Topic: potatoes from seed

[ruud]

I have sown potatoseed.The variety is called ``Van Iwaarden```,on the packageyou can read that it is a nice adventure,i hope so ;D ;D ;D.Also read on the package you have to grow them like you grow tomatoes.We will see another green adventure.I will keep you all informed and updated. ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Tee Gee]

Do you mean seed of a similar size to tomatoes seed ruud?

If so then you will have a long wait before you will get a crop suitable for eating.

I'm talking 5-7 years till they are of an edible size!

[ruud]

Seed is the size to tomatoseed tee gee,but wenn i read the text on the package,its said;sow them on the same way as his rel;ative the tomato.The potato has a red skin,some deviation is possible,but that is commen withgrowing potatoes out of seed.There is nothing mention about the time you said it needs to get proper potatoes,i asume you can do it in one season,but who am i.

[saddad]

Not wishing to contradict TeeGee I thought they would grow from "true seed" and make tubers in a year but the tubers will be "crosses" and when developing new varieites the extra years are for selection of the desired characteristics, it is quite possible that if the "breeder" controlled the pollen that they would all be similar...  ???

[Tee Gee]

Having been there and done that it goes like this; unless your seeds are different from what I grew.

My seed was taken from the tomato like growths that some time appear on some potato varieties.

This is the reason that added a year to my production time, i.e. I had to wait another year before I could sow them that is to get to the point you are at now!

Year 1; In year one you sow the seed generally in a pot and they grow a haulm (top).

At the end of the season you empty the pot and uncover usually pea size nodules, this is the eventual potato.

Year 2; These tubers/ nodules are saved until the next year and grown on generally in a bigger pot, much like you would plant full sized tubers.

If you are lucky these will grow on to about the size of a marble perhaps slightly bigger.

Year 3; These are saved yet again till the next year where the whole process begins again, this time you might get the proverbial hens egg sized tuber (I didn't my ones were about 1" diameter)

Year 4; These tubers are then planted as normal and hopefully you will get a crop to harvest for the dinner plate. (but don't hang your hat on it might take another year of the same process as I did.)

It took me 6 years to grow my first pot full and let me tell you it was only a small pot full barely enough for a meal.

I thought I was going to introduce a new variety on to the market and make my fortune but alas they were not even as good a variety as the original so they were binned.

I guess that why the specialist now produce micro-growth i.e. to speed up the breeding process.

So finally all I can say is; I hope you prove me wrong and you go on to harvest a good crop!

[davyw1]

I think the concept of growing potato seed from the berry of the potato plant is to get a potato that does well in the soil and the area that you grow in.
You plant what potatoes you want to grow and let what ever disease in your area have a go at them and let them cross pollenate you then take the berry from the surviving plants and extract the seed.
You then plant the seed to get your tuberlets which in turn become your seed potatoes then in the third year you get your first crop of potatoes which will only be small. So it has taken you 3 years to get spuds that wont fill your plate.

You only have to get thro avoiding blight, potato leaf roll, aphids, caspids,  mosaic virus, wireworm, slugs, scag, hollow heart, soft rot, dry rot,wart disease and so on, then some where sterile at the right temperature to store the tubers. OH! and live in Scotland.

Don,t let me put you of Ruud  LOL
Good luck.                  

[Baccy Man]

The way I have previously grown TPS is a little different but did produce full size tubers in the first year.

To save potato seed:
Select your heathiest plants.
When the potato seedpods are soft like a ripe tomato harvest them.
Put the fruits in a kitchen blender, cover with water and blend just enough to break up the seedpods and liberate the 100's of seeds contained within them.
Leave this mixture in a plastic bowl to ferment for 24 hours to kill off diseases.
The seeds will sink to the bottom (they look similar to tomato seeds).
Rinse several times until you have clean seeds.
Drain the seed and spread on a paper towel to dry.
Store until spring.

To grow from seed:
TPS (true potato seed) is sown in seedbeds three or four weeks prior to the potato planting season. The plants in the beds produce small tubers up to 1" (25mm), sometimes called tuberlets, which you dig up & replant individually as you would conventional seed tubers. If you don't dig them up & replant the tuberlets individually you will get loads of very small potatoes if you do replant then you get full size potatoes I have no idea why it's just the way they grow.

If you want to breed your own new variety:
The first seeds will be the parents of the second breeding cycle. Repeat the process for several years, discarding plants with poor flavour or low disease resistance. Just save seed from the very best plants each year. You will be surprised how quickly resistance to viruses like blight develop.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Blight isn't a virus, it's a fungus. I'd be extremely surprised if it's easy to breed resistant varieties, or they'd all be resistant by now! From what I've been able to discover, the motivation behind new varieties has often been that the old stock was riddled with viruses, and raising seed gets rid of them, at least for a while.

[Barnowl]

It's pretty clear  ;D from this that you sow Ruud's variety and harvest it in the same year.

https://www.vreeken.nl/2007/pages/web_zaden.php?page=web_zaden_detail&zoekwoord=001030

Completely off topic: despite having been growing them for 3 years,  I only just realised that aubergine are also solanum,  like tomatoes and potatoes. 

http://www.gardencentre.co.uk/fulldetails.asp?id=5279

[ruud]

You found my source barnowl,did you understand what is written on that page,if you do yousee that vreeken says from seed to harvest in one growing year.I have sown them just a moment ago.They are standing on top of my aquariuum,so they got some nice bottum heat. Now it is a question of time,how long to germinate i dont know.

[Tee Gee]

I will be interested in your results Ruud.

I had another think after I explained my first attempt, and if I was to go that route again, I think I would plant the first year seedlings out onto the bed rather than in pots, and do the same in succesive years with the saved tubers.

Perhaps I 'bonsaied' mine hence the lack of size............... just an added thought ::)

But I don't think I will ever go that route again, hence my interest in your future experinces.

Good luck!!

[Barnowl]

You found my source barnowl,did you understand what is written on that page,if you do yousee that vreeken says from seed to harvest in one growing year.I have sown them just a moment ago.They are standing on top of my aquariuum,so they got some nice bottum heat. Now it is a question of time,how long to germinate i dont know.

I understood it to say sow in April/May, plant out and they'll be ready at the end of summer. Fascinating. I too look forward to hearing how they turn out.

[cornykev]

Good luck Rudd, I am also looking forward to hearing how they turn out.  ;D ;D ;D

[ruud]

I will keep everyone updated. ;D ;D

[ruud]

First seeds are germinated,now the next stage.

[PurpleHeather]

Hope there is a good chippy in your area whilst you are waiting!

Seriously, It is an interesting thing to do, good luck to you. Let us know how you get on. Even if the trial flops totally, we would like to know.

Wouldn't we folks?

[mat]

I am certainly very interested in seeing how you get on Ruud, as someone on the GYO forum has also said she got very good size tubers are ONE year, and said how she did it...  I rarely look at GYO, so am glad this conversation has come up on here

mat