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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 10, 2012 21:21:11 GMT -5
Today I planted potato tubers from my two lines of abundantly fruitful potatoes. If yield is similar to last year, I'm expecting somewhere around 6-8 bushels of potato berries, something like 5 million seeds. And lots of potatoes for the farmer's market. ;D And lots of potato weed seedlings the next year. I also planted tubers from less fruitful lines (a few berries per plant), and new tubers that people have sent me. And I put the patch in a grass free area for a change... There may be a bit of morning glory, but that's easy to deal with in a potato patch. Alas, (I think that) I lost (ate as part of a salad) a potato cultivar that I was really looking forward to growing: A yellow skinned potato with red spots on it (I think). Here's hoping that it survived and does well for Alan.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 10, 2012 23:59:28 GMT -5
... A yellow skinned potato with red spots on it (I think). Here's hoping that it survived and does well for Alan. Found it... There was one box of pikers that I missed when loading the truck this morning. Don't know that I need that many more potatoes! Oh well. It's got lots of clever germplasm in it so it's worth planting.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Apr 11, 2012 8:04:19 GMT -5
I'm pretty impressed with the Bountiful seed. You really seem to have hit on some genetics with reduced germination inhibition. The Bountiful seed I planted germinated in a week, other TPS I planted at the same time took three weeks and some is just now germinating, all of these have been treated identically and planted the same day.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 11, 2012 9:01:11 GMT -5
I'm pretty impressed with the Bountiful seed. You really seem to have hit on some genetics with reduced germination inhibition. The Bountiful seed I planted germinated in a week, other TPS I planted at the same time took three weeks and some is just now germinating, all of these have been treated identically and planted the same day. They might not have been treated identically before you got them. I ferment my potato seeds to remove the germination inhibitors. I have heard other people say that they use chemical washes for cleaning potato seeds.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 14, 2012 9:54:00 GMT -5
You need to clean potato seed? How?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 14, 2012 10:30:25 GMT -5
You need to clean potato seed? How? My strategy for cleaning potato seed is: - Add potato berries to blender, cover with water.
- Blend for 30 seconds. The pulp floats the seeds sink.
- Add more water to get a good separation between seeds and pulp (dump the puree into a clear pitcher and add a gallon of water)
- Pour off the pulp retaining the seeds.
- Rinse seeds until most of pulp and the lightest seeds are removed.
- Add a bit of sugar and a bit of yeast and ferment 3-5 days.
- Rinse thoroughly discarding anything that floats
- Spread seeds out to dry quickly
- Winnow
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 14, 2012 11:49:38 GMT -5
Cool, got it copied & printed.
Next question...
When are the berries ripe enough to pick? I'm familiar with the color of a ripe green tomato... but by the time they are aaallllmooooooost there.... they fall off. Are they enough like tomatoes that I can pick them early and allow them to ripen on the window?
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Post by cortona on Apr 14, 2012 12:16:44 GMT -5
i know potato berries are perfectly ripe wen it smell..... well i have not the terms to explain it exactly but is a mix about fruity and a bit rooted....i'm sure you can understand me the first time you smell it! sometime it appens wen the berries are on the plants, some time it happens in storage...i've learned this trick from a post of Tom Wager, but for the life of me i dont remember were i've read this post....
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Post by canadamike on Apr 14, 2012 19:00:02 GMT -5
Potato seeds germinate when they want. Some might take months, although they are by far a minority. I do not discard my styrofoam cells when I pick the seedlings, I still treat them like seeds have to come up. I usually put them outside in the ground so nature waters them freely, lots of water here, do not worry for me ;D
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