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Old April 6, 2014   #50
NathanP
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: RI
Posts: 183
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Quote:
This sounds like they act the same way determinate tomatoes act y setting potatoes all at the same time and in the same place. The more I see parallel mutations between species in a family the more I wonder if we understand genetics as well as we think we do.
That is very much the case. It is usually not quite as hard and fast a rule as with tomatoes, but there are short season, middle season, long season and very long season (>150 days).

S. tuberosum has a broad range in length of season. People like Tom Wagner have crossed these to other species like S. phureja that often have longer season requirements or different growth habits.

This one below, Yema de Huevo, is a Columbian S. phureja species landrace. There are mini size tubers growing along the stem. The fattened stems are actually stolens, and are edible, though likely not very tasty. Pictures courtesy of Curzio Caravati.



Quote:
Although I have never been able to do anything about it, I first became interesting in growing "odd" potatoes after seeing a National Geographic article in the '70's (maybe) that showed a lay out of a huge number of potatoes in Peru.
That is one of the things that got me into this as well. Seeing the diversity compared with what was commonly available led me to pursue unusual shapes and colors. Late blight was the other factor, so now I am looking for late blight resistance in nearly all the lines that I want to grow.

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Unfortunately I don't thing I'm going to be able to grow any TPS this year as I simply don't have the surplus funds. Maybe next year.
One of my hopes/goals this year is to grow enough lines that produced TPS, so I do not need to purchase any in future years.
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