A summary of all the advantages

It is important to consider how to deal with apical dominance.
With early varieties and varieties with genetically large tubers, the top sprout must be treated carefully. This reduces the number of sprouts and tubers on a plant. They will be larger and easily deliverable. If the aim is a higher number of tubers, it is important to break the top shoot, 1-3 times. This can be done using a crate turner or via the chute.

The cut potatoes can be placed in the pre-sprouting bags in one operation:
– Place the pre-sprouting racks in a shed so the potatoes are dry and out of the wind. The cut seed potatoes will not dry out or rot in these conditions.
– Wound healing takes place evenly and completely in the narrow pre-sprouting bags.
– After two weeks, the cut surface is cured and just as strong as the skin of the potatoes.
– The pre-sprouting rack with cut seed potatoes can then be placed outside. This produces a short, hard sprout.
Cutting seed potatoes page

In some spring conditions, prolonged periods of rain can cause late planting. For example, in 2023 and 2024, planting was often only possible in May or sometimes even in June. This is not a problem for seed potatoes in pre-sprouting bags.
– Place the pre-sprouting racks in the windiest position in your yard. Preferably place the racks in a north-south direction.
The wind and sunlight ensure that the sprouts remain short and strong. 75% of hardening off is done by the wind and 25% by sunlight.

Certain varieties, such as Lady Anna®, should not be planted until around 1 May. Lady Anna can be placed in pre-sprouting bags and moved outdoors at the end of March. This produces a short, hard sprout. This saves on costs for mechanical cooling. The pre-sprouted seed potatoes grow quickly after planting. Various growers have good experiences with this method.
Lady Anna® is a variety of Meijer Potato

On average, the plants emerge 2 weeks earlier. With late, slow varieties, this may be 3 weeks. In a dry spring, the roots of the sprout grow into the soil immediately to find moisture. Because all the potatoes have the same physiological development stage, the crop emerges uniformly. The seed potatoes are starting to sprout.

Pre-sprouting is vital for cost-effective cultivation of first early crops. Every day counts. On average, the price decreases each day. An advantage of 10-14 days will deliver extra profits! More information about first early crops

There is an early market for many late varieties. For example, Agria with a good skin finish in August or early September can be interesting for the peeling industry. The late Markies® variety is appreciated by the French fries industry for consistently good frying quality. Markies® can be difficult to grow, especially on clay soil. Bring growing 2 weeks forward still enables varieties like Markies® to be grown. Markies® is a variety of Agrico

Tubers are sometimes affected by fusarium. They dry out in the pre-sprouting bags. Rapid emergence reduces the risk of Rhizoctonia and weed pressure. If plants infected by Phytophthora have to be burned, there are 10-14 more growing days.
More information about organic crops

A pre-sprouted crop with a good foliage canopy in late May or early June is protected against heavy rainfall. Weed growth is also inhibited. A crop that quickly develops a dense canopy is also protected against drying due to strong, dry winds.

Pre-sprouted potato plants develop physiologically older leaves that are less attractive to aphids sooner. Virus transmission from an infected leaf to the tuber in a plant with young leaves takes about 3-4 days. With older leaves, this is about 11 days.

Pre-sprouting is the basis of controlled physiological aging of seed potatoes. As a result, the mother tubers are exhausted sooner.
The crop may be ready to harvest but if there are a lot of mother tubers, they must shrivel up first. This means the crop cannot be delivered which is a missed opportunity that costs money.
How quickly mother tubers become exhausted varies per variety.
A variety like Agria can respond well to 1 month of pre-sprouting. Stronger varieties may require 2 months of pre-sprouting. SPNA Research Farm has done research on this.

Use of the fast-acting chemical diquat is prohibited (in EU). However, there are alternatives. The effects depend on the specific conditions. The art is to grow a crop that has sufficient vigour for growth and yet is sufficiently weak to be destroyed with a less effective product.
This is especially important with late, strong varieties that are still vigorous at the end of the growing season.
Combined with an appropriate fertilisation strategy, the crop will regain its vigour in time. This enables the currently permitted products to work effectively. The haulm does not have to be destroyed mechanically. This is also better for storage.

Pre-sprouting allows the harvest to start 2 weeks earlier. This enables costly harvesters to be used for longer. This result is higher yields and less risk.

Because lifting can take place earlier, there is more time to sow a green manure crop. This allows a wider choice of green manure crops. The crop has more time to act adequately against nematodes.