Supermarket Tatties as SEED??

I've been looking for the "best buy" for King Edward potatos. Calculating costs is proving a bit difficult as some of the main suppliers sell by weight (and their standard packs come in different sizes) and other suppliers sell by number of tubers. And of course postal charges add greatly to cost.
The best buy of seed that I've found so far is Poundland who are selling packs of 8 King Edwards for £1.00 (assuming of course they still have stock).

Yesterday we were in our local Tesco and bought a 2.5kg bag of approx 25 tubers for £2.50 which is even cheaper per tuber than in Poundland. The spuds in question are locally grown only a couple of miles away from here.

Your thoughts about using supermarket spuds as seed would be appreciated.

 

I don't no about using super market spuds as seed potatoes but I do remember reading in one o my books you shouldn't but I can't remember the reason why. Surely some one more experienced can help their with the pros and cons.
But in my local wilkos they have sacks of seed potatoes for £3.30 not sure of the weight but at a guess I'd say around the 2-3 kg mark.
Dan

 

The usual reason that 'supermarket' potatoes are not recommended is they cannot be certified virus-free, which is important for large scale growing in the open ground. Some of the potatoes sold in the greengrocers / supermarkets have been treated to prevent sprouting, so are not really suitable for use as 'seed'

Having said that, I grow a few supermarket spuds each season in large pots, generally with good results, but not a big crop of course. I always grow Charlotte and then try one or two other varieties that I like the taste of - pinching my 'seed' from the kitchen (when Mrs a-a is not looking!)

Last year I had Corolle (Co-op) and this year I am trying Apache (Tesco)

a-a

 

Interesting thread! One chap at our allotment always uses bought potatoes in sacs and uses them as seed potatoes with excellent results. He has done this for 5 years and his plot produces 30 full sacs a year.

I tried it last year and all 7 rows suffered from black rot and wire worm, probably the weather was the cause. Didnt keep any. They wete very large and plenty of them.

 

I've never bought seed tatties yet. We buy our spuds from a local farm (and before that, just the supermarket) and I save any that sprout before we get to use them. They are then my seedies.

Never had any major problems. Got black leg in a few last year but I put that down to the soggy conditions rather than anything that the spuds had brought in. The biggest problem I have with spuds is that the slugs always nibble a few.

 

Thanks for all your comments folks

I reckon it's Tesco then. At £1.00/kilo they are a far more economical buy than Marshalls @ £3.60/kilo and Suttons @ £4.50/kilo.