FusionPower has it right about my wish to find late blight resistant potato clones.
I visited one of my cooperators in Marysville, WA this afternoon during a downpour of rain....and luck would have it stopped long enough to take pictures of tomato and potatoes varieties obtained from me earlier this season. The picture I have posted below is from TPS of the very row discussed in the over wintering plot. I had collected a few potato berries on Feb. 1 that were not damaged by freezing and thawing. I processed the seed from the Magic Dragons that were intact and sent seed to the cooperator in Marysville who was amazed that the seed germinated within forty-eight hours in a wet paper towel.
If you look at the photo they appear to be mostly white flowered and I think the freeze resistant berries must have come from a white flowering vine as well. The late blight is going through this garden but is not affecting the 8 or so TPS lines at all. Neither is late blight affecting the Skykomish and Schrapnellmine tomatoes....both of which has PH-2 and PH-3 genes. The generic tomato lines are badly hit by LB and look like they were hit by a frost, however it is blight.
This is a single row of seedlings but they tillered out to make a bed of potato vines. These plants were transplanted in July and the bulk of tubers will develop now in the next four weeks or more.
Tomatoes recently hit with late blight near the potatoes
