Don't Plant Those Grocery Store Potatoes!

Alaska has a unique skill set when it comes to potatoes - we are very resistant to blight!  The theories on why we have such resistance are as varied and diverse as there are varieties of spud.  One of the theories is that we have developed a few types of the tuberous nightshades here locally, so they have not been exposed to the blight, and another theory holds that our farmers are so careful and when they do suspect blight they destroy the plants and all other plants within at least 100 feet of the blighted plant thus keeping it from spreading to friends and neighbors.  We also don't plant grocery store potatoes.

Lately, it seems that everyone wants to grow things, garden and go back to the basics of sustainable living.  This is a great thing!  Grow on!  One of Alaskas best selling sweatshirt designs is the "Alaska Grown" logo shirts - Alaska loves to grow!  The only problem is that we have taken Agricultural education out of our school cirriculums to the point that our every day people don't know that if you plant grocery store potatoes, you risk bringing in the blight and spreading it far and wide.  Not everyone now knows that when your plants wilt and turn black they may have blight and you need to act fast to keep it from spreading.  They also don't know that the grocery store potatoes are often 6th and 7th generation produce and they won't produce a lot of baby potatoes.  The great seed potatoes are 1st and second generation potatoes.  It is those potatoes that produce pounds of spuds per plant and keeps encouraging us to keep working hard for the golden glow of potatoe on the table!


It is very disappointing for a new gardener to spend time and effort growing potatoes and getting only a few to show for their efforts.  Chances are they wont grow those any more.  It is also a stressful event for a new gardener to know that their plants are sick and not know that it is blight or what to do about it.  Blight is what caused the Irish Potatoe Famine in 1845 causing widespread starvation in that country and forever changing the way the Irish look at food and the source of that food.  It also made other countries take notice of these things and how they work together to form a healthy food chain with healthy plants.  Lots of new research came from that incident as well as a healthy respect for diversification of the food supply chain.

A friend brought this up just today.  She thought it was wonderful that she could get so many varieties of potatoe to plant at the grocery store.  Luckily, she had two farmers in the room (including myself), to help set her straight, but it really brought home the lack of Ag education we are giving people, while expecting them to try to be self sustaining!  We need to bring back this education and make it easily available to everyone and especially to our kids.  Let them know where their food comes from and how to keep it healthy.   Now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Monsanto that second gen seed still falls under patent protection, it is more important than ever to keep teaching people how to grow things and save seed and protect the plants from disease!

You can get certified seed potatoe in a number of places, usually at your local greenhouse supply store, and sometimes from your local farmer as well.  Make sure you are getting certified seed potaoes.  It should specify it on the packaging.  Check with your Cooperative Extension Service or your Department of Ag as well for sources that are safe for your area.

Stay tuned for a cool ag project we are going to try at the High School where I work.  We will be planting potatoes and then the culinary arts students will be harvesting and using them next school year.  I will be posting about that as we go - stay tuned and teach people to grow!