TPS potatoes is it possible

[AKgardener]

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

[brownrexx]

What is TPS?

[rxkeith]

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

[Rockoe10]

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.

[wykvlvr]

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/

[cultivariable]

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/

[AKgardener]

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

[Shule]

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).

[svalli]

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

[bower]

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...

[rxkeith]

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

[rxkeith]

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

[VeggieGal]

I grew Clancy seed from Botanical Interests last year. A few seeds were started inside when I started pepper seeds. Not all germinated and not all survived The potato seedlings were smaller, thinner, and much more fragile than tomato or pepper seedlings. I planted two of them in a large pot when the weather was warm and frost was no longer likely. They grew slowly at first, but then bulked up and looked like " normal" tuber grown plants. One plant was larger and flowered profusely for several weeks. Blooms were a beautiful pink/purple. (Depended on the lighting) I saved tubers from that plant and plan to grow them this year for the flowers as well as the tubers. I should get them chitting while I'm thinking of it. The other plant never flowered. I thought these were early season reds, but my two plants grew all season and were still a bit green when frost was predicted. I don't know if I am wrong on the early season or if they suffered from my neglect. I harvested carefully to keep the two plants' tubers separate. The pretty flowered one had lots of small to medium sized potatoes. The other had only a few small ones. All had red skin. I'll look at my notes or possible photos and see if I can add more details on size and number. I did not give them optimal care and usually get better results when growing my usual varieties in the ground. So yields might be better with proper care. It was very interesting for me to grow these from seed. I like to have an experiment or two each season and this was a good one. With all the flowers, I expected some fruits but did not see any.

My understanding is that high solanine levels that some worry about in unknown potato varieties cause digestive problems and give potatoes a bad taste. A person would likely know something was not right and would not want to eat much and would not get sick. Mine tasted fine. Clancy did receive an All American Selection award a few years back. The AAS and Botanical Interest endorsements make me completely confident in eating the potatoes.

[VeggieGal]

I took out the tubers I saved from the Clancy plant that had lots of flowers. Two tubers are large enough that I will cut them in half for planting. Two others are egg sized and two are golf ball sized. Definitely a low yield compared to my in-ground tuber grown plants. They have small sprouts so I better get them into the light to chit properly.
Photos from last fall show 6 tubers from this plant and only 3 from the other plant. I ate those last fall

[rxkeith]

planted some of my now several years old seed today. i have no idea how long
potato seeds stay good for. these seeds are 6 to 8 years old. seeded several per
cell.


keith

[wykvlvr]

For those still interested in TPS the group Going To Seed has an offering of free TPS to folks who are interested in growing locally adapted plants. The seed offering is a wide mix of seeds so that at least something should like your growing conditions. Their forums also have good information and experiences with growing out their seed. https://goingtoseed.org
For those interested they do have a wide range of seeds that they offer but many are already sold out this year. TPS is not sold out.