This Gardener Figured Out How to Propagate Potatoes from Store-Bought Spuds

You can grow spuds in the garden—and it's surprisingly easy to learn how. This TikTok gardener will explain it all.

TikTok has schooled us on quite a bit, even teaching us things we didn’t even know we needed to know! You know, like how to properly clean dishwasher filters and the fastest way to hang up your clothes. It’s important stuff!

Now, if you’re a vegetable gardener that wants a ready supply of potatoes (who doesn’t?), TikTok has a trick for you. This is how to propagate potatoes the easy way.

How to Propagate Potatoes

This advice comes from TikTok gardener @rachel_loaf. It’s super simple, so even if you’re a vegetable gardening rookie, she’ll get you set on the right path. A path with an endless amount of potatoes!

The process is easier than you think. First, grab a potato that has started to sprout. Rach says you can either bury the entire potato as is, or you can cut the sprouts into individual pieces.

@rachel_loafReply to @stefsex it’s really easy I swear

♬ original sound – Rach

If you separate the sprouts, she recommends leaving them out to dry for a few days so they don’t start to mold. Rach planted her potatoes in normal soil with organic fertilizer and worm castings. Cover the sprouts with soil, water twice a day for a few months, and suddenly you’ll have so many potatoes, you won’t know what to do with them!

She ended up with about six pounds of potatoes.

@rachel_loafIf you’re a potato farmer please don’t lecture me about how I should’ve harvested these I’m learning ok?? #tipsandtricks #ecohacks #howto♬ Baby Elephant Walk – Henry Mancini

Find more raised bed garden tips from a pro.

Can I Plant Store-Bought Potatoes?

You can—and this TikTok gardener did. But typically, gardeners plant seed potatoes. The name is a bit misleading—potatoes don’t actually grow from seeds, but rather sprouts from an already grown and ripened potato. Because grocery store potatoes are often treated with growth inhibitors, they don’t often form natural sprouts. But it you have a sprouted potato in the pantry, go ahead and plant it!

In no time, you’ll have potatoes straight from the garden.

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Melany Love
Having always wanted a career in writing, Melany couldn't have found a better place than Taste of Home to begin. When she's not scribbling in her notebook or working at her computer, she can be found experimenting with new recipes or relaxing with a book and her cats.