Topic: Potato varieties on heavy clay - help, please

[gavin]

Yup - my clay is VERY heavy, VERY solid.  Anybody with similar soil got ideas for potato varieties worth trying?  I have the sneakiest suspicion my favourites on my old plot will not do so well here. 

I asked around today - hmmm, these are the answers so far.
- "The best I've found were ones I found growing in the compost heap, better than any variety I've bought"  Wouldn't be so bad, except he's probably right :(
- "Kelso - great crop; produce really well" (ah, but I can't find any Kelso potatoes :( )
- and "Majestic" - now that one I did find out about, but haven't found a supplier yet; and I don't know it at all - taste?  :(

Clay soil?  Keel slugs?  Am I right in thinking slug-resistance is even more important? 

I'm going to buy a few tubers of all the ones I like anyway at potato day - but it would be nice to have a couple of beds of varieties that I could trust to crop well.

Any ideas, folks?

All best - Gavin

[philcooper]

Gavin,

Majestic was the top selling maincrop in the UK from about 1950 to the mid-sixties.

Kelso isn't listed in the Eutopean database (but they only have 4,000 varieties  ;D)

A guarantee of "cropping well" is asking a lot but some varieties like a soil with body - King Edward, British Queen and Kerrs Pink are tried and tested.

The Potato Day should have an expert on hand to give advice

I would work in as much compost/leafmould/FYM around the seeds as possible.

Slug "resistance" is very variable and not guaranteed - NIAB in its ratings gives a specifc warning about this.

It's probably going to be try and see year!

Phil

[oubykh]

i planted Sante on my heavy clay with good results. as it was all a bit short notice i did not have any manure to hand so dug in bags of organic compost and was advised also to add in sharp sand which will aid drainage further.

[gavin]

A guarantee of "cropping well" is asking a lot

Apart from the lad with the variety saved from his compost heap, the suggestions were on the lines of "Mine were rubbish - nothing at all;  but him down there, now he had a good crop"

Thanks for the suggestions.  Sante did very well on my old plot - so maybe my other favourites'll do not too badly?  Suck 'em and see :)  And I like Kerr's Pink - lovely potato.

It's going to be interesting - at the moment it's hard to believe any potato would ever grow, it's so wet.  Lots of re-learning to do!  Find the spots to plant so that they don't rot first :(.

Manure on order - but the farmer can't get his tractor into the field to cart the stuff over :( :( :(

Thanks again - Gavin

[markyb23]

Hi Gavin,
            I planted quite a few different varieties last year and slug damage was the main problem.
  My soil is'nt too heavy clay,but,The one variety that was totally ignored by the slugs was Sharpe's Express.My Concorde were pretty good too.
  Two of the veterans on my allotments swear by Arran Pilot and Desiree so I'm going to give them a try this year.I'm also hoping to try Maxine and Red duke Of York,in the faint hope that the slugs wont be so keen on the red spuds.
  To me,trying  a few different ones adds to the fun.
  Best of luck to you anyway Gavin.Let us all know how you go on.
     All The Best-Marky.

[derbex]

Gavin,

my soil's pretty heavy and I didn't really have any problems with my earlies/salad which were planted normally -the 2 varieties were Red DoY and Nicola. Personally I wouldn't bother with R DoY again but Nicola wre good.

I think Ambo will thrive as well given the number of volunteers that I've found!

Jeremy

P.S. Ordered the scythe.

[Doris_Pinks]

Gavin, on my heavy soil I grew Anya's last year, they did a top job on breaking up the soil, had a fabulous crop, and little slug damge, and they taste delicious! (though have to say the Jerusalem Artichokes did the best job on soil break up, I just hope I am not going to have them appearing in that bed for the next 10 years!!!)  Dp

[sandersj89]

I have nice heavy soil as well. Last year I grew 7 varieties in the open ground.

The worst performer was Dunbar Standard, badly effected by slugs.

The best by a mile was Aran Victory. This gave a huge yield and showed very little signs of damage. The foligae is very tall and helps suppress weeds very well. I am growing it again this year I was so pleased with it.

The overall review I wrote for another web site was as follows:

First Earlies

Grown in large pots, started inside in a greenhouse and then moved outside after frosts have passed.

Mimi: Supplier Thompson & Morgan.

Very Impressed, lovely small round tubers tinged with red. Each pot yielded enough for 2 or 3 meals. Flavour excellent. Cooking quality very good, nice and firm texture.

Shelly: Supplier Thompson & Morgan.

OK, early pickings better than latter. Tubers egg shaped with clear white skin/flesh. Size of tubers much bigger than Mimi and yield heavy. Flavour OK but became floury towards the end of picking. When cooked/boiled could fall to pieces.

Second First Earlies

Grown direct in ground after chitting as normal. Ridged as required, very little watering required.

Sharpes Express: Supplier Thompson & Morgan.

Initial results looked good but as the season went on the flavour dropped off and they became floury and no good for boiling. Tended to wash, roughly chip and cook in oven with olive oil and salt and pepper, very nice. Yield was very good, oval tubers that developed upto the size of bakers if left till August. No sign of slug or wire worm damage. Foliage died back before blight was a problem.

Duke of York: Supplier Tuckers Seeds.

Very poor yield, some stalks only had one or two tubers each. Taste too nothing to write home about. No sign of slug or wire worm damage. Foliage died back before blight was a problem.

Maincrop

Grown direct in ground after chitting as normal. Ridged as required, very little watering required. No water applied to allotment grown what so ever.


British Queen: Supplier Thompson & Morgan.

Very good yield, nice size of tuber, plenty big enough to class as a baker. Skin clean but some show a touch of scab, cosmetic damage only. Have only tried them baked so far but very nice light fluffy flesh and good crispy skin. No sign of slug or wire worm damage. Foliage slightly effected by blight, foliage removed at first sign and crop left in ground for 2 weeks. No tuber damage evident as yet.

Dunbar Standard: Supplier Thompson & Morgan.

Very disappointed, the tubers are large, some might say huge, but lots of slug damage and wire worm holes. Very few tubers unaffected making them no good for baking. Storage will also be affected. In terms of weight the yield is good, slightly better than British Queen but I doubt I will grow again. Little sign of scab though. Most signs of blight on all grown this year, foliage very lush most of the year then quickly hit. Some tubers affected. Not eaten any as yet so no views on taste.

Aran Victory: Supplier Tuckers Seeds.

Very impressed. Large round tubers with blue/purple skins. Two rows of 15 tubers yielded 3 bags of spuds. No sign of slugs or wire worm and the plant only showed minimum signs of blight. The foliage is very tall, well above waist hight and helps control weeds. Have eaten them mashed, baked and roast and all have tasted very good. Roast really suits them. I am hoping these store well as we have more of this crop than any other.

In Summary
All in all it has been a funny year for spuds. It started well with good temperatures and decent rain then we had a dry spell in early summer followed by a wet and warm August. This helped on the watering front but has made it a bad year for blight. The damp soil conditions may have also suited slug damage.

The susceptibility of some varieties to slug and wire worm damage was also brought home to me. I grew British Queen and Dunbar Std next door to each other and treated them exactly the same. British Queen is unmarked and Dunbar is seriously affected.

Next year I will definitely grow Mimi again, very impressed with flavour and cooking characteristics. If Aran Victory store well I will grow them as well. The research for next year is back on, Desiree may well be on the list as well as home guard.

HTH

Jerry

[gavin]

That's a lot more re-assuring - like I said, it's hard to believe any potatoes will grow at the moment inh my soil; but there's lots of choice in those recommendations (even if the Red Duke of York look like dropping off my list :( )

All best - Gavin