Da potatoes are a’ growin’. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, some of it is even ugly. But they all started to flower, and the flowers aren’t ugly. It also means that about a month from now I will probably be able to harvest the early varieties.
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The indeterminate variety “Agrie” has white flowers, and it is the one that contains most of the “ugly” plants, unfortunately. Some plants have dark green, curled-up leaves, which might be a sign of too much nitrogen. In all probability, I did not spread the fertilizer wide enough in some areas. About 70% of the plants look normal, so it is not a total catastrophe. We will see what comes of it.
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The second indeterminate variety “Dali” has white flowers too, and all plants look healthy.
Both indeterminate varieties could do with some more hilling up, but I do not have the material to do so. Which is unfortunate; a few plants were damaged by strong winds. They are just too tall and frail due to how abnormally quickly they grew. I am not experienced in applying fertilizer, and it seems my soil was more fertile than I thought.
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The very early variety “Bellarosa” has light pink flowers and light green leaves. These are grown in the Ruth Stout method, which is not conducive to over-fertilizing, but it is very good for slugs. Whenever it rains, I collect quite a few of them in this growth. The slug infestation is nowhere near as severe as it was two years ago, but I still suspect the tubers will be damaged by them as well.
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The early variety “Camel” has flowers of an even darker shade of pink. Even the green parts have a reddish tint to them, and the growth is thus distinctly darker than the adjacent “Bellarosa”. They are also smaller and sturdier than all the other varieties. These were damaged by voles or mice, so there are a few bald patches in the growth and a few plants are stunted. However, the rest took off well, and they look healthy.
Overall, potatoes do look promising, albeit not perfect. I will not be satisfied if I get anything less than 300 kg, but if I get more than 200 kg, it will be worth the effort.
This weekend, they all get a second dose of fungicide to prevent blight. These varieties should all be resistant, but it is better to be safe than sorry. I was successful in keeping my potatoes blight-free for years, and I do not want to break the streak.
Love potato flowers. I’ve sometimes grown potatoes from regular store-bought tubers, and some modern cultivars flower while others don’t. You might see flower buds aborting at the tip of a determinate shoot while it ceases growth.
These days, I usually only grow a couple tubers of ‘Annabelle’ at my glasshouse balcony. It’s an early cultivar, and my favorite for baby/summer potatoes. I just harvested (maybe 1.5 kg) and began eating them, because this is the Midsummer weekend. The special holiday when Finnish people make a big deal out of baby potatoes. I want to grow my own, because I don’t really like any of the super early cultivars that are usually available in stores by Midsummer. Also, it’s difficult to get freshly harvested high quality stuff unless you can harvest your own.
Happy June solstice, everyone, whether it’s summer or winter!