"Which" carried out Blight and Slug potato trials last year to find the most resistant varieties, and the results are much as I expected.
VARIETY BLIGHT RESISTANCE SLUG RESISTANCE YIELD COMMENTS
Sarpo Axona 5 Stars 4 stars 9.5 kg floury
Sarpo Mira 5 stars 3 stars 10.3 kg
Valour 3 stars 3 stars 6 kg waxy
Sarpo Una 2 stars 3 stars 8.3 kg floury
Cara 2 stars 3 stars 6.1 kg
They also tested some varieties which should become available in a year or two.
White Sarpo 5 stars 4 stars 8.4 kg waxy. Sounds interesting. Supposed to taste better than the red Sarpo potatoes.
Kifli 4 stars 4 stars 6 kg waxy salad. Sounds interesting. Supposed to taste very good.
Interesting, is this the full list? as the varieties I grow aren't on it.
I take it Sarpo is the name of the Hungarian family that have pioneered the breeding of these potatoes to be blight resistant? Or am I totally wrong and they are just another "type" of potato?
No you are right Manics it is the "Maya" which contain another potato species...
:-X
Yes, Sarpo is the name of the potato breeder.
No, it is not the full list as they did not give results for the other 10 older varieties that they tested. The other older varieties were King Edward, Cosmos, Kondor, Lady Balfour, Romano, Remarka, Robinta, Sante, Verity.They only gave results for the best of the bunch for blight resistance, namely Valour and Cara. They also tested Pomeroy which had good resistance but is not available this year.
I took part in the original trials of the Sarpo varieties before they were available to the public. I have grown Sarpo Axona every year since, and it is always the most blight resistant and slug resistant of the 12 or so varieties that I grow each year.
It's a pity they didn't test them for taste as well! I'd have been interested in seeing results for older varieties, especially Lumpers, the one that succumbed in the Potato Famines.