"A tuber is never cut on our farm"

Jan Vermue

The moment a potato plant leaves the test tube it is subject to attack by pathogens, viruses, fungi and parasites.

This is why West Edmonton Seed Potatoes does not follow the traditional practice of cutting tubers into smaller pieces before planting them as seed.

While this practise has merit for production of table or chip potatoes, it is potentially dangerous for seed-potatoes because it breaches the potato's first defense against disease: its skin.

In addition, much of the energy that the tuber would otherwise put into growth is instead put into healing the wound. We find that uncut tubers emerge a week to 10 days earlier than cut tubers. Whole tubers also produce more stems than cut tubers which equal higher, uniform seed sets.

At West Edmonton Seed Potatoes you will not find the potato plant disease "Black leg" We attribute much of this to the fact that we do not cut our seed potatoes.