Potatoes from TPS

[GunnarSK]

My strongest potato plant now is a Russian Blue F2 started from TPS sent by Durgan. My potatoes started from locally bought Cream Potato seed tubers have no more leaves, either because of late blight or seasonal die off. The Russian Blue F2s are still going strong with green/purple stems and leaves. That may be due to a later maturing or resistance/tolerance to late blight, which has hit nearly all my tomatoes and maybe also the potatoes from seed tubers. There are some sprouts showing in the tray where I have Medbury Mystery F2 sown 12 July and Lump o' Gold x Tom Kaiglin F1 from Tom Wagner 17 July, but it is very difficult to tell if they are weeds or actual potato seedlings because they were started in ordinary garden dirt and not in sterilized starter mix.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

There are some sprouts showing in the tray where I have Medbury Mystery F2 sown 12 July and Lump o' Gold x Tom Kaiglin F1 from Tom Wagner 17 July, but it is very difficult to tell if they are weeds or actual potato seedlings because they were started in ordinary garden dirt and not in sterilized starter mix.

? Lump o' Gold x Tom Kaiglin F1 from Tom Wagner, sown in July 2010


For comparison: Russian Blue F2 from Durgan (leaves)

[Tom C zone 4/5]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

potato seedlings because they were started in ordinary garden dirt and not in sterilized starter mix.

Gunnar, This is NOT a criticism, were you instructed (advised) to use ordinary soil? My somewhat confuse.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by Tom C zone 4/5

Were you instructed (advised) to use ordinary soil? My somewhat confuse.

I don't recall hearing anything about the soil, but when sowing them in winter/early spring inside you automatically use the same as for peppers, eggplants and tomatoes, which would be starting mixture. That is probably preferable to ordinary soil at any time and place.

[Tom C zone 4/5]

Thank you! I've never had any luck with using regular garden soil for starter (geminating) soil.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by Tom C zone 4/5

I've never had any luck with using regular garden soil for starter (germinating) soil.

That is also more or less Tom Wagner's position (I got his advice today), and in the future I will definitely use starter soil without germs and weed seeds.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

In the future I will definitely use starter soil without germs and weed seeds.

It looks like there are at least three sprouts/seedlings from Tom's TPS and one from Medbury Mystery.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

It looks like there are at least three sprouts/seedlings from Tom's TPS and one from Medbury Mystery.

Today all seedlings were potted up and should in principle be ready to go inside and overwinter there, but I don't know if they survived the "treatment".

[Medbury Gardens]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

It looks like there are at least three sprouts/seedlings from Tom's TPS and one from Medbury Mystery.

That's great you've got one of mine up,question is which colour of the three different colours that that seedline throws will you end up.

I grow all my seedlings in a soil/compost mix,the soil pile is turned a few times to germinate most of the weed seed,then compost is added and then put through a fine screen,i found it works well and is free (i'm of Scottish decent)

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by Medbury Gardens

Question is which colour of the three different colours that that seedline throws will you end up

It's too early to tell yet, as everything looks green (like leaves), but eventually I will see the stems and tell what colour they are.

[GunnarSK]

Yesterday and the day before we had a light frost, the first this autumn, and therefore I dug the potato from Durgan's Russian Blue F2. There was one tuber, app. two cm (1 inch) long and half as broad. This is a picture:

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

Yesterday and the day before we had a light frost, the first this autumn, and therefore I dug the potato from Durgan's Russian Blue F2.

Yesterday (23 October) I found two more tubers where my potatoes from TPS used to be. They were both white/light yellow, so they are different from my dark purple spuds. Originally 6 seedlings emerged from Durgan's Russian Blue F2 TPS and one from Tom Wagner's Blue Rose F2, and I planted all of them. They died back soon, in July's heatwave or even in June. I expected to see no more of them, but they may have been early maturing segregates, which just happened to die soon after being planted in the ground. I never checked, and planted/sowed other things in their place (tomatoes, beans and maize). Now it is evident, that some plants did tuberise, and next time I go to the allotment, I will remove the remainder of other plants and rake the ground to see if there are any further potatoes.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

Now it is evident, that some plants did tuberise, and next time I go to the allotment, I will remove the remainder of other plants and rake the ground to see if there are any further potatoes.

Today I pulled the remains of plants from my "potato" bed and raked it good to see if there was anything left. I found no more potatoes, and I'm going to assume, that everything I have is Russian Blue F2, which should in fact segregate for colour, earlyness and flavour. I'm not able to find the three purple potatoes I got from the allotment, and it's possible that they were thrown in the trash by my wife. Next year I'll grow from my seed potatoes, and they are now "safe" in the fridge, where there is always 5° C (~40° F) and never frost. Apart from that, I will of course try new TPS from several sources.

[wmontanez]

Good luck! I also found few small tubers that were overlooked while harvesting, white/red tubers are easy to spot but the blues sometimes are as dark as the soil and easily missed. All the TPS seedlings were in the same area so If I find a volunteers next year I should guess which one it might be. Nevertheless is fun!

[flutterby]

Hello, anyone!

I am looking for some TPS to start this year. Anyone here sharing or where can I go to purchase some? Thanks!

Evelyn