"Howie Mandel" potato from Tom Wagner's 1lb sampler results.

[Indyartist]

Here are the results from one tuber planted from my 1lb sampler from Tom Wagner. The potato is named "Howie Mandel" (for reasons unknown to me) and the tuber I received was small and is pictured. I planted it on April the 26th and harvested it on November the 4th. I weighed the pot I put the unwashed tubers in and recorded it as 8 lbs. Since drying some in the basement for about one week, my weighing for the photographs show 7.66 lbs. I assume the difference is just mostly wet dirt stuck to the potatoes became dry and weighed less and/or fell off.
We had two last night as baked potatoes and enjoyed them. I would put them as more floury then waxy by my own understanding of the scale. Today I am making vegetable broth and "Howie" is a part of that as well. Some of the potatoes cut up for the broth had some red rings in the yellowish flesh that the small one cut for the photo doesn't show.

[wmontanez]

Nice harvest! Congratulations. Anything above 2.5lb for me is good yield. Most I had range in the 2lb per tuber planted. Was Howie Mandel planted in the ground? That is a good looking potato in the last picture.

[salix]

Lovely spuds! and a good harvest as well. How was the flavour? I really must learn how to post pictures, my Tom's spuds were also beautiful. Actually, I tried for an hour the other night, alas to no avail.

[Indyartist]

Originally Posted by wmontanez

Nice harvest! Congratulations. Anything above 2.5lb for me is good yield. Most I had range in the 2lb per tuber planted. Was Howie Mandel planted in the ground? That is a good looking potato in the last picture.

It was planted in the ground. My container planting was all TPS plants with mixed results. It was record setting rain followed by record setting heat and drought. I am very pleased with the yield, three of Tom's sampler varieties were in excess of 7 lbs. I hope I can get some of the tubers to hold on to plant for next years garden.

[Mark0820]

That is a very nice harvest from one seed potato. Great looking potato. I like the purple/blue skin and yellow flesh.

[Indyartist]

Originally Posted by salix

Lovely spuds! and a good harvest as well. How was the flavour? I really must learn how to post pictures, my Tom's spuds were also beautiful. Actually, I tried for an hour the other night, alas to no avail.

As for posting pictures on TomVille, you can not use the "quick reply" for pictures but instead use the "post reply" or "new topic" and look for the "manage attachments" below your post and through that you can upload pictures if they are not too large.

[Tom Wagner]

Peanut (Swedish peanut, Mandel, Butterfinger) is a unique potato. The variety has these synonyms that are frustrating to say the least.....but I received it most recently as Mandel...therefore I am presuming that is the original name.

PI 595424

Solanum tuberosum L. SOLANACEAE 'MANDEL POTATO'
Donated from: Sweden
Maintained by the Potato Germplasm Introduction Station. NPGS received: 09-Nov-1983. PI assigned: 1996

Obviously, I am happy to see the hybrid clone HOWIE MADEL doing so well. The texture and flavor is betwixt the female MANDEL and the male parent JOHN TOM KAIGHIN. JTK has more of a floury description coming from the distant relatives that I used personally in the pedigree breeding.

I named all kinds of the seedlings from the F-1 MANDEL X JOHN TOM KAIGHIN including MANDELION, MANDY PATINKIN, MANDY MOORE, etc. HOWIE MANDEL was simply the first name to pop into my head using MANDEL in a new name.

These are working names...nothing very official about them....and no....I did not obtain permission to use those names of celebrities. I use those names to remind myself of the crossing pedigree information. Of course, those with names often have potato berries and the naming conventions continue. I cannot keep the clones going forever due to virus contamination....and barring meristem clean-up......the original lines will not be extant long.

The logistics of getting folks to try new and unusual varieties of potatoes is but one part of my agenda (if you will) and the secondary effort is to disseminate lines that will set berries...thus TPS....to carry on. HOWIE MANDEL is part of my hybrid heirloom potato awakening endeavor....as LUMPER is on the male side back to its g.grandparent.

Tom Wagner





Often I save seed...TPS...from a single plant to bulk for later use. I will compare the seedlings yet to dug from the HM....and so far my expectation is that the seedlings are a result of being selfed.

[salix]

Thank you, Al. I tried again and did get a picture posted on another potato thread. Unfortunately there is also something else posted that was not intended. Will keep trying! My problem (other than being computer illiterate) is that I am now using a Mac and I overthink/underestimate what it is capable of doing. I almost posted my entire photo album!

[wmontanez]

Indy, what are the other high yielders for you?

[Indyartist]

Originally Posted by wmontanez

Indy, what are the other high yielders for you?

My three top yielders from Tom's 1lb sampler were Milakokia River at 10.2, Satina at 9.5 and Howie Mandel at 7.6. I should have weighed and recorded each but I'm only half scientist and half gardener, so my documentation for each variety is lacking. I also had potatoes on the opposite end of the scale with "up to Date" and "blood money" only producing three tubers each. All were planted in April and harvested as the plants died back.

[wmontanez]

This next season 2012 I am trying to improve yields in some of the varieties that I want to keep growing.

I am thinking of trialing rock dust in one bed with the existing garden soil, one bed with my 50/50 mix+rock dust and another with just 50/50 mix. To all I adding mycorrhiza and plan not to water except what normally falls as rain.

For this I am selecting a F2 TPS seedling tuber that I don't know how is going to yield, one variety of potato that did poor and one that did best this year to compare quality and yields. Should be fun!

Any other suggestions?

[Indyartist]

Originally Posted by wmontanez

This next season 2012 I am trying to improve yields in some of the varieties that I want to keep growing.

I am thinking of trialing rock dust in one bed with the existing garden soil, one bed with my 50/50 mix+rock dust and another with just 50/50 mix. To all I adding mycorrhiza and plan not to water except what normally falls as rain.

For this I am selecting a F2 TPS seedling tuber that I don't know how is going to yield, one variety of potato that did poor and one that did best this year to compare quality and yields. Should be fun!

Any other suggestions?

I'll look forward to seeing how it works out. I would like to add sand and compost to all my rows this coming year. Our soil here in NE Indiana is very heavy with clay, so sand and compost are a welcome addition. My biggest change this next season is to devote half of my garden to potatoes. I have approximately 13 rows that are around 40 feet in length, so 6 or 7 rows to try and grow many more potatoes then our 2010 garden.