Seed Potato Parts

[Pavel314]

I planted my potatoes yesterday; I'm in Maryland a bit north of Baltimore. While I was siutting at the kitchen table, cutting the seed potatoes into segments where appropriate, I wondered if there was a name for the part of a seed potato you put into the ground. That is, if I cut a large seed potato into two parts for planting, do I have two sets or plugs or potatoettes? Or do I just end up with two seed potatoes?

Which led to my next question. I'm only planting 20 pounds so I can spend a little while at the kitchen table cutting them into segments for the most efficient planting. What about the guy who's planting 100 acres of potatoes? I can't imagine him and his wife and the kids carving up seed potatoes night after night. I suppose that commercial growers use rather small potatoes for seed, many a maximum diameter of an inch or so, and plant them mechanically. Or maybe they just cut a whole bunch of seed potatoes mechanically, figuring that statistically enough will end up with eyes that they'll grow when planted. Anyone know?

Fortunately, I finished my task before I came up with any more wierd potato questions.

Paul

[Bill who putters]

We used to cut our seed potatoes and let them heal or scarify . May be using the wrong word.

Here is a video on one way.

[rossr35253]

Your last sentence is correct, at least it was way back when. Between 1947 and '50, I worked week-ends and after school for a farmer who grew many hundreds of acres of potatoes. One of my jobs in the spring was cutting seed potatoes but it wasn't by hand per se. My job was putting potatoes in a series of about 6 cups in a row across on an endless chain conveyor belt. The chain would move forward, stop, a row of + shaped knives would drop and cut each potato into four pieces then the chain would move forward again until the next set of cups would stop under the knives. At the speed you had to work to keep the cups filled, there was no consideration given to getting eyes in each piece. Today, many large growers employ more high-tech methods such as high pressure water jets or lasers for cutting seed potatoes.

Ross. Southern Ontario, Canada. AgCanada Zone 5b

43º 17' 26.75" North 80º 13' 29.46" West

[Pavel314]

Very interesting, thanks for posting. So it appears that enough segments end up with eyes to make this a viable method.

Did you have a specific word to describe the segments after cutting?

Paul

[rossr35253]

It was a long time ago but I seem to remember them only being refereed to as 'seed pieces'.

[Marq]

[e-mail] wrote in news:f5ueq5d7j88e1jama7pvr8uqvr61umq3q6@

4ax.com:

commercial

statistically

Maybe today they would be called 'wedges'

[Doug]

In the seed catalogs I see them called sets. -Doug

[Marq]

Doug wrote in news:VtKdndQkZbfCIjPWnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

commercial

statistically

As in badger sets? The OP asked about cutting the potatoes into peices not what the potato is called as a whole tuber DUH???

[Bill who putters]

[Marq]

Your point is what?

Marq