Potatoes....all those varieties...

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have planted all the ones on @digitS' list, except Peter Wilcox.
I like the sound of that one!
Viking Purple (Purple Viking, same potato, just depends on where it's purchased) is a very consistent one, and I like it. It has a beautiful white flesh.
Makes good hash browns too.

I will be potato-less this year, I had scab in my patch last year and need to address that before I plant again. Also deer and gophers for the first time...

I have had it no matter where I plant and use sulfur. No matter if seed potatoes ordered on line, bought at coop or farmer's market. This year I am planting outside the garden the Ruth Stout way. I think maybe the garden is too moist. I am also thinking of planting Idaho potatoes from the store that are sprouting so fast right now. I have kept potatoes that I grew the year before and they were fine, purple ones. I ordered on line and the first year they were small and I had some go to seed and planted those and they were the same size as the very expensive ones I bought on line. I really am not that happy to pay 0.89 a pound for seed potatoes. I bought potatoes at the store, russet 10 pounds 98 cents and regular price is under $3.

 

[Smart Red]

Go for it. I've never had a problem with store bought spuds growing in the garden for me.

 

[Beekissed]

Me neither. If it's sprouting, it goes in the garden.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I looked at the Potato Garden and $5 for a pound of Kennebec!

 

[majorcatfish]

I looked at the Potato Garden and $5 for a pound of Kennebec!

hope that was with their shipping rate included

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i got my Purple Viking from Potato Garden many years ago & what they sent me were huge spuds. i don't remember what the cost was to ship but i don't think it was much since i got about 5lbs . i thought it was included in the cost though.

when i buy spuds for planting i now get them from the farmer's market just to try something new. this year i got a red fingerling, i think it is French Fingerling. and i got one that is yellow skinned but the eyes have a pink blush around them, think this was called Yukon Gem. getting them for about $3/lb is cheaper than having to get them shipped and these were grown locally too.

 

[Mauldintiger]

I ordered mine from Alison, the Maine Potato Lady. Very nice person to deal with and answered my email question promptly. Happy to give her my business if I can save the seed potatoes. Next week I'm expecting to receive four varieties: Red Pontiac, Dark Red Norlund, Purple Viking, and Satina. 35 lbs total for myself and a couple friends.
I hope to save some for seed, but don't think I can unless I refrigerate them, so I'm thinking of using two crispers in my garage refrigerator and setting the temp at 37*-38*. I realize that will cause the starch to change to sugar, but will that impact the ability to sprout next spring? I've heard you can bring them out into room temperature and the sugars will change back to starch. Harvest will likely start in July for earlies and end in August, so I'll need to keep the seed potatoes up to 9 months. Will this plan work?
A second thought is to immediately replant, any body ever tried that? I usually have some volunteers, so will that work in zone 7b?
It gets very hot and humid here in July and August so I'm skeptical.
If this does not work I now have a local source, but no one around here has heard of Satina or Purple Viking.
What do you guys think?

 

[digitS']

Here is a link to the U of I publications on potato storage, @Mauldintiger : LINK I imagine these are pdf files and primarily geared for on-farm storage. Dr. Olsen is the specialist. Her brother is a potato etc. farmer nearby and sells at quite a few farmers' markets right through the winter and spring. He has a walk-in cooler.

I know next to nothing about storage. Humidity is an important part of it. Temperatures start a little higher and are lowered over the first few weeks.

Here is a short list from Oregon State on storage but it's probably mostly for kitchen use. Your idea on temperatures are the same as the author's.

I wanted to see if my early varieties could produce a second crop in the same season. I'd heard that it was possible from a gardener in Virginia. Why couldn't I do that? I thought. There are 60 days between a July harvest and the first frost, usually.

Nora Olsen's brother said he didn't think it would work. I have volunteers after harvest sometimes. I never saw the spuds I deliberately replanted emerge until the following spring! And, they didn't all show up. Those that did produced poorly ... Well, so much for me being able to do that!

One of these years ... I just might hold back a bunch of seed potatoes and replant some of the potato patch after harvest. Those seed potatoes are sometimes as dormant as one can possibly imagine. Obviously, there are people who know what is required. Of course, I'd have to keep them from April until July before putting them in the ground.

Steve

 

[Mauldintiger]

Steve, lots of difference between your climate And mine, if you can do it, I'm sure I can.
Gene

 

[Beekissed]

A second thought is to immediately replant, any body ever tried that? I usually have some volunteers, so will that work in zone 7b?
It gets very hot and humid here in July and August so I'm skeptical.

That fella that made the Back to Eden film replants his as he harvests each year....that's what spurred me to try it for myself this past year.

Here's a suggestion....don't harvest until September. I'm in zone 6 here and we rarely ever harvested our taters until the garden was all done and cleaned out. Potato vines by then are long dried up and withered away. The ground preserves them very well and you can even harvest in October if you have a mind to. Some folks leave them in the ground, just cover the ground with straw or leaves so the ground stays soft, then just dig them up as they need them all winter long. Those are usually the folks without a cellar...the soil keeps them at a perfect humidity and the potatoes are normally very sweet and crisp when stored in this manner.

I planted some potatoes in late fall here~and left the largest spuds of my own harvest in the ground~ and it was unseasonably warm this winter, so I had a couple leafing out on me here~ I just buried them in more compost...finally got cold enough to send them dormant. Just kept heaping on the composting material all winter...I keep checking them to monitor the status of the spuds...they are well, a couple of huge sprouts out of each one just waiting on the soil to warm up, some hair like roots emanating from each spud. No rot noted, even though they are under a mound of grass clippings, shredded leaves, ramial wood chips, old cow manure and more leaves.

I'll report on how well these spuds do on production levels.