Potatoes! in the basement ت

9 years ago

Do you have favorite varieties?

I do it wrong. Wrong if I want lots of potatoes in the basement. Early varieties are awfully nice for Creamed Peas & New Potatoes but they tend to not be the best for winter storage.

It's okay. I haven't grown a potato for fall harvest since the 1970's. Besides, the basement room is too warm early and probably too dry for good storage.

Red LaSoda first attracted my attention in 2011 but I didn't grow it until this year. Universities in the Southeast say it's most common in the Southeast. Universities in the Southwest say it's most common in the Southwest! Some say it grows well in both hot and cool conditions. Some say it's for "fresh use." Others say it's common in the supermarkets! So, doesn't that mean that it's okay in storage?

The information at the garden center said it is "likely to be the red potatoes you are buying at the store." This seemed like news to me since I thought it was Red Pontiac that was in the stores. So, I did a little reading about both but I no longer know where I got the information that both of those varieties were hybridized from Triumph and Katahdin. Pontiac and LaSoda must closely related genetically.

The first time I heard the name was from a potato farmer just a few miles south of the Canadian border. He grows it a thousand miles from the Southwest and thousands of miles from the Southeast! It did real good for me but the heat was really something, during the potato growing season.

The Purple Viking had been the most productive potato I've grown but not this year, compared to those Red LaSoda. I found the Viking seed potatoes about 2 weeks after the other spuds were planted and that seed was sprouted pretty badly. They also went in ground with quite a lot of shade. The Purple Viking are all used up now.

There are other favorites, Peter Wilcox is real nice. And, it's pretty in purple and gold. But, it's not available locally. Sangre is another good red.

Do you have ideas for the 2017 potato patch and for the basement next winter??

Steve

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Comments (5)

ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
9 years ago
Sangre is my go to potato. Does real well here in the West I think, at least it does for me. Pontiac is more of a North East potato, accustomed to more moisture I believe.

I grew Butte russets last year that also did very well, I would probably grow them again.

With just a small home garden I can't grow enough to worry about storage, but Sangre seems to last a fair while.
digit (ID/WA, border)
Original Author
9 years ago
Do any of the RMGardeners buy from Potato Garden? Ronniger's was up here but either sold out or moved to CO. By the time I found out that they were nearby, they were gone!

I think every year that I might drive to Ellensburg and buy stuff at Irish Eyes.

Seed potatoes are so expensive to have shipped. You go through the catalogs, get your heart set on some things, list them in your cart, and learn shipping costs AFTER clicking checkout ..!

Steve
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treebarb Z5 Denver
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I do, digit. I think you or someone else here had mentioned them, maybe 5 years ago. I checked out their website and ended up ordering 5 kinds of garlic that fall and some potatoes the following spring. I'm still planting descendants of that first batch of garlic. I ordered 5 different garlic varieties last fall. It's such an easy, delicious plant!

I think I've ordered potatoes from them 3 times and been happy with the orders. I've tried All Blue, Yukon Gold, Kennebec, La Ratte, Austrian Crescent and Kipfel. I liked all of them, but wasn't thinking in terms of storage. Shipping is expensive, though. The last invoice I found was from 2013, shipping on 4 lbs of seed potatoes was $15.37. Yikes! That's a lot for a 300 mile trip. But, still cheaper than gas.
digit (ID/WA, border)
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Ha! Thanks, Barb! I'm laughing with you not about you ...

2014, I ordered 4# of potatoes and a packet of squash seed from Irish Eyes, less than 200 miles away. Shipping = $15.31/UPS.

Ha!

Steve

they sell big bags of organic fertilizer. i could almost justify the drive ...
ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
9 years ago
I like Potato Garden, although I think shipping from ANYWHERE is astronomical. Just look at the shipping costs from seed companies....

But I like to support local business, and since Im going to be spending my last red cent on shipping anyways, might as well.