Can You Plant Sprouted Potatoes From the Grocery Store?

Potatoes can last a couple of weeks, but eventually, they’ll sprout if you don’t eat them. Most people end up tossing them in the trash. But if you’re a gardener like me, you’ve probably wondered if you can grow them.

These staple vegetables are easy to grow, even for novice gardeners. All you need is enough soil, water, and sunlight to get them to thrive. You’ll also need tubers that have sprouted, known as seed potatoes. Once you plant them, they’ll grow into new tuber-bearing plants. 

Grocery Store Potatoes May Contain Diseases 

Diseases hide in many vegetables, especially potatoes. When you see these delicious tubers in the store, you won’t know which ones carry diseases. Sometimes, you can spot the signs of disease, while other times, garden-killing pathogens may be lying in plain sight. 

The most common disease is called common scab. This disease appears on the skin as dark, raised spots that have the texture of a wine cork. Although it’s not fatal to your plants, it can spread to other plants in your garden, especially other root vegetables. 

Another common disease is Phytophthora, also known as late blight. This common pathogen is what led to the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-19th century. Unlike scab, late blight can devastate the plants in your garden. 

Store-Bought Tubers May Be Treated With Chemicals

You may not realize it, but store-bought potatoes can be treated with high amounts of toxic chemicals. The most common are pesticides, such as chlorpropham. Other chemicals include sprays like imidacloprid, which harm bees and other beneficial insects. 

Many industrial sprays and fungicides are known carcinogens. Industrial growers use them heavily on their fields to protect their crops and profits. Unfortunately, many of these dangerous chemicals are still on them when they reach the store. 

If you plant store-bought spuds in your garden, you’re introducing these chemicals to the soil. You may avoid this by choosing only certified organic tubers, but it’s better to buy certified seed potatoes just in case. 

Industrial Varieties May Not Even Grow

If you see sprouts growing from your store-bought tubers, it’s a good sign that they haven’t been sprayed with sprout inhibitors. After harvesting, some industrial potato farmers treat their tubers with chemicals to stop them from producing sprouts. 

This process increases their shelf life. It also affects the health of the tubers by chemically altering their natural growth cycle. The practice is most common with large industrial growers. 

If you plant these tubers in your garden, they simply won’t grow. You’ll also be exposing your garden to chemicals and diseases. So if you don’t see sprouts, cook them or throw them away. 

Market Tubers Don’t Look Their Age

Because they’re treated with chemicals, store-bought varieties may be older and less healthy than they look. This is called physiological age and it can greatly impact the quality of crops you get from a sprouted seed. 

Chronological age measures the exact days the plant has been alive. Physiological age is the age of the potato genetically. It’s the result of storage conditions, genetics, and stress from harvesting. 

Industrial potatoes undergo a lot of stress and genetic modification. This speeds up their internal aging and makes their plant tissues a lot weaker than certified seed potatoes. 

When you plant these stressed-out industrial varieties in the ground, they’ll grow more stems and smaller spuds. Instead of getting large, flavorful crops, you’ll be left with small and almost unusable tubers. 

Seed Potatoes Are Disease-Free

Unlike potatoes from the grocery store, planting certified seed potatoes ensures your crop is disease-free. During the growing season, certified inspectors examine tubers meant for horticulture instead of consumption. They check them thoroughly for diseases and pests, knowing how essential it is that no diseases get through. 

The inspectors usually make two or more inspections in seed fields. If a seed potato crop shows any signs of diseases, they’re either treated or destroyed. Inspectors also look for disease tolerance and varietal purity. 

Even before harvest, the inspectors thoroughly comb the storage facilities and equipment to catch every threat. Once the spuds pass the rigorous tests, they receive their disease-free certifications. 

Younger Tubers Produce Stronger Plants

As mentioned before, you never know the physiological age of store-bought varieties. Older tubers undergo a lot more stress from the time they’re harvested to the time they end up on the shelves. 

However, certified seed potatoes sold by reputable sources will always be physiologically young. Their stress-free life encourages healthy apical dominance. This is when one large and healthy stem takes over the rest. 

Young, apically dominant seeds grow stronger, producing larger and more flavorful potatoes. When you harvest them, you’ll see and taste the difference. 

You’ll Have More Choices With Certified Seed Potatoes

Although you can technically grow sprouted potatoes from the grocery store, why would you do so when you have so many other choices? There are over 4,000 varieties of potatoes, mostly grown in the high altitudes of the Peruvian Andes. 

In the U.S., you can still find hundreds of varieties if you look. Grow these amazing varieties and enjoy their abundant flavors, sizes, and colors. 

Buy From a Reputable Seller

As always, buy your seed potatoes from reputable sources. There are a lot of choices, either online or at your local nursery. 

If you want to grow potatoes from their actual seeds (instead of the tubers themselves), look for certified seeds such as these Clancy potato seeds. These and tuber seed from reputable sources have been thoroughly inspected for diseases. You know for certain that planting them in your garden is safe. 

Check reviews from other gardeners if you’re shopping online. If you’re shopping at your local nursery, try looking at the seed and its packaging to see any damage. Remember, you always deserve the best seeds for your garden. 

Continue Propagating Healthy Seeds

Sure, certified seeds are more expensive. But after you plant and harvest your crops, you can keep propagating them at home. 

You’ll get delicious seeds as soon as they sprout. And you’ll have control over their physiological age by controlling their growing conditions yourself. You’ll know exactly what you’re growing and how tasty the spuds going to be.