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RE: Getting ready to plant potatoes! And some thoughts on true potato seeds.
Old timers practice I've heard about in the villages in our country. Leave a few plants to go to seed and dry. Bury the "seed pods" in a marked spot. Next year come fall, dig out tiny potatoes that grow out of the seeds. Plant those the year after that.
Never tried that myself, however :)
But it begs the question, if a potato is pollinated by a potato of the same variety, how much more different the offspring could be?
Hey thanks for sharing that old timers practice. That sounds like a simple approach!
I need to do more research but from what I understand heirloom potatoes can cross pollinate and so crossing would allow more genetics to express themselves. I am growing seeds from a handful of varieties that are already crossed, but I imagine if it is even the same variety there would be some interesting expression possible that you would never get from clones. Maybe your old timers' seeds are a land race that was never bottle necked?