Growing potatoes with true potato seeds

In April of 2009 I planted 3 or 4 blue potatoes, which I called Peruvian Purple potatoes but maybe it was another variety called All-Blue, Russian Blue, Congo or Blue of Sweeden.

The potato originated in the Andean region between Peru, Chile and Bolivia around Lake Titicaca. It was introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century and from there spread to the world.

In the Andean region there are red potatoes, blue, lilac or multicolored inside and outside, blue with white peel, white with blue peel, etc. The farmers of the birthplace of potato have varieties that are unique in the world and still save and plant them for generations. The most delicious potatoes I ever tasted were while vacationing in Peru!

Today potatoes are grown and consumed in more countries than any other crop. It is the fourth most important; the third is corn, second is rice and the most important is wheat.

In late June of 2009 my potatoes plants surprised me with beautiful lilac flowers and then I noticed a small berry.

I did not even know about the existence of sexual seed or botanical seeds of potatoes; true potato seeds or TPS.

Each berry contains hundreds of seeds! The fruit is toxic due to the high content of alkaloid solanine; here is a picture of a tetraploid type seed:

These seeds contain the genetic material for new varieties to discover.

These fruits are of great importance and an opportunity for genetic improvement and development of new varieties. The diversity of this food staple that exists in the potatoes of Peru is due to TPS seeds and open pollination of their plants. Throughout time farmers has achieved the domestication and cultivation of this crop with adaptation to diverse climatic conditions. Farmers have been developing potato varieties with marked differences in the sensitivity of the plant to the duration and intensity of light, water requirements and temperature of their environment.

The importance of this crop’s adaptability to various climates is critical, if we have different varieties and create bio-diversity; this ensures that this food will be available in different parts of the world.

If one sows a tray of 50 TPS seeds, the seedlings which survive will be adapted to the climate, humidity, light and other factors affecting the growth of the potato. Imagine this biodiversity!

Well ...I have sown a seed trial in January, some germinated fast and others are still germinating.

Note that the seedlings on the left have red stems and the right is green. Odds are that the red stem will be different than the green stem seedling. Have I gotten a new variety of potatoes??? We will have to wait and see...