Scandalous or what!

[Johnboy]

The Savari Trust have for many years been the champions of the gardening fraternity helping to combat late potato blight and other diseases and pests in potatoes and I very much resent the managing director of Marshalls Seeds attempting to dismiss the entire range of Sarpo potatoes in order to sell a new variety of blight resistant potato marketed by his company this year.
Below is the quote from Martin Harvey M D of Marshalls.

"When our potato expert, Doc Fletcher, told me he’d found a potato that had excellent flavour and quality, and had more tuber blight resistance than any Sarpo variety, I was naturally sceptical.
But we’ve read and re-read the reports, re-trialled it and tasted it ourselves – and now we’re convinced. This potato has a lovely red skin finish. Plus, it does outstrip every Sarpo variety we've tasted.
The flavour is slightly nutty and buttery. Excellent as a boiled potato, it mashes to a soft, fluffy texture needing little or no milk or butter and roasts to outstanding crispness!
Martin Harvey M D, Marshalls"

With a quote like that I suspect that Martin Harvey has slipped twixt kerb and carriageway and deserves to stay there!
I would be more than interested to find out what the contributors to this forum think.
JB.

[retropants]

well, that's not very nice is it....they do all the hard work, then someone comes along and says their spuds are rubbish. pah. there are ways to advertise your products, and 'dissing' (for want of a better word) soemone else's established product is not the way to do it.

[Kleftiwallah]

Here comes along a 'improved washing powder'. Cheers, Tony.

[Monika]

Well, I stick with the Sarpo varieties. we like their taste anyway.

[FelixLeiter]

There's a response to this on the Sárvári website. I'm not certain that Marshalls are doing anything disreputable but it does seem like a rather shabby way to go on. i can't see that their Setanta is what they're making it out to be. It's only independent trials data that will convince me of its worth. The name Setanta is jinxed anyway.

[Geoff]

It does seem a harsh bit of marketing, like Felix I would like to see so called peer reviewed comparative testing. Where has another strain appeared from, have they started rather naughtily from the same basis but just come up with a different cross?
Mind the Savari Trust have tempted fate by getting T&M so involved, I would always be tempted to go elsewhere. I haven't tried, growing or tasting, Sarpo varieties.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I like the Sarpo Axona, mainly for its good keeping qualities and its very strong foliage, which is probably why it has good blight resistance. Since we don't seem to have a blight problem here I've not been able to compare it to others.

One of the comments about the Savari potatoes seems to be that their varieties are not a brilliant flavour compared to some, so I suppose you can't blame Marshalls for marketing the Setanta as having a very good flavour as well as blight resistance. Setanta is a cross between Brodick and Rooster. I've never tried Brodick, but rate the Rooster very highly. I may give the Setanta a try for a change and compare them with the Sarpo Axona. The cross seems to have aimed at strong foliage and good flavour, which can't be bad.

I did harvest the Sarpo Axona earlier than usual last year to see whether this enhanced the flavour, but I've not got round to eating them yet as they are the only one of my saved ones that haven't started to sprout yet. Yet another good point for them.

[WestHamRon]

The Savari Trust have for many years been the champions of the gardening fraternity helping to combat late potato blight and other diseases and pests in potatoes and I very much resent the managing director of Marshalls Seeds attempting to dismiss the entire range of Sarpo potatoes in order to sell a new variety of blight resistant potato marketed by his company this year.
Below is the quote from Martin Harvey M D of Marshalls.

"When our potato expert, Doc Fletcher, told me he’d found a potato that had excellent flavour and quality, and had more tuber blight resistance than any Sarpo variety, I was naturally sceptical.
But we’ve read and re-read the reports, re-trialled it and tasted it ourselves – and now we’re convinced. This potato has a lovely red skin finish. Plus, it does outstrip every Sarpo variety we've tasted.
The flavour is slightly nutty and buttery. Excellent as a boiled potato, it mashes to a soft, fluffy texture needing little or no milk or butter and roasts to outstanding crispness!
Martin Harvey M D, Marshalls"

With a quote like that I suspect that Martin Harvey has slipped twixt kerb and carriageway and deserves to stay there!
I would be more than interested to find out what the contributors to this forum think.
JB.

I must be going blind. I can't see any dismissal of the entire Sarpo range, merely stating he thinks his product is better.

[Johnboy]

Hi Ron,
You would imagine that the way Martin Harvey has written that Marshalls were exclusive in the sale of the said potato but this is not the case. You can buy the said potato from Tuckers considerably cheaper (pro rata) in a 1.5 Kg net and they simply sell without even mentioning any Sarpo varieties. If Martin Harvey had bothered to check up on what he has said he would have found that what he has written is incorrect.
There are Sarpo varieties that actually outperform Setanta because they have a better rating against Foliage blight with the same Rating against Tuber blight.
Taste is an individual thing and what tastes good to one person may well taste quite awful by another person so why should Martin Harvey think that everybody should take his word for it. I have tasted all the Sarpo varieties but I have not tasted Setanta so I am unable to comment. Sarpo potatoes had been voted better tasting than some other popular varieties.
Martin Harvey claims that Setanta outstrips any Sarpo 'we've tasted' and has more tuber resistance than any Sarpo variety. We have re-trialled it!
I rather think not. Marshalls may have grown it but trialled it I very much doubt.
If you cannot see Ron that what Martin Harvey has written I suggest that an urgent appointment should be made with SpecSavers or the like.
Ron seriously though Martin Harvey is very wrong in using the condemnation of Sarpo varieties in order to sell what he has in his catalogue it simple makes my blood boil.
Apart from bad form we should not put up this sort of selling in horticulture because this form of advertising helps the nursery maybe but it means that they do not give a fig for their customers because they are not giving them best advice.
JB.

[glallotments]

Alan Romans sell Setanta too. He describes it as Blue 13 susceptible
http://www.farmersguardian.com/blue-13-romps-through-spuds/24142.article

He doesn't mention anything about taste!

You are absolutely right though that it's difficult to recommend a potato variety to anyone else. Not only is it down to individual taste preference but there is the effect on taste of differing soil types and growing conditions.

[jane E]

I'm a fan of Sarpo Axona. It grows well in any weathers, has broken up heavy clay for me, keeps very well, is impervious to blight and produces big tubers which are easy to peel and make super mash. I'm not about to change to something which is untried.

I'm not a particular fan of expensive seed merchants. I take advantage of their special offers but otherwise I save my seed, shop for the best prices online and read a certain magazine that gives away seed free!

[Johnboy]

Hi Sue,
I remember hearing Alan Roman explaining that potatoes grown in different soils can taste very different and a potato variety that tasted awful everywhere in the UK went on to be a best seller in Australia.
Sometime back I was given some Sarpo Mira and they had been grown in entirely different soil to the soil I enjoy here and I criticised the taste.
To be fair to The Savari Trust director Dr David Shaw I grew them myself the following year and thought that they were of a very fine taste.
I also attended the Savari Trust Open Day last year and was more than impressed with sampling all the potatoes in current production and they were wonderful each and every one of them.
There is a brand of Potato Crisps made in Wales from a Sarpo variety with the wonderful name of 'Jones O Gymru' that were launched at the Royal Welsh Show last year and they are really good.
Having seen the achievements of the Savari Trust and understand their endeavours to help us all to produce our potato crop as safely as possible
with as little Late Blight and this is why I have taken Martin Harvey to task.
JB.

[FelixLeiter]

Hi Sue,
I remember hearing Alan Roman explaining that potatoes grown in different soils can taste very different and a potato variety that tasted awful everywhere in the UK went on to be a best seller in Australia.

I'd be interested to know which variety that is. I remember Majestic was all the rage in the Seventies after it proved its worth through the hot summers of '75 / '76, but when summers turned cooler and wetter its cooking qualities went all ahoo, with them disintegrating when boiled. It's still a worthwhile variety, as long as it is not over-irrigated. In my view, most commercial potatoes are over-irrigated in any case, and lose a lot of their best qualities as a consequence. Best to stick with home-grown.

[Colin Miles]

From Alan Roman's site. I also remember reading elsewhere Alan joking about it being more popular in Australia than its native Scotland. When I grew it a few years ago it was certainly very prolific.

Nadine

This was Jack Dunnett’s first major success as an independent breeder. It is grown all over the world. Although not drought tolerant, it does very well in irrigated desert soils. Indeed it has an unofficial yield record in Australia. The tubers are pretty, waxy and boil well. Nadine has had unprecedented showbench success. It has double eelworm resistance.