In the True seed producers thread, I hoped to discover if Adirondack Red could make seed. In the end and with @julia.dakin 's encouragement, I decided to just grow out the tubers I’ve got.
Here’s where things get more interesting. Our cats recently destroyed (by knocking over) an indoor plant that my wife has had for seven years. I had planted some corn (teosinte-crossed and non), beans (Cherokee black and borlotto), and Cherokee candy roaster in there. This was an experiment and to get a head start on next season’s shaded polyculture corn growing.
As an aside, I was really impressed by the burgeoning root system on the teosinte-crossed corn. I was able to clearly see it before depositing the remains of our plant in the compost.
This incident led understandably to an indoor planting moratorium 
. I had planned on doing a lot more, and found myself suddenly needing to apply self-regulation and to accept feedback.
I wanted to plant the potatoes and have a go at getting seed, as they were grown locally and we really like the variety. We have never grown potatoes. Potatoes are, to the best of my novice’s understanding, frost-tender but shade-tolerant. I will admit to putting one out in the garden in a rodent-dug hole - - because why not? I’ve got more than I can reasonably plant, it might survive, and if the rodents don’t like potato, maybe it’ll help encroach on their garden living situation enough to encourage them to leave.
(As another aside, that potato vanished without a trace. The market turnip that accompanied it was mostly and visibly devoured.)
So I have these potatoes which are actually growing really well just inside a paper bag, but I assume that even if they can make seed, they’re unlikely to do so while operating on battery-only.
I guess. I should maybe leave a few to find out.
I filled a pot with compost and put two tubers in it. I know you’re not “supposed to” use pure compost as a growing medium, but we’ve been experimenting 
. I hate to buy trucked in soil from parts unknown, I don’t have much native soil just lying around, and on our place digging requires a lot of justification. Besides, it’s possible I’ll end up trying to breed a potato landrace that thrives in unfinished compost.
To these potatoes I added a number of budding ginger rhizomes from the grocery and seven winter rye seeds.
Then I put the planter in our unfinished unheated mudroom, where felines are not allowed:
The ginger of course stands an even slimmer chance than the potato of surviving and making seed.
Since this time, all the rye has germinated and continued growing. The ginger buds, if alive, haven’t managed to grow enough to break the surface. Perhaps a week ago I put some hopniss in there to keep the taters company and assist the rye in teaching them to be big strong taters that can handle a freeze. I’ve also added a number of seeds of things that are cold and shade tolerant or that I wish were cold and shade tolerant, and that I think would do well with the potatoes in that particular compost. Including a stem that broke off one of the other taters. Will it grow another potato? A cursory internet search suggests no.
I’ve also added a little more rye and four or so seeds from the tater grex.
Here they are again, about two and a half weeks after the initial planting:
You can see the potato stems have grown wider and longer and are starting to green up and leaf out. The rye shows signs of stress but is hanging on.
The compost that went in the planter was damp if not soaked. I haven’t watered it but I added a fresh layer of damp compost over the hopniss, radish, pepper, bitter melon, etc. This meant effectively a small hilling for the taters and rye. That was probably less than a week ago.
I’ve not grown potatoes before but they seem like the happiest thing in there. I found signs of aborted growth along the stems early on but not much new since then. I don’t have an easy way to check temp in that room but it is not much warmer than outside and we’ve had a lot of freezes. Recently it’s pretty balmy for January though. A couple times after cold nights I’ve gone out in the morning and seen some kind of liquid that has oozed from the stems. I don’t know if this is normal for potatoes or a sign of stress.
Anyway, if any experienced tater growers can help me discern signs of tater contentment and sadness, I’d appreciate it. I’m trying to toe the line between being completely hands-off with these plants and coddling them a bit in hopes of getting seed for the coming growing season. I also remember reading or hearing cautionary advice from @Lauren about trying to push a plant population along too many dimensions in a single season. So mistake or not, as long as I don’t find myself obsessing over this project, I’m probably willing to look out for these plants a little more than usual.
but hopefully they will produce more tubers, that you can plant those in June, and maybe have better luck.
