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

[di]

We'll be giving it a go!!Only problem is I've saved a few fruits,but not got a clue which variety!!Still!!I'll count this year as a "will it work" experiment year & maybe next year my little notebook will stay by my side & I'll become an officially organised gardener!!

[Demeter]

Woo-hoo! Dunnit now

One of the fruit was a dud, no seeds, but the other two were good. So now I have a small piece of muslin drying on my windowsill with about 50 seeds on it. Do they need to go in the dark or will they be OK in the window (worried I will forget them if I stick them in the boiler cupboard)

I feel like a proper grown up gardener now, saving my own seed and everything

[Duronal]

That should be fine demeter, i used kitchen roll because that's all i had but i'm sure muslin would work, it may even make it easier to get the dry seeds off the paper/muslin because you'll be able to bend the material behind it. Should anyone not get any seeds this year i have some spare. I've reserved some for phreddy but i've got lots more. And some of last years left too.

What we could do is try to stagger the germination date in order to try and get an early crop and then a later crop. If you could keep temps suitable i think growing from FEB may be possible by starting like early tomatos. They will try to get leggy but by planting them deep i'm sure you could get away with it....

[Demeter]

Oh how exciting! As per Duronal's original post I was waiting for them to go black. Just been and looked at them - one is pale green, the others less pale but all are soft and feel ripe so I think I might go and have a little squish

Question - we don't have any kitchen roll, if I place the seeds on muslin and put them somewhere warm and dry (on top of the boiler) do you reckon that would work? Or am I better to stick with something disposable in which case it is going to be loo paper....

[Snadger]

How long does it take for the fruit to ripen?
I've had green ones on my windowsill for weeks and they are still green!

They don't ripen like tomatoes Demeter. They go from dark green to pale green to brown.
I've tried to catch mine at the pale green stage and squish out the seeds (I know they are lethal to eat but they smell quite sweet)
I've then squashed them through a sieve whilst rinsing.

The pulp and seeds that are left, I've placed on kitchen roll and keep changing it until the moisture is finally absorbed.

What I hope to be left with is the seeds plus the dried pulp which I should be able to seperate quite easily!

It's all a learning curve........but quite an enjoyable one!

[Demeter]

How long does it take for the fruit to ripen?
I've had green ones on my windowsill for weeks and they are still green!

[BrideXIII]

Quark1 kindly sent me some blue salad seeds, so i am in, I just hope I don't let her down by mucking it up

[Snadger]

I understand that the advantage of growing from seed is that diseased aren't passed on to the next generation. I read that somewhere. I think!

Ahh but blight/fungal intolerance could be!

As an aside, I wonder if this is how they strip viruses from worthy old potato varieties grown for the last 50 years or so by Joe Bloggs in his back garden? Sounds feasible!

[Snadger]

Spraying doesn't always work. I personally wouldn't bother, but I know others do.

Unfortunately you live in a blight-prone area ... damp Wales (Devon & Cornwall are bad too).
Perhaps you could try some blight-resistant varieties next year..........................

Or move house?

[Flummery]

I understand that the advantage of growing from seed is that diseased aren't passed on to the next generation. I read that somewhere. I think!

[Two_Sheds]

You are all lucky to have potatoes, I planted 11 row, only got one out, the rest got blight. They were not long enough in the ground to grow, only marble size. I have lost the lot. They were sprayed but it did'nt make any difference.

Spraying doesn't always work. I personally wouldn't bother, but I know others do.

Unfortunately you live in a blight-prone area ... damp Wales (Devon & Cornwall are bad too).
Perhaps you could try some blight-resistant varieties next year? some on here: The British Potato Variety Database

[Two_Sheds]

Unfortunately, Phythophtora strains seem to be worse with tomatoes here, had some years when only the tomatoes were diseased and not a single potato was. And that includes so called 'resistant' ones, like Legend.

My Tamina tomatoes have now got blight (but not Sungold).
My spuds were unaffected (all the foliage died back last month from old age, so missed any blight that might have got them)

[Lizzy]

You are all lucky to have potatoes, I planted 11 row, only got one out, the rest got blight. They were not long enough in the ground to grow, only marble size. I have lost the lot. They were sprayed but it did'nt make any difference.

Liz

[daylily]

What an enviable situation you are in Snadger! Me on the other hand...hardly a year without blight . So I thought, there wasn't much to lose and I should give it a good go.

Demeter, I think you are right about this particular pathogen, I'm saying there are fungi that invade the seed, like Phytophthora capsici, for example. But, as Snadger says, I'd like to save from healthy, strong plants.

Unfortunately, Phythophtora strains seem to be worse with tomatoes here, had some years when only the tomatoes were diseased and not a single potato was. And that includes so called 'resistant' ones, like Legend.

[Snadger]

Depengs, what fungus, some go down the seed. Anyhow, I'm interested in this for the biological diversity of open pollinated stuff, unreliant on Mon*****and the likes and giving possibly more reliable gen pool.Potato Breeding Overview

I see where you're coming from daylily, and if you are trying to develop a blight resistant tattie it would be best to collect seed from plants that aren't affected.(not a major pre requisite for me as I don't live in a blight affected area!), but only if they were NOT affected whilst tuthers around were!
As this is the first saving and sowing of our own seed, the new potato varieties that are grown could be weeded out by the individual to give desirable qualitities to suit their personal needs!

Interesting article btw!