Review: Clancy TPS Potato Variety

Tuber of the TPS potato (Solanum tuberosum) variety 'Clancy'

Clancy is a 2019 introduction from Bejo Seeds, a large breeder and seed producer, based in the Netherlands, who have trademarked the phrase, “True Botanical Potato Seed,” thereby cornering the market on redundancy, I guess.  A friend who ordered more than he needed kindly sent me the remainder of his packet and I thought it […]

Potato: What You Should Know About Potato Fruits

Berries collected from domesticated potatoes

Overview Potato plants sometimes flower and then form berries. Potato berries form only in favorable weather and with sufficient pollination. Potato berries contain seeds that you can grow. The berries are toxic and should not be eaten. There is not usually any reason to remove the berries from the plant. Seeds from berries that fall […]

Potatoes: First 2013 potatoes from seed

I have been swapping potato seed with other growers for a while now and there is always a hunger for pictures and information about the seeds that I offer.  I’m trying to get a little better at documenting the new varieties as they come out of the ground.  Maybe this blog will help me to […]

Potato: Extracting true potato seed (TPS)

Potato seeds (TPS) in a fine strainer for cleaning

Introduction This is the procedure that I use to extract potato seeds.  It is not necessarily the procedure that you would want to use.  This procedure is suitable for extracting large amounts of seed while maximizing germination and minimizing potential for disease transmission.  I extract seed from as much as 400 quarts of berries in […]

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, […]