Uploaded October 2018 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
A bit of a mixup while filming this potato reveal. In the end of the video you will see me weighing up some seedlings of three different seed lots, Doug Strong's Round Burgundy, Criolla Rosada, and Chaucha Amariila Larga. The first footage I took of digging some Round Burgundy and Chaucha Amarilla Larga was deleted accidentally (by me). So I had to go back and dig some more Round Burgundy and Criolla Rosada to get diploid potato reveal footage. The diploid potato genetics that I have been growing are mostly from a group of South American potatoes that used to be considered a separate species, Solanum phureja. They are now classified together with the rest of domesticated potatoes in Solanum tuberosum, but they have some very special characters that make them interesting, and difficult to work with in a high latitude growing environment.
These potatoes are very often completely without a dormancy mechanism in the tubers, so the tubers will begin sprouting even before the mother plant has died back. It is ideal to harvest them before the mother plant does begin dying back, to catch as many of them as possible before they sprout. I am attempting to select for individuals with more dormancy, but they are definitely a very short season sort of potato, with the peak of flavor and food value for only a month or two after harvest. In Columbia and Peru where this type of potato is grown they are often harvested as needed and replanted immediately, in areas where there is a year round growing season. Diploids of this type go by a variety of names in South America, some of the most common being Papa Amarilla, Criolla Amarilla, Criolla Rosada, and Yema de Huevo. Many of the names reflect the intense flesh and skin colors that they exhibit, and they can be stunningly beautiful. They also can be incredibly knobbly, oddly shaped and/or tiny and difficult to use in the kitchen. The compensation being outstanding texture and flavor, much more intense than anything available from common commercial tetraploid potatoes.
They also often have photoperiod adaptations that limit their ability to form tubers in long day conditions, so some seedlings won't begin tuberizing until AFTER the autumn equinox. This often leaves them almost no time to form anything before the end of the growing season in high latitude locations. I did not have that problem very much this season, but we had an unusually long growing season this fall.
If you want to grow potatoes like this, the best source for them in the US is Cultivariable.com. Bill has TPS for sale from this type of potato, as well as a limited amount of diploid seed potatoes available at certain times of the year. Highly recommended. cultivariable.com/catalog/potato/potatoes-andean
I also highly recommend listening to Cultivariable's Podcast, and I specifically mentioned Doug Strong's interview on the podcast and his system of growing diploids from "pull starts". cultivariable.com/podcast-7-doug-strong-of-windmill-hill-farm
A bit of a mixup while filming this potato reveal. In the end of the video you will see me weighing up some seedlings of three different seed lots, Doug Strong's Round Burgundy, Criolla Rosada, and Chaucha Amariila Larga. The first footage I took of digging some Round Burgundy and Chaucha Amarilla Larga was deleted accidentally (by me). So I had to go back and dig some more Round Burgundy and Criolla Rosada to get diploid potato reveal footage. The diploid potato genetics that I have been growing are mostly from a group of South American potatoes that used to be considered a separate species, Solanum phureja. They are now classified together with the rest of domesticated potatoes in Solanum tuberosum, but they have some very special characters that make them interesting, and difficult to work with in a high latitude growing environment.
These potatoes are very often completely without a dormancy mechanism in the tubers, so the tubers will begin sprouting even before the mother plant has died back. It is ideal to harvest them before the mother plant does begin dying back, to catch as many of them as possible before they sprout. I am attempting to select for individuals with more dormancy, but they are definitely a very short season sort of potato, with the peak of flavor and food value for only a month or two after harvest. In Columbia and Peru where this type of potato is grown they are often harvested as needed and replanted immediately, in areas where there is a year round growing season. Diploids of this type go by a variety of names in South America, some of the most common being Papa Amarilla, Criolla Amarilla, Criolla Rosada, and Yema de Huevo. Many of the names reflect the intense flesh and skin colors that they exhibit, and they can be stunningly beautiful. They also can be incredibly knobbly, oddly shaped and/or tiny and difficult to use in the kitchen. The compensation being outstanding texture and flavor, much more intense than anything available from common commercial tetraploid potatoes.
They also often have photoperiod adaptations that limit their ability to form tubers in long day conditions, so some seedlings won't begin tuberizing until AFTER the autumn equinox. This often leaves them almost no time to form anything before the end of the growing season in high latitude locations. I did not have that problem very much this season, but we had an unusually long growing season this fall.
If you want to grow potatoes like this, the best source for them in the US is Cultivariable.com. Bill has TPS for sale from this type of potato, as well as a limited amount of diploid seed potatoes available at certain times of the year. Highly recommended. cultivariable.com/catalog/potato/potatoes-andean
I also highly recommend listening to Cultivariable's Podcast, and I specifically mentioned Doug Strong's interview on the podcast and his system of growing diploids from "pull starts". cultivariable.com/podcast-7-doug-strong-of-windmill-hill-farm
