Potato seed?

[jhp]

I'm hoping someone's around to look at this photo, since there hasn't been much activity on the potato forum lately. I've seen at least two of these on my LaRatte potato plants. Are they seeds? I believe they are on the stem where the flowers once were. If they are seeds, I will have more questions. If not, what are they?

Thanks,

Jen

[Granny]

I suspect that you might be right. Potato seeds are pretty rare as I understand it. Studied Luther Burbank with the kiddo a bit earlier this year. He got his start and his $$ to move to California by developing the Burbank potato. (Still the most common in the US, all McDonald's french fries are made from it.) The book talked about his finding a "rare potato seed ball" on some of his plants under development. That is where the initial seed for the Burbank came from.

Assuming you have more than one variety of potato, you might just have yourself something new. Don't pick those just yet though. Most seed pods are not that green when they are ripe.

[jhp]

Thanks Granny. I figured it wasn't ripe yet, and I have let it be. I do have more than one type of potato and it sure would be fun to plant the seeds.

So my next questions were, if it is a seed pod, how and when do I collect the seeds? Should I bag it to retain them and not have them fall to the ground? Or will they stay in the pod until I open it? When do I start the seeds for new plants next year? Do I direct sow or start seedlings inside?

I'm going to see how many more I might have.

[Granny]

I think I would bag those little pods in some cheesecloth bags - make them big as you've no clue how big that thing might get.

Re will they stay in the pod till you open it, I have no clue. I found a bunch of unusual pods in the very neglected gardens of our newly purchased older house last fall - things like peony, lily of the valley (did you know that made seeds?) and some other rare stuff. The pods all looked brownish when they were ripe and most of them split open in some way.

Here is an article I found for you on growing potatoes from seed -
http://www.growseed.org/potato-breeding.html

[jhp]

Thanks again Granny for the info. The fruits in the pictures on that website look much bigger than what I have. So they must need more time on the vine.

My peony has what looks like a seed pod forming. My irises have seed pods forming too. Thought about saving the iris seeds as they are bee pollinated. I didn't try to hybridize them or anything. So who knows what they'd look like as I have some 25 varieties of Iris out there. My hosta made seeds last year and they fell everywhere, but I don't have any volunteers in that bed. I saved those seeds and did a germination test. They are viable, but it takes a long time for them to sprout. My hardy hibiscus also had seed pods, which I left on the plant. Thought maybe birds would eat it during the winter. I didn't really want to propagate them.

I think saving potato seed would be a fun project. I just have to keep track of those two fruits until they are ready. I guess that also means, I have to wait for them before I can dig my spuds as well.

[Tom Wagner]

56.jpg

This is a recent shot sample of my potato crosses. This is the Skagit Valley Gold variety with pollen from Nordic October. Both are multi-generational descendants of my breeding efforts of 54 years. This is a week old cross. The only seed developing will be from un-reduced gametes in the ovule, since SVG is a diploid and Nordic October is a tetraploid.

Tom

[feldon30]

To my knowledge, getting seed from potatoes is rather rare. And if your potato is a hybrid (as most potato varieties out there are), then the seed will produce unpredictable results. Each of those berries should have many seeds inside. Which is good because if I recall correctly, potato seeds don't germinate with any reliability.

Tom Wagner is one of the few who is readily promoting the idea of starting potatoes from seed and, in the furtherance of that, stabilizing hybrid potatoes out into open pollinated varieties. I wonder if certain varieties are more disposed to producing seed pods, or if there is something we can do to encourage berries such as flicking blossoms.

Starting potatoes from seed would sure save on postage fees and eliminate storage problems.

[svalli]

Originally Posted by feldon30

Starting potatoes from seed would sure save on postage fees and eliminate storage problems.

Do not forget soil borne diseases, which can be transmitted by the tubers. Using true seeds would prevent spreading many of the diseases.

[Tom Wagner]

To my knowledge, getting seed from potatoes is rather rare.

Yes, that is generally true. However, since I've grown hundreds of thousands of different clones of potatoes, my selection criteria has put berry producers at the top of the must plant agains. I have no problem finding selfers in my breeding plots. Incompatibility, male sterile, and a whole host of other problems are associated with potato flowers.

Now years later, my potato plots are like flower gardens or berry farms.42.jpg

And if your potato is a hybrid (as most potato varieties out there are), then the seed will produce unpredictable results.

Unpredictable to the novice. I expect certain recombinations, colors, maturities, size, yield, etc., and hone in on the permutations. Since potatoes have an ontological history of being out breeders, this tends to be true. There are some notable exceptions to the rule, but often the exceptions are questionable since (Open pollinated) berries may not always be selfed. A field all planted to one variety, or carefully selfed lends credibility to stating a non-hybrid history.

Each of those berries should have many seeds inside.

Not necessarily, it only takes a few pollen grains to set a fruit. Each pollen grain = one seed.

In the case of the photo I sent, the fruit may develop since it was pollinated, but that doesn't mean any seed will make since ploidy problems apply.

Which is good because if I recall correctly, potato seeds don't germinate with any reliability.

In my many years of work with TPS (true potato seed) I have overcome this perception. More on that later.

Tom Wagner is one of the few who is readily promoting the idea of starting potatoes from seed

Part of my talks at the SSE Convention this weekend will cover topics like this.

and, in the furtherance of that, stabilizing hybrid potatoes out into open pollinated varieties. I wonder if certain varieties are more disposed to producing seed pods,

I have many lines that are 7 generations selfing and no problems normally associated with inbreeding.

or if there is something we can do to encourage berries such as flicking blossoms.

It would work better to accumulate pollen and apply it manually. Some varieties have so little pollen that many flowers have to be tapped into receptacles and then this pollen applied to potato blossoms not yet opened. Once the flower has shed its own pollen, it may be too late for that flower. I pollinate potato flowers that are still in the bud stage. Potato stigmas like to be inundated with pollen, thus the Chicken-Fried-Steak cliche with the dusting of flour.

Starting potatoes from seed would sure save on postage fees and eliminate storage problems.

I could write a hundred page dissertation on that topic.

Tom Wagner

[orflo]

Over here it's no problem to get potato seeds, I even got seeds from solanum phureja, and that's really one of the 'wild' potatoes. Many selections from the past centuries came from seed, people have crossed solanum tuberosum with solanum demissum, for instance, to create a higher resistance level against the colorado beetle. Also, many crosses have been made in order to reduce the late blight sicknesss,
Frank

[Tom Wagner]

The photo I sent earlier shows my Skagit Valley Gold. It has a lot of phureja bloodlines in it. This clone is unable to set any seed in isolation. If I plant it next to a half sib, cross pollination happens naturally occasionally.

Solanum phureja is so important to get the orange-yellow flesh I crave in crosses. I rely on using pollen parents that have a high rate of un-reduced gametes to use in tetraploid X diploid hybrids.

I like demissum potatoes but the tubers are so small. I am lucky to get pea sized tubers. I maintain several PI's in the field as mixed populations, hoping for a clonal selection that meets my desires.

Tom Wagner