Topic: Growing potatoes from True Potato seed.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Several of my Skagit Magic are blooming, a bit late to make seed! Having got to that stage, there should hopefully be a few small tubers in there.

[green lily]

I'm coming a bit late to this coz of a difficult month or so :'( but I have saved some berries of PFA despite the blight dodging around and will try my hand at growing something from these.They aren't in any way crosses and I merely used the old fashioned method of stuffing one flower into another to encourage fruiting. Now I've learnt from the experts maybe I'll progress, but one step at a time - literally as my back is deteriorating... But I'm really delighted in reading your posts and congratulations to everyone for such stunning results and great photos to explain and encourage. Wonderful, many thanks to you all. ;D

[louise stella]

I have my seeds and can't wait to try this next spring!  Should I extract the seeds now or leave them in the pods and do it and sew them straight away next spring?

[Jayb]

Yayyyyyy well done Green lily with the PFA berries, I struggled to get just a few of them to set and they are really small ones and I'm not sure the seeds will be ok!

Louise I'm not sure how ripe your pods are but once they have had a chance to mature the seeds are best extracted in preperation for sowing next season.

TPS berries need to have been formed for a minimum of 6 weeks before picking. If they can be left longer all the better. Once picked berries still normally need time to ripen further. Mine are in the spare bedroom and this seems to be working ok.

Picture shows Sarpo Kifli berries, ones on the right are S. Kifli x October Blood and were picked about 2 weeks ago and those on the right S. Kifli x Ratte probably 4 weeks +. You can see how the colour has changed as the berries continue to ripen.  The green looking berries remain hard whereas the x Ratte are starting to soften, they don’t smell very ripe yet so I’ll be leaving these for a while longer.
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This picture shows freshly picked Skagit Magic x Squat Orange (with orange thread) They will need time to mature before they are ready, I’ll just keep an eye on them to make sure they haven’t been infected with blight.   The other 3 Skagit M berries on the right in the picture are much riper  and were picked a couple of months ago. These 3 are all fairly soft and smell quite strongly, I think it would be ok to extract seed from these. The lightest coloured berry is by far the ripest, quite squishy and very sweetly scented.
[attachment=2]

[louise stella]

Thanks for that Jayb!
So basically - I have to wait for them to go mushy looking first?

[Jayb]

I think anywhere from soft to mushy is good  ;D

Edit to add, Berries giving off a sweetish kind of scent is a givaway sign too.

[chriscross1966]

Two bits of news.... I have a load of berries that came off Sarpo Mira/Axona (sorry but they're all mixed up)..... anyone who wants some PM me and I'll send a few....

Just tipped out the rest of this years TPS from pots.... two of the Russian BLues are blue fleshed... the one I tried tonight was nice so the rest will mostly be going for growing next year, I name the variety Jayblu, will try the other one tomorrow... One of the Ratte looks productive too so will grow that on if it tastes OK, will try it tomorrow too....

Rest of them didn't amount to much though.... not a bad hit rate though, out of twelve plants I grew here four have turned up intereting.... a pair of blue fleshed decently vigourous croppers, a decent Ratte strain and a potentially early Ratte strain that I've passed on to someone else for propagation....

[pumkinlover]

Is that the ones you sent me Chriscross?
They are keeping cool behind the toilet cistern ;D ;D ;D - that heat wave got me worried!

[Jayb]

Lol at Jayblu!
Good results fantastic.

[pumkinlover]

Lol at Jayblu!
Good results fantastic.

So it was named after you ;)

[chriscross1966]

Is that the ones you sent me Chriscross?
They are keeping cool behind the toilet cistern ;D ;D ;D - that heat wave got me worried!

That's the one... you've got the early Ratte...

[Jayb]

If you have not processed seed pods for seed before, there is quite a lot of info on the web about the best ways to process TPS which is worth Googling for.
 
For a simple method; TPS are coated in a gel which inhibits germination this will reduce in time (year+) but it’s best to try and reduce this a bit more by fermenting seeds in the same way you would for tomatoes. Germination may still be a bit slow and or erratic but better than if the seed are just dried with the gel on.

With just one or two berries I’d probably just cut the berry open and scoop out the flesh and seeds and leave to ferment in a yogurt pot with a little water for about 3 days. before rinsing them and drying on paper. 

[Jayb]

If doing more berries then I give them a quick whizz in a liquidiser with lots of water. This method works well with tomatillo and Cape gooseberry too. Tps is small enough to go through my sieve into a bowl, much of the debris is left behind. It may need a couple of rinses to get all the seed through.

[Jayb]

Then put the seeds and some of the juice into a container. Leave them to ferment for 3 days or so, the gel needs to breaks up. 

Rinse in several changes of water, good seed will settle in water and any floating seed or chaff can be poured off.  Drain in a suitable seized sieve.

Spread out on paper and leave to dry.

[Jayb]

I’m really quite excited to be starting to think of what TPS I will grow next season.  I still have several crosses with the berries maturing; their scent is really quite strong now. I’ll be harvesting the seed in the next few weeks, although a few look to have got over dried and will need to be soaked first to get at the seed. I have a few Sarpo crosses and some PFA x, which I'm hopeful may provide interesting diversity and any blight resistance would be a dream  ;D

I’m also looking forward to seeing what grows from some of this year’s selfed berries. in particular Blue Belle I hope will be interesting, with some desirable results. Ratte and Red Cara tps gave good results last year, I’ve saved a few tubers to grow on this year.

Also I’ve harvested some mini tubers, mostly Tom W. varieties, sown early last summer, I hope these make good seed tubers for the coming season, some interesting shapes and colours.

[green lily]

My goodness haven't you a lot! :o I've saved a few from PFAs and I don't even know if they are viable... I'd be very grateful if you'll keep posting pics as you sow and grow so I can copy an expert ::)Thanks a lot....

[Jayb]

It does look a lot, although some of the seeds saved were for sharing with the 2 seed circles. I'm no expert, but will try and post some pictures a bit later on, I think I started sowing at the beginning of March last year. Look forward to hearing how you get on, I wonder how diverse PFA seedlings will be. I think some treats in store for you   ;D

[goodlife]

Now that I've got some of these seed too...I'm really looking forward for sowing them.. ;D ;D
Won't be long now....are we there yet..? ::) ;D

[Hector]

I'm quite excited but a bit scared I'll spoil them/muck it up ( you sent them in seed circle JayB)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've got the two varieties which went out in the swaps, plus Skagit Magic, plus some SK mini-tubers I saved from last year. This year I want to mix in some other vairieties; maybe PFA, Negresse (horrible name, but it goes back to slavery time), Vitelotte, possibly Congo. If the blight keeps off, or the SK survives it, then I shoulds end up with some interesting seed!