Doku,

I live at the opposite end of the state from you, so I can't give you names of specific locations but, in general, seed potatoes are available right now at full-line nurseries, feed stores/farm supply stores, and at big box stores like Home Depot, Lowe's and Wal-Mart. I have seen seed potatoes at Tractor Supply, Orschlein's feed store, and smaller mom-and-pop type local feed stores for the last couple of weeks now. Down here in southern OK/northcentral Texas, Lowes and Wal-Mart have had seed potatoes in the garden center section since mid-January. In some nurseries or feed stores, you may find them in bulk, where you just fill up a bag with as many as you want. In big box stores, they usually are available in little cellophane bags just like flower bulbs, asparagus roots and the like and there's probably betwen 6 and 10 potatoes (just a guess, I didn't count them) in those cellophane bags, depending on how large or small they are.

Dawn

Doku, My local Atwoods store have them. I don't

know if you have an Atwoods inTulsa or not.

caroline

I buy them at Atwoods, but I've also seen them at the Lowe's in Owasso. I figure all Lowe's have them.

cool beans! thanks folks. :) any recommendations on types to get? i've had some yukon gold's that someone grew & were selling at a road stand.. they were the most disgusting potatoes i'd ever eaten.. i wonder what they did wrong. lol but i've been watching videos on youtube on how to grow potatoes, so i'm pretty sure i'll be okay. :) just need to figure out what types to get! :)

You're pretty much restricted to what they have, and it isn't like they'll have very many different kinds.

Most stores will offer only 1 or 2 red-skinned potatoes and 1 or 2 brown-skinned potatoes. You're likely to see something like Red Norland, Red Pontiac or Red LaSoda, and then maybe Kennebec or Irish Cobbler or a Russett type or Yukon Gold.

I go to great lengths to obtain a larger variety of potato and that includes driving all over northcentral Texas, which is close to me and has better shopping opportunities than rural southern OK. I start actively searching for potato varieties in November and purchase most of mine in Nov. and Dec. and put them in the cellar to hold at the cooler temps there.

At places like Lowe's or Home Depot or Wal-mart, you'll sometimes find one of the blue or purple ones like Viking Purple or All-Blue or Blue Adirondack.

If you have access to a 'gourmet' supermarket like Whole Foods or Central Market or Wild Oats, you will find other varieties sold as eating potatoes and you can use those as seed potatoes, but they aren't treated with fungicides and aren't certified disease-free. At one Central Market, I have found seed potatoes sold in the produce section this year, but that's a first (and I hope it is the beginning of a trend). Some Wal-Mart stores carry fingerling potatoes in the produce section and you can grow from those, but if they aren't organic, you may have trouble getting them to sprout.

The varieties recommended by OSU for Oklahoma are included on the linked list. Any potato I've ever planted here has done about as well as the ones on the list though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Recommended Veggie Varieties for OK

Thanks Dawn! I really appreciate all the info! :)

Yes, I have a Whole Foods near me. I'll go look there, as well as the other recommended places.

How about growing sweet potatoes? I saw a bunch from Sand Hill Preservation that I'd like to try sometime. :D

Doku,

You're welcome.

Sweet potatoes grow very well here but you have to wait for it to get really, really, really warm.

There's a great selection of heirloom sweet potatoes available from Sandhill Preservation. We also have a local, Oklahoma grower---Gary at Duck Creek Farms in northeastern OK who raises over 100 heirloom varieties of sweet potatoes. He has posted here occasionally the last few years, but isn't on the forum a lot in the late winter and early spring because he's so busy planting. I believe he sells sweet potato slips but probably not until May.

I think that the Duck Creek Farm sweet potatoes probably would be available for purchase earlier than those from Sandhill, plus I think it is important for us to encourage our own local heirloom growers and help them grow their businesses.

Sweet potatoes, along with okra and southern (black-eye, purple hull, crowder, cream and zipper) peas, demand hot weather and warm soil, so we normally don't plant sweet potatoes until our soil temperatures are at least 60 degrees at planting depth, and 70 degrees is even better. I usually plant sweet potatoes in May or June, depending on how early it gets really warm and STAYS warm.

So, let me go start an heirloom sweet potato thread and let's see if Gary (or any other local growers/sellers of sweet potatoes) answers to tell us if he or they will be selling heirloom sweet potato slips this spring. As far as Sandhill Preservation Center, I can't remember if Glenn publishes his approximate shipping dates in his catalog or website, but it is always sort of late since he's in Iowa.

After I start the new thread, give Gary a day or two or three to see it and respond. This is the busy season for everyone involved in horticulture. And, I hope everyone understands I am NOT trying to steer anyone away from ordering from Sandhill, but just think we ought to support local growers too.

Dawn