Topic: Mayan Gold Potatoes - review

[PeterVV]

I guess only the supposed risk of supermarket tubers not guaranteed to be virus or blight free, but a lot of people seem to do just that and have no problems!

Most are sprayed with growth inhibitor, and the damage they could potentially cause by not being guaranteed pest free is catastrophic, not just to your crop, but everyone elses crop on the allotment, as blight can spread to everyones plot overnight. I speak from experiance, as we have someone at the top of our plot who does just that, we all have suffered.

[Robert_Brenchley]

The common cause of blight on allotment sites isn't shop-bought potatoes, it's accidentals that haven't been weeded out before it gets warm enough for the disease to spread. Growth inhibitor is a potential problem, but lots of people grow shop potatoes successfully.

[nefertiti]

I've grown these for a few years now, you do get a much wider range of sizes when you grow them yourself. Good for steaming and roasting, useless for mash, you end up with a soup within 5 mins....

they make the best mash ever! But you have to steam them, not boil   

[pumkinlover]

Growing them for the first time this year. Hopefully I'll remember the tips on here 

[Digeroo]

I put mine in the microwave whole and then half and finish off sauteeing in butter.  Need to ensure they are pricked they do make a habit of exploding all over the inside of the microwave.

The slugs seem to think they are scrummy too and the smell of a microwaved slug is truly terrible.

I have been trying to persuade people not to water their potatoes over the leaves but instead carefully put in it channels between the rows and we have had a reduction in blight.

[GREGME]

is the flesh v yellow on these ?

[Deb P]

is the flesh v yellow on these ?

Very.......

[George the Pigman]

Last year I got some Harlequin seed potatoes and I am very impressed by them. They are a cross between Charlotte & PFA so are really an early maincrop. They are less knobbly that PFA and seem much more slug resistant - I always had slug problems on my plot with PFA.. They are good boilers . steamers and roasters and when small would be good salad potatoes.

[GREGME]

Completely agree George I'm a harlequin fan too for same reasons but trying Mayan gold also this year

[Floyds]

Last year, I experimented with growing a couple of Anyas from leftover spuds I got from Sainsbury's, comparing them to Anyas grown from proper seed potatoes. I grew them all in pots on the patio, together, because I don't have an allotment.

It was a pretty unusual season here in Hampshire, with late frosts followed by hot, dry weather. The result was clear, though: the supermarket ones did very badly, compared with the ones grown from seed potatoes. They were slow to start, grew far less vigorously and the yield was poor.

I think the Sainsbury's ones had probably been sprayed with growth inhibitor to prevent them from sprouting.

So I wouldn't recommend supermarket spuds for growing, but will be going along to the Potato Day at Whitchurch, Hants, as usual. Hope to pick up some Mayan Golds there.  :)

And do they sprout! The reason I won't be growing them again is that they don't store for long before sprouting, well not long enough for me anyway.  I had to throw away two hessian sacks full of the darn things because they had sprouted into a mass of shoots that intertwined with each other to form a tangled ball of shoots. They even penetrated the hessian sacks and were a divil of a job to release. In the end I gave up and chucked the lot on the bonfire. So I understand why Sainsbury's might have sprayed them with an inhibitor.
They taste alright if you can steam them or roast them or find some way of cooking that avoids them turning to mush in boiling water.