2008 Potato Gardens

[Medbury Gardens]

Svalli your TPS spuds are looking good,i`m amazed how fast they have grown.
What does the T stand for in TPS and do you know what clones were crossed with your seed???
Richard

[OmahaJB]

Good advice, Alex. I hadn't thought about that aspect of things, but it makes sense - the longer they are in the soil the less time they'll need to be kept in storage. I'll wait until mid-September. I'm just hoping I get a decent number of potatoes! Will be a little embarrassing if I dump the soil out of the grow bags to find I have little to show for my efforts.

Jeff

[OmahaJB]

Richard,

I think the TPS stands for 'true potato seed', unless svalli is talking about something else.

[svalli]

Richard,

The true potato seeds came from Tom Wagner. He sent me a mixture of seeds, so what will come out from the soil is still a mystery. I'm hoping for colorful potatoes. My plan is to eat only few and keep rest of the spuds as seed potatoes for next season.

Jeff,

You do not have to harvest all of the potatoes at once. We usually start eating them as soon as they are size of the salad potatoes. When they are still young the skin is so thin that it comes off while washing them. A Finnish summer time treat is boiled baby potatoes with dill, butter and pickled herring or grilled salmon.
When the potatoes mature the skin will get thicker and then they will keep better in storage. In Wisconsin my tomato vines were usually totally dead by end of August, but I still did not dig all of the spuds up until end of September, since I did not have a root cellar and the potatoes stayed good in the soil. Only problem was that some critters were digging my garden and got few of the potatoes before me.

Sari

[Medbury Gardens]

I have been spending a few hours reading back though the first threads from mid 2006 onwards, if i had done that earlier i wouldn`t had to have asked what is TSP is,but thanks any way OmahaJB.
As a heirloom seed grower of many vegtables OP varieties all i have to do is select the right characteristics and let the bees and flys do the work,so simple.
When it comes to the past and present breeding work carried out by so many people involving spuds,tomatos etc, it just makes me realise that i have a lot more that i would so much like to learn.I can see myself having to go back though those old threads from time to time to help better understand its complexity

[Tom Wagner]

I am so glad that folks are sharing their ideas, concerns, progress, etc., about potatoes. I should write more but am busy most of the time.

It seems that my potato seeds (TPS) are doing well in several countries this year. I need to compile the results someday soon.

I tried to find out some history on the blue potatoes in NZ, but have timed out for lack of pertinent results.

Keep asking questions. As the moderator at the potato forum site, I will try to answer as many questions as I can; especially since I will be doing lots of seed extraction and will need diversions such as emails and forum discussion.

Tom Wagner

[OmahaJB]

Svalli, thanks for the tip on harvesting some potatoes a little early. In my case this year, I'm skeptical about getting a big harvest because I'm using grow bags, so I'll most likely wait until mid-September before harvesting. But then again, harvesting one of the bags a week or two earlier may end up being a temptation I can't resist.

Tom, I googled once to find your forum on growing potatoes. I enjoyed it but couldn't register probably because I have a dial-up connection and an old webtv box. One of these days I'll be back over there reading the posts at least.

The only questions I have at this point are ones I can probably find by googling the info. What I'm wondering is at what point can the top vegetation be removed? I know now would not be a good time, but I can't imagine it's far off. For the most part the vegetation is looking pretty sad. Definitely getting ready to die off.

Also am wondering if it's necessary to use certain types of bags to store potatoes in. Is it advantageous to have holes like the netting types potatoes at the stores come in?

Thanks, Jeff

[Tom Wagner]

What I'm wondering is at what point can the top vegetation be removed? I know now would not be a good time, but I can't imagine it's far off. For the most part the vegetation is looking pretty sad. Definitely getting ready to die off.

Jeff,

Most commercial growers top the vegetation of potatoes at some point to get skin set and stop tuber growth especially if they want to limit the sizes of potatoes. Mowing , burning, or chemical kill of top growth is done to help harvesting several weeks later. As gardeners we don't have to do that necessarily.
When to cut the foliage back? This can be done anytime the tuber size is ample and/or the vines are collapsing anyway. Even though you say the vegetation is looking pretty sad, you shouldn't be. The natural die back is like the fall of the year on trees. The vines are sacrificing their nutrients for the tubers and this is a good thing.

Since I do so much breeding with diverse types of potatoes, especially the tropical clones; die back is not a normal transitional trait. Most potatoes are in the time frame of 90 to 120 day maturities, and as a result, die back is noticeable. With 150 day or longer maturities, the tubers are formed but the plant goes on and on, resulting in second growth, heat sprouts, short dormancies, and sometimes---huge yields of potatoes.

Also am wondering if it's necessary to use certain types of bags to store potatoes in. Is it advantageous to have holes like the netting types potatoes at the stores come in?

Any container that allows good flows of air and drainage is OK. Plactic trays with slits or holes, wooden boxes with air gaps, mesh bags of all kinds, etc.

[OmahaJB]

Good info Tom. I definitely don't want to slow or stop tuber growth so will wait to top the vegetation. When I say they are looking pretty sad, they just look 'tired' I guess. As long as that means they are transferring energy to tuber growth I'm happy.

Will visit some local gardening centers, they may sell potato sacks around here somewhere.

Thanks, Jeff

[Tom Wagner]

Go to your local grocery store. Talking with a friendly produce manager may net you some onion bags, etc., for the now and later.

[OmahaJB]

May give that a try, Tom. If that doesn't work I'm sure I'll find something suitable. I'm a little anxious to try my first homegrown potato though, I can tell you that!

[OmahaJB]

I do have another question that I should have asked about yesterday. When I last visited the garden I saw tiny black bugs or flies or something that layed flat against the leaves on the potato plants. They didn't seem to care which side of the leaves they were on, but I did see more of them on the undersides. They were tiny, and when I went to smash them they did not try to move or fly away, but did fall off the leaves easily. I'm pretty sure they could fly.

I'm not worried about the potato plants being damaged at this point, but I'm wondering if they'll fly over to the tomato plants and cause damage? I have no idea what they are - first time seeing the suckers.

Any ideas as to what they could be?

[Tom Wagner]

I have had flea beetles in potatoes but for some reason no damage was found in my tomatoes. I did a search for Colorado and Ohio. Used Cuil.com to search.



Dozens of species of flea beetles are found in Colorado (Table 1). Although there is some overlap of tastes, each type of flea beetle has a decided preference for certain plants. For example, some flea beetles feed only on potatoes, tomatoes and other members of the nightshade family. Others have a taste for broccoli, cabbage and other cole Crops.




Can't help much but look into these sites for clues. Tom


http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/keys/plates/plate33.htm

http://www.cuil.com/search?q=flea+beetle

http://www.cuil.com/search?q=flea+beetles+ohio

[OmahaJB]

After work today I happened to stop by the garden. For some reason didn't notice any of those bugs (or possible flea beatles). Could be I just didn't look close enough. I did however notice the hot weather the past couple of days made the container soil pretty dry & hard. Glad I stopped by to water everything!

Thanks for those links Tom. I'll check them out this evening.

Jeff

[OmahaJB]

Just curious when everyone is planning on harvesting their potatoes. So far I'm seeing good advice for mid-late September, with some folks harvesting a portion of their crops early for 'salad' potatoes. Since mature sized potatoes can be harvested 6-8 weeks after flowers die off, mid-September should work for me.

Seven weeks past flowers dying off for me would be the middle of September. I'm thinking I may dump one of the grow bags in early September to see how things are going. Would enjoy trying my first homegrown potatoes, even if they are a little smaller in size.

I'm just curious what everyone's plans are for harvesting.

BTW, the plants are clearly not far away from 'expiring'. Obviously, that should be good for potato growth. I stopped by this week and watered a couple of times. It was in the low-90's and Tuesday the soil in the growbags was pretty dry. HOPING that didn't affect the potatoes adversely. Also watered Thursday & today (Saturday). Will need to continue keeping an eye on the watering situation.

I'm not the most patient man - having a tough time holding off harvesting one of the bags (too) early.

Jeff