Germinating potatoes at the right moment

Germinating potato tubers before planting them helps increase growth of your young plants. It brings the harvest a few days or weeks earlier, and increases harvest size and quality.

This technique doesn’t apply to “pre-germinated” potatoes purchased in horticulture stores. Pre-germinated potatoes are already ready to plant.

Potato germination is applicable to:

• plants purchased ungerminated
• and potatoes harvested during the previous year.

How to germinate potatoes

This is the correct way to help your potatoes germinate before planting.

• Use a small crate or an egg carton.
• Line up the potatoes along the bottom, only a single layer.
• If a bud is already present, turn it so that it faces upwards.
• Expose the potatoes to the light in a dry, cool and well ventilated place.
• The ideal preservation temperature ranges between 40°F and 50°F (10°C to 15°C).
• Potatoes take around 4 to 6 weeks to germinate.

Using your own potato plants for germinating

It is perfectly possible to use the previous year’s potatoes to make them germinate.

• Pull them out about 4 weeks before the potato harvest.
• Choose potatoes that are not diseased and come from vigorous plants.
• Let them sit on the ground for a few days.
• Select those tubers that have resisted best, with no sign of rotting.
• Store them in a cool and ventilated space until the following year.
• Towards February-March, launch the germinating process as explained above.

A few weeks after they’ve begun to germinate, the soil should be averaging temperatures of around 55°F (12°C). It’s time to transfer them to the ground and grow your potatoes for a beautiful harvest!

• Here is a video on how to grow potato