Potatoes: Potato flowers (Part 2)

The stats for my first post of potato flower pictures showed a lot of people doing web searches for potato flowers.  So, by indirect but popular demand, I bring you part two.  There are also some general updates about our potato season toward the bottom. Black Irish potato flowers Azul Toro potato flowers Maris Piper […]

Potatoes: Potato flowers

One thing that you miss when buying your potatoes at the store is the wonderful display that they put on when they flower.  Flowering is good news for the traditional potato grower, as it signals the beginning of tuberization.  It is also good news for those who want to grow from seed, since the plant […]

Potatoes: Growing from Seed (Part 2)

Well, it took me a while to get back to this topic; that is how it goes in spring.  We’ve been busy planting potatoes instead of writing about it. In the first part of this post, I talked about growing potatoes from true seed and the biological facts of potato sexual reproduction.  In this part, […]

Potatoes: New varieties coming up

As I have written previously, I have expanded my interest in potato breeding significantly over the past couple of years.  This year, I had the opportunity to buy a number of uncommon varieties, many of which originated in Tom Wagner‘s breeding program, or as seed bank accessions. These were planted more than a month after […]

Potatoes: Growing from Seed (Part 1)

Most people grow potatoes from so called “seed potatoes,” which are simply small potatoes or large potatoes cut into pieces.  This method has advantages and disadvantages.  One advantage is that it is relatively foolproof if you start with healthy potatoes.  Compared to a seed, even a small piece of potato has huge reserves of energy […]