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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: squeezyjohn on January 13, 2017, 12:37:56

Title: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 13, 2017, 12:37:56
I grew these last year ... they were fab, smooth-skinned, productive, delicious waxy salad potatoes that stored well and I just had to have them again in greater quantity this year.  But my local garden centre that has a huge range said they wouldn't have any this year.  So I resorted to the internet ... all the online shops said they were out of stock apart from Sarah Raven with a hefty price tag of £5.95/kg but I really wanted them so I went for 2 bags.

The thing is that they arrived today ... and despite being bagged up and labeled as such I don't think they are Harlequins.  The harlequins I grew last year were smooth, finger-like tubers that tapered towards one end with little semi circles around the eyes and pink flushes against cream skin. They looked like the ones pictured on the Sarah Raven website in fact (https://www.sarahraven.com/veg_fruit/plants/potatoes/potato_harlequin.htm).  The ones I received have deep pitted eyes and are pink all over ... they look suspiciously like Anya potatoes to me, I've attached a picture below.

I suppose my question is could there be more than one strain of Harlequin?  Or do potatoes sometimes look very different if grown for seed?  And if the nursey insist that these are Harlequins, what do I do then?  Or am I worrying about nothing?

I have contacted the nursery and they've said they will send a replacement order, but if they're wrong too then that's not much help.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: johhnyco15 on January 13, 2017, 13:01:04
this is a pic from fothergills i must say they look the same as yours
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: George the Pigman on January 13, 2017, 21:22:45
I grew some a couple of years ago and they were knobbly like the one in your photo so you might have the right order -or it could be Pink Fir Apple. They are a cross between Pink Fir Apple and Charlotte which given how knobbly the former is  explains why they look like that. Have a look http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/pot41.html (http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/pot41.html).
I agree they have a lovely flavour. I tried to get them last year but they weren't around locally.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: pumkinlover on January 14, 2017, 07:38:06
Your potato doesn't look the right colour even. I had forgotten how nice harlequin is.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 14, 2017, 10:26:21
I'm more and more convinced these are not Harlequins.  The seed potatoes last year and every single tuber I produced were almost completely smooth with not a single deep pitted eye.  Every single one of the seed potatoes I was sent have pitted eyes ... and the skins are completely pink.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: saddad on January 15, 2017, 17:14:18
They certainly don't look like the Harlequin I grew last year which were much smoother..

Another reason why I pick up my seed potatoes at a potato day or a large garden centre so I can see what I'm getting!
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 19, 2017, 23:31:28
Well ... Sarah Raven have got back to me and said the following:

"we have investigated this matter and checked all our stock at the nursery and with the growers and would like to assure you that these are definitely Harlequin seed potatoes.
 
The growers have advised the following:
 
‘Harlequin is a potato that has been bread with Pink fir apple and so carries some of its characteristics, especially the pink colour on the skin.
Some years this can be more subtle than others, as is the same with king Edwards, this is due to soil types and growing conditions."


It's difficult to come back to that despite the fact that the seed potatoes bear a remarkably different morphology to those which I have seen with my own eyes in the variety.  So I will take their word for it and plant these potatoes.

If the resulting crop are totally different from Harlequins too, where does that leave me?  What are the laws and rights with seed labeling?
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: pumkinlover on January 20, 2017, 07:28:39
Our  local potato day reports that there was a crop failure with Harlequin. I I R C they use JBA potatoes as supplier.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: Paulh on January 20, 2017, 22:32:52
A potato that has been "bread" ... crumbs!

Write back to them to say that you will "reserve your rights" and will take it further if your crop is not Harlequin. By law, what they sell on the retail market has to meet the description given. If what you dig up is not satisfactory, send them pictures.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: dicky on January 24, 2017, 23:30:59
I grew these last year, nice spud and they stored into November.
They were left in the ground a bit long and broke up if boiled too hard in the end but roasted nicely.

Dicky
http://dickysfarm.blogspot.co.uk (http://dickysfarm.blogspot.co.uk)
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: saddad on January 25, 2017, 15:57:54
Have been round all the GC's in about a 10 mile radius.... haven't been able to find any Harlequin anywhere...
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 25, 2017, 22:28:16
Yeah - I think there basically aren't any this year and I suspect the supplier that sold it to Sarah Raven has given them fir apples or something like Anya ...

My favourite garden centre in Wantage (who I got the real Harlequins from last year) have 2kg bags of Ratte for £6 (compare Sarah Raven who it would cost £16 to get the same amount from inc. P&P) ... I've never grown Ratte but they sound like a great alternative salad potato to Harlequin - and they're not knobbly to peel like fir apple.

They have a stunning range of seed potatoes ... and will be selling them as part of a "seed potato day" being hosted in Whitchurch Hants this coming weekend.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: galina on January 26, 2017, 10:19:05
We won't be going this year, but the Whitchurch Potato Day is absolutely fabulous, our favourite and we have been to a few.  Not just potatoes but a huge range of seeds and bulbs as well.  For seedsavers there is also a great seed swap table and the talk by Chris from Sparsholt College is not to be missed either.  Enjoy!  :sunny:
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 29, 2017, 17:44:01
The saga continues ...

I had a very informative chat with some potato experts at the Hampshire Potato Day in Whitchurch ... the upshot of which was to their knowledge there was no availability of Harlequin potatoes this year due to crop failure.  They identified my seed potatoes as Pippa from my description ... and showed me examples which look identical to what I was sent.

Furthermore, they told me how to cross reference the unique crop number shown on seed potato labels with a website called SASA where you could discover the variety and grower.  The number on the label saying "Harlequin" was 110195 ... this corresponds on their database to the variety Pippa grown by Strathmore ... I have to say I quite like experts!!!

I don't like being lied to.  There must be some mechanism to report such behaviour.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: George the Pigman on January 29, 2017, 18:39:41
That's interesting squeezyjohn. Pippa are a cross between Pink Fir Apple and Adora whist Harlequin are between Pink Fir Apple and Charlotte. Very bad of them not to inform you they were substituting Pippa for Harlequin.
I can understand that crop failures happen from time to time but they should have contacted you before hand to ask if you would accept Pippa as a substitute.
It's even worse that they carried on trying to claim it was Harlequin.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 29, 2017, 22:58:45
I know the two varieties share parentage ... but they also vary quite differently in how you should grow them.  Harlequin is classed as a 2nd early and Pippa is classed as a late maincrop.

I have sent a fairly blunt email asking for my money back.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: pumkinlover on January 30, 2017, 07:48:27
Please keep us informed. Interesting thread.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 31, 2017, 11:50:22
Well I have got my money back from Sarah Raven in full ... credit where it's due - there was no argument this time and an apology.  They have taken the fake Harlequin off their website.  It would be interesting to know whether they're going to contact the people who have already bought them to let them know they were not the real deal.

SASA have asked me to send them two of the tubers for DNA testing to prove they are actually Pippa and not Harlequin ... for a government agency they seem to take this really seriously!  They say they'll get to the bottom of how the mis-labeling ocurred and act accordingly.  They also told me that I should not under any circumstances attempt to grow my own remaining few tubers from last year or Harlequin potatoes that are sold for eating. 

I shall be growing Ratte as an alternative salad potato sold to me by the nice man who told me how to check it all out for less than half the price of the expensive online branded shop!
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: Paulh on February 04, 2017, 19:53:51
"They also told me that I should not under any circumstances attempt to grow my own remaining few tubers from last year or Harlequin potatoes that are sold for eating." 

Did they give any reason for that?
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on February 04, 2017, 20:32:22
Yes, they said that a lot of the crops were hit by blight early in the season, that was the reason for the failed crop of seed potatoes and harlequin are a more susceptible variety.  Although some are on sale as specialist potatoes for eating, they may have had blight and been sprayed for it to allow the potatoes to reach maturity but they couldn't guarantee that they would be 100% blight free.

I suppose he had to say that in his official capacity, but I'm still doubtful about blight carrying over in stored tubers.  I've seen blighted tubers and there's no way it would get through winter to plant ... they just rot!

Frankly I think with the amount of volunteer potatoes I see coming up in mine and other people's plots are far more likely to pose a blight risk than a tuber that has been harvested, stored and replanted!
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on February 06, 2017, 18:43:46
Infected tubers are the way the disease carries over from year to year. After a fair bit of poking about, I discovered that they allow for up to 0.2% of infected tubers in certified seed, and so any large allotment site is always liable to have an infected spud growing somewhere. then it overwinters in volunteers, and, in potato growing areas, in farmers' outgrade piles. The solution is to be extremely careful never to let a tuber grow unless you've examined it carefully and ensured that it's blemish-free, and meanwhile hope your less careful neighbours have been lucky. The chance of that depends on the prevalence of the disease the previous year.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 07, 2018, 21:10:08
Just reviving this thread to say that once again I can't see Harlequin in any of the catalogues.  However, I got a really healthy crop of volunteer harlequins that sat growing under my garlic last year!  They were very healthy and vigorous and I have some tubers in prime condition which I am beginning to chit now to grow (in buckets) next year.

While this story of volunteers seems to be a successful one, I am going to be transferring all my potato growing over to strong plastic tubs (the sort nurseries use for trees) - simply because they are so much easier to harvest and get the whole crop without leaving lots behind in the soil.  I had an experiment with it last year, and it worked, allowing me to get the soil just right, and also it fits growing in no-dig beds better.  Pushing the tubs in to the ground allows water to come up by capilliary action and roots to grow down in to the bed while the crop stays in the bucket.

And fingers crossed ... I will have Harlequins this year ... along with Kestrels, Sarpo Mira and Inca Bella, plus some delicious first earlies.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: Obelixx on January 07, 2018, 21:23:48
Glad you got your money back.   I don't think it's worth taking any risks with blight and wouldn't plant any suspect tubers, no matter how clean they look but i've had some good crops form "volunteer" potatoes growing up thru the next rotation of crops.

Ratte is a very tasty potato.  Have to say we now prefer sweet potatoes so I no longer plant spuds but we do like ratte when an ordinary spud is called for..
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 07, 2018, 22:07:01
Well - I know the advice and I've always followed it up until now.  But I am really starting to doubt the cleanliness of commercial stock too so I find it hard to choose between them.

At least with my bucket technique I can monitor them more closely and definitely dispose of everything at the first sign of any blight.  Ratte were nice, but much drier flesh and smaller tubers than Harlequin which I thought were superb salad potatoes.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: Obelixx on January 08, 2018, 09:14:46
One reason I gave up growing spuds was the 3 year rotation in the fields behind us.  Blight possibilities were boundless.   I may try again here as it's all cattle and corn.

I find Charlotte are better than Ratte but, for some reason, hard to find the last couple of years.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on January 08, 2018, 22:54:39
Blight for us clearly comes in on the wind.  The first couple of consecutively warm wet days & nights in the summer WITH WIND are when it hits.  Without fail!  It was July last year.  The tomatoes always go down first.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: saddad on January 09, 2018, 07:51:38
I agree... ,stopped growing outdoor toms.. never got a crop.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: Vinlander on January 15, 2018, 12:18:56
Have to say we now prefer sweet potatoes so I no longer plant spuds

Hi Obelixx - do you go for the white flesh ones that taste like potatoes but sweeter? Or do you go for the orange flesh ones which taste more like a second-rate carrot (as does squash).

Cheers.

PS. I believe that like squash, you can eat them raw, so can anyone say how the raw orange ones compare with raw squash? I will try the next time I see a small one available by the kilo - but it's purely academic - I can't be bothered with all that faffing about unless its better than raw carrot - I'll try to keep an open mind but I doubt it... I'm more interested in growing moderately challenging stuff that isn't in the shops for peanuts.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: galina on January 15, 2018, 13:11:35
I find it difficult to understand that Harlequin, a cross between Charlotte and Pink Fir Apple bred in Scotland, is just so difficult to get hold of.  It is a potato that generally does well and tastes good and gardeners are looking out for it.  But it is only available very occasionally.  http://varieties.ahdb.org.uk/varieties/view/Harlequin

I also keep a few of my own tubers, check them and will replace when they are available again. 

On potato days I have often seen blighted tubers in the seed potato bins.  You'd think the vendors would take them out, but it seems not!  Which means that there may well be good tubers that are already infected but not obviously so.  I have bought good tubers which I had to ditch later, because they showed signs of blight after I had them chitting for a while.  This does not happen with my own, carefully selected Harlequins. 

As I also grow tps originated potatoes which are not commercially available varieties, there is no choice but to continue with my own tubers.  I need to be vigilant, definitely, but there is no reason to go with fresh seed tubers every year, or do without favourites that are rarely available.  :wave:

Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: Deb P on January 15, 2018, 15:24:16
I agree... ,stopped growing outdoor toms.. never got a crop.

Strangely I rarely have success with outdoor tomatoes on the plot, but can grow them easily in my garden at home...? Must be more blight opportunities at the plot I think.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: Plot 18 on January 15, 2018, 15:32:35
Quote
Although Harlequin went off the market when its owners stopped growing potatoes

https://www.bhgsltd.co.uk/maincrop-seed-potatoes-z-95.html?chapter=20

Wonder why they didn't sell the rights to supply it someone else?
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on September 06, 2018, 11:18:17
Update:

Just harvested my harlequins which were grown in black buckets rather than the ground.  They grown were from volunteer potatoes that sprouted last year from the ones I planted in 2016.  Apart from a tiny bit of scab from the dry weather they are as clean as a whistle and not a spot of blight!  They are such a delicious potato!
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: saddad on September 09, 2018, 22:53:09
They grew really well, heavy crop for me and great potatoes... was very disappointed when they disappeared...
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: cambourne7 on September 10, 2018, 10:18:43
We grew spuds in buckets maybe not enough planted and tiny crops so far my main crops are still growing late mains are still in flower and i have just topped the buckets up again. Courgettes in buckets was a fail and the plant will likly be ripped out in the next week or so. Butternut squash also in bucket has one beautiful fruit which i have not checked for damage as yet but the plant not looking as vigarous as it was. There going back into the beds next year.
Title: Re: Harlequin potatoes
Post by: squeezyjohn on September 10, 2018, 11:46:04
I think to get the best crops from potatoes in containers, they need watering if the summer is dry.  I couldn't do this very much as there's no mains water on our site and we just ran out.  Also I think it's key to have lots of holes in the bottom of the containers and bury them a little in soil so that the capilliary action can take moisture from the ground up to the roots ... my best performing ones had roots that came out through the holes and in to the ground.  No potatoes will grow on these feeder roots though, all the crop stays in the bucket.
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