Topic: Well, Someone may be interested

[Kepouros]

I occasionally save a potato seed pod and sow the seeds the following spring - just for amusement really and to conduct a few minor experiments on.



This seedling was from Kestrel and was sown in the third week of April, and until I dug it up was 8inches tall.  As you can see from the foliage the leaves are still immature and have not yet developed their full form.

 However, what is particularly interesting is that despite its immaturity the plant is already extremely close to tuber initiation. There are two stolons (the thicker white rootlike stems) clearly visible, and it is the upper of these which is indicating impending tuberisation.  If you look closely at the tip of this stolon you can see quite clearly that it has formed a tiny hook, and this `hooking`is the essential commencement of tuber formation at this point.  The hook (had the plant been left in the ground) would slowly have thickened out and swelled to form the actual tuber.  The other stolon would have followed suit shortly afterwards, and possibly a third or fourth stolon may have formed.  However, I have never had more than 4 very small tubers from such a seedling, and I`m afraid that I generally lose interest in them at this point

[amphibian]

It something I keep meaning to do, especially as you don't need to stabalise the cultivar, because of potatoes vegetative reproduction.

[Tee Gee]

I`m afraid that I generally lose interest in them at this point

I can understand why;

I tried this process but gave up after I think the third or fourth year.

Even after this time the tubers only reached the size of a pigeons egg.

Had they gone up to chicken egg size I might have given them another year.

I'm a patient man but then there is patience and Patience!!

[terrier]

So how long do seed potato producers have to grow on cultures before selling them as 'seed', or is this not the way it's done? All fascinating stuff.

[allaboutliverpool]

Surely the next stage is to keep the tiny potatoes until the next year and grow them on. I would say that the resultant crop would at least give you a reasonable idea of the taste (as it may be a cross) and a few of the tubers should be big enough to be seed potato size which when planted should give an idea of yeild.

You could of course, deliberately hand pollinate to produce crosses, and going by the above timetable it is about 3 years which is less time than it takes to pruduce asparagus from seed.

[OllieC]

How would you measure the solanine content, or is the aim just to grow a couple for fun?

[Kepouros]

I`m afraid that you all mistake the purpose of my posting.  My reason for sowing a few potato seeds occasionally is not to produce  good sized, edible potatoes - I did that successfully over 40 years ago, but the quality was not worth bothering with. Having done it once there is no point (to me) in repeating the exercise.

My purpose in such sowings is merely to provide material for observation and some experimentation with mineral applications (seeing the results in the flesh is better than any picture on the internet), and the plants are normally all destroyed once they have served their purpose.

My point in this particular posting was to illustrate the precise stage at which tuberisation commences on the tip of the stolon - which I am fairly confident that very few of the members have actually seen on a growing plant - Hence the Subject heading - and I apologise to all who expected something more exciting.

However, to respond to your postings:


amphibian, it`s something every serious potato grower should try - just once and for fun.

Tee Gee, either you were unlucky in your choice of seed, or you gave up too soon.

Terrier, 4 years to be sure they have something worth bothering with, then several more years of trialling before it can be marketed

allaboutliverpool, thank you for your advice, but as I have a\lready pointed out I have been there, done that, and got the T shirt

OllieC, Were I hoping to produce a commercial variety I would submit a tuber to a laboratory for proper analysis of course.

[Kea]

I grew cultured potato microplants for experimental work, many produced small tubers as big as 15mm long in the agar. I planted them into pots to grow foliage and they produced bigger tubers. I have grown plants from the small tubers but as they were in pots that weren't that big I didn't get very big tubers. I also grew plants by just using a eye/bud core. These are the same techniques used to bulk up new varieties. Another technique is to speed everything up by sending material to the southern hemisphere to get two growing seasons/year.....so it can be quite quick.

[daxzen]

i'd be interested in you results and conclusions - are potatoes from the same family as deadly nightshade - might it be worth asking someone you dont like - having signed a disclaimer, to try the first crop!

[amphibian]

i'd be interested in you results and conclusions - are potatoes from the same family as deadly nightshade - might it be worth asking someone you dont like - having signed a disclaimer, to try the first crop!

They are the same family and indeed a breeder inadvertently bred a poisonous potato in the past, he selected for pest resistance. Unfortunately the reason the pests weren't eating the tubers was because of an unusually high level of Solanine, people were sick, but deaths did not occur.

The only case of death from potatoes that I am aware of occurred in the second world war, when some Poles made soup with the sprouts of old potatoes, because they had nowt else to eat.

[amphibian]

Surely the next stage is to keep the tiny potatoes until the next year and grow them on. I would say that the resultant crop would at least give you a reasonable idea of the taste (as it may be a cross) and a few of the tubers should be big enough to be seed potato size which when planted should give an idea of yeild.

You could of course, deliberately hand pollinate to produce crosses, and going by the above timetable it is about 3 years which is less time than it takes to pruduce asparagus from seed.

Most potato seed produces segregation in the progeny because breeders do not stabalise cultivars to the extent necessary for seed grown crops. Every potato is a clone of its parent so genetic stability is not important, the results appear homozygous, because they are clones, often extensive heterozygousity is carried in the seed.

A cross of potatoes is often the equivalent of an F1 x F1 cross and produces a huge degree of segregation, but if you find a segregant you like, it is just a case of saving tubers, with no need for stabalisation work, effectively once you've found a tuber with your desired qualities you have a new cultivar, job done.

[Unwashed]

I understood that the Irish grew Lumper from seed in the nineteenth century.  Is that not right?

[Robert_Brenchley]

All varieties originate from true seed, but I believe Lumpers was bred in England, and taken back to Ireland because the landlords only left the people minimal amounts of land to live off, and it yielded more than other varieties. 'Lumpers' was slang for itinerant Irish navvies; people were so poor that they ended up as the Victorian the equivalent of East European fruit pickers. I believe there was a second variety grown by a few people, but it wasn't so popular as it didn't yield so heavily. It had some blight resistance, and those who grew it came through the famines better.

If anyone's interested in growing potatoes from true seed, you can get expert advice here:

http://tatermater.proboards.com/

[Barnowl]

I've grown two short rows of Salad Blue, one from seed potatoes the other from mini tubers.

Initially the minis were slower to develop but the foliage is now the same height in both rows. Will let you know how the crop compares, but as the rows are only 4 ft it's probably shouldn't be considered a definitive result.  Also it's worth bearing in mind the minitubers were nearly £1 each - that's a lot of seed potatoes!

[amphibian]

http://tatermater.proboards.com/

Tom Wagner, also moderates the potato section at tomatoville.com. This thread here is a good start for anyone interested in TPS.