Today I examined the seed potato that we got for the trial. 7 varieties. Many were starting to decay. No doubt proper potato storage would involve a temperature or humidity controlled environment, but we don’t have such a thing, so a few were lost. Nearly all were at an advanced staged of growing eyes, many also had roots.
I planted them in one of our typical well-drained raised garden beds, 3 x 21 feet, with enough room for 38 plants. All our beds are similar in regards to soil makeup: the base is Hamakua clay soil, highly improved with organic matter over the years (mostly compost), and a few percent biochar. These beds have grown a long series of crop rotations, including brassicas and alliums and legumes, but almost never other solanaceous crops. The ground was damp due to the recent hurricane dropping around 4 inches of rain yesterday. I made little holes and set in the potatoes, then covered.
Total planting was 14 yukon gold, 3 dark red norland, 3 kennebec, 12 red gold, 1 kattahdin, 2 laratte, 3 papa cacho. We’ll see how they do!
Besides variety, one variable I added to this test is that of the 14 Yukon Gold, 8 of them got fertilizer (organic biocrumbles 6-6-5) in their planting holes. I have never used fertilizer with potatoes before, but perhaps we’ll see a difference in these 8 vs. the other 6. Then again, if my theory is correct regarding dieback as the single largest factor in yield, perhaps it won’t make much difference. As noted in the last post, from what info I could find, none of these varieties are strongly resistant to the soil fungal issues which appear to be the limit here. For example, this trial has Yukon Gold, instead of the Yukon Gem which has much better blight resistance.