Tom Wagner TPS Instructional Videos

[dott22]

Sorry if these have already been posted. The videos are of Tom discussing the finer details of planting and growing TPS. They're great.

http://bifurcatedcarrots.eu/2009/11/...ato-seeds-tps/

--
Daniel

[kath]

Well, if they have been I missed them! Thanks for posting them- this will be my first time trying TPS and I'll need all the help I can get.

Kath

[wmontanez]

Kath,

Since I already been though it twice this is what I did last year.
Sow them between 3/15 and 3/30 about 6 to 8 weeks before setting outdoors. The are slow growers but soon will catch up with tomatoes. I kept them under lights for 12 hr daily. Once they had their 2nd set of true leaves (may be just as tiny as 1/2in seedling I will bury them so only the growing tip is showing up. I did this by adding more soiless media to my pots. You can see the pictures at
http://tatermater.★★★★★★★★★.com/inde...ead=331&page=2

Some of mine at 8 weeks started to have minitubers in the stolons so this year I am thinking of going 6 weeks or transplanting 2 weeks earlier in the ground by making a trench and protecting them from the wind.

http://tatermater.★★★★★★★★★.com/inde...ead=331&page=4

I plant my tubers ~May 1st and the TPS around May 20 to I am thinking of doing all the TPS early May and spreading out the tubers to have a later harvest

[kath]

Thanks wmontanez for sharing your timetable...I'll be able to adjust to my growing zone. The links that you posted have been changed, though, so they can't be accessed.

[salix]

You will have fun with those, Kath! I was so amazed when I planted out and found bright neon pink miniature tubers in my 4" pots. Just too cute for words, and they ended up tasting pretty fine also.

[kath]

Should I expect to get tubers large enough for eating this year, or is the hope to get small tubers for planting in 2013?

[salix]

In my (one season's) experience, it depended on the variety/plant. As you know, these are still segregating, my plants differed in yield and size. Of course, will be saving tubers for re-planting depending on those characteristics I find desirable ( size, yield, taste). That said, most plants gave tubers which were certainly large enough for eating, in fact some were what I would have expected from a 'tuber' start.

Kath, you can see a picture of some of my "Designer Roses" tubers on post # 32 on the "TPS seedling experiment" thread here.

[wmontanez]

kath, for some reason the middle word is censored it should be p r o b o a r d s instead of all the stars!

[wmontanez]

This year I am trying to learn how to grow large tubers and good yield from TPS seedlings. Ideally I can end up with normal size tubers in the first season. Some of them this year gave me 3 inch potatoes but low yield. We can learn together and from each other Kath. I've been reading your post about sweet potatoes

I am one that like to share what I learn so others don't have to go through the learning process but like Salix said all depends on the segregating characteristics at the end.

This is my plan so far
1. Sow 3/15, transplant as it develops 4 leaves into 4" pots add mycorrizhae
2. Start hardening off 4/15 in bright sunny days Temp >50F and protected from wind
3. Plant out in trenches 5/1 through 5/15 in 50%soil+50% compost, broadcast amendments
4. Hill as needed and water deeply, weekly.
5. Side dressing at flowering time

[akgardengirl]

Thanks for the directions. I also bought TPS last year and did harvest a small amount of potatoes that were grown in smart pots. One plant produced berries which I plucked off last fall and forgot about. I ran across them a couple of months ago and most of the berries still hadn't dried up but had gel inside. I just mooshed the seeds out, rinsed and dried them. I will start them soon but don't know really what I have here. They produced berries from the get go last year.
Sue B.