Purple or Fingerling potatoes?

[HotPepperQueen]

Has anyone every tried growing purple/blue potatoes or Fingerling potatoes? How did it work for you? Would you grow them again?

 

[thistlebloom]

I've grown fingerlings and they produced well and were good eating. I've never grown blue potatoes, but they wouldn't be any different than others in their culture. I just think potatoes are always worth growing. Definitely one of my favorite crops.

 

[lesa]

I wouldn't have a garden without fingerlings!! I love, love, love them! They are so perfect right out of the garden- and I can tons of them to get us through the winter. Definitely in my top 5, of things to grow! I order mine from the Maine Potato Lady. I throw them in the ground and don't think of them again, until it is time to harvest. They are not a good keeper, so if you want to have some potatoes in the root cellar- these are not for that. I just finished the last of my red potatoes from the basement- now we will start using the canned potatoes. Let us know what you decide...

 

[catjac1975]

The purple grow the same-pretty small-taste pretty much the same.
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[HotPepperQueen]

I totally agree about potato crops- always worth growing and definitely one of my favorites! Good to know about the Fingerlings too- I always order them anytime I see them on a restaurant menu! Super yummy. Very versatile too. I mainly want to grow the purple potatoes for the county fair and for friends. I am actually glad to hear they are small- baby potatoes are my favorite! They don't take as long to cook and they hold up better when I make different dressings for them. Thanks for the help! Keep the info rolling!

 

[digitS']

I have grown both Peruvian Purple fingerling and Purple Majesty. But, you know . . . . . . . they're purple. Should a potato really be purple? Kind of a hard-to-match food color . . . if'n you want to mix them with something . . . :/

I messed up on both of these varieties but they really produced okay.

The Peruvian fingerlings took the entire season. I harvested them when I'd dug the other potatoes - all, earlies. I think that they had just barely reached any level of bulking and it would have been much better if I'd left them another 6 weeks. Yeah, 6 weeks - shows you how bad I messed up with the fingerlings.

The Purple Majesty was new in 2011. Maaybe I'll grow them again. But, they're purple.

Each plant was noodled. You know, a couple tubers were harvested early but the plant and remaining tubers were left for later. I know better than this. If you want those early potatoes - take 1 plant and pull it out of the ground, harvesting ALL of the spuds.

I was told long ago by an Idaho potato specialist that pulling 1 or 2 tubers out from under the plant, stresses the plant. Further tuber development is likely to just stop. So, what you harvest after another 3 or 4 weeks is pretty much what you'd get if you hadn't bothered to left it.

The Purple Majesty were my poorest producers this year and there were no tubers of a larger size. They had quite a few of them but the potatoes were all about the size of hens' eggs, or just a little larger. Oh, and I stepped on a few of them because they looked like dirt clods :/. There may have been a few missed and I don't miss many spuds usually.

. . . just my experiences.

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

I just think potatoes are always worth growing. Definitely one of my favorite crops.

Thistle..can you elaborate more on this? Is it because they are easy to grow or give high yields for the amount of space, etc.? Why do you love them so?

Mary

 

[April Manier]

Fingerlings are very yummy. They are easy as any potato to grow, however starts are spendier. Make sure to take care of flea beatles right away to avoid stressing them too hard.

Never done the blues. Please let us know how it goes with them!

 

[Jared77]

I grew Adirondack blues and they are purple variety. Beautiful rich purple color they were very pretty. The nursery where I bought them from told me not to harvest part of them like Steve's heard so I didn't. I just kept mulching and waiting till the end of the season. When I dug them up they were BIG but didn't produce as many tubers as my russets and red skin varieties did. The kids all got a kick out of them when we made mashed potatoes with them. I only planted 1lbs of them as they were meant to be fun and they were. I'd do it again, and I'd encourage others to but you have to go into them knowing they are kind of a novelty. I try to have fun stuff like that in the garden for the kids to explore and keep encouraging them to be interested in gardening and think its all just work.

 

[thistlebloom]

I just think potatoes are always worth growing. Definitely one of my favorite crops.

Thistle..can you elaborate more on this? Is it because they are easy to grow or give high yields for the amount of space, etc.? Why do you love them so?

Mary

Oh, boy! I could go on and on about why I love potatoes, but I'll try to spare you and keep it basic . First of all there's the suspense, and wondering what's going on under the soil out there. There is a degree of anticipation for me as I wait impatiently for the time to dig them up.

Then there's the actual digging, which for me means sitting in the bed, working my way down the row, feeling with my hands for every tuber. Yeah, it's a dirty job! I'm sure others have much neater ways of going about this stage, but this is the way I like it.
And you know it's just thrilling to me when I feel them hiding under the soil! I'm getting that happy potato pickin' feeling just writing about it....

Now that you know how wierd I am....

Anyway, that's the emotional part of my potato affair .

Another reason is that since we eat a lot of potatoes they're an important crop for us and homegrown is light years ahead of store bought.
Productivity as related to space required...I can't answer that one objectively because I have a lot of space. But for me, even if I didn't I know I would find a way to grow them.

Productivity is also linked to variety and location and soil. I grew just 3 varieties this year, and I had a huge variance in yield.
Yukons usually do pretty well for me, but this year they were blown away by the Maris Pipers. That was my first time growing the MP, and they grew as promised in the catalog. The Durangos which previously were an okay producer did squat, so they're off my list for future planting. I planted 17 pounds total for 3 varieties, and harvested 198 pounds, with MP being the major producer.

Oops, sorry, I'm rambling. But in the end I think the fun quotient that growing potatoes adds to gardening is worth it.

And, oh yeah, I live in Idaho and we're required to grow potatoes.