Sarpo axona spuds

[caroline7758]

I planted these late (mid-May) through black plastic. They haven't put on much top-growth and most of the leaves are still green. Dug up the yellowest-leaved plant today and got some good spuds. Now wondering whether to dig them all up now or leave a bit longer?

[caroline7758]

[telboy]

They stand quite late so you could leave until November.
Not a very exciting spud I'm afraid.

[caroline7758]

Oh dear, thanks anyway!

[triffid]

Yep, agreed, Telboy!

Having grown them this year I don't think I'll bother again. Despite the drought and then the torrential rain, the haulms looked splendid till last week (when I dug em up) ... but the actual spuds themselves are a bit of a disappointment compared to the flavour of the other varieties I grew this year (Foremost, Pink Fir Apple and Maris Peer).

Anyway, it's fine really   :) -- the yield was good, and the spuds are perfectly acceptable.

BTW, this was in a clay soil; others with different soil may have different results... 

[saddad]

They are supposed to be more blight resistant isn't that the main aim?
Personally I'd go for taste any day...
::)

[Melbourne12]

They are supposed to be more blight resistant isn't that the main aim?
Personally I'd go for taste any day...
::)

You're right.  We grew them this year, and although the individual tubers are good and healthy, the yield was disappointing, and the taste indifferent.  I've just dug the last of them.

[saddad]

Thanks I won't bother to try them then...
:'(

[RobinOfTheHood]

Any other Sarpo varieties been tried?

[real food]

I would say that Sarpo Axona is the best of the bunch, having trialled them for Henry Doubleday. They are particularly useful where Blight, both early and late forms, is a problem. My Axona are the only potatoes still standing when blight sweeps across the Allotments!! They will continue growing till October and produce huge crops of large potatoes.
I agree that the flavour is not as good as some other varieties, but I have found that it improves providing that the potatoes are allowed to grow for the whole growing season.

[triffid]

Real Food -- just came back to this thread... did you find that the flavour of Axona improved during storage?  I'm just wondering if I'm being a little quick to judge. 

[real food]

I think that the flavour of Axona, as it is of all potatoes, is best when they are allowed to fully mature in the ground. In the case of Axona, it is probably October before they die down naturally.
When stored, I find that generally, the flavour of most potato varieties improves as they lose some moisture.
Axona also have a long storage period, as they do not start to sprout till April or May, making them very useful for Amateurs.
Commercially, potatoes are prevented from sprouting by cold storage or horror of horrors, by dousing them with chemicals.

[triffid]

Thanks for the helpful reply, Real Food: it does sound as if I should keep faith with the Sarpo Axona for at least one more year before making a decision.

Am I right in thinking that they're not an F1 and thus would breed true from saved spuds?

[Kepouros]

Any potato will come true from saved tubers.  The relevance of First Cross hybrids is only in growing from seed - i.e. the round pods which form from fertilised flowers.

[triffid]

... and now you come to mention it, Kepouros, how blissfully obvious it sounds!!


::)


*creeps off quietly to dunce's corner*