# Does a previously frozen potato grow roots? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984 "2005-06-05T06:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hauss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5fc32e/32.png) [@hauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hauss)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/1 "2005-06-05T06:44:38Z")
If you freeze a potato for a day or so and thaw it, will it continue to grow roots? If not, why not? If so, why didn’t freezing eliminate this potential? My bro just chucked one of them in the freezer, we’ll see for sure in a little while, but just wanted to ask the Dopers first! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![hauss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5fc32e/32.png) [@hauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hauss)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/2 "2005-06-05T06:45:54Z")
Btw, he vaccum sealed it to prevent freezer burn or any other complications. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/3 "2005-06-05T22:26:47Z")
Just because the little spud got tossed doesn’t mean some of us aren’t interested anyway. _Will_ a frozen potato still grow eyes when thawed? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/4 "2005-06-05T22:41:09Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > _Will_ a frozen potato still grow eyes when thawed? Probably not. Freezing tends to break cell membranes. That tends to turn frozen living things into nonliving goosh upon thawing. Plants are a little hardier than animals, having a cellulose based cell wall and all, but that wall is thinnest in rapidly differentiating tissue, like spud eyes. If preserving potato viability were as easy as tossing a spud into the freezer, there’d be no need for articles like this: [Advances in Potato Cryopreservation by Vitrification](http://www.cipotato.org/market/PgmRprts/pr95-96/program2/prog22.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/5 "2005-06-05T22:43:04Z")
Potatoes are natives of mountainous areas that do experience hard frosts, however, the tubers are protected by being underground. I’m inclined to say that a live potato that has been completely frozen solid will probably suffer extensive damage at a cellular level due to the water inside the cells expanding and causing them to burst. It’s possible that some individual cells or small islands of cells in the potato could survive the process, but rot is going to set in pretty quickly after thawing and this would probably overwhelm any remaining living tissues. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/6 "2005-06-05T22:50:53Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I collect [photographs of lost gloves](http://mangetout.myblogsite.com/blog) So, if you pair them back up, do they retain viability? ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/7 "2005-06-05T22:57:27Z")
This thread reminds me of my Grandfather’s _ **potato cellar** _. Back before refrigerators that is how people kept potatoes for use year around. It was a dank place with a smell that I’m sure only potato cellars have. As to whether frozen potatoes will sprout, I thought of the question “Would a frozen french fry sprout?” I doubt it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/8 "2005-06-05T23:02:47Z")
What happens to potato plants over the winter? Do they sprout from potatoes that have been in the frozen ground? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/9 "2005-06-06T05:31:17Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > What happens to potato plants over the winter? According to [this](http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Solanum+tuberosum&CAN=LATIND) , _Solanum tuberosum_ is a perennial, hardy to zone 8. Winter low temperatures in zone 8 only get down to [-12 to -7 C (10 to 20 F)](http://www.backyardgardener.com/zone/). According to the [US Zone Map](http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html?), that corresponds to the climate of southern Georgia. There’s not much chance of overwintering in most of the US. ---
**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/10 "2005-06-06T22:05:40Z")
**Fuel** = better half of the recently dissoluted **hauss** duo (sorry about that). That potato is a sad representation of its former self! Squishy on the outside, little sprouts are dead and gone. Should I eat it!? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-previously-frozen-potato-grow-roots/306984/11 "2005-06-06T22:17:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Should I eat it!? If you’re quick about it. Squishy raw potatoes are an excellent substrate for mold growth.