how do you start a potato plant from an old potato that you might otherwise chuck?

Question

it has hardly started to wrinkle. heard of bonsai potato? how can i get it to sprout?

well i do not want the plant to bear potatoes. i just want a potato with interesting sprouts and for that to be the plant.

Answer 1

cut out what they cal the eye and plant it but if it's a boughten potato don't expect much as they spray them to not germinate

Answer 2

You don't want to try growing potatoes until there is no longer any danger of frost in your area. Quite often commercial potatoes don't sprout because they've been sprayed, but that's certainly not always true.

If the potato has "eyes", in other words is beginning to sprout, cut it into sections. I usually use a piece of newspaper for this. I normally cut it into quarters. Then let the cut potato dry until the newly cut parts are no long wet.

People used to plant potatoes in hills. They'd dig up the soil, make sure it was all good and loose, then put the piece of potato in a shallow hole, maybe 4" deep and pull up the soil around it so that there was a little mound, or hill. You need the loose soil for the new potatoes to develop in. Now days, a lot of people do dig up the soil and cover the potato with just a few inches of loose dirt, then cover the potato with loose straw. This method is much easier for harvesting the potatoes. It makes it particularly easy to reach into the straw and pull out some of the tiny "new potatoes" which go for a lot in the grocery stores.

It's important to keep the developing potatoes well covered at all times because they're light sensitive and will turn green and become inedible if exposed to direct sun. In about a month you'll have new potatoes and in the fall, after the plant has died down, you can dig up the big potatoes.

Answer 3

Witchy Woman told you right.
Doing what she said will allow the potato to sprout until the life in the potato completely grows into sprouts.
Upon doing that, the potato will have completely shriveled and there will be nothing left to sprout.
If the sprouts are transplanted to Earth, they will most likely eventually grow pototoes.
If you don't want to grow potatoes, don't plant the sprouts in Earth.
They will eventually shrivel and die.

Answer 4

Leave it in the light until it sprouts. Then plant it in earth/compost. When leaves have started to die back, dig it out and you should have some fresh potato

Answer 5

give it time to sprout some eyes and then take the potato and slice it so you have at least one eye per cut and plant it eye up.

Answer 6

Potatoes with eyes will grow but do not eat they will be poisonous. Seed potatoes are grown specially for cultivating. Good luck with your plants.

Answer 7

I would stick toothpicks in the sides to hold it up in a glass of water. Let some of the potato hang in the water. I would say maybe half in the water. The toothpicks wont hurt it and will keep it from falling all the way down in the glass of water. Change the water maybe every three days. )O(

Answer 8

it should start growing eyes and then quarter it up and plant it it should start growing