True Potato Seed Challenge/ Experiment/ Thing

The idea is to leave them as long as possible (although they may drop of) apparently they will continue to ripen of the plant and the pods will eventually go squishy so you can then wash, dry and store.

Unfortunately the ones I did last year didn't germinate so I am probably not the best one to give advice

[noviceveggrower]

Have followed your thread NG with some interest. This is the OH fault and not VC's this time .
I have flowers on my second earlies they are called Carlingford. I'm hoping that they will produce the potato seeds this year. My first earlies haven't produced any flowers at all.

Have posted pics of them to see what everyone thinks.







If they do produce and seed pods when's the best time to pick and store them?

Thanks

Can someone sort my pics out please. Have cropped them but they still look wrong. Thanks

Thankfully it has only been a month, thought it was longer than that. Due to my lovely ducks I put potting on to one side as they weren't content with eating everything else so please excuse the tattiness of some of the plants.

This is what I have salvaged from my ducks and not quite sure which is which. Fortyfold or golden wonder.


My one and only skagit magic is now coming on


Here they all are. Repotted and in my newly created potato patch. (It was meant for globe artichokes but the ducks have eaten those aswell )


I have saved the best pic for last. Look..............I have teeny weeny tatties I have 2 more with the start of tatties but not as big as this

Just a few pics to keep you updated. I did have them on the windowsill but they looked quite weedy so potted them on deeper and put in the gh and blowaway (space depending) and they look a lot better for it.



The ones below have been nibbled at in the blowaway



Some of the plants are suckering



They are all either Fortyfold or Golden Wonder. Out of the other sowings I have 1 Skagit Magic

[KittyColdNose]

This has caught my attention and I am going to give it a go

On a slightly different note, has anyone tried starting a seed potato in a tub then transplanting it into the ground?

^^^TY for the offer but I am fine for this year. Also I don't tend to have major issues with blight (touch wood) so it is purely a TPS thing for me rather than a variety thing

[danny31]

I might be able to spare you a dozen or so TPS of Skagit Magic that I was given by another spud friend. Mine have come up very well. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they perform. I'm not really supposed to exchange on here as I'm too new, but I don't know where else you would get these seeds from.

I have resown my skagit magic and venessa as they haven't done anything

[danny31]

Skagit Magic up and running here too. My first year with exotic tps, around a dozen varieties. I've got buckets of Peruanita and Colegiala tps, also some others which may be mixed up, happy to send out for the price of postage.

[Zelenina]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!

I have TPS blast off and the winner was............................fortyfold. The first one appeared last night, but has since been joined by another fortyfold and a golden wonder.

Is there anywhere you can buy true potato seed? I've been looking around but can only find it for sale on a few sites in the US.

Neil if you are not fussed and just want a bash. I can send you some vanessa seeds. Just pm me your address.

[sparrow100]

I've got some Skagit Magic! Whooop!!
So my sowings will be that and Snookie. I also have MASSES of seed tubers this year - am not sure where all this is going to go!

[Zelenina]

TPS isn't usually sold commercially, Neil, because they don't breed true from seed, even if they are self pollinated. Every seed is a potential new variety, which may be good or rubbish. That's because most of the potatoes we grow have double the normal number of chromosomes and genes, which get remixed in every new generation. And many varieties don't produce any seeds anyway. So if you want to grow a reliable crop it's better to grow them from tubers. But for people who like to do a bit of experimental plant breeding, potatoes are very interesting. If you are lucky enough to get a good one, there's no need to spend years stabilising the genetics like you would with most other vegetables. You can just multiply them vegetatively. There are a few people in the USA who have been experimenting with this for quite a while and have started selling seeds for other experimenters to work with. But otherwise it's just amateurs swapping seeds with each other. I'm particularly interested in this thread because NG got her Golden Wonder and Fortyfold seeds in a swap with me I guess I should sow some of mine soon so we can compare results. Sorry, I don't have enough left to offer them to anyone else.

[Snadger]

Each plant grown will be your own new variety. I've tried growing TPS before by using seed taken from a Desiree potato.
None of the plants I grew on gave me plants that were BETTER than the true Desiree grown from tubers. In fact most were pretty rubbish, even after a couple of years growth.!

It was an interesting experiment , but not one I will be trying again!