Topic: potato performance this year

[sandersj89]

SO professional, Jerry. I sometimes wonder why I bother.

But aren't we a bit premature on all this?? We haven't even lifted our 2nd earlies yet, let alone maincrop!

And what's all this about yield? What's the norm? The dear Dr says 20lb from a 10 foot row - maincrop. Yet we were averaging 9lb/plant with Picasso.

I know what you mean Tim. But I normally have to lift all mine around about this time of year. My heavy soil is a haven for slugs and quickly becomes hard to work if we have any amount of rain.

I have never actually weight my spuds, just bag them up and store, but Picasso, chosen when I saw yours last year, are amazing. No doubt they would have more weight if left a little longer.

Jerry

[moonbells]

My word - I am DEFINITELY getting Picasso if I can find a reasonable quantity! In fact I think I shall raise it at the Hort Soc AGM ... see if they are planning on getting them for the Shed.

moonbells

ps: looked at this season's HDRA list and they do have it! Yeehah!

http://www.hdra.org.uk/events/pd2005_varieties.php if anyone's interested in what they might have...

[vee]

I grew potatoes this year on my new plot and only had ten of each variety.
Rocket - did well, but had bland taste.
Royal Kidney - ok
Milva - best for quantity and size and made very good mash
Desiree - not a tremendous quantity but looks ok and some very big ones as well as small
All these were on land that was under brambles, dock and couch grass this time last year so I was pleased with whatever I got. I don't know if the yield I got was good or not. I would probably grow them all again, except I didn't like the taste of Rocket very much.
The best thing was the difference in the soil after I dug them up. It's worth growing them just for that!
 

[philandjan]

Our first year of planting.
Marais Piper - average yield but fell apart as soon as they saw hot water, let alone got in!
Desiree - lifted them all this weekend. Decent-ish crop but some of the scabbiest, ugliest Mr Potato men we have ever seen. We reckon that 1 in 10 had to be thrown due to something else having nibbled thier way in first (wireworms?). Hopefully the scabs are just superficial and they all look the same when they are peeled.

Our soil is very heavy clay which has meant some very interesting shapes! What varieties would people recommend for such conditions?

Also, please excuse our ignorance, but what actually causes the scabbing? Is it a lack of water at the right time of the growing cycle (though the clay meant that the soil was wet for long periods of time) or is it more soil-related?

[sandersj89]

Have a look here:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0902/potato_skin.asp

And as a side note I have to say the Arran Victory we grew this year have been exceptional as a roast spud. We have had them a few times and they make perfect crispy spuds on the outside, lovely and fluffy on the inside.

A cert for next year.

Jerry

[philandjan]

Cheers. Jerry.

We were also thinking of asking the Avon lady round to have a look at our skin problems and see if she's got any suitable ointment! :D

[reedos]

Tried a T & M "variety" pack, but my two small boys played with the labels - so I don't really know which was which. Grew most in bags, which as has been mentioned costs a fortune in compost, but one of my old guys told me to seive the compost add a bit muck and use it again next year, so I'll try that. :D
Of the ones I can identify these are the results from the Gateshead jury

PFA, it's all been said.
Rocket OK
Lady Kristl not a great crop but tasty
Cara mainly still in the ground (the only ones in the soil) - covered in scab and hammered by wireworm, but we'll see
Anya V good ;D

Red Duke of Yorks probably tasted nice, but didn't know you needed to steam them, they basically disintergrated at every boiling >:(

[Robert_Brenchley]

Duke of York have been great, despite being grown from seed I savef myself. I haven't lifted any of the King Edwards yet.

[busy_lizzie]

We grew early Duke of Yorks but the bed was under water during the heavy storms which I think affected them.  The yield was okay considering but I thought they were very starchy.  Good for chips and crisps but not for boiling. Not particularly tasty.

Our second earlies were Charlotte which I think we will grow again as we had a good yield and they had a nice flavour.  I am very attracted to growing International Jersey. I have heard some very good reports of them. So we will hopefully give them a try next year. Ours are almost finished now. busy_lizzie

[Iain D]

Hi

My potatoes were all in pots. This was my second year growing them.

Sharpes Express - good yield and OK flavour but not exceptional
Carlingford - lovely rich taste but not many of them, my fault however for getting a bit behind with topping up the compost!
Yukon Gold - a big success with several quite large spuds and again a good flavour - floury.
Ratte - similar to Pink Fir Apple which I grew last year, just less knobbly. Good yield and a lovely taste.
Arran Victory - only had a couple so far from this one but what we've had has been good. Looking forward to digging deeper for more.

Next year I'm going for Epicure, British Queen, Belle de Fontenay and Golden Wonder along with a pack of heritage microplants for interest!

Iain

[Lady Cosmos]

Still having 3 rows of 5 meter of potatoes in the ground I can say that it has been an exeptional good potatoe year.
Dore- very, very big  :)
Maris Peer, big yield: over 64 kg in 1,5 row  :)
Anya: lots  ;D
Desiree: great: 43 kg  :)
Nicola: perfect  :)
Pentland Squire: 49.5 kg in 2 rows  ;D ;D
Black Vitaline: good as ever  ;D
Wilja : big yield as ever ;D
Franceline: big ones and a  lot too  ;D ;D
Roseval: extreme many potatoes,  ;D ;D ;D
No slugs and no blight.  Very Happy with them. :P
Will try to get some pictures in tonight

[keef]

 I grew,

Rocket - good yield, big average size spuds, very bad slug damage though, no scab. Going to try somthing else next year.

Pentaland Javlin - average yeild, not very big this year though, no slug damage, no scab.  Very good flavour and flowery ness (lovey laughin perties  Grin )

Desiree - very good yeild, big average size, no slug damage, a little scab, these always come up trumps! will always grow these as my main crop.

Cara - very good yeild, bloomin massive!, slug damage, little scab, not sure about next year - only if i can sort out the slugs.

Any ideas on how to reduce slug damage - dont understand why some varieties dont get eaten but others do, i thought it was down to skin colour but i'm not too sure.

[Wicker]

Pretty good year for us - no scab or slug damage.  More small tubers this year probably due to lack of rain but these are still good for roasting in skins and wee chips!! We have lifted all our tatties and have 2nd earlies and maincrop in store.

1st Earlies - Lady Christl - delicious and good crop will def grow again
                    Concorde - good - no complaints  - flavour o.k.

2nd Earlies - Charlotte - good crop and great flavour - will repeat
                     Concorde - using now  - again fine.

Maincrop     - Pentland Crown, Sante and King Edward - still to try
                     but looking good

[Merry Tiller]

This year I've had average yields and fairly low slug damage

Anya = nice for salad

Red Duke of York = superb for flavour

Epicure = fantastic chipped

Yukon Gold = the best roast potatoes I've had for ages

[Moggle]

My first year for growing spuds:

Rocket - okay yield, but lots of slug damage, probably lost about a third to half the tubers to slugs.

Concorde - a lovely waxy yellow first early, with little slug damage, fairly good yield too.

Red Duke of York - grew 5 plants from a swap. Very dry and seemed to take a long time to get big, but I think I will give em a go next year again and be more patient to try to get some bakers.

International Kidney - a good number of tubers, and lovely waxy new spuds. Not much slug damage either.


Keef, as you can see from my comments, I have a big problem with slugs too. Quite a few of the catalogues have detailed descriptions of the potatoes, and it will say if they are particularly resistant to slugs. I also posted a question earlier this year and people suggested quite a few varieties. Ones I have noted this year are: Romano, Golden Wonder, Kestrel. Thompson and Morgan also list Ulster Chieftain, Sarpo Mira, Pentland Dell as being particularly slug resistant.