Producing your own seed spuds from mini tubers, cuttings, etc.

Like so many others who grow 'giant' spuds using Kondor potatoes, I had to resort to saving my own potatoes for re-planting the following year as all UK seed potato suppliers ceased suppling them after 2017.

So in 2018 and 2019 I've been planting saved tubers, but Kondor are extremely vunerable to Scab and nearly every every tuber becomes badly infected. Even the world record holder is having this problem. When I planted this year I tried sterilizing some rooted chits, but wont know if that's been successful for a couple of months.

Late last year I found a Scottish seed potato producer who were listed for Kondor production on a website that has details of every variety being grown for commercial seed potatoes in the UK. So I contacted them and was informed they had some Kondor minitubers on order and would have some spare.

Minitubers are small tubers, about the size of a Bantam's egg, produced from a potato stem cutting to avoid deseases. I had to chase them a bit, but managed to complete a small online order whilst on holiday in Northumberland towards the end of May, and they were waiting for me on my return.

As they didn't have a single sprout on them, I assumed they must have been kept in controlled storage conditions, and they took longer than normal seed spuds to break their dormancy. I'm growing them tucked away in a greenhouse well away from blight.

These should provide some scab free seed spuds for next year, some of which will be grown for competition heavy potatoes, others for another crop of seed spuds. The competition potatoes have all shoots bar one removed and those removed can be potted up for additional plants.

Fingers crossed …

 

For example, from one recently dug up

 

Have you tried growing your own from stem cuttings?

 

I was going to try that before the opportunity to purchase minitubers arose.

Will probably still try it next year, starting tubers early under lights.

 

I tried it a long time ago, heard how you could get pretty much disease free tubers from cuttings.

I only grew one, it was an experiment

Had one medium sized tuber in a pot at the end of the season, probably ideal for planting the following year.
Think I remember eating it.

 

That's all you'll get, and all you'll need to plant and produce seed potatoes for the following year.

 

@pete What compost mix did you use? (I've read a sandy mix is supposed to be best) Did you cover with a poly bag?

 

Probably just MP with a bit of sharp sand for rooting.
Probably put a cut down lemonade bottle over it.
Very similar to rooting tomato cuttings.

 

These haven't been growing very vigorously, but to be expected as they didn't have any tuber attached to give them a head start. I had a quick furtle in one of the 12L pots I planted them in, and found small tubers (so more than a single mini tuber from a stem cutting) that didn't show any sign of scab. So quickly covered them back up and will leave as long as possible before harvesting.

 

I've emptied out 2 of the pots with Kondor mini-tubers growing in them and the tubers in one had scab, which I don't understand as they're supposed to be disease free, grown in fresh MPC in new pots.

The sterilized rooted chits take from saved scabby Kondor tubers have however produced a decent crop of seed potato sized tubers, 95% of which show no signs of scab.

At least I now have scab free tubers to plant next year (will try sterilizing some before chitting), and I'll also take stem cuttings and plant sterilized rooted chits again.

 

The open ground grown scabby tubers



Planted in 2 seed trays on 14th March and now producing shoots for cuttings when big enough

 

How do you sterilize them @Scrungee

 

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/302169753 I used them double strength, 1 tablet/litre. Will use same to soak some tubers with suspected minor signs of scab.

 

So this stuff doesn't kill plants?

 

It worked last year and didn't harm the rooted chits I sterilised.