Allotments 4 All

Anyone raised their Axona' /Sarpo' yet?

Nope, mine still have foliage so was leaving them!
Was going to ask the same question as it is the first year I have grown them.
Looking forward to other replies! ;D

Took all mine out last week, as I need the space for onions, garlic and stuff.

Each plant produced 5+ kg, but I had planted 3 feet apart in all directions, and given each one a huge dollop of manure and compost, plus peat.

They range in size dramatically, from tiddlers to absolute monsters.

No blight. No attacks by anything other than some scab on one in ten.

They make great chips, but as mash and boiled they do seem a bit bland.

They are such impressive plants that I will be going for them again next year.

I used Kondor ~ they were brilliant, great for all types of cooking and produced really good sized red spuds, will definately use next year.

Where's everyone buying these Sarpo spuds from? They sound like the thing to try.

Got mine from a potato fair. Google it to see where the nearest one to you will be.

The nearest for me was Dulwich, SE21

Heritage seeds and a huge array of potatoes to buy!

Sarahr,
There was a promotion in Kitchen Garden mag.. Dec. 2004.

Doris,
I also have full foliage. Apparently this stands until November. I think i will lift soon while the weather is still dry.

Lifted both 'Axona' & 'Mira' last W/E.
Can't remember which row was which unfortunately, but one variety was well slug damaged but not the other.

Yield was approx. the same at 25kgs. per 30 ft. row. Not particularly impressed, but I don't have a water supply. Roasted some on Sunday & tasted fair.

Think I'll risk my usual Desiree next season & possibly blight as well!

Quote from: sarahr on September 23, 2005, 13:37:35
Where's everyone buying these Sarpo spuds from? They sound like the thing to try.

I got mine from the HDRA potato day last January. Previous year I had samples of Axona, Mira and Tominia in the HDRA trial. The general consensus was that Tominia was way the nicest, but this is the one that the potato registration bods have rejected on the grounds that it was too similar genetically to Mira (which came last in the taste trial!)  The mind boggles... I mean, why not reject Mira for being too similar to Tominia? Anyway, there are more varieties of Sarpo spuds on the way; I think they're working on a white maincrop.

I neglected mine last year and still got huge tubers (albeit with hollow heart on the largest because of the irregular watering). Dug them up at the start of November and ate them over Christmas! This year I shall do similar, though so far I haven't got all my Ratte and Pink Firs either.  A job for next week when I'm off work! As is finding a potato sack or two...

moonbells

Both my and other people's Sarpo Mira have what I can only describe as chocolate spot on the leaves. Anyone else noticed this?

Will have a look when I go up to shovel manure (oh joy of the heavenly bold!) in a few mins, was going to dig up a plant of Axona and Mira to see if there is anything underneath! ;D 

dj mine have that on their leaves too!
I dug up a couple of plants of both and the crop looks scaby and very small, BUT I did get them in late and they never had any extra water.

And same as Tellboy one lot had slug damage, yes I did label them but of course can no longer read the labels >:(   (Lot to be said for writing EVERYTHING down ;D

I did the HDRA trial in 2004, but that year I received the seed tubers too late for a meaningful trial. This year, I repeated the trial, planting in April, with interesting results.
Mira and Tomina were both affected with early blight in July, but recovered to some extent.
By the middle of September, Axona was still not affected by blight, and still growing strongly, while Mira and Tomina were badly affected with blight.
I have only lifted Axona, and it was a good crop with no slug damage. The taste was reasonable and the texture slightly floury when cooked in the microwave.

Thompson and Morgan have what looks like quite a good deal on these. What do experienced spud growers think?

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/tm-newsletters/p-sl-50927

(It's halfway down the page)

Quote from: bupster on September 29, 2005, 15:03:52
Thompson and Morgan have what looks like quite a good deal on these. What do experienced spud growers think?

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/tm-newsletters/p-sl-50927

(It's halfway down the page)

Trouble is that 40 tubers is a lot... this is why I prefer to get 'em from the HDRA!

ok 18 quid for 40 Sarpo tubers = 45p each.
potato day Sarpo tubers this year were 20p each = £8 for 40
5 potato sacks from T&M £7.99
fertiliser I can't find separately but it looks like chicken pellets to me which are not that much.
OK some freebie spuds and seeds at random.
I reckon you'd win if you wanted all those potatoes and didn't already have sacks. If they're going to sit on the side then perhaps not.

What annoys me is that I actually need a couple of potato sacks but they only do them in fives - I don't want three extra ones! Why don't folk sell them individually?! We don't all grow tons of spuds!

moonbells

Actually decided in the end to get stuff from lottie assoc, as it was so cheap (spent far too much anyway and will end up giving most away  :)) but also discovered they're selling spud sacks for 10p. So probably best off shopping there, eh.

Interesting Moonbells.
The K.G. offer was £18.00 for 20 tubers of Axona & Mira each, plus a bag of organic pot. fertiliser & 5 hessian sacks.
After my results - I'll pass.
Anyone want 5 hessian sacks free??

Hehehe  send em my way!

If your up for splitting them I wouldn't mind a couple of sacks to save raiding the chippie again!   Not sure I'll be trying the spuds though as they don't sound so great!

sacks - me!

or can someone get me some at 10p each and I'll reimburse with P&P and P&P

(that's postage and packing and price and a pint!  ;D ;D)

moonbells