10 March 2025
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Size matters when you’re choosing your seed potatoes
What ’s a major departure between an early and tardy Solanum tuberosum other than the latter ’s long fourth dimension to get to harvest ? Size !
We grow former sorts for rapid outcome with gobs of smallish new potato , we grow recent sorts mostly wanting more or less large Tuber for reposition . If we save our own ‘ exercise set ’ , the seed potatoes , we call for to be much more particular with late ( as well as mid - season and second earlies ) than early sorts .
The aim of earlies is a speedy crop of many smallish new white potato vine , so saving next yr ’s set of egg - sized tubers from any good for you plants should work just all right . But if we save like egg - sized specimens from tardy varieties we must be deliberate not to take them from those plant life producing many or only small tubers overall . If we do so then the next year we will be uprise a much high portion of plant producing mostly small potatoes , and the year after that , nearly all will be even smaller still .
This same mistake occurs if we foolishly blue-ribbon as sets lowly tubers from those left in the bottom of a sack . I repeat , without especially thrifty extract we are very probable to produce harvest of mostly small , dissatisfactory spuds . To nullify this , only ever keep sets from goodish plants produce predominantly large tubers . And , this is very tough advice to follow , as it means setting aside the larger , tastier - looking potatoes for next year , and bring the small specimen to the kitchen ( inconvenient though it often is with the peeling and cookery of the smaller ones ) .
size of it matters with principal crop source potato pick
If you come my advice and plump for the larger spuds to save , this also imply you wo n’t ask quite so many put aside for the following year , at they can be space a piddling further apart when plant out . To economise , ‘ old boys ’ would bring down them in one-half to make two sets for planting , and though this risks rotting it does duplicate their figure . ( I trend my big in half then coating cut Earth’s surface in wood ash just before planting . ) Do save any larger green murphy for saving also , they are inedible but this matter not when using them as germ next year .
Dry potatoes before safely storing
( Though exposure to light does intend they could also have pick up blight spores but that ’s a arguable point . )
Therefore , as you harvest your valued harvest , lift each plant individually so you could take good sets from those producing a nice crop of solid - sized tubers . Even those with slug hole can be redeem ( after rehoming the slugs first of course ) .
Safe storage
Potatoes for foresightful storage should be dried in the airwave for a brace of hours to firm their peel then packed into strong paper bags or box ( not plastic ) and observe somewhere cool and dark . The spuds you ’re saving for sets should be dried a tad longer then treated the same , or ideally set rose end ( lot of eyes/ bud ) up in egg tray and put away somewhere cool and sinister till institute out to ‘ chit ’ , or take up into growth from previous winter .
