HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY IRISH POTATO TUBERS/SEEDS FROM IRISH

POTATO 🥔
PEELINGS.

STAGE 1: VARIETY SELECTION.

✓Choose healthy potato specimens for growing potatoes from eyes.

Eliminate any potatoes with mold, soft areas or green skin. Set out a thick
pile of newspapers to peel the potatoes on.It is recommended that you
retain at least 1/2 inch of potato flesh with each piece of skin as you peel
the potatoes with a sharp knife. Include at least two eyes on each peel for
growing potatoes from eyes.
Warning:We don't recommend peeling potatoes using a potato peeler
because it will comprise with the thickness of the peels.Using a potato
peeler will result in producing very thin peels which will make it difficult
for the peels to gain momentum.

✓As an upcoming or already experienced Irish potato farmer it's very

important to choose or select the variety of Irish potatoes 🥔
you want to
go with in your farming business.This is so important because the variety
you choose can either make you handsome profits or land you in
losses.Therefore always make sure that you choose/buy healthy potatoes
without bruises.

✓One rule of thumb for Irish potatoes is that the bigger the seed/tuber
potato the bigger the potatoes at the time of harvesting and the smaller
the seeds/tubers the smaller the potatoes at the time of harvesting.

✓Potatoes are an interesting vegetable. The potato, tomato, pepper and

eggplants are all members of the Solanaceae family but the potato is
quite different as it is the only Solanaceous crop for which the edible
portion is an underground part. The scientific name of the potato is
Solanum tuberosum, so named because it is botanically a tuber, a swollen
enlarged underground stem, and not a root.

✓Potatoes are propagated from vegetative structures called “seed

potatoes” rather than from true seeds harvested from floral structures.
True potato seed are tiny, rare, difficult to mature and are used as
breeding material for the development of new varieties.

✓To make your own seed potatoes select healthy, non-diseased, firm and
clean tubers.

✓Avoid using bruised and dirty potatoes

(Dirty as in been unwashed) for seed preparation.

✓In an event where you have unbruised but dirty potatoes (Dirty as in
been unwashed) you just have to wash them in clean water gently used
softly using a form(More like a mattress or cushion form).

STAGE 2: PEELING OF THE POTATOES USING A CLEAN KNIFE 🔪.

Note:A knife🔪 or knives that will be used for peeling potatoes must be
soaked in a small dish or bucket of chlorinated water for atleast 10
minutes before the peeling process starts so that sterilisation can take
place.

HINT:The kitchen is full of nasties such as bacterias, viruses, pathogens

and monocytogenes.These microscopic orgasms run rampant on unclean
cutting surfaces and unsanitized kitchen utensils. However, these
potentially deadly bacteria have a common enemy: household bleach and
chlorine. Sanitizing your kitchen knives in bleach or chlorinated water
before start peeling the potatoes with the motive of making seeds from
peels will guarantee you healthy, vibrant and strong peels which when
planted will give you a 100% gemination record.

Always remember that peeling potatoes with the motive of using peels as
seeds is too different with just peeling potatoes whose peelings are not
intended to be used as seeds.

✓Before you start peeling,make sure you prepare either a reed mat
(Impasa or ubutanda as locally called in Zambia),a box or a mat of
newspapers so that that's where the potato peelings can be landing at.

Warning:Avoid using plastic bags as a landing point for peelings so as to

avoid chance of spreading diseases.When all is done you can commence
with the peeling process.

✓When it comes to growing potatoes, the eyes are the engine rooms of
potato seeds.Without these eyes no potato or potato peeling can
germinate.Each of the little dormant buds on the potato skin is a potential
sprout. The majority of commercial potato crops are produced not by
planting seed, but by planting potato pieces with eyes.

✓You can plant any peeling of a potato that contains at least one eye to
grow potatoes from eyes. In fact, potato sets consist of nothing more
than one potato eye attached to a small plug of potato. A thick potato
peel with one or two eyes is a much better bet.

STAGE 3:CURING THE PEELINGS.

✓After you're done with the peeling kindly dust the Peelings With Sulphur
Powder.

✓Dust the potato peelings with sulphur powder to prevent rotting.

✓After dusting the peelings place them on a fresh and dry mat of
newspapers or place them on a dry reed mat and or a dry box. Leave the
peels dry room with no direct sunlight for at least 24 hours only.
✓This is known as the curing period.The curing period helps the potato
skins retain moisture, giving the cut surfaces time to dry and "scab over,"
or turn leathery. This means that the peelings will lose a bit of moisture in
the short term, but they'll acquire total protection from either drying out or
rotting once they're planted.

Note: Sulphur powder is available in all agro shops however,in an event

whereby your nearest agro shop runs short of sulphur powder you can use
ash.This ash should be from either wood,maize cobs,papers,dry grass,
sawdusts or boxes.Avoid using the ashes from plastics,clothes(Some
clothes release chemicals).

STAGE6 : POTATO PEELINGS TREATMENT

Warning:(This should immediately follow the next day after curing your
potato peels.Dont skip a day.For example,If your potato peelings were
cured on the 12th of July it means that your potato peelings must be
treated on the 13th of July.After treating them the following day meaning
the 14th the peelings must be planted in the soil and watered)Take this
warning as serious as possible.

✓After the curing process is done don't go and plant.The peelings have to
be treated with a special liquid in the form of spraying.

✓This liquid will prepare your peelings to be disease resistant and this will
also protect their roots after germination from being eaten by soil insects.

✓In short seed treatment will prevent your potatoes from withering
(drying before harvesting as a result of soil bacterias eating the roots).

✓The following are some of the most effective potato seed treatment
chemicals available in all the agro shops across all our 10 provinces in
Zambia.

1.VIBRANCE® PREMIUM
2.CruiserMaxx® Potato

3.MonCoat-MZ Gowan

4.CELEST 100 FS

5.And many others(Should you find that any of these potato seed
treatments are not stocked ask the agronomist of any potato seed
treatment agent which might be available).

STAGE5:METHODOLOGY OF POTATO PEELING TREATMENT

Required Equipment:A Plastic/metal tub.

1.Mix any of the treatment agents listed on stage 6.Choose any one
among those listed on stage 6.

2.Dip the potato peelings in the mixture for 10 min.

3.The mixture once mixed with potatoes means that your potato seeds
have now been treated and now you can have a peaceful sleep and now
you're ready to plant the peelings.Now they'll be disease resistant and
they'll not wither or attacked by any soil insects.

Note:Use only recommended dose of seed treatments as per instructions

on the label of the bottle.

WARNING:Reduced dosage may not serve the purpose.Always remember

to wash your hands with clean water and soap after seed treatment is
done.

HINT3:Use a pressure sprayer or a spray bottle because it's very

affordable and works perfectly as well.

WARNING: Avoid using brooms as a sprayer by dipping a broom in the

solution.Brooms don't spray perfectly and they are a breeding ground for
bacterias.