In search of potato for East Texas

[YumYum]

The third variety for today is the "Charlotte" potato. Notice the presence of a good bit of green in these:

I imagine you had them covered. What happened?

 

[Meadowlark]

Yes they were all "hilled up"...but this variety showed green in both the container and in-ground. Seems like a discriminator to me.

 

[deckman22]

Looks like in ground produced better taters.

 

[Meadowlark]

Looks like in ground produced better taters.

Yep, so far, but a long way to go to complete the study.

 

[Meadowlark]

Three more varieties harvested today.

First one up the "Caribe". Very nice small potato:

Second for today the "Dark Red Norland" a potato I've been wanting to try for several years:

Third today was my own standard potato I've raised for decades, the "Red Pontiac". Easily the largest producer in-ground in this study so far. It would be interesting to have done all this work and find out what I've been growing all these years is the best there is in-ground.

 

[YumYum]

Third today was my own standard potato I've raised for decades, the "Red Pontiac". Easily the largest producer in-ground in this study so far. It would be interesting to have done all this work and find out what I've been growing all these years is the best there is in-ground.

Maybe it is because over the years you learned how to grow that potato. Maybe a tweak here and there would cause those to suffer and another variety blossom.

 

[Meadowlark]

Today we have three non-red varieties.

First is the Yukon Gold, very nice large potatoes:

Next take a look at the Kennebec, widely planted in USA:

Another widely planted variety is next in show, the Russett:

 

[gary350]

You must have planted seed potatoes mid Jan to be harvesting now. How many lbs of new potatoes did you harvest from each plant? Red potatoes out produce white potatoes 4 : 1. Red Pontiac are hot weather potatoes they do very good in 100°f hot TN sun. Red Norland seem to like our hot TN weather too. I usually get 4 lbs of new potatoes from 1 Red Potato plant. I get 2 lbs of Kennebec new potatoes from 1 plant 1 eye cutting these grow good in our hot 100° sun. I get 1 lb of new potatoes from 1 white Russet potato plants they don't like hot weather. 1 eye cuttings produce larger potatoes than 2 eye cuttings and 3 eye cuttings grow small new potatoes. Root ball on a 1" cutting with be the same size no matter how many eyes the cutting has. When I lived in Arizona I planted potatoes Nov 1st. AZ sand has NO food value for plants nothing grows without a lot of fertilizer, calcium & water. The only things that grows good in AZ 114°f hot sun is, melons & sweet potatoes. I can't tell from your chart how many lbs of new potatoes you got from each plant. This is my first year to grow yellow potatoes planted Jan 5 in a tiny 2 foot sq green house I harvested 3.8 lbs of new potatoes 2 weeks ago.

 

[Meadowlark]

I can't tell from your chart how many lbs of new potatoes you got from each plant.

That's right. I haven't finished harvesting and tabulating yet...but soon, very soon I'll post all the data. Thanks for your interest.

 

[Meadowlark]

Harvesting is now complete. The last of the photos are presented below. The Final Report is coming in my next post.

First photo is of the Sarpo Mira production. This small potato had stunning in-ground production, was the most aggressive sending up shoots, and had an incredible taste. The Sarpo Mira:

Next presenting the Huckelberry Gold which turned out to have a somewhat disappointing production:

Last photo is of the Elba production, a wonderful white potato:

 

[Meadowlark]

Here is my summary report. It's been a fun experiment and I hope you find the results interesting.


Summary of Results:

The original questions with results based on data from the experiment:

1) What's the best overall potato for my area? RED Pontiacs
2) What's the best overall red potato for my area? RED Pontiacs
3) What's the best overall non-red potato for my area? TIE: Elba and Yukon Gold
4) What's the best potato for container growing in my area? Dark Red Norland

Honorable mention: Sarpo Mira; best taste and high production

Rank	Type	Rating	HK PRO	GAR PRO	QUAL	Taste
1​	Red Pontiacs	40.3​	8.0​	13.0​	10​	9.3​
2​	Sarpo Mira	38.8​	6.2​	12.6​	10​	10​
3​	Dark Red Norland	38.5​	8.9​	10.2​	10​	9.3​
4​	Elba	33​	7.2​	7.8​	9​	9​
5​	Yukon Gold	33​	6.9​	7.1​	10​	9​
6​	Caribe	31.5​	5.8​	6.4​	10​	9.3​
7​	German BB	30.6​	5.3​	7​	10​	8.3​
8​	Rose Gold	29.9​	4.3​	6.6​	10​	9​
9​	Russet	28.4​	5.4​	6​	9​	8​
10​	Kennebec	27.2​	5.5​	6​	8​	7.7​
11​	Huckelberry Gold	23.6​	4.6​	3​	8​	8​
12​	Prarie Bush	22.6​	3.9​	4.3​	7​	7.3​
13​	Charlotte	21​	5.2​	3.8​	5​	7​

Table explained:

• Rank is determined by summing the HK PRO, GAR PRO, QUAL, and Taste
• HK PRO = the total production in pounds from one pound of type seed potato planted in Hügelkultur containers
• GAR PRO = the total production in pounds from one pound of type seed potato planted in proximity in garden soil
• Qual = a subjective measure of the overall quality of the new potatoes produced (from 1-10 points)
• TASTE = a subjective measure of taste raw, fried, and baked each assigned 1-10 points and averaged

 

[Meadowlark]

As an aside, the experiment produced over 170 pounds of potatoes and I haven't even started harvesting my main crop...whew!

The food bank is about to receive a bunch of great potatoes.

 

[Meadowlark]

Today was the last day of my potato harvesting...until next fall. We have donated an estimated 250 pounds to the local food bank, canned 15 quarts of potatoes, stored about 150 pounds for later use and gifts, and specially selected and stored my seed potatoes for future crops...all organically grown.

The Sarpo Mira which I found to be excellent in all respects is very difficult to find as a seed potato in USA and is very high in price...so I consider those kept for seed potatoes to be valuable indeed. Likewise, the Elba is a white potato I found to be especially good and is very hard to find here.

Now I can get each of these along with the standard Red Pontiac on a cycle of spring and fall crops which is almost impossible to do with purchased seed potatoes which are grown far north of me (Maine for example) and have a different dormancy cycle than I need for fall seed potatoes. That was one of the primary goals of this experiment...and it has been a success.

Here is the last load for the local food bank. The crowds are growing each day we take these in... but these are the last potatoes for awhile.