Uploaded November 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
IIt has been hard to wait until the skins set on this row of SG cross seedlings, because the monster plant that gave over 8 pounds of potato berries is one of them. With a plant of such large size, it was likely to have a huge yield of potatoes underneath it. You won't be dissapointed watching this potato reveal of true potato seed seedlings.
It is not unusual for seedling potato plants to have large variations in characteristics from each other, but it is unusual for one plant to so totally over-dominate the others in its same group that several of them essentially were shaded out and killled! That's what happened with this row of seedlings, there should have been 10 or 11 seedlings to dig, but in the end only three were worth collecting individually, and only about 7 produced a noticeable yield of tubers. So the variability in the different seedlings of this cross was incredible.
One change I have decided to make when I am evaluating my true potato seed plants is that instead of cutting up a smaller tuber to evaluate the seedling for flesh color and other characters, I will now be cutting up the LARGEST tuber the seedling produced. This is to check for the presence of hollow heart. Hollow heart is a physiological defect of potatoes that is caused primarily by uneven growth of the tuber. If growing conditions change, usually moisture conditions, the tuber can grow so quickly that it forms voids inside the tuber. These lead to rotting and poor storage ability of the tuber, and potatoes seem to be prone to hollow heart on my soil, so I am very focussed on selecting away from seedlings that have severe hollow heart in their seedling year.
I am also not concerned with the soil attached to the potatoes when the TPS seedlings are weighed for evaluating yield. Since the soil is more or less similar with all the seedlings, it doesn't truly impact the basic evaluation. The weight of the soil on the potatoes isn't enough to prevent the scale from giving me a good general idea of the total yield each potato has produced. Washing the potatoes actually negatively impacts their storage potential, so I don't want to compromise any that I decide to keep for planting next season.
IIt has been hard to wait until the skins set on this row of SG cross seedlings, because the monster plant that gave over 8 pounds of potato berries is one of them. With a plant of such large size, it was likely to have a huge yield of potatoes underneath it. You won't be dissapointed watching this potato reveal of true potato seed seedlings.
It is not unusual for seedling potato plants to have large variations in characteristics from each other, but it is unusual for one plant to so totally over-dominate the others in its same group that several of them essentially were shaded out and killled! That's what happened with this row of seedlings, there should have been 10 or 11 seedlings to dig, but in the end only three were worth collecting individually, and only about 7 produced a noticeable yield of tubers. So the variability in the different seedlings of this cross was incredible.
One change I have decided to make when I am evaluating my true potato seed plants is that instead of cutting up a smaller tuber to evaluate the seedling for flesh color and other characters, I will now be cutting up the LARGEST tuber the seedling produced. This is to check for the presence of hollow heart. Hollow heart is a physiological defect of potatoes that is caused primarily by uneven growth of the tuber. If growing conditions change, usually moisture conditions, the tuber can grow so quickly that it forms voids inside the tuber. These lead to rotting and poor storage ability of the tuber, and potatoes seem to be prone to hollow heart on my soil, so I am very focussed on selecting away from seedlings that have severe hollow heart in their seedling year.
I am also not concerned with the soil attached to the potatoes when the TPS seedlings are weighed for evaluating yield. Since the soil is more or less similar with all the seedlings, it doesn't truly impact the basic evaluation. The weight of the soil on the potatoes isn't enough to prevent the scale from giving me a good general idea of the total yield each potato has produced. Washing the potatoes actually negatively impacts their storage potential, so I don't want to compromise any that I decide to keep for planting next season.
