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

[Duronal]

Agh nooo i meant quark.....

as usual zaz you're on the money, it's me that's lost my marbles!

[zazen999]

Just for completeness i've attatched some photos of my TPS below. I wouldn't worry about the thin seedlings zazen just pot them deep and i'm sure they'll broaden out eventually.

Did I miss something?

[Duronal]

Just for completeness i've attatched some photos of my TPS below. I wouldn't worry about the thin seedlings zazen just pot them deep and i'm sure they'll broaden out eventually.

[MaureenHall]

I'm really loving this experiment too All 3 of my buckets that I put outside look healthy and are growing well

[Demeter]

I don't have that many seedlings, but I do have a lot!!

Was thinking of selecting a no more than 4 of each of the three varieties. They are in a module tray, 4 cells per variety, many seedlings per cell. So from what you have said that I reckon I will just pinch out all but one seedling per cell and pot on what is left!

If I plant them up in 26l trugs how many plants do you reckon I should put in each one - I was thinking two or three plants on the basis that I would probably have put 2 or 3 seed spuds if growing in these containers? But then how will I know which plant produced which tubers when deciding what to save? Maybe I should grow them individually in buckets instead?

Decisions decisions.

[Snadger]

Potted on 66 of my little darlings from a total in pot of about 4000! These were all from my first sowing which the majority of, germinated late.
60 went into a plug tray and the other 6 which were more established went into individual 3 inch pots. I thought they were leggy but it appears to be there natural growth, sending rhysomes underground and stolons on top! This makes them a bugger to pot on, but I got there in the end!

The other pot full of about another 4000 seedlings may need a bit of sorting.
What I propose to do is transplant the stronger seedlings in the hope they will produce stronger more productive plants!

Flying by the seat of the pants stuff this...........but I love it!

[zazen999]

You disrespectin my spuds???

.......I could mention about the trouble with men and their 'size' issues.....but I'll let it lie. It was at least 6 inches tall today, but rest assured it is now buried up to it's head in manure.

[Snadger]

1 inch pots...wot you on about?

Photographic relativity!

[zazen999]

1 inch pots...wot you on about?

[Snadger]

I have 2 photos for you.

Firstly is my potato from seed, lacking in space this year I have tended to the first seedling and pretty much let the others get on with it - but my first one will be repotted today but before I do here is a photo.

Secondly, there is my potatoes from the bits cut off sprouting shop bought potatoes, these are roosters. Just a sliver cut off, and then planted into the roottrainer. Again, these will go into pots [all bound for the greenhouse when it arrives], but they are coming on nicely.

Didn't know you could buy 1 inch pots zazen?

I agree about the experiment being exciting, as you don't know what you're going to get!

[quark1]

My Salad Blues will be started again as they were much too weedy. I might just save the one remaining strongest and see what happens.

The Roosters are much more vigorous and, like Maureen, mine have a few mini tubers - around the size of those coloured tops they sometimes put on sewing pins.

Having seen what happens from my first attempt I would strongly recommend that the seed is placed at least one inch below the surface in order to aid the stolons to get a better grip within the earth. Mine are shooting these anchors out and down from about 1-2 inches above ground and it is these which will bear the tubers in due course.

I shall try fewer seeds (1-3 max) in the next trial and use pot noodle-sized (a secret vice!) containers to get them going which will hopefully make transplanting to the final containers a lot easier.

This is turning out to be a fun project and it will very satisfying to see the results later in the year. If you are lucky enough to get tubers from the Salad Blues I provided do save some tubers for next year as they are more expensive than ordinary varieties to buy. They should be 'fairly' true to type as only the Blues were in flower at the time and in close proximity. Some were also helped along with a make-up brush for pollination assistance!

I am also going to try and see if the first lot of seed remains viable next year to test if it has but a short shelf-life or is useful for saving longer term.

Am trying to sort out some pics for later.

Happy growing.

[zazen999]

That's why I took one before potting on - they are being plonked in up to their top inch of growth.

This is an exciting experiment!!!!!

[Flummery]

I've just potted up 6 from my batch of Salad Blue seeds. Pics on my blog. They are smaller than Andrea's but I plonked them well down in the compost - the equivalent of earthing up! I'm quite excited about this!

[zazen999]

I have 2 photos for you.

Firstly is my potato from seed, lacking in space this year I have tended to the first seedling and pretty much let the others get on with it - but my first one will be repotted today but before I do here is a photo.

Secondly, there is my potatoes from the bits cut off sprouting shop bought potatoes, these are roosters. Just a sliver cut off, and then planted into the roottrainer. Again, these will go into pots [all bound for the greenhouse when it arrives], but they are coming on nicely.

[Snadger]

I've re-potted my 3 surviving plants this week. They look really strong and sturdy and I noticed very tiny tubers when I was doing the re-potting. They're in small buckets with holes round the bottom rather than in big plant pots now and I've put them outside the greenhouse door in the garden. Fingers crossed there's no frost!

Whats all this mention of tubers..........I have hundreds of plants but they are only 1/2" high!