Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

While reading through all the threads over the last couple of weeks I did notice links to a couple of places to buy seed potatoes from. Unfortunately, I did not write them down. I was about to scan through the threads again but decided it might be helpful to others as well if there was a specific thread on this. Perhaps some of you who have favorite places to buy your seed potatoes from can suggest a few good places to buy from next spring.

Seed Savers Exchange did have 16 varieties to choose from in their seed catalog. Obviously it's too late to buy them now, but I did see three I might be interested in buying in '08, German Butterball, La Ratte & Purple Viking.

I see La Ratte was $13.50 for a 2 1/2 lb. bag, and the other 2 were $9.50. I'm wondering why La Ratte commands $4 more. Is it that much better? Or just in higher demand? Interesting....

Suggestions for other on-line seed potato companies would be appreciated. I'd like to read up on some of the other varieties. Thanks.

Jeff

I've only bought from [url]http://www.milkranch.com/[/url] and will buy from them again this August for my fall crop. The price is about two bucks a pound, plus shipping. The potatoes I got were nice and healthy. Click on "potato list" in the upper left to see what they have in stock at any given time.

Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

Thanks Flip,

That's exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, when I tried clicking on the "add to gunney sack", I kept getting the message "milkranch.com ran into a technical problem. Please try again.". I'll try again in a day or two. I was pleased to see they still had German Butterball & La Ratte available. And for the prices I like!

Thanks again, Jeff

I had problems with the website, too, when I ordered. It's best to call them.

Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

Well, I sent an email to them but no reply yet. If I get home early enough tomorrow I might give them a call if I still don't have a message.

Thanks, Jeff

Eagle Creek Seed Potatoes
 

Canadian seed Company I have used and like.
[URL="http://www.seedpotatoes.ca"]www.seedpotatoes.ca[/URL]

Henry

Milk Ranch is now [URL="http://potatogarden.com/id47.html"]Potato Garden[/URL]. I haven't ordered since they changed the website. Hopefully it'll be better than the old one.

They seem to have very few pictures of varieties. Hopefully they update the pictures. The website really could use improving.

I like Fedco very much. This is their potato tuber company:
[URL]http://www.fedcoseeds.com/moose.htm[/URL]

Hi Jeff, I don't know why LaRatte would be priced higher. I grew it this year and it was the most productive of the four fingerling potato varieties I grew. I'd think more productive would mean more seed to sell and a lower price. Usually, vegetables that produce fewer seeds, warrant a higher price. Maybe their popularity is jacking the price up. Although, I wouldn't know if they are popular or not.

I really like LaRatte. It gave me pretty nice tubers. I noticed that they grew closer to the surface than my other potatoes, so they were easier to find when harvesting and I was able to go out and grab a few whenever we wanted potatoes for dinner. This picture doesn't show that I harvested quite a few that were much longer. They must have been at the bottom of the baskets. I will be growing this potato again next year.

[IMG]http://hillphoto.com/blog/LaRattePotatoes_4225.jpg[/IMG]

Also wanted to say that I got my potato seed from Milk Ranch. I didn't know they changed the name, so I'm glad I found this thread. I didn't have any problems ordering last year at all. I think I remember that they did have more pictures on the old site. If you click the link that says "blog" on the new site, it does say that they are in the process of adding the photos to the new site. Anyway, I thought their seed potatoes were good. They arrived at the time I asked, they were still firm and looked good. I thought their prices were the best I found online. Not sure if that is still the same with the new site, but I have a feeling it is.

Jen

Potatoes
 

Flip,

Thanks for the update on the new website for Milk Ranch. I do planning on growing some next year. I've heard they can grow in fairly low-light areas which means they'll be perfect for a part of my growing space that sits directly on the north side of my mother's house and only gets 4-5 hours of sunlight a day. I'll have to decide on a couple varieties (from a list of a few different ones I'm considering).

CatnTree, Thanks for the tip on Fedco. Will have to check them out also!

Jen,

I have to ask - how many pounds of potato seed did you plant to get that many potatoes? I ask because I noticed it's sold by the pound. That looks like a GREAT harvest! Did you do anything special to the soil to ensure a nice crop? My space wont be large enough to get that many potatoes so I'd like to maximize the potential for each planted. You should be proud of those 3 baskets of potatoes. :)

Jeff

Hi,

NP on Fedco.

I grow my potatoes in pretty low light. They do pretty well. I Harvested/am harvesting about 400 pounds this year.

It's pretty cool...the potato plants act more like tomatoes in low light in that they get very viney. Yield is lower in shadier areas, but it's still a good veggie to choose for those locations.

Tree

Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

Tree,

Just curious, how many pounds do you plant to harvest a crop of 400 lbs.? That's a lot of taters! :)

Jeff

florida potato varieties??
 

Anyone planted potato's in florida?? First year here and getting ready to plant fall garden and here you can plant potato's now,we love all blue,ukon gold,caribe,fingerlings,...:?

oh...about 50 lbs.

Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

Just a heads up on Potato Garden (Milk Ranch). If anyone decides to order from them you might want to call to do so. I ordered through their website, even received an email with my order confirmation, and nothing. My debit card wasn't charged & I did not receive my order. So I forwarded them the confirmation email they had sent me, asking if they would be filling my order or if I needed to order again. Still, no response.

On their website, PotatoGarden.com, the catalog listing of their varieties was taken off or hidden from public viewing for a few days, starting one or two days after I ordered. So I'm guessing they are just having technical problems with orders, possibly.

Why they aren't curteous enough to reply to emails, I don't know. But it's definitely frustrating.

As I mentioned, my advice is to call them rather than ordering on-line. If anyone has had success ordering on-line from them, I'd be interested in knowing.

Jeff

Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

gardenhappy,

Did you start those potatoes in Florida? You'll have to let us know how they are doing for you. I imagine there are different types of bugs you have to contend with when growing in-ground there than someplace like here in Ohio. Curious how it goes for you....

Jeff

I thought I was having memory loss :lol::lol::lol::lol: I PLACED an order too! I kept thinking when are my potatoes going to get here.....? I did not find my confirmation email but [B]I know[/B] I got one. I would have to research to see if I was charged. Maybe something is up with them.... I will check it out......
OMAHA Thank you for posting this.

Oops! I read this too late. I placed an order on line with Potato Garden/Milk Ranch this morning. Thanks!

I just called them. They took my name and address for a catalog. They said their NEW website works.;)

Thanks for the info, Rena!

Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

Rena, I didn't realize they had a print catalog. I almost called them this morning since I came home sick from work, but wasn't feeling up to it. Maybe I'll call Friday if I get home early enough.

It's a mystery why my order through their new website didn't get taken care of. Or my email answered. :(

I'll definitely have to call soon...Thanks for the info, Jeff

The Potato Garden sure looks alot like [url]www.ronnigers.com[/url]
They are both in Austin Colorado, so I guess its the same potatoes.. :dizzy:

Golden Pearl,

Are the prices the same? I agree, it looks like the same website and all.

I heard that SSE gets their seed potatoes from Colorado - is this the place?

Omaha, did you leave Nebraska, voluntarily? LOL
I read somewhere recently that you get 10 to 20 pounds of potatoes for each pound of seedlings planted, depending on weather, moisture, care, how you plant, etc.

We planted 10 lbs. this spring, and we got about 200 lbs, we are estimating. Planted late (mid-June), 30 miles west of Omaha, and had lots of rain starting Aug 1.

Keep thinking,

Kent & Kathy, near Wahoo, Nebraska

Okay, White Mountain Farms, at Mosca, Colorado, has organic potatoes, and sells to SSE, according to the guy on that 877 number. They are the ones at Ronnigers - Milk Ranch owns Ronnigers and Potato Garden. So, they ARE the same.

Nice people, on the phone.

Kent

Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

Kent/Kathy,

Ah, some cornhuskers ran me outta that state! J/K...
It was just time to leave. Originally I was moving to Salt Lake City after I left Omaha, but couldn't breath when I got there (severe allergies/allergy induced asthma). I was literally suffocating and knew it was a no go for me there. To make a long story short I ended up back in my hometown. Don't know how long I'll stick around, but I'm trying to make the best of it.

BTW, Milk Ranch might be nice to deal with over the phone but their service on the internet is non-existent. At least for me it was. They never processed my order and did not respond to either email I sent. Why have an internet catalog for ordering purposes if you're not going to honor the orders? Very poor customer service.

Jeff

You guys have me nervous about my potato order. They took about two weeks to send me an order confirmation via email. :panic: I guess we'll know in a couple of months. Next time I'll just call it in.

Your favorite place to buy seed potatoes
 

Michelle,

In my case, the money was never taken out of my account, that's why I sent a message to them asking about my order. If you check your debit or credit card account to see if the money was taken out, you'll probably have the answer of whether to expect your potato seed or not. I also received the automatic original message telling me my order was received. It was just never put through.

Calling them might be a good idea if you don't see the money was taken out of your account. Supposedly good people to deal with, just inadequate when it comes to filling internet orders.

Good luck!

Jeff

I used my debit card and requested they be delivered the first week of March. Nothing has been taken out of my account so far but lots of companies don't charge you until they ship your order out. If I don't see anything by the second week of March I'll give them a call. Thanks!

Jeff and Michele,

Jeff, I guess I am lucky. I do not have allergies, but my wife does. Good luck, I will research allergies for you. I know alot about stuff like that - I am a vet! No kidding, I do study alternative stuff a lot - like tomatoville! LOL

Okay, I have tried and tried and tried to get a catalog from Milk Ranch, and nothing, nada. End of trying.

I did talk to White Mountain Farms, and the main guy is Paul. Nice guy. One of his competitors (there are a lot of potatoes grown in western Colorado for some reason) did tell me that he sells seed potatoes to SSE.

Well, Paul will sell me seed potatoes for $1.00 per pound under 50 lbs. or 45 cents a pound over 50 lbs. I do NOT think you can group varieties on this deal. But, SSE is $2.75 a pound or so. Both White Mountain and SSE add shipping.

I am about equidistant between the two, so shipping should be about equal. Too bad I cannot just take some off the truck that takes them from White Mountain to SSE, it goes 20 miles from my house!

Anyway, I am putting together a large order for me and two friends, and they do answer the phone, but are out of German Butterball already.

More later,

Kent & Kathy, near Wahoo