Potato Choice

[sandersj89]

I am mulling over what to order for seed potatoes, I usually grow a couple of earlies and a 2 or 3 main crop.

This year I am growing again Mimi (early) and Aran Victory (main crop) as they have performed very well for a number of years and I love Victory as I think it is the best roast spud money can buy.

But this year I am thinking about adding a couple of new varieties to me. Has anyone grown or got any feedback on either Foremost (early) or Sante (main crop)?

For reference these will be grown on my heavy clay soil at an allotment so no watering used to bulk up the crop.

Thanks

Jerry

[Jenny Green]

I've grown Sante for several years and have found it to be a good all rounder. Good slug & disease resistance and pretty good overall yields, although it doesn't tend to grow large tubers, just more medium sized ones. I garden on clay too.

[Chez]

Hello Sanders - Foremost is our favourite first early (not that we have tried all of them, of course). It has white waxy firm flesh and a real potato flavour. Aside from our to-ing and fro-ing on other FEs to grow, Foremost is always there. We have grown it for the past four years (one with very little water, but not in heavy clay) and have never had a poor crop.

[jane E 2]

It's funny isn't it - someone will always like the potato you ask about - and someone will always dislike it. I'm sure they taste differently grown in different soils and in different seasons. I'd advise you to do 3 things
1. Taste them at the supermarkets if you notice them there and note the ones you like.
2. Decide what sort of potato you want or like - floury or not etc. Then read up about the one you are thinking of buying and check whether it fits the bill.
3. Decide how important disease resistance is to you. If you are growing on a large allotment surrounded by potato fields it would be VERY important.Then check what the potato can offer you in this respect.

I've looked up your potatoes in Alan Romans book for you.
Foremost - praised for its flavour and excellent cooking qualities. It scores middle figures for resistance to blight and scab and is susceptible to eelworm. It score 5/9 for dry matter and is resistant to discolouration and disintegration on cooking. It has a moderate yield.

Sante -robust and disease reistant including eelworm. Good yield and reistance to discolouration and disintegration. Doesn't say anything about taste.
Hope that's helpful.
Jane E

[Chez]

Me again - that's great info from the Alan Roman book, Jane! Must get that myself.

One thing I am now questioning myself on - I always understood blight was really only a problem for maincrop potatoes due to its later arrival around August(?). I suppose we have continued with this view, as none of our first earlies (which includes Foremost) have ever had blight, or slug damage. Perhaps we are labouring under a misconception and have just been lucky. A completely different story for most of our maincrop choices (apart from Picasso) which suffered both from blight, slug damage and scab. Your mention of scab me reminds our Foremost did have this last year - I would say a moderate amount. That isn't something we worry about much, but it could be a show-stopper for some. We have never had eelworm in any of our potatoes ever, so I am not qualified to comment on that. Fingers crossed it remains that way!

[sandersj89]

It's funny isn't it - someone will always like the potato you ask about - and someone will always dislike it. I'm sure they taste differently grown in different soils and in different seasons. I'd advise you to do 3 things
1. Taste them at the supermarkets if you notice them there and note the ones you like.
2. Decide what sort of potato you want or like - floury or not etc. Then read up about the one you are thinking of buying and check whether it fits the bill.
3. Decide how important disease resistance is to you. If you are growing on a large allotment surrounded by potato fields it would be VERY important.Then check what the potato can offer you in this respect.

I've looked up your potatoes in Alan Romans book for you.
Foremost - praised for its flavour and excellent cooking qualities. It scores middle figures for resistance to blight and scab and is susceptible to eelworm. It score 5/9 for dry matter and is resistant to discolouration and disintegration on cooking. It has a moderate yield.

Sante -robust and disease reistant including eelworm. Good yield and reistance to discolouration and disintegration. Doesn't say anything about taste.
Hope that's helpful.
Jane E

Jane many thanks.

Asking for ideas is always prone to differing ideas and spuds most be one of the worst things to ask about due to the vats choice out there!

Taking your points in order:

1. Taste them at the supermarkets if you notice them there and note the ones you like.

Trouble is I have not bought a spud in a supermarket for at least 5 years having grown enough to keep us going for 12 months a year. Earlies are a simpler choice than main crops as you can remove many of the pest issues and storing qualities from the equation

2.Decide what sort of potato you want or like - floury or not etc. Then read up about the one you are thinking of buying and check whether it fits the bill.

We like both floury and waxy main crops, used for different cooking methods. Waxing mash well and floury for roast and baked, we don’t make chips as a rule. I have used Tuckers Seeds as a source of spuds for a good number of years and their list is very good at pointing the grower towards cooking properties.

3. Decide how important disease resistance is to you. If you are growing on a large allotment surrounded by potato fields it would be VERY important.Then check what the potato can offer you in this respect.

Agreed, I grow both at an allotment and at home and diseases issues vary hugely. Things at home are generally easier but then again I am surrounded by open fields at home and the pest load is reduced some what. The reduced availability of water at the allotment is the main issue and I only grow main crop at the allotment keeping the earlies at home for easy access.

Thanks for the info from Alan Roman, foremost sounds positive but the lack of flavour for Sante is a worry and one I have heard about elsewhere, I am thinking Kestrel might be worth a look at, not a true late main crop but one with good flavour and storage rating.

Thanks again

Jerry

[sandersj89]

Me again - that's great info from the Alan Roman book, Jane! Must get that myself.

One thing I am now questioning myself on - I always understood blight was really only a problem for maincrop potatoes due to its later arrival around August(?). I suppose we have continued with this view, as none of our first earlies (which includes Foremost) have ever had blight, or slug damage. Perhaps we are labouring under a misconception and have just been lucky. A completely different story for most of our maincrop choices (apart from Picasso) which suffered both from blight, slug damage and scab. Your mention of scab me reminds our Foremost did have this last year - I would say a moderate amount. That isn't something we worry about much, but it could be a show-stopper for some. We have never had eelworm in any of our potatoes ever, so I am not qualified to comment on that. Fingers crossed it remains that way!

Blight can, and does strike early, I have lost some crops but it depends on so many variables.

I use Blight Watch, a free service aimed at commercial growers to high light periods when blight may become a problem.

http://www.potatocrop.com/blight/

You need to register but it is free and very useful.

Jerry

[Chez]

A very informative link Sanders, thank you.

[jane E]

Jerry - I picked Anya up out of pure curiosity at a supermarket and have been growing it ever since.I've also had Sante from the shop - found it bland. Kestrel gets a good write up for taste, but is a second early. What about Kerr's pink as a late maincrop - floury and a lovely flavour. I'm growing British Queen. That's a second early and floury and has a very good flavour and an AGM.Rooster gets a good write for flavour up in Alan Romans' book but I have no experience of it. Also Pomeroy. Ofcourse there is Ratte with its very idiosyncratic nutty taste.Maincrops aren't my forte because on the allotment there was so much trouble with blight I avoided them.

Chez - I'll bring the Alan Romans' book over on Friday. It was a Christmas present.

[sandersj89]

Thanks all, I have decided and now ordered Mimi and Foremost for earlies, Kestral for second early, Arran Victory for main crop and finaly Ratte.

Hope that will give us enough to see us through the year yet again.

Jerry

[Malk]

Has anybody tried these? We have slugs galore and I'm trying to cut down on amount of slug pellets I use. Are they tasty?

[Carole B.]

Kestrel are good,I grew them alongside Swift a few years ago,the Swift were riddled with slugs but the Kestrel were untouched and I've grown them ever since.
They produce medium to large tubers and seem to be a good all-rounder,particularly nice roasted.
I don't use slug pellets but I do make sure that I keep the bed edges clean and tidy with no slug hiding places.It's when those big orange sluggies come calling from the overgrown plot next door that I get mad!!!
Carole.

[Colin Miles]

Different people like different potatoes and different potatoes grow differently in different soils and locations. So the only thing to do is to experiment.

[jane E]

PLEASE don't use slug pellets. Think about song thrushes and hedgehogs. Thought I'd just put in a plea on their behalf. It's the under the ground slugs that eat the potatoes. Put ash in the planting hole and you won't need slug pellets. Put a circle of ash round your young plants and I think it's more effective than slug pellets. As was suggested keep your hiding places to a minimum too and try the traps - jam jar with bait - beer, milk or whatever, sunk below the gound level.There are so many slugs it really isn't worth using 'bought'products because it costs a bomb.

[Lyn]

Spare a thought for frogs, too. I found last year that wood ash sprinkled over and around the tubers when planting was extremely effective in deterring slugs. As Jane says, beer baits also work well - but leave a stick poking out of the top so that beetles and other creasures can escape if they fall in, as they often do.
Lyn