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Another cross I made a couple of years ago, with the aim of elongated tasted salad/waxy type potatoes. Only 4 selections of mini tubers to grow out but I also have some unmarked minies which could possiple be from this cross or Kifli x PFA. They were looking a little sorry for themselves and some had made long sprouts, leaving really quite withered tubers.
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You gave me some tubers that were Kifli x Ratte crosses. And almost all have sparse but longish foliage. I doubt they are going to make huge plants, but they may yet surprise me and just take longer. What I am trying to say is that half of what you see, may not be due to leaving them for too long, but this is just the foliage they develop, certainly in the early stages.
Potted up they should look much better very soon.Last edited by Galina; 15-03-2016, 07:59. -
I thought I'd sent you some of these, I just couldn't quite remember. When did you plant yours up, what sort of size are yours now?Comment
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Just taken a photo. The biggest is one of the two K x R 3s, the smallest is one of the 4s (the other is substantially bigger)Comment
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They are all labeled the same so we can track them and in case any are keepers, wouldn't really want the same clones with potentially different names. I must make a planting map, the blackbirds and foxes were a nightmare moving some labels last year!
I've buried pretty much all of mine in their little pots, no progress to report here yet. I think in the early stages even the same clones will appear somewhat differently possibly due to the mini tuber size and how well they stored.Comment
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I potted mine up a few days ago, they all went into module trays to save space and are out in the poly-tunnel in, I hope a mouse/vole proof giant cloche and tray!Comment
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Kifli x Ratte mini tubers planted up in modules March 14th and now most are growing on well. (Kifli x Ratte on the left Violetta tps mini tubers on the right.)
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Have just planted them out. The plants are still not huge, managed to get a bottle cloche over every one of them. The leaves are much rounder and no indentations, looking almost like sweet potato leaves. They are m u c h more similar to each other than the Kifli x PFA crosses. And they are all at a similar stage in tuber development. More or less. Actually the #3 which still has the largest foliage had only one tuber, all the others had several tubers already. Definitely time these were planted, but frost proofing is still a must. Have added a picture each of the developing tubers and one of the foliage of #3 which was the largest plant. All foliage looks similar, bar yellower or darker green which could be due to being a bit short of nitrogen in the pots. We will see how they compare later. Had slugs in the greenhouse and sprinkled some organic pellets to save these, hate slugs. Poor oca Redley had a chunk eaten by slugs (but it is too large for this to matter fortunately), but these potatoes were not touched.Last edited by Galina; 19-04-2016, 15:13.Comment
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They are looking great with you, so promising to see the early mini tubers. I read somewhere (can't remember where sorry) that Kifli was possibly derived from a fingerling salad type, possibly Ratte or similar. Which is along the lines to what I thought, particularly the length of tuber being produced and introducing a slightly more waxy better tasting quality to Sarpo's. It's possible this cross is almost like a backcross which might be showing in more uniform types?Comment
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That is a very interesting comment and would be totally in agreement with what happens on the ground.
Yes I felt that I may have planted them out too late with the tubers, but on the other hand it is a relief because should the worst happen despite bottle cloches, the tubers underground would survive.
Next time I will perhaps not leave mini tubers dark with the storage potatoes. Maybe they are better off in full daylight and cool. I was concerned that they would shrivel badly, but instead they probably started producing shoots too early and when I noticed in January that some were shooting already, I could only plant them up fast. Had they been left in light and cool, their shoots would have probably been shorter and chunkier. Still they have come through and are now in the ground. Looking forward to great things. .
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Grump, hate slugs too, seems so many already this year! I've been using organic pellets too, they are meant to be pet and wildlife friendly.Comment
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Well there were the slugs and now the frost, -2.7C two nights ago was clearly too much. The top leaves in the bottles under fleece are burnt, the lower leaves are looking good. Not a write-off by any means, perhaps not much of a setback, but frustrating all the same. The others (better microclimate) are all ok. A few plants in the greenhouse are looking poorly as well. Fingers crossed. Early selection of hardiness.Comment
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It's not the best weather is it! I guess a bit milder here, but still a light frost a couple of days ago. I''m hoping to get my plugs of these planted out, just as soon as this cold patch passes. I'm just fleecing everything in the greenhouse (toms, aubergine, Chillies, tomatillos, tps etc) each evening and hoping for the best. Some are looking a bit sulky but I can't manage carrying them in and out this year.
Hopefully yours will just be having a little prune and will romp off once the weather warms, I bet they are growing lots underground.Comment
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2,3,and 4 are getting more blight damaged every day. Not only is number 1 the best plant, it is also the most resistant plant. Here is a picture. Hope they look as good underground as above.Comment
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Have finally dug 2,3 and 4 up. Will take pictures of the tubers tomorrow. 1 is by far the best plant, although not big either. But still going strong now. Considering how advanced they were when they went in, it seems they were badly checked afterwards. They survived a frost under bottle cloches, but never really thrived. Apart from 1 which is looking good, I will reserve proper evaluation for next year. I think they can do much better.Comment
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And here is the star. Number 1. Dug up today, the leaves showed signs of senescence. Considering these were quite closely spaced and squeezed by others to boot, I am very happy indeed with these. And we had the taste test: Sweet, salad type, nutty, not earthy, really nice - grow again. Well this will not be difficult. Seems we have a winner here. I expect that the fairly small tubers will be a bit larger with full spacing. Pictures show the total harvest and a closeup
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