Topic: Growing potatoes from True Potato seed.

[Jayb]

I meant to post these pictures etc a while back, but hey ho that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Inspired by Tom, I have been dabbling with making some crosses using the potato varieties I’m growing. This is a first for me and I found the larger size of flower easier to work with than Tomatoes. I can say it is fun and very very addictive. As a reward I have some berries yayyyy, which gives me hope! I look forward to next year’s sowing season (I know, counting chickens.....)

My pictures and description may not be the best, but it seems to work for me. Any tips advice etc is very welcome.

First collecting pollen, I found it simplest to collect in a small shallow dish, black makes it easier to see the pollen which is a pale creamy white colour. I’ve been choosing newly opened flowers and collecting in the morning to mid day. The pollen is released from the anther cone which is usuallya bright yellow to orangey yellow colour as in the second picture, top right. A dry calm day is really best, to my dismay I’ve found a puff of wind leaves your collecting dish empty! Also to be avoided high humidity/rain which makes the pollen grains clump together and stick inside the anther cone.

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Not all varieties seem to shed pollen, I was unable to collect any from Up to Date or Kestrel. I’ve been using my electric toothbrush to shake the flower heads to release their pollen.  Positioning the flower over the dish quite close to its surface, or the pollen will fly off (You can do this with tomatoes too) alternatively light taps to the back of the flower should do the trick.

Next the flower bud, this is the variety called Tibet from the Irish Seed Savers. I hope this shows the right stage to use, petals are still firmly closed but the usually green sepals are opening up. The holes in the anther cone that shed pollen will not have opened yet.

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Some varieties are easier to emasculate than others and the entire anther cone will lift off easily in one go by gently squeezing and pulling it with a pair of tweezers. But this variety didn’t want to play ball (and I need more practice) here I’ve started to remove part of the anther cone which comes in 5-7 segments, you can see the position of the centrally placed stigma and style. I’ve managed to knock a fair few off which is a little frustrating!

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[Jayb]

A bit more to add;

Some varieties I have not bothered to emasculate as they don’t appear to set berries even when they have had a good dose of their own pollen. If I am ‘selfing’ or pollinating one I’ve not emasculated I’ve found it easier to remove some of the length of petal. This I think makes it easier to dip the stigma in pollen.  I use my fingernails to just pinch some of the petal off.

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Here the entire anther cone has been removed; the ovary, stigma and style is visible. You can see where the anther cone was attached. This when fertilized will go on to form the berry containing seeds.

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Stigmas just dipped in pollen, I’ve been using coloured cotton tied around the flower stem to track pollen used for crosses. I think next year I’ll keep a log of what and when also, it has been a bit of guess work wondering if the berries are ripe enough to harvest.

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[carbonel11]

That's fascinating Jayb and thank you for the detailed and useful description of the entire process. I may give it a go next year but also it gives me an excuse to collect some more interesting potato varieties and the research will give me something to do in the winter months. The photos are great.

[1066]

Thanks Jayb for a great description and photos.  8)

However, my berries are not looking great, so few have actually made it to a later stage, and I'm leaving them on for as longs as possible. Not looking great at this end......

[small]

Thanks for those fascinating pics and detailed descriptions. It's not something I can see myself doing but I do appreciate enthusiasm and the determination to carry things through.  Bit worried about the toothbrush though....

[Jeannine]

I got berries yesterday from Nordic JT and Mura..from Tom's spuds

XX Jeannine

[Jayb]

Carbonel11, I'll be offering some tps seeds later this month or maybe next, if you fancy trying them next spring. Might bridge the gap while you wait for yours next year  :)

Fingers Crossed 10.
I think it is pushing it to be able to save tps in the same season as tps is sown, when you take the weather and blight in to account! Some of mine have which is great, others not  :(

Thanks small  :), I can really see they are not for everyone. 

Bit worried about the toothbrush though....

lol,  works a treat  ;D

Excellent news Jeannine

[Jayb]

I’ve just been thinking about how best to go about sharing/swapping seed. ( Could call it the TPS bank!)

So far I’ve started a list using Google docs as it is easy to update rather than having to keep reposting info. I’ll open a thread in the seed swap with details and a link.

I just wondered if anyone has any TPS seed they would like to donate or swap. The more varieties available the better it will be. If you want to deposit your swaps until we have (if we have) a few more varieties it might work out better that way, more choice.

I guess the swap will work along the lines; Person A has collected 5 x 50 seeds of PFA which they would like to swap for...  A sends me their seeds which I’ll then list as available. Requested seeds are posted to A.

These are the varieties I’ve processed so far;

Blue Belle and Russian Blue (although the seed circles get first shout, there still should be plenty for spares)
Cocoon Khuchi, (a diploid variety)
Bolivian Yellowhesh x Black Bog, (both these varieties originally came from ISSA)
Skagit Magic (diploid)
Tibet.
I’ve more varieties of berries ripening indoors which I’ll add when they are ready.

Let me know what you think.

[1066]

a great (if not bonkers) idea Jayb  8)
I won't participate as I don't have many and it's my 1st attempt so I want to see what I get from my own beofre I venture into swapping. But I'll read with interest  :)

[Jayb]

a great (if not bonkers) idea Jayb  8)

You may be right  ;D (I think I have a serious TPS addiction!)

ps should have added above, no worries if you don’t have any TPS to swap, you'll still be able to request seed to try, but please send a SAE.

[goodlife]

I'm not sure if this page has been mentioned on here before..but good site for parentage of different varieties..and if the variety makes berries etc...
http://www.europotato.org/menu.php

[Robert_Brenchley]

Good idea, though mine haven't got as far as seed. I'm hoping for some small tubers I can grow on next year.

[1066]

well, the results are finally in  :D
From Tom Wagner's gift of  TPS - Howie Mandel back in March I'm now the proud owner of loads of delicious of potatoes,

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As you can see they are a real mixed bag, from white skins, through to pinky-white, onto pinky-rose, then to a deep purple elongated shape, and finishing with almost purple-black.

My seed saving attempts are looking rather sorry for themselves, only a few berries made it. I hope to get some viable seeds to sow next year, and to send some back to Tom.

The TPS were extremely prolific, producing lots of potatoes, but as I had to dig them up a lot hadn't reached full size, and could be classed as tiddlers!

The plan is to try and use some of the seed from the berries, and also to save a few tubers for replanting next year.

The biggest lesson I've learnt growing TPS is to start them off early, and that includes planting them out early so they have enough time to develop properly.

The real bonus has been that they are almost 100% free from slug damage and didn't suffer from blight. RESULT!

So once again a big thanks to Tom  and I think they enjoyed their seaview  ;D

And to Jayb for starting this on A4A  8)

[Jayb]

They look super and sound great, "100% free from slug damage and didn't suffer from blight", result!

How are you going to pick which of them to grow next year?

It's a really useful site thanks for posting it Goodlife.

Good idea, though mine haven't got as far as seed. I'm hoping for some small tubers I can grow on next year.

Me too  ;D
I've got plenty of Tps from SkM if you need some more Robert. Some of my plants have had blight and look just about dead others in the row although some damage, are still flowering! Downside is they seem to be very shy to set tubers. I had a small taste of some yesterday, I was surprised the tubers were white some with purple eyes. Taste was good, they boiled well and quite waxy.

[1066]

my plan, if you can call it that, is to save a few tubers from each of the different colours. And then remember to write down what I planted where! hmmmmm, wondering how that will turn out  ::)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've got plenty of Tps from SkM if you need some more Robert. Some of my plants have had blight and look just about dead others in the row although some damage, are still flowering! Downside is they seem to be very shy to set tubers. I had a small taste of some yesterday, I was surprised the tubers were white some with purple eyes. Taste was good, they boiled well and quite waxy.

I'd be extremely grateful. It's been a good year for blight (from our point of view, not the blight's!), but if we keep selecting we should hopefully get some really resistant strains.

Shyness to develop tubers could be dealt with by crossing with other varieties, but it may be better to take it one step at a time and aim for a resistant strain first.

[Jayb]

I'd be extremely grateful. It's been a good year for blight (from our point of view, not the blight's!), but if we keep selecting we should hopefully get some really resistant strains.

Shyness to develop tubers could be dealt with by crossing with other varieties, but it may be better to take it one step at a time and aim for a resistant strain first.

I'm hoping that I'll have a few promising looking tubers to start fairly early next year, I think it will make a big difference.

I did manage a couple of crosses using Skagit Magic, one is to Sarpo Kifli. I was a bit cross I accidentillly snapped the stem on these before they were ready. I've put them to ripen further and I'm hopeful I'll be able to harvest a few seed from this cross. I'm not sure what to expect from growing a Diploid x tetraploid next year. If I have enough seeds I'll share if anyone is interested.

my plan, if you can call it that, is to save a few tubers from each of the different colours. And then remember to write down what I planted where! hmmmmm, wondering how that will turn out  ::)

I've not been able to prove it, but I suspect the Plant List Pixy is to blame in these sort of matters! They seem to be found dotted around and strike when you least suspect, I'm still looking for a solution.

[Jayb]

Last week I dug my tps Red Cara and Ratte, nice selection of types that look quite close to the mother plant, I think most likely these are seeds from selfed plants. Some plants produced poorly others were much better, overall I am really pleased with the crop and useful size of potatoes. I'm even happier that the ones I've sampled, so far all have been tasty spuds.

Quite a few plants went on to set pods, some flowers I used in a few crosses. A shame blight struck before I could harvest all of them.

TPS grown Ratte tubers
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TPS Red Cara
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[chriscross1966]

Will be tipping out my remaining pots this weekend, about half the Ratte adn the Russian Blues left to come. There were a couple fo vigiourous plants in there so hopefully I'll have some decent tubers to play with.

I've collected some berries from my own plants, Sarpo Axona, Sarpo Mira and PFA produced some....

chrisc

[Jayb]

Nice one Chrisc  ;D

The Russian Blue's tps I've tried so far have mostly been blues with some lovely dark flesh colours. A few have been red skinned  and one was white, but I've not tried these yet.

I'm hoping to be sowing some S.Mira and PFA tps next season as well, so I look forward to hearing how you get on with them :)