De-sprouting

If seed potatoes have formed an apical sprout during the storage period, this sprout will in most cases have to be removed to enable the tuber to grow more sprouts. Often, carefully shaking the seed potatoes or tipping them on to another container will already suffice to damage or remove the apical sprouts. If seed potatoes are stored for a long time at a low temperature they will skip the apical-sprout stage and there will hence be no need to
                                       desprout them.

The pre-sprouting procedure starts with the filling of the pre-sprouting trays. The filling machine is set so that the seed potatoes are spaced wide apart in the trays. There must not be too many tubers in each tray.

The trays are loosely stacked.This ensures sufficient ventilation and sufficient light at a later stage, when the potatoes are hardened off. Dutch seed potato growers allow their seed to sprout in the dark and then harden it off in the light. Besides pre-sprouting trays, suspended bags are also used.