Duronal's Potatoes from Seed Experiment '08 and into '09

[Flummery]

Now that I don't know. I've grow seeds from Salad Blue but they are not mature yet and it's supposed to be an early. I should think it takes longer from seed?

[organic vic]

Hi I have just found this thread after finding the fruits on my coleen and robinita's. I have removed most of the flowers but left a few on each plant so hopefully should get more fruits on my skerry blues - fingers crossed. Should I leave them to ripen on the plant or nip them off once they are large enough?

[zazen999]

Leave them on as long as possible Vic....

Report on mine, I have 2 in big pots in the greenhouse and the foliage grew like a vine [probably because they are in the corner] and are taller than me. Just leaving them until the foliage dies back, like Flum, and then a while longer, then going to tip them out and weigh.

[Flummery]

Well, I've harvested 2 tubs from which the foliage had completely disappeared. Both had coloured spuds (expected from Salad Blue as parent) but somewhat different in both colour, yield and flavour. I've put it on my blog. I'll do the next 2 maybe tomorrow and the last 2 when they've died down. Then to decide which is to be Flum's Salad Special for next year! Ooohh, I love playing bonny!

[Flummery]

Well, I've now harvested and tasted all the potatoes from my Salad Blue seeds. I was surprised at how different they all were. I took not only flavour into account, but cooking (whether they went mushy or not) and yield. There are photos on the last 4 postings on my blog so to save re-posting it, have a click on the link. I have chosen my seed potato to grow on - a deep purple waxy and very nicely flavoured spud I shall call Amethyst. There's a sort of second place going to a creamy, pale pink one which cooks almost white, but has a purple centre. I'm going to call this Purple Heart. I may only grow 2 or 3 of this one in buckets but I intend to have a row of Amethyst.

Altogether I found this an interesting and worthwhile experiment. I'm tempted to have a go next year with seed from a different variety!

[zazen999]

I had to chop mine down as they were in the greenhouse and I needed the space. I got a good few but as they were in small buckets they weren't as big as I had hoped but I always say that with bucket spuds.

At least I now know that it works and you get spuds in the first year.

[Snadger]

Mine are still growing so I have no idea what i'm going to get...yet?

Funnily enough none of my earlies or maincrops have formed tattie apples up til now this year so I may have to rely on last years seed if I can find it!

[Duronal]

When talking to Tom Wagner - potato breeder and all round expert - he advises that you save any seed from every potato fruit, this should encourage the formation of the berries/apples later on.

All of my TPS plants were planted in to the soil this year and have struggled to produce anything of great size. Last years TPS grown in pots/buckets produced a much heavier crop. Unfortunately this years tubers have also suffered from scab which is prevelent on my allotment. Not ideal for storing seed potatoes.

Still we live and learn

Duronal.

P.S The 50p wyevale sale is on again

[Duronal]

I've finally got some results. I've decided to ignore yield for the minute and have instead concentrated on the physical attributes and taste of my TPS potatoes.

Below you can see my TPS crop.

I have named them,

Scabby Blue (top left)
Ultraknobbly (bottom left)
Smooth Blue (bottom right)
white blue (top right)
Smooth Ed (centre)

[Duronal]

to follow up on my photo post the potato charateristics were as follows

Scabby Blue

Pear shaped tubers with a deep purple skin and flesh ringed in white. Thick skins with a strong earthy flavour.

Smooth Blue

Far less scab than the other blue potatoes. A more uniform shape with deep purple flesh lined with a pale purple ring. A firm texture but floury once mashed.

BlueWhite

a Pale fleshed potato that took on a slight blue hue when cooked. Golden skin and oblong in shape (similar to anya) Skins peeled very easily after cooking with a floury texture and buttery taste. A great masher.

Ultra Knobbly

an amazing array of knobbly shaped tubers. Pink skin but with golden flesh. A very strong earthy potato flavour with a more waxy texture. Definately a keeper!

[chriscross1966]

I'd suggest Ultraknobbly has a lot of PFA in it somewhere....