RIVER SERIES OF POTATO VARIETIES

[Tom Wagner]

Some lucky folks are receiving my new RIVER series of potato varieties.

With the many thousands of varieties that I have on hand...many don't have names yet. That was the case the last couple of days when I dug out of my storage piles of sacks, boxes, and bags of potato varieties...single hill sacks of numbered lines.

Numbers don't have cachet; therefore I like names...an indication of approval carrying greater prestige. Besides....numbers get transposed and no one can read my writing....Transposed means right numbers, wrong order. Like this: 123410 reported as 124310. My computer database pedigree information is based on a combination of numbers and names for accuracy.

I don't know if I will offer the River series after this year...depends on whether or not they do well for me and my customers. Since I don't like to offer tubers after I have had them for too many years....they pick up viruses, etc., however, I encourage folks to regrow what they get from me in case I cannot offer them again.

The River Series:
Milakokia River
Millecoquins River
Shoepac River
Pointe aux Chenes River
Mackinac River
Manistique River
Brevoort River
Escanaba River

I won't take the time to describe these...wait til the few customers chime in after they grow them....keeps it a mystery and discovery for the gardener. I rather like it when only the customer can tell us about a variety rather than a cut and dried monologue from the breeder or seed company.

One of my customers here on TVille has been sent the above and the following:
Skagit Valley Gold
Up To Date
Howie Mandel
Lumper's Gold
Satina
Red Thumb
Blood Money

The person I sent the above tubers to does not have a packing slip in the box....therefore I expect that customer to recognize this grouping and claim the fame. I write the names on the potatoes with a black marker.

I need to plant the rest of the tubers for myself in order to get TPS from them.

Gotta shut down my potato ordering system so that I can find time to plant...we just had a rare day without rain today.

[Indyartist]

Tom that is very close to what I just received in my mail box! Fantastic, it also helps that I can read your name here compared to what I just transcribed from what each little "tater" had written on it. I,m very excited to get these in the ground and I'll give up-dates.
My list, please excuse and correct my mistakes:
Rivers:
Milakokia River
Escanaba River
Shoepac River
Millecoquin River
Au Sable River
Brevoort River
Mackinac River
Pointe aux Chenes River
Manistique River Red

I also received:
Kern Brot
Howie Mandel
Skagit Valley Gold (SVG)
Red Thumb
Blood Money
Lumper's Gold
Satina
Up to Date

[Tom Wagner]

Yes, you are the one the order was sent to....thanks for your attention to detail.

You have the spelling almost right excepting the Kern Brot and Lumper's Gold.

I sent your box out without the packing list...but I took the opportunity to list them here on TVille thinking rightly that you would acknowledge the varieties.

A few of those potatoes could warrant a picture or two. Just a hint....obviously.

Thanks, Tom

[Indyartist]

Thanks Tom, corrections made. I'm on vacation this week, finally, and I'll have a week to get my potato project on track. I also received three more TPS varieties from you which I'll plant today/tonight. Here is a quick couple of pictures so people can see the general idea of one of your 1lb potato sampler packages.
I'll try and keep a photo record of planting, plants, berries and the harvest if all goes well.

[wmontanez]

Very nice assortment you got.

[jeremyhilton]

Yesterday I ordered my first of many from you Tom, me and my sisters are splitting an 8lb box of the tubers as this is my first year growing potatoes and don't want to go to crazy
Any suggestions on the growing method with limited space... My tomatoes are hogging most of the space already...

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[jeremyhilton]

I am really thinking along the lines of garbage cans with the potatoes in the bottom then continuing to add dirt as it grows or the same but with potato sacks instead of cans... Any thoughts?

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[Indyartist]

I'm afraid naming these potatoes after rivers might have been unintentionally prophetic!! I took pictures of the rows that I made trenches of and a photo of the rows with potatoes planted about 4 to 6 inches with a bamboo marker for each variety and then the next photo is how my potato rows look this morning.
I tried bailing out the water but it seems that is the water ground level after our many storms since I planted Tuesday.
Tom, I hope you bred these potatoes to be good swimmers because they seem to be at the bottom of the "river" until the water level drops here. I seriously of course do not want to lose them. I'm in my "try not to panic" mode right now and I hope the water level either drops as the day progresses or it seems more likely to successfully bail out the standing water.
Question: Approximately how long can a potato hold it's breath??!!

[jeremyhilton]

Your not in Western Washington by any chance are ya?


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[Indyartist]

Originally Posted by jeremyhilton

Your not in Western Washington by any chance are ya?


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By your photo it looks like I am but no, NE Indiana. It isn't raining now and I'm hoping for a reprieve, it has been rain followed by rain and then finally...rain. Tuesday called for rain but the clouds somehow dodged us and I rototilled the still fairly wet soil, added compost, blood meal, plus some other fertilizer and threw the little fellows in. I was glad for the window of opportunity to get them in the ground at the right time of Spring and then huge storms on top of saturated ground. Maybe I should have planted "water chestnuts".

[jeremyhilton]

Yup that sure sounds like the good ole Pacific NW...

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[Tom Wagner]

Indy,

Those potatoes in those 'rivers' of water can cause some problems. First problem would be rhizoc and 2nd problem would be 'Pink Rot'. The tubers will probably be OK if the water drains out with two days...and if not...you may have to dig a deeper hole next to those 'rivers' to drain them out. Without air..oxygen....the tubers will try to defend themselves with swollen lenticels trying to capture oxygen. After the lenticels reach their limit to 'catch a breath of air' you will get lenticel rot. Hopefully you did not cut the tubers and the waterlogged soil will just make the tuber turgid with water.

Once the water has drained out...and dried just a bit...simply rake across the wet soil to aerate the surface. Wet compacted soil without raking will just continue the water-logging effect.

Too bad I did not send Indy crosses with my Nordic October in them. It is the only red potato tested by Cornell Univ that has good resistance to Pink Rot.

Potatoes started in soil too wet usually die earlier than dryer soil. Yields less too!

Tom Wagner
Here is a picture of swollen lenticels on potatoes....
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...ooTVyKATpBZR6w

[Indyartist]

Originally Posted by Tom Wagner

Indy,

Those potatoes in those 'rivers' of water can cause some problems. First problem would be rhizoc and 2nd problem would be 'Pink Rot'. The tubers will probably be OK if the water drains out with two days...and if not...you may have to dig a deeper hole next to those 'rivers' to drain them out. Without air..oxygen....the tubers will try to defend themselves with swollen lenticels trying to capture oxygen. After the lenticels reach their limit to 'catch a breath of air' you will get lenticel rot. Hopefully you did not cut the tubers and the waterlogged soil will just make the tuber turgid with water.

Once the water has drained out...and dried just a bit...simply rake across the wet soil to aerate the surface. Wet compacted soil without raking will just continue the water-logging effect.

Too bad I did not send Indy crosses with my Nordic October in them. It is the only red potato tested by Cornell Univ that has good resistance to Pink Rot.

Potatoes started in soil too wet usually die earlier than dryer soil. Yields less too!

Tom Wagner
Here is a picture of swollen lenticels on potatoes....
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...ooTVyKATpBZR6w

Well, he types with fingers crossed, the standing water was about 24 hours. It filled the day of the storm and finally drained by last night. Perhaps potato planters should check for "the worst storms since 1974!" in the forecast before they plant.
Anyway, today should be mild and dry and tomorrow should be dry and up to 70 degrees so hopefully the soils excessive wetness will be brief enough not to spoil my efforts. Indiana has the ability to have dramatic extremes in weather. My beautiful Greek wife came here in 2002 and was trying to understand our climate compared to the temperate, near perfect climate of Mediterranean Greece. After she experienced sweltering heat, frigid sub-zero temperatures, tornadoes, ice storms, blizzards and also some nice pleasant days, she is a veteran on the Mid West but the climate is hard to describe in simple terms to her friends and family back in Greece.

[Indyartist]

This is just an interesting aside to my "River Series" growing adventure. After planting the potatoes that I received from Tom, which are pictured above in this thread, I noticed a little nub of a "chitting" had broken off one of the spuds. This small pointy nub had no roots of any kind but was maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch long so I placed it flat side down in some growing mix and watered. Now, about 12 days later it has sprouted leaves and looks as if it will do fine. I'll have no idea which of the seventeen varieties it is but I will find it an earthly home and see what my results will be.

[Indyartist]

A quick update on the River Series that were part of my Tom Wagner / New World Seeds & Tubers 1lb sampler. As a reminder Indiana was experiencing non stop rains during April. I found one rain free day and hurried and tilled and planted the 17 assorted tubers that came as my 1 lb sampler, plus three sprouted store bought red potatoes (Red Norland) to make two rows of ten. The very next day we had tremendous storms that spawned tornadoes across the nation although my particular town was spared. We did get inches upon inches of rain which flooded and filled the trenched rows of potatoes that I had just planted.
Fast forward now to June, ultimately and unfortunately I lost three tubers, that is they never surfaced with sprouts. The three losses are, Lumper's Gold, Skagit Valley Gold and Manistiqua River Red.
All the rest appear to be doing well and most are flowering. I've taken lots of pictures of each individually but those are more fitting for blog post than a forum.
I just tonight have seen that the "Kern Brot" has set one small berry, so I hope it can hold on to maturity. Posted below is one photo of the rows flooded and then how the rows looked as of a few weeks ago.