Whatever happened to the Phureja potatoes?

[Vetivert]

It's been some years now since I've seen seed potatoes of the Phureja cultivars on the market. I'm talking about Mayan Gold, Mayan Rose, etc. those really lovely yellow-fleshed, floury maincrop potatoes that made killer roasties. Miss them :(
Anyone know what happened, and if they'll be coming back?

[Vetivert]

[JanG]

I hadn't realised they had fallen away from availability. I've been keeping Mayan Gold and either Mayan Rose or Mayan Twilight going for quite a few years (one faded away last year but I can't remember which one without checking. I think perhaps MR)

Mayan Gold does very well each year; the other two seem less vigorous. If you'd like a couple of withered starters now, or a more generous number at the end of the season, I'm very happy to send.

[galina]

https://www.suttonelms.org.uk/mayan-gold.html

"Mayan Gold is a new potato variety (Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja, also known as S. phureja) bred by SCRI, Invergowrie, Scotland's leading Institute for research on crops and plants, in partnership with Greenvale AP. Mayan Gold has yellow flesh and elongated tubers, bearing more resemblance to the potatoes eaten in Peru than the varieties we usually buy in the UK"

The SCRI are now known as the Hutton Institute and I hope this doesn't mean they don't do these potatoes any longer.  Maybe an email to them would bring more information.  Can't find any here either but haven't spent more than half an hour looking. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Crop_Research_Institute

[Paulh]

I found one specialist potato seed business that lists it - https://www.potatohouse.co.uk/ - but they say that it is unavailable for this season, though they have supplied it recently and hope to do so again. Perhaps worth emailing them?

[Vetivert]

Thanks for the replies! I'll email the contacts suggested by Galina and Paulh

JanG, thank you for the offer. If I can't find any elsewhere at the end of the year I may take you up on the offer.

Will let you know how the search goes 

[JanG]

I planted my rather withered Mayan Gold and Mayan Twilight yesterday. I'm wondering whether in future years it's worth giving some fridge space to over-wintering tubers of the two Mayan varieties as they seem to senesce sooner than most other kept seed potatoes. They always have carried on to produce though.
I have saved seed from Mayan Gold too but haven't yet tried it out. As it's an outbreeder I'm assuming it's unlikely to come true but on the other hand it's apparently quite difficult to cross a diploid with a tetraploid so I'm uncertain. It looks like I'm just in time to try it this year even though I thought I was at capacity!