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Old May 23, 2013   #21
Tom Wagner
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Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
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Is there a difference between cut and whole tubers of the same weight? For example saving egg-sized seed tubers vs. large ones to quarter cut. I would think that there would be more stored nutrients (proteins etc) in the whole tubers so you could go a little smaller. But then again, cutting might have some hormonal effects that encourage sprouting/growth.
In my area of where potatoes are commercially grown...two of the varieties that were produced for years have been the Yukon Gold and Cascade. The growers like to buy seed potatoes that are fairly large but not too large. The idea is to get as many 4-cuts as possible and the whole tubers may weigh in at 6 to 8 oz. The tubers received from the next county up...Whatcom county...are breaking dormancy but mostly apical....in other words...just the bud end is waking up. The tubers of Yukon Gold and Cascade have very few eyes and the goal is to get as few eyes per piece in order to get a dominant sprout that will produce few but larger tubers that can be spaced quite closely. The cutting of those tubers allows the other eyes to ''wake up" and grow unimpeded without every being broken off as the apical sprout would be.

I planted a row of my Skagit Valley Gold after digging them the same day. The tubers were sprouting at the apical end and I broke those off and planted the tubers whole. Many new sprouts will emerge from this whole tubers...maybe 15 or more sprouts. This is intentional since I want a high yield of rather small tubers. I like the whole potatoes over cut since there is less rot and the tubers provide nutrients clear into blooming time which is what I want.

BTW, I think the Amey Russet would be one of the best potatoes for French Fries. The USDA released it for that reason but the shape is not long enough for the professionals.....therefore it is a gardener's potato..not a grower's potato. The taste, texture is second to none. Oh, I take that back....a cross of it with Gold Pan created the Golden Amey. I had it in early certification for a while but the growers did not want a round russet with yellow flesh...no matter what the flavor was.
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