Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Information and discussion for successfully cultivating potatoes, the world's fourth largest crop.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old February 11, 2012   #61
flutterby
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Grizzly Flats, CA
Posts: 32
Default

Well, I left it outside to fend for itself. I have, however, started more TPS under lights and heat indoors. I really want to grow as much outdoors as possible, since I do not have a "grow room" or greenhouse. Here in northern CA, we still have a chance of snow, so then it will break dormancy outside and then grow from there. This year has been unusually warm during winter. Usually it stays in the 40's with snow off and on. Now, barely any rain. Hope we don't have a drought. We just got out of one last year.
flutterby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 21, 2012   #62
loeb
Tomatovillian™
 
loeb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Poland
Posts: 251
Default

225705 Rosalina X hybrid second one is normal.. 8 seeds: 2 sprouted, I wonder if this one will be "special" and if it will be, what can I expect..
loeb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 20, 2012   #63
wingnut
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: bald hill area thurston county washington
Posts: 312
Default

I've had a few start out like this then they develop normally.
wingnut is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 15, 2012   #64
clkeiper
Tomatovillian™
 
clkeiper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
Default

I have a late planting of potatoes that I bought from the store and tossed in the garden about July 1st 2012. They are beautiful right now and loaded with berries. I do believe they are Yukon Gold potatoes. How do I know if the berries are ripe? do they turn color from green to brown? or is it too late for them to mature for an experiment? The flowers were on them about a month ago, but now the nights are getting frosty. I have never thought about growing the berries out until I read this thread.. Thanks for any help. Carolyn
__________________
carolyn k
clkeiper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 22, 2012   #65
GunnarSK
Tomatovillian™
 
GunnarSK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Warsaw, Poland 52° N
Posts: 363
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by clkeiper View Post
I have never thought about growing the berries out until I read this thread.. Thanks for any help. Carolyn
You grow potatoes from TPS much the same as with tomatoes, but the seed are tiny, and sprouting may be slow or erratic.
GunnarSK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 22, 2012   #66
Fusion_power
Tomatovillian™
 
Fusion_power's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Alabama
Posts: 2,250
Default

Potato berries ripen about 6 weeks after the flowers. They will usually turn a slightly paler green or light yellow color when mature.

DarJones
Fusion_power is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 22, 2012   #67
clkeiper
Tomatovillian™
 
clkeiper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
Default

Thank you DarJones. That was what I needed. I have oodles of them on some of the plants. I am hoping that the weather stays nice for a few more weeks and they lighten up or are ready by then. Do the seeds change from white to a darker color or is the seed color not indicative of ripeness? Thanks
__________________
carolyn k
clkeiper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 5, 2012   #68
kilroyscarnival
Tomatovillian™
 
kilroyscarnival's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 614
Default

Are there any specific varieties that can grow better in Florida? And what time of year would I have to start?
kilroyscarnival is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 15, 2012   #69
GunnarSK
Tomatovillian™
 
GunnarSK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Warsaw, Poland 52° N
Posts: 363
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival View Post
Are there any specific varieties that can grow better in Florida? And what time of year would I have to start?
Try to read the thread Potatoes for the Tropics. You can also ask Tom directly.
GunnarSK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 16, 2012   #70
kilroyscarnival
Tomatovillian™
 
kilroyscarnival's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 614
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GunnarSK View Post
Try to read the thread Potatoes for the Tropics. You can also ask Tom directly.
Thanks! I had done a search but might have used too many keywords. Had not found that conversation.
kilroyscarnival is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 18, 2012   #71
wmontanez
Tomatovillian™
 
wmontanez's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: MA
Posts: 776
Default

Try a Short season like Yukon Gold, if you can get any other varieties with good resistance to fungus even better. Tom has some short season blues also like Azul Toro that might do well.
__________________
Wendy
wmontanez is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 20, 2012   #72
Tom Wagner
Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator
 
Tom Wagner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
Posts: 1,157
Default

kilroyscarnival

My name was mentioned a few times, therefore, I will chime in.

Growing potatoes in Orlando, Florida?

My knowledge of potatoes in Florida is about forty years out of date. I know varieties like Atlantic would do well there but where are you going to find tubers of that one? It is a potato chip variety and I doubt if you would find those around.

I don't know exactly the the best time to plant potatoes in Orlando, but I would hazard a guess...Jan/Feb planting and April harvest.

Potato varieties that would do best would be mid season to early so that the potatoes would die down naturally as the weather turns hot. So yes, Yukon Gold and Azul Toro would work just fine.

As far as varieties I have to trial in your area....I have quite a few...but you must let me know how big of an area you have to grow potatoes..containers only or do you have a large garden?

Are you in for yield, flavor, color etc?

Most of my on site buying of potatoes was when I was a potato buyer for Frito-Lay was in the Hastings area on the ground there and living in Fort Augustine during the harvest season. Homestead potatoes were bought over the phone.

Most of by breeding work for Florida were with Eastern Seaboard adapted varieties and I could fill pages with information on hundreds of varieties and experimental lines that have done well there over the past fifty years. My vast TPS collections undoubtedly would provide some great options but I don't think the interest is for these.

As I said...I have historical data on your area for variety selection but I think it best to start off simple first.

Reminds me of a poem I wrote...reminisced from poetry you may know of...... Schwartz......

"TIME BURNS-LEARNING ENDURES"

The fire of the candle of time burns but a lifetime
Leaving not a trace of its light, warmth, or shadow.
Did not Lincoln read by the fire before his prime?
That burning fire sparked kindled prose that would later show.
But for the lifelong learner who shares that learned time
Will extend past his lifetime a beaming enlightened glow
Of knowledge, casting an everlasting shadow off a stood still time.
Tom Wagner


Key words...Time learn fire burn etc.

Quote:
"Time is the school in which we learn. Time is the fire in which we all burn"
Delmore Schwartz
Tom Wagner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 20, 2012   #73
kilroyscarnival
Tomatovillian™
 
kilroyscarnival's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 614
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Wagner View Post
kilroyscarnival
My name was mentioned a few times, therefore, I will chime in.
Thanks, Tom! Makes me think of: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice...

Quote:
So yes, Yukon Gold and Azul Toro would work just fine.
Noted. A home grown Yukon Gold, would it be much different from a supermarket gold? Smaller, more flavorful?

Quote:
As far as varieties I have to trial in your area....I have quite a few...but you must let me know how big of an area you have to grow potatoes..containers only or do you have a large garden?
Not a large garden, just some small beds and containers in a rental back yard. And I was planning to give potatoes a try in a container like a garbage can unless that's unwise. Before I discovered this thread and the info about TPS, I happened on a few how-tos on the web. I am a newbie gardener on almost all fronts. So far I have some tomatoes from starter plants, and a bunch of five-week seedlings of various types, some zukes and cukes, lettuces in boxes, carrots, couple of sweet and Anaheim peppers.

Quote:
Are you in for yield, flavor, color etc?
I think mostly flavor and first-time growing experimentation. My parameters with gardening seem to be to grow things I love to eat frequently (snap peas fit), things that are either subpar, expensive, or hard to get at the supermarket (such as really ripe tomatoes or true baby carrots), or just different varieties. Bought a bag of mixed fingerlings, pretty sure one is Russian banana, and the other is pink-fleshed. Pretty, but flavor not very prominent. I do hope to grow sweet potatoes later in the year, as I understand they can grow well even in Florida summers.

Quote:
Reminds me of a poem I wrote...reminisced from poetry you may know of...... Schwartz......

"TIME BURNS-LEARNING ENDURES"

The fire of the candle of time burns but a lifetime
Leaving not a trace of its light, warmth, or shadow.
Did not Lincoln read by the fire before his prime?
That burning fire sparked kindled prose that would later show.
But for the lifelong learner who shares that learned time
Will extend past his lifetime a beaming enlightened glow
Of knowledge, casting an everlasting shadow off a stood still time.
Tom Wagner
Nice! Yes, indeed, I see the echoes of the Schwartz poem. Also a bit of another (at least in themes) which is one of my favorites, also interweaving knowledge and experience contrasting with natural gifts and consequences:

Save postage stamps or photographs,
But save your soul! Only the past is immortal.

(the middle bit from this)

Hmm, I was kind of hoping there would be a variety-pack of TPS for 'dummies' who just want to try.
kilroyscarnival is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 21, 2012   #74
Tom Wagner
Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator
 
Tom Wagner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
Posts: 1,157
Default

Kilroyscarnival,

Fortunately, saying his (Betelguese) name three times can also be used to get rid of him and could be said to get rid of me as well.

Whether or not....growing Yukon Golds at home would taste any better than store bought...gotta ask the readership here...How about it?

I know I can get better flavor with an ample organic fertilizer and mineral augmentation that surpasses anything the commercial growers have.

Since this topic thread is about TPS, my suggestion is to try a few of my mini tubers grown from TPS seedlings...several colors of proven flavor and performance from selected pedigrees. Container growing allows a bit more flexibility in planting times.

The poetry of Delmore Schwartz reads a bit too much like a tortured man to me and far too New York City oriented for this 5th generation Kansas farm boy to follow well. However, if one takes the time to re-read his poetry, it does provoke mental imagery.

Quote:
Major writing is to say what has been seen, so that it need never be said again. Delmore Schwartz
Tom Wagner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old December 7, 2012   #75
Tom Wagner
Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator
 
Tom Wagner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
Posts: 1,157
Default

True Potato Seed ...TPS... can vary greatly in size and plumpness. TPS saved over a forty year span with the LENAPE variety has always been among the largest TPS among the tuberosum clones. Here is a picture of seed extracted today.



Larger seed means more food for the seedlings and as a result...larger cotyledons and seedling size at early stages. Lenape makes for a great seed parent when crosses are made...the hybrid vigor plus the extra seed size creates a remarkable improvement over smaller TPS clones.
Tom Wagner is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:02 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★