best potato

shoofly22 · February 10, 2009

what is the best potato for baking and storage ? is there one that has both qualites ? i need to order seed potatos and need some recomondations .
jim

Polar_Lace · February 11, 2009

Jim, check HERE

~* Robin

**Tom Wagner** · February 11, 2009

Shoofly,

Your question about which potato variety was best for baking and storage is easily answered by me. The variety is Amey Russet. http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/psi/vl/VLnews06-01.htm

This is the best flavored baking potato that I know of. The aromatics are unique when it is brought out of the oven. Many of my customers at Farmers' Markets over the last 15 years or so have attested to that. Unfortunately, I am about the only person growing it. My stock is from 2004 USDA mini tubers planted that year.

But flavor is not what sells potatoes in the commercial trade. The tubers were not long enough for the french fry commerce.

But since you are in Wisconsin and because I don't know what lists of potatoes are available to you to order, I will have to await that list of options to advise further, sorry.

Since Amey Russet was a released variety it could be made available again if I can get interested parties to grow certified seed of it again. I am proud of the fact that I alerted Dr. Haynes to the flavor, otherwise it would have never been named. Such is the history of a great potato and the lack of communication of the potato industry to make this variety well known.

Tom Wagner

Polar_Lace · February 11, 2009

Tom,

Quote:

interested parties

Well, I'd be interested. I was going be ordering some Yukon Gold. How many do you consider to be grown for certified seed? What methods do you want them to be grown in?

~* Robin

**Tom Wagner** · February 11, 2009

Growing certified potatoes for re-certification is an expensive hobby (trust me, I know) and is best done by professional growers with the proper infrastructure. I did not have that.

But since shoofly is in Wisconsin, I have included a link to the many varied aspects of growing seed potatoes for sales.

http://www.plantpath.wisc.edu/wspcp/

Polar_Lace · February 11, 2009

Thank you very much for the link and the info Tom.

~* Robin

shoofly22 · February 11, 2009

thanks for the information , ive decided to get the german butterball potatoes to try .
jim

velikipop · February 11, 2009

Tom,

Would Amy Russet be available anywhere in nortwestern Wasington?

Alex

**Tom Wagner** · February 12, 2009

Amey (not Amy) Russet would not be available in the PNW. I have an email sent to someone who may have a few for table stock.

As a plant breeder, I try to breed good varieties while I have them and convert them to true potato seed (TPS). I was trying to get a grower in Washington to grow certified seed of it a number of years ago but the seed stock they received was either virused up or in a varietal mix-up. The grower did not attempt to get new stock.

I had built up the Amey Russet and one of my crosses of it when I lived in California. The grower in California had acres of it and they were going to grow the Golden Amey until they dropped it too.

Mostly I have taken the Golden Amey which has Gold Pan (one of my crosses) as a parent, and the second generation of crosses such as Navamey and others are forefront in my effort to maintain the wonderful traits of Amey alive.

So...I will keep a few of the Amey Russets for my own use as a table potato and a parent block line within just a few hills. My research has to come first; making money comes last since it conflicts with my limited resources.

velikipop · February 12, 2009

Tom,

Thanks, too bad because it sounds like a good variety. Hopefully, one day it will become more readily available.

Alex

**Tom Wagner** · February 12, 2009

Alex,

Yes, I hope I can do whatever I can to make this variety come to life again.

For instance:

http://tinyurl.com/dlqsdf

The link above will direct you to the 2006 Florida crop of potatoes that shows that Amey Russet is quite the potato.

The information in the quote area is hard to show properly so go to the link to see several tables showing the superior nature of Amey. I am pretty sure I have the Amey name cached in color for better highlighting where to look.

Quote:

Amey
Clone (cwt/A) (cwt/A) standard C B A1 A2 A3 A4 A1 to A3 A2 to A4 Gravity
221 178 80 1 14 84 1 0 0 85 1 l.074

Compared to other russets, Amey is an attractive tuber with almost perfect external and internal features. It has a high gravity, more than the other standards, which is good for baking. The russeting is beautiful. Less apt to rot in the ground than any other russet, which is a component of storability. It yields well but not real high. It produces a high percent of usable sizes of tubers.

The fact that Florida was able to get seed potatoes to grow in this trial may offer interested parties a chance to get small quantities of the variety to plant.

The cached nature of search engines with the term 'Amey' and 'potato' should allow readers to demand this potato for their eating pleasure in the future. The variety does well on organic ground. I will probably post some of this information on my own forum just to make the google searches more meaningful.

For those of you are interested in searching information more pertinent to your interests, I do this by using my own Tom Wagner Search Engine.

Tom Wagner

February 10, 2009	#1
shoofly22 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: wisconsin Posts: 14	best potato what is the best potato for baking and storage ? is there one that has both qualites ? i need to order seed potatos and need some recomondations . jim

February 11, 2009	#2
Polar_Lace Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Z8b, Texas Posts: 657	Jim, check HERE ~* Robin __________________ It's not how many seeds you sow. Nor how many plants you transplant. It's about how many of them can survive your treatment of them.

February 11, 2009	#6
Polar_Lace Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Z8b, Texas Posts: 657	Thank you very much for the link and the info Tom. ~* Robin __________________ It's not how many seeds you sow. Nor how many plants you transplant. It's about how many of them can survive your treatment of them.

February 11, 2009	#8
velikipop Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Langley, BC Posts: 768	Tom, Would Amy Russet be available anywhere in nortwestern Wasington? Alex __________________ I'll plant and I'll harvest what the earth brings forth The hammer's on the table, the pitchfork's on the shelf Bob Dylan

February 12, 2009	#10
velikipop Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Langley, BC Posts: 768	Tom, Thanks, too bad because it sounds like a good variety. Hopefully, one day it will become more readily available. Alex __________________ I'll plant and I'll harvest what the earth brings forth The hammer's on the table, the pitchfork's on the shelf Bob Dylan

February 11, 2009	#3
Tom Wagner Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204 Posts: 1,157	Shoofly, Your question about which potato variety was best for baking and storage is easily answered by me. The variety is Amey Russet. http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/psi/vl/VLnews06-01.htm This is the best flavored baking potato that I know of. The aromatics are unique when it is brought out of the oven. Many of my customers at Farmers' Markets over the last 15 years or so have attested to that. Unfortunately, I am about the only person growing it. My stock is from 2004 USDA mini tubers planted that year. But flavor is not what sells potatoes in the commercial trade. The tubers were not long enough for the french fry commerce. But since you are in Wisconsin and because I don't know what lists of potatoes are available to you to order, I will have to await that list of options to advise further, sorry. Since Amey Russet was a released variety it could be made available again if I can get interested parties to grow certified seed of it again. I am proud of the fact that I alerted Dr. Haynes to the flavor, otherwise it would have never been named. Such is the history of a great potato and the lack of communication of the potato industry to make this variety well known. Tom Wagner