In Praise of the Potato

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by lorax, Mar 12, 2008.

  1. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    It's the International Year of the Potato, folks. Let's celebrate with pictures of S. tuberosum and S. andigena that we're growing, eating, or that we encounter.

    I live in the land of eternal spuds, so I'll kick it off. The first three are wild varieties of S. andigena; the first two from a desert area, and the third from the cloud forest. There is amazing variation in leaf shape and flower colour among the S. andigena I've encoutered. The fourth is the potatoes of S. tuberosum "Atahualpa" which is the dominant tuberosum variety in the farmers' markets here.

    I look forward to seeing other people's spuds!
     

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    Last edited: Mar 12, 2008
  2. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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  3. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    http://zofie.notlong.com/ 26 August 2007 Potato Harvest.

    This is the produce from 25 plants. Grown were Superior and Pontiac. The Superior were used all summer as required for the table.

    The potaotes were lightly washed to remove dirt, dried in the sun for about 2 hours to harden the skin, graded for size, then placed in paper bags. They will be stored in the dark cold room in the basement with the bags left open for air. The last potato was consumed on 25 January 2008, and was in perfect condition.

    The quality is excellent.
     
  4. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    28 July 2007 Growing Potatoes



    http://moomi.notlong.com/ 28 July 2007 Potato Plant.

    There is a lot of babble on the internet about growing potatoes with stalks supported by tires and using straw for covering. To my way of thinking this is only complicating matters. One hilling of plants after the main stalks emerge is probably more than sufficient. The view seems to be that potato tubulars are produced along the stalks, which is simply not the case.

    New potatoes grow from shoots emanating from the very bottom of the stalks in a circle, almost from area of the seed potato itself. No new potatoes grow below the seed potato. The new potatoes must be protected from light, otherwise they turn green and are somewhat poisonous.

    Hilling is done to protect the new potatoes from light, and the earth tends to support the weak stalks, since they tend to fall and spread out.

    Study the attached pictures, which supports my view.
     
  5. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    Chitting http://iuyum.notlong.com/ General Overview.

    Seed tubers are best 'chitted' or sprouted. Look closely at the potatoes and you should see more eyes at the crown - often there are three or four, sometimes five, in a cluster. On some tubers, particularly the roundish shaped types, they may be placed off centre. If these are allowed to grow they will produce mainly small tubers. Using a potato peeler or a small pointed knife remove all the eyes in the cluster by scooping approximately one eighth of an inch (3mm) deep, which should eliminate any regrowth. Without the crown cluster eyes, the tuber's food reserves will be directed to shoulder and side eyes. Reject all tubers showing the slightest sign of disease. Cutting out the diseased part, such as dry rot or gangrene, is no answer because if it is planted the diseased tubers will infect the soil.

    Set treated tubers, crown up, on egg trays, thus allowing space for the sprouts to develop. They do not require high temperatures, but should be kept in full light and free from extreme cold or frost.This will encourage sturdy sprouts. Sprouts will form within a few weeks, dark blue or green, or deep pink or red, depending upon the cultivar, by planting time. By chitting we may select the eyes and encourage good sturdy sprouts before planting to produce earlier, improved crops.

    http://heixa.notlong.com/ Chitting Picture, showing sprouts.

    Although unsprouted tubers can be planted, the chitted ones benefit from their flying start, and vigorous sprouts. Early cultivars will crop sooner and more heavily if chitted.

    Chitting later season cultivars results in earlier foliage before blight or drought strike and they mature earlier and can be gathered before slugs damage the tubers.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2008
  6. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    Proposed Testing of Chitting.

    I will test two rows of one type of potato this year. Using this procedure. I will plant the regular potatoes in the ground and the chitted potatoes at the same time, probably about the 15 of April 2008. My soil and location is ideal.

    Chitting potatoes. I only learned about the procedure two years ago. I chitted by did not run any controls.

    I have no interest in shortening the harvest time, but am interested in larger uniform size, and greater quantity. One row of 25 will be chitted and the other row of 25 will simply be placed in the ground. The rows will be a adjacent. These will be allowd to mature without taking any small early potatoes. The results should be informative.
     
  7. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Durgan - chitting is the most common way that spuds are propagated here; it seems to make the resulting potatoes larger and more numerous, which are your stated goals. I've also had growers tell me that the potatoes produced by chitting have a superior flavour and texture. Chitting is done regardless which species and cultivar of potato is planted.

    Daniel - that's really interesting, given how easy it is to hybridize potatoes.
     
  8. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    International Year of the Potato (IYP) 2008. Information about the project.


    http://joexith.notlong.com

    http://www.potato2008.org/en/aboutiyp/index.html

    The celebration of the International Year of the Potato (IYP) will raise awareness of the importance of the potato - and of agriculture in general - in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.
    Over the next two decades, the world's population is expected to grow on average by more than 100 million people a year. More than 95 percent of that increase will occur in the developing countries, where pressure on land and water is already intense. A key challenge facing the international community is, therefore, to ensure food security for present and future generations, while protecting the natural resource base on which we all depend. The potato will be an important part of efforts to meet those challenges...
     
  9. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Yeah, there's a big clicky-linky in the righthand panel of the board, too.
     
  10. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    Yikes! I never even saw the most obvious (IYP) link. Too much concentrated on the posts. Thanks.
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2008
  11. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Alrighty! The S. andigena are coming in at the farmer's market!

    Here is S. andigena "Oro Morado" - a purple-skinned variety with bicoloured purple and cream flesh. These are new potatoes, so nothing much bigger than an egg. Quarto arroba (that's one quarter of a big bucket) was 50 cents.
     

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  12. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    http://miezoh.notlong.com 16 March 2008 My Chitting method.

    Seed potatoes were purchased 16 March 2008. Some were already sprouted, so it was easy to remove the clustered sprouts. This is my method. I use a potato peeler and remove a plug consisting of the clustered sprouts. This is probaly only feasible in a home garden, due to the labour and expense involved.

    When a young person, we use to simply cut a potato into several chunks with one or two eyes on each slice. I notice the commercial growers in my area use whole potatoes for machine planting, and they are almost all the same size.

    The types of potatoes chosen are Kennebec, Superior, Chiefton. There are twenty five of each or three rows in my case. I plant them about a foot apart, with two feet between the rows to allow for hilling. After hilling I fill the trench made with vegetative compost supplied by the city. I obtain the compost during tyhe month of May, about half a yard on each daily trip.
     
  13. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Down here, farmers use a knife and just cut flat off about a quarter inch below the chits (sprouts). It seems that boring them out like that is really labour intensive....

    Let us know how they turn out!
     
  14. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    Labour intentsive for sure in quantity, but I have only 36 plants to operate on.. The straight slice probably makes more sense, since the wound will be more clean than gouging our a small piece, possibly leaving a bit of a rough surface.
     

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