Author Topic: Tatties (Read 4526 times)

johnmac · « **on:** January 27, 2012, 06:32:06 pm »

Greetings all!

Last year was a tattle disaster for me! I lost about 90% of my four tatties varieties to the dreaded blight. I get free compost from my local recycling centre and was considering planting this years tatties in tubs (of which I have plenty!) or these Tattie grow bags I've seen other folks using??? Option three is plant a 'blight resistant' variety and hope for the best?!?

What ya reckon? Are blight resistant tatties full proof? My potatoes literally rotted in the ground last year so I'm sure there'll be plenty of 'blight' in the soil waiting to attack again!

deepinthewoods · « **Reply #1 on:** January 27, 2012, 07:02:53 pm »

im biased. ive grown sarpo mira and axona for the lsat 2 yrs and whilst their not the tastiest they DO resist blight, i grew them amongst other non resistant types and the others died whilst the sarpo thrived. i got an excellent crop from them iirc about 15/20kg /m2 in the ground not deep bed.
this year im growing international kidney as first earlies but sarpo as mains.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #2 on:** January 27, 2012, 11:24:14 pm »

As well as the sarpos, which don't taste good and tend to grow huge and split inside, other varieties such as Cara and Lady Balfour are blight resistant.

None of the blight resistant varieties are fool proof because new strains of blight are always emerging, and these varieties may be susceptible to them.

Nor is growing them in pots or under cover foolproof - blight spores will be blown in on the breeze.

Earlies are less likely to be attacked by blight before you get a crop than maincrops.

Last year was not a blight year for us, so probably this year will be doubly bad

deepinthewoods · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2012, 02:02:16 pm »

fleecewife, when was the last time you tried sarpos? mine have all been ok!

Fleecewife · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2012, 03:32:27 pm »

I grow some every year

The original two (Mira and Axona I think) I felt were very 'agricultural' in taste ie coarse and didn't taste very potato-ey. They grew huge but when I cut them open they would have a big hollow inside, with some rot around it.
I grow some always just in case the other varieties get bad blight. There are a couple of new Sarpos, one of which I think I ordered for this year, in the hopw that they are better.

Muc · « **Reply #5 on:** February 09, 2012, 12:21:27 pm »

This year's must-have, blight-resistant variety here in Ireland West is Orla. I managed to get some so it's wait and see.

Lesley Silvester · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2012, 12:33:06 am »

Quote from: johnmac on January 27, 2012, 06:32:06 pm

Greetings all!

Last year was a tattle disaster for me! I lost about 90% of my four tatties varieties to the dreaded blight. I get free compost from my local recycling centre and was considering planting this years tatties in tubs (of which I have plenty!) or these Tattie grow bags I've seen other folks using??? Option three is plant a 'blight resistant' variety and hope for the best?!?

What ya reckon? Are blight resistant tatties full proof? My potatoes literally rotted in the ground last year so I'm sure there'll be plenty of 'blight' in the soil waiting to attack again!

I've grown potatoes in tubs and bags and still lost them to blight.

Muc · « **Reply #7 on:** February 10, 2012, 09:22:48 am »

I grow earlies in the polytunnel - blight free.

oink · « **Reply #8 on:** February 10, 2012, 10:48:00 am »

I'm not sure about this but I'd guess that the 10% of potatoes that survived would be perfectly suited to you environment and the threats in your soil. Probably worth an experimental planting of some of them.

VSS · « **Reply #9 on:** February 10, 2012, 03:25:03 pm »

Potatoes grown under cover will not get blight.

I only grow earlies and second earlies so I can get everything harvested before the blight comes along.

hughesy · « **Reply #10 on:** February 11, 2012, 12:28:58 pm »

We tried some sarpo last year and when the blight came they were untouched.However a few weeks later they got it too. Got to agree they were,t very nice spuds to eat. Cutting all the foliage off and leaving the crop in the ground meant we still got a reasonable crop off the others without the tubers being blighted. We too are planting earlies in the polytunnel this time.