Why You Should Not Bring Home Potatoes from Abroad

Often, when people first learn about Andean potatoes, they get excited and decide that they want to load their bag with cool potatoes the next time they travel to South America.  I understand being excited about potatoes, but we need to temper that enthusiasm with some knowledge.  I probably get about one email a month […]

Ken Aslet Mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum) Tests Positive for Viruses PVS and PVY

Tubers of the mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum) variety 'Ken Aslet'

Ken Aslet is the most common and popular variety of mashua, although it has traditionally been sold as an ornamental rather than an edible.  It has never looked quite right to me, but it tested negative for the most common viruses that infect mashua in the United States.  I recently tested plants more widely out […]

Fine Tuning Germination of Older True Potato Seeds

I start thousands of true potato seeds every year.  You would think that I would be an expert by now, but my results suggest otherwise.  One of the biggest problem areas for me is starting older TPS.  I grow a lot of genebank accessions that are often decades old and they just don’t germinate as […]

‘Purple Star’ Potato Virus Cleanup Part 1: Initial Testing

Tubers of the potato variety 'Purple Star'

This is the first of a series of short videos that will document the process of eliminating viruses from the ‘Purple Star’ potato variety.  Purple Star was selected by Nathan Pierce of the Kenosha Potato Project in 2016 and has since shown the usual signs of running out due to virus burden.  In this video, […]