Seed potatoes are not actually seeds. Potatoes do not have seeds. They are actually specially grown miniature tubers that have been grown in controlled conditions to minimize the chance of disease. You should try to buy certified disease-free seed potatoes when possible.
Seed potatoes should be presprouted. Simply place the seed potatoes in a shallow tray and put the tray into a warm, sunny spot. Then spray them with some water or liquid seaweed. It should be about two weeks before sprouts form. When they are about an inch tall, you can plant them.
In order to get the best yield from your potato plants, you need to make sure that the stems grow to a good length. Hilling is traditionally used to aid in elongating the stems. In hilling, you plant your potato sprouts in a trench, gradually filling the trench with more soil as the stems grow. You can easily do this in your containers.
Visit us again for Part 3 of Growing Potatoes in Containers
