Received Tom taters sampler today!

[David Marek]

I planted my sampler tubers on sunday between the rains. The big storms went around us. Some I have not seen mentioned yet:
Russian Banana,
Rose Valley,
Sunburst Falls,
Thumbed Nose, (I love these names!) and others. I have yet to inquire about some of the letter names: BP x RT, BR, CB, M, LN, L, 423658, and 225710 and A (mentioned above). Referencing a book, the phureja types usually sprout right away, but they are heat and wet tolerant (I'm predicting a warm summer here) so I'll watch the 225710 closely. Sounds like a good clone.

Everything is labeled with those flourescent marking flags. Nice and big and they come out to be about 8 cents each.

I might plant the TPS seedlings (second batch sown mid February) after the frost happens tomorrow night. They are very ready...

Interesting to see these TPS lines traveling the world. Four generations ago in Poland, my relatives would be getting ready to plant their potatoes.

[Medbury Gardens]

Originally Posted by wmontanez

Planted Tom Tater's this weekend in 2 rows of 18-24in apart and 12in spacing. Once they grow to about 6in tall then I am starting to hill them, the cinder blocks are to give me access to the plants and the raised bed at the end of the rows.

I like how you are using concrete blocks,you could even add a second row through the season and keep adding more growing median to increase your yield dramatically .

[wmontanez]

Thanks for the idea Richard! I took your advice of 18in , with 6in cinder block in between rows once I start adding the soil to hill them and mulch around... I could remove those blocks like you suggest for increasing yield. Nice

I probably would not add another row in between other that some allelopatic plants to scare away the bad bugs or some quick growing leafy greens.

This is a big scale up operation for a second timer. I went from 3 potato plants on 2009 to aprox 32 this year so... I need to see how I handle them before adding more Really looking forward to see them growing and flowering, keep all posted.

[wmontanez]

David,
I dont have the first 4 in your list, 423658 and CB, the rest are the same. Perhaps those are more suitable for your area. Let's see what Tom says.

The others are:

BPxRT= Boy Big X Red Thumb
BR = Blue Rockies
L =Lumper
LN =Lumper Nordic
M =Marcy?
A = Clone of Cosima X Tom Kaighin


I agree love the names! Which reminds me that I got to think of names for my TPS potatoes. For now they have 1, 2, 3... I know nondescriptive, playing in my head with names once I cut them open in fall... if its a red, blue or purple ring I shall call them Coloaro Colarada, Coloaro Azul or Coloaro Lila.....colo-aro it's an invented name buy means in spanish "colored ring" and "colorada" means red in my home country, azul=blue, lila=light purple...just a though


[quote=David Marek;166717]I planted my sampler tubers on sunday between the rains. The big storms went around us. Some I have not seen mentioned yet:
Russian Banana,
Rose Valley,
Sunburst Falls,
Thumbed Nose, (I love these names!) and others. I have yet to inquire about some of the letter names: BP x RT, BR, CB, M, LN, L, 423658, and 225710 and A (mentioned above).

[wmontanez]

Here's an update.
1 week later after planting the tubers Mule Skinner Blues and Scagit Valley Gold has growth above the soil level. I am fascinated by the folliage color of MSB is almost black! See pics below.

[wmontanez]

Tater progress, week 6 after planting

[Medbury Gardens]

They are coming on well

[wmontanez]

Yes . Also some are flowering: Skagit Valley Gold has a flower, Mule Skinner Blues, Amey Russet, Reiche Tom and Nordic October started forming the clusters of flowers as well as the Yukon Golds.

Here's a picture of the first SVG flower

[goodwin]

hi -

Yes, mine are starting to flower as well. Not the Mule Skinner Blues, but the others I have. This is a photo of the Nordic October blossoms - really handsome.

Lee

[wmontanez]

That's a beauty Lee. Here's my Nordic October flowering a week or so behind yours. Also I have in bloom Reiche Tom, Mule Skinner Blues and Amey Russet. Some others are forming the flower clusters. I have all kinds of colors going on ...no berries yet

[TZ-OH6]

My Amey bloomed and set berries before everything else. I collected as much pollen as I could and have been trying to make crosses, but nothing has taken, even from the later varieties to bloom. I think it was because of hot weather. We just had a week of unseasonably cool temps and I collected pollen at the end of that, and will try some more crosses at the end of the current hot spell.


I've done a couple of dozen Thumb Nose x SVG crosses, but none have taken so far, luckily the plants are blooming fools so I have many more chances.

[wmontanez]

The other potatoes in bloom a week of so behind the other plants.

[wmontanez]

My plants started to die down. Pig Boy x Red Thumb is almost completety dead, Nordic October is next and the rest are slowly wilting. Few are still in bloom. I also collected the berries I found in the plants. All are OP, some did not set berries. Nearby where Yukon Gold, Blue? and my own TPS seedlings which none of them set berries yet

[TZ-OH6]

I've had horrible luck with berries. Amey set a half dozen right off the bat and then I pollinated dozens of flowers on the other 4n plants with no results. My Skagit Valley Golds were full of flowers and I pollinated many many many with Thumbed Nose and only got three berries. Its been dry and hot off and on so the plants are most of the way down now.


Potato beetles hit my katahdin TPS plants hard and some of the Peanut next to them but didn't touch Tom's varieties, which were only a few feet away

[wmontanez]

Well I cleaned the TPS seed from Tom's Tater sampler (see picture below ) some did not set berry in my area. And also dug up those dead potato plants and harvest a lot of little potatoes from Skagit Valley Gold, 2 big Amey Russets, 2 good size Marcy and about 5-6 nice size Cosima x Tom Kaighin, also a good amount of 2.5 to 3in long Adirondaksen x Kern Toro, and not so many of the Boy Pig x Red Thumb. Those are small and round not a fingerling as I was thinking and one good size and few small Lumper Nordic. Probably will save the biggest for seed. I am not sure wether or not to cook a Marcy and a Amey yet but will cook some of the nice SVG and AKT. I did a taste test today on one of each

Some are still dying down like Sarpo Finger , Nordic October and Reiche Tom. There are plants still green like Lumper and 225710, Mule Skinner Blues and Blue Rockies so few more weeks until I tally the final amounts.

Here's a pic