Are sprouty potatoes poisonous or not?

[wolfhound]

If you cut off all the sprouty bits, is it still okay to use them? Or am I poisoning my family?

I'm a committed 'just cut the green/sprouty bits off' type of person, and none of us have ever died yet :)

we have been cutting off the sprouty bits for years - no poisoning yet. Make sure you cut out all the green bits.

Oh yes, I definitely cut off the sprouty/green/mouldy bits and I'm still alive (last time I checked )

Our potatoes are always spouting towards the end of the week dipite being kept in a dark bag [anger] ) so have no choice but to cut and we've never been ill

Excellent. DH expressed fears that we were being poisoned. I can now tell him that if so, we're not alone. Thanks!

nah, i used to sell jacket potatoes in a shopping centre food hall, so i'm an expert we used to do it all the time

Last year I took some of the worst offender green/sprouty/wrinkly spuds (that really were past using), planted them in a big tub with some compost and, a few months later, had several pounds of lovely baby news, fresh as anything :)

oh good idea Chil1234, the kids would like that. What time of year did you plant them? (I know nothing about gardening)

I think now's a good time to plant them. Lots of http://www.self-sufficient.co.uk/Grow-Potatoes-in-Containers.htm tips on how to grow spuds at home available online.... most important thing is that they are in a nice big pot with plenty of drainage (or they go rotten) and that you keep them well watered.

I'll try that again. Growing potatoes in containers

Now's a great time to grow potatoes in time for a crop late summer. Plant them in about 10cm of earth, with the 'sproutiest' bit upwards. When the plant gets about 20cm tall you need to heap the earth up around it as much as you can, to avoid light getting to the potatoes as they grow, or they will get green and poisonous.

Yes, green potatoes are poisonous, but I've always just cut those bits off. I've never known anyone who has died from eating a green potato

Do they have to be in a pot? Can I put them in the 'vegetable bed' (a pond that we've filled in and called a vegetable bed, but is still sadly lacking vegetables).

Yep, put them in the ground. Same rules apply :)

Good Friday is the traditional day for planting spuds.

Although it's not the law or anything.

Potatoes are great for breaking up the soil in new beds too.

I did not know that, Quenelle. Every day's a school day

I did mine on Sunday

I don't use them as I thought that when they were sprouting or going green the entire potato contained something called solanidine or something, that could make you ill.

I cut off green bits but chuck the sprouters...I heard once you could grow them but wasn't sure! Is it carrots you can't grow from their top?

You can grow lush green carrot tops from carrot tops.... but they will never be a carrot again. :)

Don't plant the ones that you get from the supermarket! If you are planting please buy them from the garden centre or ones that are packaged as grow your own - it prevents disease (in your garden, not in humans)

i find buying 'mucky' potatoes means they last longer too. i always request them in my veg box or buy from the market. My dad has an allotment now so hopefully i will have lots of mucky potatoes for years to come!