I just saw this post and happy to find it did anyone start there potatoes from TPS? I just learned about it and ordered a bunch of different varieties from Russia. Not shure how to start them or when and is it worth it any advice would be great thanks

What is TPS?

TPS is true potato seeds. growing potatoes from seed instead of tubers.

i have been doing it for a couple years. the seed i got was from a local seed exchange.
so far they have been mostly purple type potatoes, a few white type potatoes, and an obvious
cross of a purple with a white potato.

i plant a few seeds in those six cell plastic sets. once the plants get bigger, i transfer them to a large pot or cup.
sow seeds about the same time you would start tomatoes.
rather than separate them which is a pain because the seedlings are rather fragile, i transplant the clump as a unit
into the garden. they will grow through out the season, and will eventually produce tubers, some of good size. mostly
you will get a lot of smaller tubers. select the best of those for planting next year, and you will get full sized tubers the
following year. thats how i do it. i'm sure there are other ways.

tom wagner was doing some interesting potato hybridizing, creating new varieties. at one time he had seeds for sale.
i don't know if he is still selling them or not. i wouldn't mind trying some of his potato creations if i could.

keith

Just as a word of caution, potatoe plants have toxins in them, and when growing potatoes from true seeds, the crosses that result could potentially have higher levels of toxins. Be careful.

I actually got a packet of seeds for Clancy a white tuber, which I got from Botanical Interests. This variety is being offered by other seed companies. Cultivariable has a review of this variety, a growing guide for TPS and some other varieties for sale. They can be a highly valuable resource. This is their page on TP S https://www.cultivariable.com/catalog/p ... ato-seeds/

There is a risk with ordering those Ukrainian TPS varieties if you are in the USA. Several of us in the TPS community have been burned by them over the years.

https://www.cultivariable.com/americans ... seeds-tps/

Wow that’s a lot of info and good advice think I’ll just hold off on them for a bit and really learn about thanks everyone for making a comment it’s much appreciated

I grew some a number of years ago. They didn't survive the winter, in a large container (I didn't harvest them, since they weren't very mature).

Over ten years ago I got TPS from Tom Wagner and ContainerTed. I grew potatoes from both of those and had some interesting purple and red varieties growing for many seasons. Unfortunately then came a really bad blight year and I could not save any tubers for seed potatoes and I lost those varieties. Most promising one was large oval red skinned potato with red flesh.

Sari

TPS is so interesting and I would certainly do it if I didn't have such a problem with producing good tubers for seed. Just buying nice varieties and hoping to save tubers for next year has been a bust.
Then you add, make room under the lights for early starts, and the 'no score' flag starts clunking towards zero...

waking this thread up.

the last of the spuds are dug, and in the house. a mix of varieties that i either missed or were really late plants.
the last to die from frost is one that started as seeds from a local swap. there is actually more than one variety.
i have a light purple skin that is really flat. they look like they could be paving stones or rock skippers on the surface
of the water. there are some darker purples, another light purple that looks like it could have crossed with a russet
from the shape of it. then there is a medium purple one that is irregularly shaped, not gonna win any beauty contests.
they look like what started out as a oval lump of play dough that some kid randomly squeezed. there are depressions,
bumps, knobs, and points on some of them. we will cook them, and eat them, and tell ya how they taste.
it does take a couple years to get full size potatoes although some of the purples got pretty big the first year i grew them.



keith

well, the taters cooked up well, and were eaten. the lumpy potato was dark purple thru, and thru.
only problem with the two big ones was some brown rot or whatever you call it in the middle.
the light purple skinned rock skippers had very light purple flesh. they tasted like potatoes.
they made a striking color contrast when served with hubbard squash, corn, and or a green veggie.

i would say starting potatoes from seed is definitely worth trying.
they are like a box of chocolates. you never know what you're going to get.


keith