Topic: Wild potatoes

[goodlife]

I have just been reading about wild potatoes......and it is quite interesting stuff.

Did you know that there is 235 species...from which only seven are cultivated and rest are wild!!!
And of those wild species there is some that can withstand -8C..highly frost AND blight resistant too.

In high Andes in central Peru there is some crosses done with other species resulting varieties called Yari and Ajawiri that has both of these 'properties' in their breeding.
And ..there is potato that grows better in tropical climate (Solanum phureja) that produces potatoes continually without becoming dormant.
Or how about stemless potatoes...just rosette of leaves above the ground..brilliant!..not much earthing to be done
Or woodland potato..growing in pine and fir forests in Mexico !
HUH... I just wonder how much modern potato breeding is just for commercial agriculture...surely there is some wild species that would be still interest for us humble 'home gardeners'.
OOOH...I WANT to get hold of some that 'stuff'....would love to play with weird and wonderful potatoes.
anybody come across some sources for these 'weird' species?

[galina]

Well 'Mayan Gold' and a few others are phurejas and readily available.

Frosthardy potatoes, blight resistant - WOW - bring them on!

By the way - I am still so amazed at the frost resistant Rocoto peppers!  Lots of new leaves, but no flowers yet.

Rather than GM potatoes, there is so much to find out about traditional potatoes we already have.  If we really evaluated and used all we could use for food, there'd be no shortages, famines and quite likely fewer pest and disease problems too.

 

[Jayb]

This is a great site http://cipotato.org/  for potatoes and other Andean root crops.

[goodlife]

This is a great site http://cipotato.org/  for potatoes and other Andean root crops.

yes...I did notice it when I was doing bit 'googling'. What got me interested is their collections....as there seem to be some individual listed for receiving some 'material'.  I did try to get to see what is their criteria for applying for some 'samples'... ..but for some reason their info page would not work. Perhaps it was their way of saying to me 'NO CHANCE!' 
I'll keep checking..maybe it is just clitch..'you don't get if you don't try' 
I've tried Sesto and JI Centre for various things before and been successful for some 'bits and bobs' 

[amphibian]

What is the Solanine content like in these wild species, there may be a good reason we ain't eating them.