Topic: Blue Belle

[Robert_Brenchley]

Tubers from a couple of Blue Belle TPS plants which were dying back. I'll post more pics when I harvest the rest.

[Jayb]

Lovely looking tubers, I wonder though if they are perhaps from a purple skin/flesh variety? They seem very dark for Blue Belle, the ones I've grown are often white skinned with pink or purple blotches. Have you checked what colour there flesh is?

[Tee Gee]

Lovely looking tubers, I wonder though if they are perhaps from a purple skin/flesh variety? They seem very dark for Blue Belle, the ones I've grown are often white skinned with pink or purple blotches. Have you checked what colour there flesh is?

I thought the same, the ones I grew a few years ago were about that size but the eyes were a bluey - purply colour!

[Floyds]

They don't look like Blue Belle to me either. Nothing like the ones that I grew.

[galina]

They don't look like Blue Belle to me either. Nothing like the ones that I grew.

Didn't Robert say they were Blue Belle tps?  Could have crossed with anything to produce this colour tubers.  I am just thinking aloud here.  I have a Blue Belle cross (tps), which does not even have a hint of blue anywhere.  Still got Blue Belle in its ancestry somewhere.

This is the joy of growing from tps (True Potato Seed) - you never know what you get.  It can be quite similar to either of the parents, but then, equally, it might not be.   

Whichever a striking looking potato and hopefully good to eat too.   

[Jayb]

I really like the variety Blue Belle, it's just such a pretty potato and I think a good all round spud that does well here 

Yes, Robert's are from tps which were from open pollinated plants, potato seeds don't come true exactly like the parent plant. When growing out plants from tps, diversity is seen even from self pollinated seeds. Unless isolated crosses are always possible when other varieties are flowering closeby.

I dug some Blue Belle tps the other day and had a real mix of looks, some very like your purple ones Robert. I'm looking forward to seeing more when you harvest them. I dug mine, although they should have been growing longer, if it weren't for some blotches of LB!

[galina]

Great variety of colours,  Jayb 

[Robert_Brenchley]

I tipped out the rest of the plants today. I gave the two tubers I sliced a couple of minutes in the microwave; they're nice floury potatoes.

[Jayb]

They look very pretty, glad you like floury. Will you be keeping any for replanting?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Yes definitely.

[Jayb]

Those red ones look similar to some in your picture of mixed Highland Burgundy tps.

[Robert_Brenchley]

They do, but they're bigger, and there are less of them. If I'd mixed up two pots, as I half suspected at first, there should have been a pot of HBR which didn't fit. I think they have to be genuine Blue Belle, but maybe crossed with something.