We have just finished our first early potatoes, (Rocket). There were not
very many per plant but very large - up to 1 lb each. Is this a
characteristic of the variety or something about my cultivation ?

Thanks

Paul


--
CTC Right to Ride Rep. for Richmond upon Thames

"Paul Luton" wrote ...
We have just finished our first early potatoes, (Rocket). There were not
very many per plant but very large - up to 1 lb each. Is this a
characteristic of the variety or something about my cultivation ?

My booklet says...

" Rocket.. (1987) Possibly the earliest early around, producing huge crops
of uniform attractive white tubers."

So you probably left them in too long before cropping.

Suggestions for next year....
"Belle de Fontenay" or it's offspring "BF15" (slightly bigger tubers).
"International Kidney" (Jersey Royals but needs seaweed manure to get the
true flavour)
"Duke of York" (famous for flavour, can be floury wel old, also a Red D of
Y)

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Paul Luton" wrote ...
We have just finished our first early potatoes, (Rocket). There were not
very many per plant but very large - up to 1 lb each. Is this a
characteristic of the variety or something about my cultivation ?

My booklet says...

" Rocket.. (1987) Possibly the earliest early around, producing huge crops
of uniform attractive white tubers."

So you probably left them in too long before cropping.

But crop would not have been "huge" in that case.


Suggestions for next year....
"Belle de Fontenay" or it's offspring "BF15" (slightly bigger tubers).
"International Kidney" (Jersey Royals but needs seaweed manure to get the
true flavour)
"Duke of York" (famous for flavour, can be floury wel old, also a Red D of
Y)

Thanks - will look for these.


--
CTC Right to Ride Rep. for Richmond upon Thames

On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:32:34 +0100, Paul Luton wrote:

We have just finished our first early potatoes, (Rocket). There were not
very many per plant but very large - up to 1 lb each. Is this a
characteristic of the variety or something about my cultivation ?

Had some of our Rockets tonight. Very pleased with them. But yours were 1
lb each ? That's massive. Ours are around 4/5 ounces each and 7/8 per
plant.

Also growing Charlotte - very nice.
--
Regards,

Hugh Jampton

In article ,
Paul Luton wrote:
Bob Hobden wrote:

Suggestions for next year....
"Belle de Fontenay" or it's offspring "BF15" (slightly bigger tubers).
"International Kidney" (Jersey Royals but needs seaweed manure to get the
true flavour)
"Duke of York" (famous for flavour, can be floury wel old, also a Red D of
Y)

Basically, I agree with Bob, but here are some comments.

I have never found Jersey Royals to be exciting - yes, they are
better than supermarket whites, but that's a pretty low baseline.
Perhaps none of them were grown with seaweed!

Belle de Fontenay and BF15 are first class small, waxy potatoes,
superb for salad, boiled and roasted in olive oil. They should
never be peeled!

Red Duke of York is also excellent - as Bob says, floury - and
are first class mashed or baked and in other ways. I have never
grown ordinary Duke of York.

Both have the advantage that they grow before the worst of the
blight hits, and before spraing gets too bad. Unfortunately, they
are as sensitive to eelworm as any others, so I had to give up :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick wrote after Paul Luton wrote:
Bob Hobden wrote:

Suggestions for next year....
"Belle de Fontenay" or it's offspring "BF15" (slightly bigger tubers).
"International Kidney" (Jersey Royals but needs seaweed manure to get
the
true flavour)
"Duke of York" (famous for flavour, can be floury wel old, also a Red D
of
Y)

Basically, I agree with Bob, but here are some comments.

I have never found Jersey Royals to be exciting - yes, they are
better than supermarket whites, but that's a pretty low baseline.
Perhaps none of them were grown with seaweed!

Belle de Fontenay and BF15 are first class small, waxy potatoes,
superb for salad, boiled and roasted in olive oil. They should
never be peeled!

Red Duke of York is also excellent - as Bob says, floury - and
are first class mashed or baked and in other ways. I have never
grown ordinary Duke of York.

Both have the advantage that they grow before the worst of the
blight hits, and before spraing gets too bad. Unfortunately, they
are as sensitive to eelworm as any others, so I had to give up :-(


What goes round comes round!
Perhaps you should try "Rocket" then Nick, it's supposed to be partially
resistant to white eelworm and completely resistant to yellow eelworm.
Or "Aminca", resistant to golden eelworm and spraing.

Have to know your eelworm though. :-)

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

"Hugh Jampton" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:32:34 +0100, Paul Luton wrote:

We have just finished our first early potatoes, (Rocket). There were not
very many per plant but very large - up to 1 lb each. Is this a
characteristic of the variety or something about my cultivation ?

Had some of our Rockets tonight. Very pleased with them. But yours were 1
lb each ? That's massive. Ours are around 4/5 ounces each and 7/8 per
plant.

Also growing Charlotte - very nice.
--
Regards,

Hugh Jampton

Our Rocket, grown in buckets as the first first early, arae about 3 - 4
ounces and ten per plant.

We also have Swift in buckets and the rest in the ground.

If you want an early potato with some flavour, try Sharpes Express.

John
(North end of the Wirral)

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

Perhaps you should try "Rocket" then Nick, it's supposed to be partially
resistant to white eelworm and completely resistant to yellow eelworm.
Or "Aminca", resistant to golden eelworm and spraing.

Thanks, but I regard it as merely a high-quality supermarket white;
I don't know Aminca, but wouldn't be more optimistic :-( We can buy
Jersey Royals, Charlotte etc. fairly readily, so there's little point.
The one I really liked was Champion, but it is hopeless with spraing.

Have to know your eelworm though. :-)

No, I don't. I have both :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote:
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

Perhaps you should try "Rocket" then Nick, it's supposed to be
partially resistant to white eelworm and completely resistant to
yellow eelworm. Or "Aminca", resistant to golden eelworm and spraing.

Thanks, but I regard it as merely a high-quality supermarket white;
I don't know Aminca, but wouldn't be more optimistic :-( We can buy
Jersey Royals, Charlotte etc. fairly readily, so there's little point.
The one I really liked was Champion, but it is hopeless with spraing.

What is spraing, please?


Have to know your eelworm though. :-)

No, I don't. I have both :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:08:56 +0100, "John T"
wrote:


Our red skinned Duke of Yorks are a big success.
--


I tried them but they all went mouldy in the ground. The Desiree in the next
plot were perfect.
R.

"Ophelia" wrote

What is spraing, please?

The symptoms are brown arcs (like the rings of a tree) within the potato
that only show when the tuber is cut. Sometimes the arc is woody too. Not
nice if you are looking forward to a baked potato only to find spraing when
you cut into it.
Causes by a virus, usually the Tobacco Rattle Virus, transmitted by
nenatodes in the soil.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Ophelia" wrote

What is spraing, please?

The symptoms are brown arcs (like the rings of a tree) within the
potato that only show when the tuber is cut. Sometimes the arc is
woody too. Not nice if you are looking forward to a baked potato only
to find spraing when you cut into it.
Causes by a virus, usually the Tobacco Rattle Virus, transmitted by
nenatodes in the soil.

Thank you, Bob! I had never heard of that. Good stuff to add to my potato
file.

Martin wrote:
[...snip...]

Our red skinned Duke of Yorks are a big success.

Same here. I'll try my second earlies next week
(Estima).

wrote:
In article ,
Paul Luton wrote:
Bob Hobden wrote:
Suggestions for next year....
"Belle de Fontenay" or it's offspring "BF15" (slightly bigger tubers).
"International Kidney" (Jersey Royals but needs seaweed manure to get the
true flavour)
"Duke of York" (famous for flavour, can be floury wel old, also a Red D of
Y)

Basically, I agree with Bob, but here are some comments.

I have never found Jersey Royals to be exciting - yes, they are
better than supermarket whites, but that's a pretty low baseline.
Perhaps none of them were grown with seaweed!

Belle de Fontenay and BF15 are first class small, waxy potatoes,
superb for salad, boiled and roasted in olive oil. They should
never be peeled!

Red Duke of York is also excellent - as Bob says, floury - and
are first class mashed or baked and in other ways. I have never
grown ordinary Duke of York.


I have Red Duke of York as first earlies -- still lifting them. Approx.
0.85 kg per plant (say six potatoes per plant). I'd guess that is a
relatively poor crop --- maybe planted too close together, maybe needed
watering.

I grew Red DoY as first earlies only because I couldn't get Sharpe's
Express seed. I would not rate them highly for flavour (*) --- but they
are reasonably floury.

(*) Compared to British Queens (my second early) which I'll start
digging next week, or from memory of fifty years ago, ordinary Duke of York.

(This in North West Ireland). In Ireland, at least those of us brought
up on a farm for whom potatoes are more important than life or death, we
would never cook earlies other than by boiling (or steaming). A really
good early is reckoned to be flavoursome enough to be eaten alone, or
perhaps with some butter.

Best regards,

Jon C.
--
Jonathan Campbell www.jgcampbell.com BT48, UK.