Ronniger's has many unusual varieties. Most probably originated in the Andes, if their heritage could be traced all the way back to the wild forebears. A few are known to be more recent Peruvian natives.

Jim

You probably won't fine any through normal channels because it is expensive to keep potatoes certified for seed tuber production. Unpopular varieties go extinct all the time unless they are kept going at low levels by breeders.

I did get a Peruvian potato from Breeder Tom Wagner in a sample pack last year. It has no name, just a seed bank collection number, PI###????. Tom breeds for flavor, color, disease resistance, and seed production (so you can breed your own...most commercial potatoes don't set seeds). He has some wild stuff.

I just checked his website newworldcrops dot com and he is offering seed (true seed, not tubers) for...

"Land Races: This combines the true seed of many individual plants out of a cross of two land races from Bolivia and Peru. All colors will be popping up."

I have grown some potatoes from true seed, and one time I got some peruvian plant accessions from the USDA. These were extremely tiny absurdly fragile seedlings that came in plastic tubes. All died except one which I grew out for a couple of years. Never did get it to a large size.

The landraces that the subsistence farmers of the Andes have been growing for thousands of years are overwhelmingly extraordinarily adapted to their micro-climates. From what I have read it is no easy task to find one that will grow well elsewhere. Even though all the varieties outside that region originated from there, it took a long time to produce the highly tolerant widely-adapted strains; it is very easy to be unaware of what a huge amount of work has been done over a very long period of time to create all of our common landraces and varieties.

If one takes a random type of potato from the Andes highlands to a random climate in north america, it will be extremely hit or miss. Much more likely miss.

I agree with PN. If you can get it thru customs disease-free and it survives quarantine, then you want to make sure your garden is at 11,000 feet and with the same general soil characteristics and so on.

If you want unusual varieties, as above Ronninger's (now Potato Garden) is a good choice. That reminds me, I have to order today.

Dan

Hey I went to newworldcrops.com
What a fascinating site! Ended up ordering seed from Huagalina. Doing so Internet exploration in Spanish, I found a Peruvian ag report saying. That this one adapts moderately well to long days.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I received the seed I ordered from newworldcrops.com . Tom shipped promptly and through in a complimentary packet. I'm really looking forward to trying this.

George

I also ordered from newworld crops.com, ordered Suytu Vilquina and Landraces just for fun and to see if they would grow for me. Tom threw in a freebee as well, thanks Tom.

I'm new to growing potatoes from seed a couple of questions, can I grow the seedlings the first year in flats or if not what size pots? Suytu Vilquina has come up like hairs on a dog's back, the other two varieties are just popping through now. When I prick them out and replant should I cover the first set of leaves?

Annette

What do they taste like?
Potatoes or sunchokes or some other tuber?

When growing from TPS let the plant get about 3 inches high and then plant it deep in a deep plastic cup up to the top leaves (like a tomato)... and then back fill the cup as it grows, and then if/when you plant it into the garden plant it deep again (like a tomato) so that you have several inches of stem under ground to produce tubers. Under poor to average conditions (bad soil, lots of potato beetles) I can get a half dozen egg sized tubers for next year's seed. The pros can get a decent harvest (similar to starting with a seed tuber) from a TPS plant the first year under good conditions.

If you do not plant the seedling out, and leave it in the cup it will produce minitubers, especially if you let it dry down/stress it after it gets some size on it. You can also plant several/ many TPS plants in a deep flat with spacing of a couple of inches. This will get you a lot of minitubers for next years planting. [This is the way the farmers are trying it to get away from needing to relie on a seed potato farms]. The minitubers need several (about 3) months of dormancy before they will sprout again so you can start the TPS in the winter for minitubers to start the summer crop or you can replant the summer mini tubers in the fall to get a second set of minitubers for spring.

Here are some pictures of minitubers that developed in cups of the runty extra seedlings I did not plant out last year. I left the plants/cups on the patio to die of neglect and when I went to toss them in late June they had minitubers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51251503@N03/sets/72157624247587877/

Note the relative size of the blue tuber on the runty plant. That would be like a watermelon-sized tater on a full sized plant.

Thanks spiced, I have several deep wooden flats so I think I will go that route, and follow your instructions as to adding more soil as they grow. They will be easier for me to look after this way. So far from the Suytu Vilquina it looks like 75 or so have germinated, 10 from the Landraces and 10 from Desire in Red.

Annette

I highly reccommend joining the Seed Savers' Exchange. One of the best selections of potatoes I've seen yet is in their yearbook.