Flaky taties

[geepee]

Excuse me guys,
As an ex Commercial grower of potatoes on a large scale, I can advise you that 'Flakinesse'/Texture of cooked Potatoes is governed by more than 1. variety. 2 Planting dates. 3. Amount of Manure /Growmore or BFB.in the general case of 'Gardening'.
Farmers will have access to specific soil samples and Fertilizer requirements for individual sites etc.
The same information will also advise on water requirements
The latter being most important.
When we as gardeners look at varieties to grow we are viewing results from harvests that have been taken from crops grown on 'Trials' or semi commercial scales. ie under the very best controls from inputs and Irrigation requirement on a weekly/daily basis.
Moral is ......Majority of serious commercial growers have Irrigation facility, when they get advice to irrigate , they do it etc.
Now as gardeners, we dont have that privelidge , neither do we have an adviser telling us when is the right time to water etc.
Potatoes need water at crucial Growth stages to give maximum yield, proven fact, if they dont get sufficient water at that stage , YES they will yield but 'Dry Matter' content of the fruit will be affected, It is DRY MATTER that influences Cookin and Eating quality.

[Snoop Puss]

^ geepee, I'm not very clear about what you're saying, as some varieties have more dry matter than others naturally.

Are you suggesting that the precise amount of watering is the number one factor for why potatoes go 'flaky' or disintegrate on boiling?

Bearing in mind that we, as ordinary gardeners, find watering difficult to get absolutely accurate, what then would be the next factor? Variety?

[geepee]

^ geepee, I'm not very clear about what you're saying, as some varieties have more dry matter than others naturally.

Are you suggesting that the precise amount of watering is the number one factor for why potatoes go 'flaky' or disintegrate on boiling?

Bearing in mind that we, as ordinary gardeners, find watering difficult to get absolutely accurate, what then would be the next factor? Variety?

Snoop, what Im saying is that Dry matter directly affects the cooking quality, you are quite correct in saying dry matter differs with variety.

When New varieties are bred they undergo trials and tests under 'Controlled' conditions and inputs, for instance ,water applied at the time required, this is known as soil moisture deficiency, also at the appropriate growth stage. (Particularly at Tuber initiation)

After Trials and before becoming commercially available, the variety cooking characteristics will be 'labelled' as ,Waxy' Flourery' etc etc.

My point is ........unless we as gardeners can grow that variety under exactly the same conditions ,apply exactly the same of Nutrient and Exactly the same amount of water at the exact growth stage/ soil moisture deficiency,then we cannot expect that variety to exhibit the same cooking characteristics.

(Obviously as gardeners we cant achieve that), therefore we may well see a completely different spud to those grown 'Scientifically ' as it were.

So there is No guaranteed way of ensuring cooking quality in a garden situation.

Suffice to say that in most cases High Dry Matter results in and is the main cause of Flaky and Floury Tatties.
Gp

[Jungle Jane]

If you look through this potato variety database you can see if your varieties have a waxy or floury texture. I apply different amounts of water & nutrients every year but the potatoes are always the same texture of what Ive grown before. It probably has more to do with variety only?
Varieties

[Zelenina]

As everyone knows, there is a lot of rain in Ireland, especially in the west, and yet when I lived there they grew and ate large quantities of very floury spuds. When farmers were selling them in the local market they would boil a few to demonstrate how nice and floury they were. If they didn't split open and flake a bit they weren't any good. The favourite varieties were British Queen, Record, Kerr Pink and Golden Wonder. So I expect growing conditions and amount of water have some effect on the amount of dry matter, but it seems to me that variety is the main factor.

[whiskywill]

A few years ago I grew Rocket potatoes which started flaking almost as soon as the water started boiling. Since then I have grown at least a dozen different varieties in the same soil and in similar conditions but have never had that problem again.

[Snoop Puss]

I'm not trying to labour a point, GeePee, but it seems to me that the situation is: seeing as we can't guarantee rainfall or irrigation, the only thing we can do is choose a variety that has a tendency to be waxy, as demonstrated in tests.

[bario1]

The other day I used some Charlottes that I dug ages ago (4-6 weeks) and had stored in the salad drawer of my fridge. They were starting to sprout a little, but still firm so I rubbed the sprouts off and cooked them - perfect, non-flaky spuds! Is it possible that the ones we buy in the supermarket have been stored for a long time to 'dry them out'?

[geepee]

I'm not trying to labour a point, GeePee, but it seems to me that the situation is: seeing as we can't guarantee rainfall or irrigation, the only thing we can do is choose a variety that has a tendency to be waxy, as demonstrated in tests.

The point is Snoop....that you cant RELY on any Variety displaying the characteristics it was 'Labelled' with unless we can Exactly replicate the conditions that it was grown under initially.
Gp