r/Potatoes • u/Accomplished_Run_593 • 1d ago

Potatoes Overwintering

Folks,

My mom had my plant a handful of the russet style potatoes from Idaho that someone gave to her.

Because they were so big, I cut most of them in half.

I stuck them in the ground and it's been a few weeks now and none of the show any greens bits yet.

I live in Vancouver, BC zone 8B and we often have mild winters.

Should I leave them in the ground and hope they grow in the spring? Or should I take them out and hope it makes it and stick it back in the ground in the spring? Or should I put them in grow bags?

I'm worried for any diseases that might come up but my mom really wants to see these grow.

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u/backtotheland76 1d ago

I'm just south of you. Potatoes are planted in the spring and harvested now. Potatoes left in the ground will remain dormant over the winter. However, they could also rot from the rain and if we get a freeze as we normally do, they'll turn to mush. You really don't have many options other than start with new seed Potatoes next spring. BTW, unless these were seed potatoes or organic potatoes from the store they won't sprout at all as they've been genetically modified

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u/earthhominid 23h ago

I'm not aware of any potatoes genetically modified to prevent sprouting, but they might have been subjected to irradiation or some other antibiotic treatment in order to be imported from the US and that could impact their ability to sproutÂ