Sarpo Mira tatties

[realfood]

My Sarpo Axona are the only potatoes of mine that are still growing vigorously with no Blight. I originally grew them in potato trials before they were offered to the public to grow.
Apart from Blight and slug resistance, they also have a very long dormancy and will store into April, when almost all other varieties have sprouted, unless you have cold stores.
When I first tasted them, I was not too impressed. However, I find that if you leave them in the ground untill they start to die down naturally in October, the taste mellows with age.

[Capsid]

I bought the T&M blight resistant pack. No blight but I'm disappointed with the Valor which is very floury and only good for chips and roasting. The Lady Balfour are a little better for texture and were also OK for mash. Both will blow when over cooked.

I haven't ried the Sarpo yet.

I'm disappointed in that there is a fair deal of slug damage, so they won't store well.

I think I'll try the Kestrel next year going by what has been said here.

[Demeter]

The idea of kestrel just gets better and better, doesn't it?

[daylily]

That's a recommendation then, DayLily?

Definitely would recommend to try them for people with blight and slug problems.

They don't have too much nematode resistance though, so not for those who have that problem too.

[mandi]

i've just dug up my sarpo mira( brought from garden organic) maincrop this year and was really pleased by the huge amount of enormous sized potatos they produced, red colour, no splitting, no damage , other than by me inexpertly weilding my fork!!!!
roasted them yesterday and loved them...i thought they tasted good, floury ,lovely spuds.
i'm probably only gonna plant earlies next year but if i was going to try maincrop i'd buy sarpo mira again for sure.

[Twinkle]

I did Sarpo Mira last year because of blight... they were very successful and tasty, but disappointingly gluey when mashed.
Seeing as most of our winter potato intake is mash, I wouldn't grow them again

Grew Cara as maincrop this year, but it still got blight (wet west of Ireland, so completely expected to be honest)

Will try Kestrel next year though.

[rana]

I grew Sarpo Mira last year and they thrived and cropped well when all my other spuds on the same plot were wiped out by blight. This year the blight has just hit the tomatoes but the sarpo miras are still OK. Apart from the odd touch of scab the sarpos are good spuds with good keeping qualities and for me are an essential backstop in case of problems or failure of other varieties.

[Janco]

I started growing Sarpo mira 2 years ago and have saved some tubers each year since. I also grow Cara. This year Cara had to be dug early August as tops had gone and blight was about - reasonable crop with only a few diseased. I have just dug the Sarpo Mira and very little disease. I got 40lbs good potatoes from just 20 saved tubers (is that generally a reasonable yield?). I am very happy with them and intend saving tubers for next year again (much cheaper than buying). Probably not the best flavour for potatoes but they suit us and they grow in this frequently blight affected area. In several past years I have lost most of my main potato crop due to blight and I am pleased to have at last found a variety that so far has been almost unaffected by blight.

[Chummy]

Yes,

Very god large good keeping potato. I have grown them in my garden in France. Unfortunately I get there late in the season and they are usually sold out. Trying to get them in England is difficult and so I now grow Sarpo Mira as the blight here is very bad.