but only in that first year grown from seedlings.Ive got three different varieties started from TPS, that are into there third growing season,there yields are now as high as any other cultivator

I have planted out a hundred or so plants from 'sprout jacks', and have several hundred 'pullstarts' in 4" which will go into the ground next week, and will be makeing a thousand or so more this week as well. All my tubers will be planted May 15th. I am hopeing for a BUMPER CROP!

Pulling potato plants from sprouts is pretty amazing. I just pulled 14 potato plants from sprouts from one very large seed potato. It was one big root mass so it was difficult to separate the 14 potato plants. I will see how they look in the morning.

I still have two more seed potatoes that are filled with sprouts (potato plants).

I find the "pull sprouts" are ready to pot into 4" about 4 days after putting under lights.And ready to go into the ground after a maximum of two weeks. Many of the more vigorous varieties are ready for planting out within days of potting up. I plan on putting some direct to the garden.

As I was experimenting with pulling potato plants from sprouts, I did have a question. What is considered a potato plant? Is a potato plant from sprouts equal to one sprout (1 sprout per eye) on the potato that may have multiple leaves, or is a potato plant from sprouts equal to each set of leaves that have roots?

I considered each set of leaves as a potential plant, but don't know if this is correct. For example, if one sprout (per eye) had five sets of leaves, I split the sprout into five different potato plants as opposed to counting it as one plant.

That is a way to propagate for sure. I just keep the "pull start" whole. I would call it "takeing cuttings" if I went further with it.

[QUOTE=wingnut;272319]That is a way to propagate for sure. I just keep the "pull start" whole. I would call it "takeing cuttings" if I went further with it.[/QUOTE]

Interesting. Will a "cutting" produce as many potatoes per plant as if I left the "pull start" whole?

Try it and Let us know!

After planting out about 50% "pull starts" last year, it is all I will plant this year. My yields from "pull starts" was FAR SUPERIOR both tuber size and overall yield, than tuber sown plants.

That's GREAT to know!

George
Tahlequah, OK

After you pull the sprouts from the tuber, what do you do with them until they go into the ground? Do they have to be started indoors? I have two buckets of potatoes left from last years harvest with sprouts anywhere from 6 to 24 inches long. Where do I begin?

Thanks.

[QUOTE=Runamuck;332843]After you pull the sprouts from the tuber, what do you do with them until they go into the ground? Do they have to be started indoors? I have two buckets of potatoes left from last years harvest with sprouts anywhere from 6 to 24 inches long. Where do I begin?

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

It would probably be best to go to page 1 of this thread and start reading from there. There are instructions on how to pull sprouts as well as pictures so you can see how the tubers and sprouts look. :)

You can also take two node cuttings from the ver tips of the long sprouts. I call them "sprout jacks", and usually dip them in a 10% bleach solution then rinse well before being place in a small divot under lights/dome.

Neither of these techniques work well for real EARLY potatoes like red norland, and work best with late season such as french fingerling.

[QUOTE=wingnut;332976]You can also take two node cuttings from the ver tips of the long sprouts. I call them "sprout jacks", and usually dip them in a 10% bleach solution then rinse well before being place in a small divot under lights/dome.[/QUOTE]

Interesting. After cutting the two nodes from the tip of long sprouts, I'm assuming the end of the sprout doesn't regrow. Do you remove all the sprouts from the potato and let new ones regrow so you can cut the tips again?

This approach isn't quite as messy as "pulling sprouts". I have some potatoes with long sprouts. I might cut a few and give this a try. It is too early for me to be starting plants, but this will be more of a "test run".

I usually only needed a couple "sprout jacks" from each variety, so never worried about it!

I will be growing almost 100% pull starts this year. I t is the oly way to go with most mid-late season types, especially di-ploids.

When do you start the tubers sprouting, and when do you plant out?

I have also been wondering how you overwinter the diploids? 20 of the tubers I received from you had no sprouts on them yet, so obviously they stored well however you did it.

NP,
I began mine to sprout April 1st but maybe is best mid-March...

Here are some of my pull sprouts.
This is Satina

[IMG]http://i61.tinypic.com/ayw0eu.jpg[/IMG]

And this is CIP396256

[IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/cuv44.jpg[/IMG]

Am I too late to the Party?

I started mine too early and they were growing onto the ceiling. You are not too late in my book.

- Lisa