I received free seeds of a SVG x Donna Marie last year. Tom told me it's a back cross to SVG, because Donna Marie is a direct child of SVG.
They were sowed in 2012, replanted in 2013.
They're the most productive diploid I've seen so far. Size is very regular, with very few undersized tubers. They're everywhere, and a bit larger than a golf ball. Ready for harvest in early September. It covers the soil with pointed berries with two symmetric radial stripes turning from green to red. Original ! Typical diploid leaf shape. The leaves tend to turn to red or purple as on the photo when temps drop down or during drought.
Skagit Plenty gave me the largest tubers of all diploids ( for some clones ), but never as much in weight as SVG x DM. SVG x DM is 100% golden for me, where SP is white most of the time, with some clones with red eyes. I got a golden SP but it's not the rule. On the other hand, SP keeps as a good tetraploid ( most of the time ), where SVG x DM sprouts rapidly after harvest. In fact, SP behaves more as a tetraploid but with typical diploid foliage.
I'm afraid to let the tubers in soil during the winter. I'm in zone 7, but have experienced -20°C ( -4°F ) every winter between 2007 and 2011. At some times, frost penetrated the soil really deeply, particularly when there's no snow cover and it's long lasting. That would kill them for sure if it happened again.
What I did last year is storing them in a light, cold, frost-free place ( on a windowsill ) so the sprouts turn to leaves and stay like this for long.
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