Why pre-sprouting?

Rapid emergence, fast initial growth and a homogeneous development of the crop are important conditions for obtaining optimum yields. Pre-sprouting can help to ensure that these conditions are met. Pre-sprouting also favours the growth of a larger number of sprouts/stems per seed potato, which leads to a more efficient use of the seed. A rapid development of the crop is, moreover, advantageous from the viewpoints of disease prevention and weed control.
To ensure that the advantages of pre-sprouting are exploited to the full, the treatment of the seed potatoes must be adjusted to the local cultivation conditions. Using pre-sprouted seedis particularly advantageous in circumstances demanding short cultivation periods. This will be the case for example in the cultivation of seed potatoes or early ware potatoes or under certain climatological conditions.

In the Netherlands, the seed potatoes are stored in a dark area and then prepared for shipment. Thanks to an excellent infrastructure and efficient logistics, the Dutch seed potatosector is able to supply high quality seed potatoes to potato growers all over the world from October until June.



The suppliers and buyers must cooperate closely with oneanother to ensure that the seed potatoes are received in theright physiological stage andat the right moment. The finishing touch is seeing that the seed potatoes are treated as required – and this is the potato grower’s task. Pre-sprouting is one of the ways in which the grower can favourably influence the growth of his crop.