Potatoes sprouting while still growing??

[erinszoo]

Anyone ever have this happen to them? I planted red pontiac potatoes this year for the first time. Normally I grow Yukon golds but couldn't find any seed potato for them locally so I went with the red ones. So we planted them in containers like we normally do and they sprouted and grew just fine. This week some of the vines started to die back so we decided to harvest one of the containers of potatoes.

The vines were loaded with potatoes still growing on the roots, which was great, but almost every single one of them was starting to sprout as well! It was so bizarre and neither of us have ever seen anything like it.

Anyone know what would cause this to happen? Is this something that occurs with red potatoes? Or is it a soil condition? Or a temperature thing? I'm at a complete loss to why they would sprout while still attached to the roots.

I also have carrots that have gone to seed ... but I just planted them this spring and they aren't even ready for harvest. I quite often leave a few carrots to overwinter and then seed off the next year but I've never had them seed in their first year either. I'm just wondering if this is all because we've had such wacky weather this year.

 

[3forfree]

I can't help you on how the thing's grow but I planted 1 potato that had sprouted in a bag my wife had in the garage. I put it in a 5gal pail, and covered it with compost, when the leaves came up through the dirt I covered them and kept repeating this until the leaves and dirt reached the top of the pail. Today the leaves are about a foot above the rim of the pail and still going. Don't know when harvest time will be, I'll watch the leaves and let them tell me. It's been fun watching this thing grow. I did the same thing with some sprouting onions, I cut them up and where the sprouts were, took the roots and sprouts and planted them in a window box, and got some nice onions from it.

 

[erinszoo]

I know how to grow them just fine. However they are sprouting while growing. These are the new potatoes that are sprouting before they've even been harvested. I'll try to post a pic.

 

[Life is Good!]

Our red potatoes sprout while growing....if left in the ground, they'll produce a second smaller potato underneath the first (main) potato!
Or sometimes, they'll grow into something that looks like a 2-ball "snowman". Completely edible. Delicious, actually!

Can't speak about the carrots. Not sure about that one. Mine haven't ever gone to seed - consumed too quickly!

 

[erinszoo]

Thanks. Glad to know this is an aberration of red potatoes elsewhere too. Lol. I peeled and canned mine. Great taste.

 

[3forfree]

here's a pic of my potato pail