Potatoes and onions from seed?

[mickee311]

I have Gilroy potato seeds, and while it tells me to start indoors 1/4" deep, transfer 1 per s/f in spring, it doesn't give me any specifics. Do I just put them in the garden and let them grow? I ask because I've seen people on here talk about hills and all this, but they're using actual seed potatoes. How do I go about doing this? I've never seen anyone talk about potatos from an actual seed. These are little white seeds, I can't imagine how that would grow a bunch of full size taters.....

I also have Granex Yellow Onion seeds. I've never attempted onions before, do you do anything special to these? And since I've never really been able to get root veggies to grow well, will these be the same way? I mean, every time I try to grow carrots, they never grow, I end up pulling up the skinniest root that looks nothing like a carrot, just like a string. I might need help on that one as well....Turnips did almost the same thing. Root crops don't like me or my soil. Yeah, it really needs work, darn clay stuff. I'm going to try to figure out what kind of mix to put in there to make it a bit more compatible for root crops and not so packed. Last summer, the garden looked like the cracked floor of a desert it was so icky.

Boy, do I need help....

[jack]

Gidday

The only people who ever grow spuds from seeds down here are those who are trying to breed new varieties because they very rarely grow true from seed. I would do just what you were told and plant them in seed trays indoor then when the are gowing plant out and treat like any old spud.

The onions, I would have though you were a bit late for them from seed as they take 6 months to mature. Well the breeds we have down here anyway.

Your soil sounds like it needs heaps of organic matter added. Like straw and don't skimp on the amout. You don't need to dig it in but let your little livestock do the for you. I mean worms and all those things down in your soil that you caint see. So mulch as much as you can with good organic matter, as long as your plants can see the daylight out the top you caint put too much on.

[douglas]

When they talk about seed potatoes it means small potatoes with eyes or small shoots or a large potato that can be cut into small sections with eyes to plant. Not to sure how you would plant them inside and then plant them outdoors without disturbing the roots I normally plant them outdoors when the weather is warm enough for them to take.
As far as planting in hills you mix in lots and lots of good compost or aged manure where they will be planted. If they are firm or hard to squeeze and have no sign of shoots yet I would wait a bit longer for the warm weather to come and go from there

[jack]

Gidday

Hey Doug I think from how I read this that it is actually seed of potatoes and not seed potatoes. Therefore you would plant in a seed tray to get em started.

I think the hills would mean mounding up around the growng spuds. I always plant my spud straight into the soil and only just cover them. Then as they grow I mound the soil up around the plants which help keep more light out from the roots and allows more tubers to swell into spuds. It also keeps the weeds out too.

[TennOC]

Basically, it's the same as for potatoes grown from tuber-pieces. Plant in a row, wait for them to grow a bit, hill up some dirt around them. If you hill them, you'll get more potatoes since the stems are under more dirt.

[mickee311]

Jack--You were correct, these are actual little seeds, not seed potatoes. Sorry if I was misleading in my post.

Thanks for the advice!

[notherdigger]

Mickee I posted a site on the potato section of this forum yesterday which tells you in detail how the true seed potato is handled and pretty much all about it. Jack is correct in saying that they are for breeding new varieties and it takes two years to grow large potatoes. I was asking about them the other day cause I have Yukon Golds with the seed pods on them and Phil was good enough to explain some about them. However the site daughterofthesoil.blogspot.com/ will tell you all about how and why it is done. I am thinking about trying it myself. There is also a lot of other info about many other aspects of gardening as well that you may find informative. Good luck with the seeds, as a matter of fact at this late date how are they doing. Did you try to grow them. I would be interested to know.

[mickee311]

I tried to start them in my flats, they never grew. Same as last year. I don't get it. Oh well, next year I'll buy seed potatoes and grow them like that. The seeds thing is too much of a hassle. Especially next year, I'll have a newborn to take care of! I'll stick to what's easiest for me.