Features
Sexy Spuds
Widely grown throughout the British Isles, at the pivot of most garden rotations, the potato needs very little introduction in a country where it has played such an important role in our history. For the market grower potatoes are always in demand, and despite the fact that conventional potatoes are sold very cheaply in supermarkets, most organic growers will still grow a crop.
Conventional growers are going out of business because of the pressure put on them by the multiples to produce potatoes ever more cheaply. Growers complain that they are barely covering their costs at present. That aside, demand for organic potatoes is still good and well grown, they will command a premium. To be profitable for the small scale grower however, potatoes must be well grown and of good quality to compete with conventional crops which are of generally good quality.
Despite the fact that potatoes will produce a crop on nearly all soil types, their production is not to be taken lightly. Grown on a small scale, there is a lot of work and expense involved and they are prone to a lot of problems both above and below ground.
Disappointed with the previous year’s crop, we decided to make a special effort to bring something new to our customers this season. With that in mind, we grew six different varieties and I will give a brief account of how they were grown and how each variety performed.
The method used was to plant the tubers on the flat to be earthed up at a later stage with a two wheeled tractor fitted with a ridger. To facilitate this, outdoor spacing was 12 inches by 30 inches roughly. The early tunnel crop was spaced at 12 inches by 15 inches and earthed up using a wheel hoe fitted with its own ridger. Ground preparation involved the spreading of well-rotted farmyard manure – approximately a barrow load to ten square metres and a generous sprinkling of dry seaweed dust – roughly one kilogram to ten square metres. The manure was rotovated in. The seaweed dust was to provide extra potash and trace elements which potatoes like. We aimed to get a deeply worked friable seed bed to sow into as this produces the best crop.
Once the plants were a few inches above ground they were earthed up in one pass as it is not possible to get between them a second time. If this is well timed before weeds get too strong it should result in a good weed kill and the crop becoming established ahead of any significant weed growth. Maintenance after this involved spraying nonresistant varieties with copper sulphate for potato blight and also foliar feeding with liquid seaweed extract to supply added nutrients and natural growth promoters. If growing to organic standards a maximum of six kilograms of copper per hectare per year is permitted. Potatoes were later harvested by hand as required.
The varieties grown were first earlies Sharpes Express and Orla, second early Toluca and maincrop Salad Blue, Highland Red and Sarpo Mira.
Sharpes Express
This was grown in a polytunnel for the earliest harvest. The seed was chitted in trays and planted in early February. This is a traditional variety, introduced by a man called Charles Sharpe of Sleaford, Linconshire, and though not the earliest, the white/yellow long oval tubers were of good quality and nice and floury as they matured. They were well received by customers. Sharpes are said to have good scab resistance and medium blight resistance.
Orla
This is a relatively new variety which up to this year I had some objections to but I have now changed my mind. I felt it lacked flavour but if left to mature a bit, eating quality changes dramatically and our customers were equally impressed. The beauty of this variety is its strong growth and the excellent crop it produces even when other varieties struggle. With good disease resistance for an early, it produces oval shaped tubers with smooth cream coloured skin and it is well worth growing.
Toluca
This is a new blight resistant variety bred in the Toluca Valley in Mexico said to require good fertile soil and careful handling at harvest. It produced a heavy crop of large pale yellow tubers of good flavour and quality. The one drawback was the amount of slug damage which wasn’t present in the variety next to it. This resulted in a lot of waste.
Highland Red and Salad Blue
Two novelty varieties which I had been after for a long time. Blue or red mash or chips seemed a definite winner; however, I think people showed colour prejudice when it came to their potatoes. Interest wasn’t quite what I expected it to be. One major problem with these two varieties is their lack of resistance to both foliar and tuber blight. Despite being sprayed three times, by early July the haulms had gone. The yield was good especially with Salad Blue which was the better of the two. The flavour was different but the strong blue colour on the plate took a little getting used to. The seed was organically grown in Scotland so if you are feeling adventurous or can find a novelty market, they are certainly different.
Sarpo Mira
This is probably the best all round main crop potato for the organic grower. Bred on a farm in Hungary, it boasts super blight resistance at the moment, both foliar and tuber. It is also strong against virus and scab – an oval red-skinned floury tuber of good eating quality. Customer feedback was very positive, and despite all the slug damage on Toluca which was growing alongside, there was little damage on the Sarpo. Definitely the best all round maincrop at the moment requiring no spraying apart from a beneficial seaweed feeds.
Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of
General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area...
Im growing seed potatoes in the small bags. what do i use. i have some nice compost and i will have seaweed to sprinkle on. I getting sarpo mira seed potatoes to sow.
all good wishes
Tess