I have to share this terrific photo, sent to me by Laura Krouse from Abbe Hills Farm in Iowa. What a great way of displaying the harvest and showing the varietal differences! Thanks to Laura and her workers! They grew 18 varieties of potatoes in the trial – 6 reds, 2 russets, 6 whites and 5 yellows.

 

Laura has distributed potatoes to her CSA members, who are giving her feedback on taste. It’s been really fun to see all their comments. I was going to share the comments, but… I don’t want to bias any of you! So I will be sharing comments later after more people have had a chance to taste test. I will say that it’s great to see families getting their kids in on this – one 12 year old taste tester gave one of the yellow varieties a “10 out of ten” and his mom said they were “VERY yummy”. That’s great to hear!

If you’re getting close to potato harvest, here are a few things to bear in mind:

Potatoes store best if they are dug 2-3 weeks after the vines die down completely – this allows the skins to set. If they are dug sooner, the skins may slip off to some extent, and it’s best to eat or market those promptly.

Please harvest all the variety trial potatoes at the same time, so that we can make fair comparisons. It’s fine if they are harvested a few days apart.

I would like to know the total yield for the different varieties, and also the marketable (or usable) yield. So, please weigh the harvested potatoes – a bathroom scale works well for this. If some of the potatoes are unmarketable or unusable, please remove (or ‘cull’) those, and re-weigh the remaining potatoes. If possible, make a note of the cause of culling.

If you need a new record sheet for recording yields, let me know and I will send one to you.

If you have any questions about harvesting your potato variety trial, please get in touch – I am always happy to help where I can. Thank you!

Ruth

 

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