Growing Potato Roots

77 Comments

D2EA541C-E8D6-43CA-A3CA-3983EF82AEFA

OK so those that have followed me for a while know that I know how to cook and I can grow things in a garden right? Then why the heck is it I can’t get a potato to root in a glass of water? I thought, when I was a kid, we cut the potato in half first but when I read up on it you didn’t cut it at all.

 

6C3EDD4A-2E9E-4106-8305-D913D3C6A307

It said to pick a potato with the eyes, so that’s what I did. Then you stick toothpicks into the bottom third of the potato to keep it on top off a glass. Turn the potato eye side down on top of a glass. Fill the glass with water, changing every 3rd day, and in a few days it will start to make roots. After two weeks my husband said “When are you going to throw that potato away?” I didn’t want to because this was my teaching project for the grandkids. I proudly had them watch as I stuck the potato with toothpicks and told them we were going to grow potatoes. Every week my grandson wanted to see the roots. I kept saying “Be patient” however I now admit to defeat.

Have you ever succeeded in rooting a potato and what did I do wrong? I think I will stick to cooking!

http://www.InDianesKitchen.com

Categories: My Garden, Uncategorized

77 Comments »

  1. Regrettably, I sometimes don’t check the veg stacks properly and often come across the odd potato that’s sprouted roots! Like you though, I seem to recall cutting the potato when purposefully trying to get it to root as a child!

    Like

    Reply

    • What I read on line said to put it in a window with sunshine and that the roots would grow and then the stem pops out. Anyhow, I found out they are spraying the potatoes with a chemical inhibitor for sprouting. I always keep mine in the dark and they use to always sprout if I didn’t use them in time and they never do anymore. Now I know why…..ugh.

      Like

      Reply

  6. HI there. I’ve never grown roots on a white potato but this year I did succeed with a sweet potato. I cut it in half, stuck in the toothpicks, etc…It did take quite a while for any roots to appear and then even longer before there were any sprouts, but now I have two nice, leafy sprouted potatoes. One has been transplanted into soil and is still alive. The other is happily living in it’s glass jar with water. Your potato may well just need more time.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. This method only seemed to work for us, using sweet potatoes (Japanese Yams). It would grow a long line that’s nice to decorate indoors with too.

    To grow regular potatoes, though, we just cut one into 2 pieces, and throw them straight into the ground. No rooting beforehand needed.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. I don’t know, but I wonder if maybe your potato had been sprayed with something to keep it from sprouting. Perhaps try with an organic potato. Maybe 40 years ago (yikes!) I did that with a sweet potato in my first grade classroom. It was an amazing success with roots galore and beautiful leaves draping down the sides from the top. Not giving up and trying again with some changes would be a good lesson for your grandchild. I have seen the evidence of your green thumb so I am sure you attacked this project with confidence!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I thought so! I thought we cut them when I did this as a kid. I used tap water and our water is chlorinated really well. I will try my distilled water next time. Thank you so much Laurel!

      Like

      Reply

  11. I have absolutely no idea? I’ve heard sweet potatoes are easier to grow and the water level needs to stay level. I might have to try that with my granddaughters. I’ll let you know how it goes! C

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • People are saying the stores may be putting something on the potatoes to stop them from sprouting. Try an organic potato and maybe that will work better. Can’t wait to hear how you do Cheryl!!!!

      Like

      Reply

  12. that looks like an astrology project. 😁❤💛 I love you Diane, you’re one of my biggest supporters. keep up the good work.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. I was looking forward to a future post about a meal you cooked using potatoes you grew yourself. Don’t you deny me now! 😁

    Honestly I’m not in any way gifted at growing crops of any kind, but, as they say… ‘if at first you don’t succeed…’
    Only if you really want to of course. No pressure. 😁

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. Ohh I tried the same with garlic after looking at a dozen grow-garlic-easily-in-a -bottle posts, actually i tried 2 times and i failed miserably. I tried sowing the unpeeled garlic cloves directly in soil and succeeded 😁😁

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. I haven’t done this with a potato but I have sweet potatoes. Maybe you should try one of them. I have also noticed that sometimes potatoes I buy from the grocery store sprout like crazy and some times they don’t. I always wondered if it works better certain times of the year of is there is “something” on the potatoes to keep them from sprouting. One spring I cut potatoes from the grocery store and tried to grow them in the garden and they didn’t even sprout…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  21. Ha ha – I don’t remember doing that at all – but I grew up in Canada, maybe that’s why. I have rooted romaine lettuce from a stalk. Made it for my canary one year – messy in mid-Winter, but it worked and made little stalks with it – if the potato fails miserably, try that with your grandson and you can still be a hero. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. Oh my goodness – when I saw the first image in your post I had a flashback to Junior High and trying to grow things in the kitchen window just as pictured (I think I also tried an avocado seed.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  25. I’ve never tried the glass jar thing, but I’ve planted potatoes with sprouting eyes. I stick them in containers of soil outside and keep them watered. I’ve always ended up with plants and a harvest at the end of the season. I’ve read you should cut sprouting potatoes into chunks with 1-2 eyes/sprouts on each piece and plant them separately for more plants, but so far I just plant the whole potato. In theory, you should be able to cut your jar potato in half, as long as there are eyes in the water. Sometimes nature just doesn’t want to cooperate.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • We use potatoes pretty regular but before my blog I would have potatoes sprout all the time where I keep them under the sink. Threw many in the compost but in the past few years they don’t sprout. After I wrote this post, people were suggesting the stores do something to the potatoes to stop sprouting and sure enough they do! I Googled it and it said they spray a chemical (of course) on the potatoes to keep them from sprouting! I will have to try organic next time. I love the way you do it as that sounds so much easier. Thank you and have a great day!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • Of course they spray something on them– sigh. Hopefully organic will work better. Some varieties of potato might work better than others too (they might be more prone to sprouting). In any case, good luck!

        Liked by 1 person

  26. My brother had this project when we were little –
    And I read a few comments
    And think the potato was treated
    Also – I see some green in there – is that right?
    Well isn’t that from being under ripe –
    Hmmm
    Oh and years ago I grew purple potatoes and they were easy and gave me small amounts each summer

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  27. Pingback: Growing Potato Roots – CoffeeMamma

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.