Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Trying to find a gem in the genes of TPS

The potato plants all grew in a big box together. Initially my intention was to separate each plant and observe their growth habit but as gardening season caught up with me I decided to leave them all in one box. 

Clearly 4 different potatoes segregates were growing from this TPS seed. They were easy to separate after the harvest. But I noticed that the plants have different maturity dates. Some died first some others a longer growing season. More notes to take for next year. 

Also, none of them flowered and that show signs of being not fertile. Not a good characteristic if I want a reliable potato producer of TPS. 


The harvest was rather disappointing.  As the tiny tubers were already showing, 2 dark skin blue, one white and one pinkish. But the yield was too little.

Another....
    undesirable....
        characteristic! 


Nevertheless it is exciting to create a new potato variety. The pinkish skin was pretty also but.....What is the most important factor for me? Flavor!

Are any of this 4 potatoes unique? 
Are they worth growing next year? 

I cut into one potato from each group to see the flesh color finally. 
One whole year of wait was killing me!!!  


The first blue was blue and white inside.....Not surprising....
The white one was just boring to look at......
The pinkish one was pale yellow inside. Not too exciting.....
The second blue was concentric white and blue...A bit more interesting.....  
Anyway flavor is what is important after all!
The best way to test for flavor is to cook them in different ways. I like to boil the potato and taste just as is. Is the potato floury or waxy? Is it good for boiling or is it better to roast? 


 The white and yellow inside were both good flavor but nothing out of ordinary. The two blues were similar taste also nothing out of the ordinary.

Should I try a different TPS seed next time? Maybe this TPS was not out of the ordinary because it was self-pollinated.  Should I go into TPS discovery next year? What if someday, I stumble across an amazing potato?  All these thoughts make me wonder what if someday..... Would I witness the birth of a remarkable potato?!!


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