/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Grow potatoes from true seed.

Not 'seed potatoes' which are just small tubers. I mean seed from the fruit produced by the potato flowers.

Pic related, it's the fruit.

Tubers are basically clones of the plant. If the plant picks up a virus, the tuber is also effected. After a while the plant has several viruses and productivity drops.

By starting with true seed, you start with disease free stock.

The downside is that it takes two years to get a sizeable harvest.

The first year you plant the seed and treat it like a tomato seedling until you transplant it into the garden. After you transplant treat like any other potato. The first year you will only get a few small tubers.

BUT these potatoes are special. They will be a unique, new type of potato never seen before. Potatoes don't come true from seed, like apple trees. And they will be disease free. You will be able to grow them indefenately, re-planting them every year.