Very nice setup! And excellent results. I would think you could grow an excellent potato crop in your neck of the woods. How do you do with late blight?

I don't have significant disease problems here. In the past my problems have been due to my heavy clay soil and excessive rainfall, the last year I tried potatoes at least half the summer I couldn't walk in the potatoes without sinking in past my ankles in sticky mud. Of course most of them rotted in the ground.

This year I'm growing around 850 tomato plants and all of my peppers at another location and am taking part of my raised gardens at the house to grow potatoes in so that shouldn't be an issue even if we have a wet summer. The plan is to try to find a number of candidates for larger scale growing here and then grow those selections at my 'farm' location next year.

Could I start TPS seedlings in the spring and then plant their tubers in the fall? I'd like to try some potatoes but my one experiment last year showed me that our spring is too short. It's really hard to find any tubers at the right time of year for fall planting, since that's not normally done.
I would so love to grow my own potatoes of various tastes and colors.
I'm excited that we are probably moving next summer, hopefully to a cooler climate.

From what I understand you can start TPS in smaller containers and just leave them there to get minitubers, then plant the minitubers.

Marktutt
I did that but don't take the tubers early ..... you must wait until the TPS plant dies down and the tuber breaks dormancy. I tricked them by placing in cold storage for 4 weeks and then let them sprout but still takes like 2 months. Still some made it!

So, how would I time it to be planting some tubers around Sept/October time frame?
I'd really like to try some potatoes this fall if I can figure this out.

For me, it is more practical to start TPS with my tomatoes in the spring and grow the plants out in the garden. By the end of the season each plant has enough tubers to seed a short row the next season, and I get some idea of stolon length, tuber size, productivity etc. I've even gotten some berries off of them the first year.

I don't think potatoes will survive past June here. It's just too hot. Which is why I'd like to try TPS and transplant in the fall.

My suggestion would be to try starting some TPS indoors about mid July so they could be put out in the garden mid September.

Beings I lived in hot climates before...I started TPS in September and transplanted to single cells in October to allow them to mature through November. I know how hot September can be but by October you should have two months to finish off the cell plants or garden transplants. If you are lucky you may have a few weeks in December that is frost free. The resulting tubers...from pea size to larger can then be put into a storage area (ambient) for allowing the tubers to break dormancy for a Feb. 1 planing.

Looking good. Hope I'll be able to grow some from TPS now and plant the tubers next year.

[QUOTE=wmontanez;348648]Marktutt
I did that but don't take the tubers early ..... you must wait until the TPS plant dies down and the tuber breaks dormancy. I tricked them by placing in cold storage for 4 weeks and then let them sprout but still takes like 2 months. Still some made it![/QUOTE]

I seem to remember reading the thread you wrote about this.

[QUOTE=Tom Wagner;348902]Beings I lived in hot climates before...I started TPS in September and transplanted to single cells in October to allow them to mature through November. I know how hot September can be but by October you should have two months to finish off the cell plants or garden transplants. If you are lucky you may have a few weeks in December that is frost free. The resulting tubers...from pea size to larger can then be put into a storage area (ambient) for allowing the tubers to break dormancy for a Feb. 1 planing.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Tom!
Is Feb 1 early enough? We're 100 degrees now and have been for two weeks.
My one experiment with Yukon Gold and Kennebecs, they started wilting badly by May 1. I finally had to harvest them early, despite putting up shade for them.
I did get lots of little new potatoes, which was great.

Would the tropical varieties be more heat tolerant?

When I was a potato buyer for Frito-Lay I remember it being very hot in the Arizona harvest...May 15 through July 4. Yes, the potatoes would wilt but in the Queen Creek area they compensated by using lots of sulphide products and lots of water. Early potatoes seemed to do better but late varieties such Kennebec were available in the latter harvest. And yes, an earlier planting time in January could be done and early December if you don't mind a freak frost or two.

Back in 1970 FL-2 was a major variety...it bulked early and had a low tuber set....same as for Yukon Gold.