Pre-sprouting

Pre-sprouting is one of the ways in which the potato grower can favourably influence the growth of his crop.

This edition of Professional Potato Growing discusses among others the reasons for presprouting, the physiological development of the tuber and storage conditions such as temperature, relative humidity and light.

1. Why pre-sprouting? Rapid emergence, fast initial growth and a homogeneous development of the crop are important conditions for obtaining optimum yields.   3. Storage conditions Pre-sprouting involves many decisions and operations.   5. Heat shock If necessary, the tuber's dormancy can be broken by means of heat shock.   7. Sprouting methods In the Netherlands, daylight glasshouses are also used for hardening off seed potatoes. Tubers can also be hardened off with the aid of artificial light. Ususally firmer sprouts will be formed outdoors.

2. Physiological development Immediately after harvest, the tubers ar dormant for a while.   4. De-sprouting If seed potatoes have formed an apical sprout, this sprout will in most cases have to be removed to enable the tuber to grow more sprouts.    6. Sprouting The seed's temperature is raised from 18 to 20°C in steps of about 1 to 2 degrees a day.   8. Summary The desirability of presprouting and the methods to be used will depend on the location and the purpose for which the crop is intended.

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