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My growing season is short and I dig my potatoes at the end of September and plant in mid May. As a result, my 1/8 - 1/4 inch pea sized tubers are now shrivelled like raisins. Half are somewhat soft while the rest are almost hard. I am going to assume that only the soft ones are worth starting in the 72 cell trays.
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The extremely short seasons are not friendly to tiny tubers produced from TPS if the small tubers are dug in September. Pea sized tubers will dry out…or sprout to a moisture limit and then dry down to that raisin. They need to be kept hydrated or potted up before they reach the point of no return. If that happens out of season you’ve got problems.
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In order to look at other planting options with my smaller B sized tubers, I was wondering:
1. What is the smallest size of tuber from which pull sprouts can successfully be taken?
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Pull sprouts…pulling sprouts as they root and emerge above the soil line can be done with just about any size tuber…the smaller tubers may not have enough energy left to shoot up again.
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2. What is the smallest size of tuber that you can successfully cut in half and direct plant?
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You really don’t want seed pieces cut into less than one ounce sizes…the idea is that you want enough starch material to grow the sprouts upwards and emerge strong. Smaller cut pieces do better if just barely covered since you want quick emergence since the starch reserves are compromised. One must hill them up judiciously as they grow to get the seed piece buried to at least 6 inches as the season progresses. I do routinely cut golf ball sized tubers into four if I really want to increase a variety in a hurry.
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3. Since Baby tubers have the same number of eyes as full sized tubers, should they have the same 10-12 inch planting distance when transplanted from the 72 cell trays?
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