I went with an allotment collegue to the HDRA this weekend, where they
were holding their annual potato weekend. Together with talks on how
to grow potatoes, biological control of slugs and pests and diseases,
they also had a large tent with 150+ varieties on sale, by the
individual tuber so one can buy as many or few as needed, and it also
gives room to experiment!

It was fun. I have only grown one lot of spuds (International kidney)
deliberately so far (and a crop of unknown variety volunteers the
first year I had the allotment!) and was bemused as to which ones to
choose to grow.

I found this weekend very helpful - they had lists of what varieties
are resistant to what problem, and a special display by T&M of some
new, blight resistant maincrops from Czechoslovakia which they will
have in the 2005 potato catalogue. (We each bought a couple of the
three varieties there, so we shall see if they are indeed resistant as
what are the chances of another blight-free year?)

There were also a heck of a lot of folk there at the start of the
purchasing - it was more like a scrum! I now have rather a lot of
seed spuds chitting... as I bought a whole 3kg bagful of International
Kidney from a local nursery when I got back from Ryton, as I knew I
was wanting to grow more of those. Also have a guide to seed potato
varieties which is apparently the UK spud bible (Alan Romans Guide).

Meanwhile, I have got Pink Fir Apple, Ratte, Accent, Estima, Red Duke
of York, Mimi and the three trial Sarpo maincrops. Should be fun!

I can recommend next year's event to anyone interested in potatoes,
whether a novice like me or someone with years of experience.
Admission was 3.95 and worth a day out (fortunately mostly inside,
given the weather!)


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

The message
from (jane) contains these words:


Meanwhile, I have got Pink Fir Apple, Ratte, Accent, Estima, Red Duke
of York, Mimi and the three trial Sarpo maincrops. Should be fun!

It is :-) I've grown the first four of those; Estima is an all-time
favourite.

I always think I'll remember which variety is which and which row it's
growing in, but usually have forgotten by the time they start cropping.
It's worth giving each different variety two label stakes, one at each
end of its row.

Janet.

"jane" wrote in message ...
I went with an allotment collegue to the HDRA this weekend, where they
were holding their annual potato weekend. Together with talks on how
to grow potatoes, biological control of slugs and pests and diseases,
they also had a large tent with 150+ varieties on sale, by the
individual tuber so one can buy as many or few as needed, and it also
gives room to experiment!

It was fun. I have only grown one lot of spuds (International kidney)
deliberately so far (and a crop of unknown variety volunteers the
first year I had the allotment!) and was bemused as to which ones to
choose to grow.
((SNIP)).

Meanwhile, I have got Pink Fir Apple, Ratte, Accent, Estima, Red Duke
of York, Mimi and the three trial Sarpo maincrops. Should be fun!

I can recommend next year's event to anyone interested in potatoes,
whether a novice like me or someone with years of experience.
Admission was 3.95 and worth a day out (fortunately mostly inside,
given the weather!)


Unfortunately it's a bit far to go for us but luckily we have a local
offshoot of an independent GC chain of two that does a good selection of
seed spuds ( www.charlton-park.co.uk/ ) they also get in anything you want
I'm told.

Our problem here is not Blight but slugs, they really are dreadful on our
site. Tried Nemaslug last year but decided it was not effective enough to
warrant the heavy cost, we could buy bags of commercially grown Organic
spuds for the year and save on money and effort.
So we are always on the lookout for slug resistant varieties.
This year we have bought...FE:- Concorde: SE:- Kestral: EMc:- Romano:
Mc:- Golden Wonder. The first two have proved themselves to be good doers
here on our Thames silt/clay. Not grown the last two before but Romano is
supposed to be even better at slug avoidance than Kestral, not sure about
that or their keeping/eating qualities but we will see.

I understand NIAB has lots of details on their site regarding resistance to
pests and disease and they have now graded spuds for slug resistance too,
must take a look.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars
371 data units completed.

Had some very nice Red skinned, yellow fleshed salad potatoes rather like
pink fir apple; but better shaped; out in Spain a couple of weeks ago. No
Idea of the variety.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

The message
from (jane) contains these words:


Meanwhile, I have got Pink Fir Apple, Ratte, Accent, Estima, Red Duke
of York, Mimi and the three trial Sarpo maincrops. Should be fun!

It is :-) I've grown the first four of those; Estima is an all-time
favourite.

I always think I'll remember which variety is which and which row it's
growing in, but usually have forgotten by the time they start cropping.
It's worth giving each different variety two label stakes, one at each
end of its row.

Janet.

Had some very nice Red skinned, yellow fleshed salad potatoes rather like
pink fir apple; but better shaped; out in Spain a couple of weeks ago. No
Idea of the variety.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"David wrote in message
Had some very nice Red skinned, yellow fleshed salad potatoes rather like
pink fir apple; but better shaped; out in Spain a couple of weeks ago. No
Idea of the variety.


Just in case you want to try some it was probably Roseval but could be
Rosabell or Franceling, all have red skin and yellow flesh.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars
371 data units completed.

The message
from (jane) contains these words:


Meanwhile, I have got Pink Fir Apple, Ratte, Accent, Estima, Red Duke
of York, Mimi and the three trial Sarpo maincrops. Should be fun!

It is :-) I've grown the first four of those; Estima is an all-time
favourite.

I always think I'll remember which variety is which and which row it's
growing in, but usually have forgotten by the time they start cropping.
It's worth giving each different variety two label stakes, one at each
end of its row.

Janet.

"jane" wrote in message ...
I went with an allotment collegue to the HDRA this weekend, where they
were holding their annual potato weekend. Together with talks on how
to grow potatoes, biological control of slugs and pests and diseases,
they also had a large tent with 150+ varieties on sale, by the
individual tuber so one can buy as many or few as needed, and it also
gives room to experiment!

It was fun. I have only grown one lot of spuds (International kidney)
deliberately so far (and a crop of unknown variety volunteers the
first year I had the allotment!) and was bemused as to which ones to
choose to grow.
((SNIP)).

Meanwhile, I have got Pink Fir Apple, Ratte, Accent, Estima, Red Duke
of York, Mimi and the three trial Sarpo maincrops. Should be fun!

I can recommend next year's event to anyone interested in potatoes,
whether a novice like me or someone with years of experience.
Admission was 3.95 and worth a day out (fortunately mostly inside,
given the weather!)


Unfortunately it's a bit far to go for us but luckily we have a local
offshoot of an independent GC chain of two that does a good selection of
seed spuds ( www.charlton-park.co.uk/ ) they also get in anything you want
I'm told.

Our problem here is not Blight but slugs, they really are dreadful on our
site. Tried Nemaslug last year but decided it was not effective enough to
warrant the heavy cost, we could buy bags of commercially grown Organic
spuds for the year and save on money and effort.
So we are always on the lookout for slug resistant varieties.
This year we have bought...FE:- Concorde: SE:- Kestral: EMc:- Romano:
Mc:- Golden Wonder. The first two have proved themselves to be good doers
here on our Thames silt/clay. Not grown the last two before but Romano is
supposed to be even better at slug avoidance than Kestral, not sure about
that or their keeping/eating qualities but we will see.

I understand NIAB has lots of details on their site regarding resistance to
pests and disease and they have now graded spuds for slug resistance too,
must take a look.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars
371 data units completed.

"David wrote in message
Had some very nice Red skinned, yellow fleshed salad potatoes rather like
pink fir apple; but better shaped; out in Spain a couple of weeks ago. No
Idea of the variety.


Just in case you want to try some it was probably Roseval but could be
Rosabell or Franceling, all have red skin and yellow flesh.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars
371 data units completed.

On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 22:19:27 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

~
~"David wrote in message
~ Had some very nice Red skinned, yellow fleshed salad potatoes rather like
~ pink fir apple; but better shaped; out in Spain a couple of weeks ago. No
~ Idea of the variety.
~
~
~Just in case you want to try some it was probably Roseval but could be
~Rosabell or Franceling, all have red skin and yellow flesh.
~
One of the reasons I bought Mimi is because they are incredibly tiny
red-skinned salad potatoes - the book said they were cherry sized and
though I'd say the seed tubers were between walnut and cherry sized,
they certainly aren't very big!

I am wondering if I ought to grow one of them in a 12" pot inside the
heated conservatory, just to see how fast I can accelerate growth!


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 17:46:11 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

~
~"jane" wrote in message ...
~ I went with an allotment collegue to the HDRA this weekend, where they
~ were holding their annual potato weekend.
more snips
~((SNIP)).
~
~ Meanwhile, I have got Pink Fir Apple, Ratte, Accent, Estima, Red Duke
~ of York, Mimi and the three trial Sarpo maincrops. Should be fun!
~
~ I can recommend next year's event to anyone interested in potatoes,
~ whether a novice like me or someone with years of experience.
~ Admission was 3.95 and worth a day out (fortunately mostly inside,
~ given the weather!)
~
~
~Unfortunately it's a bit far to go for us but luckily we have a local
~offshoot of an independent GC chain of two that does a good selection of
~seed spuds ( www.charlton-park.co.uk/ ) they also get in anything you want
~I'm told.
Sounds like a good place to know about...

~
~Our problem here is not Blight but slugs, they really are dreadful on our
~site. Tried Nemaslug last year but decided it was not effective enough to
~warrant the heavy cost, we could buy bags of commercially grown Organic
~spuds for the year and save on money and effort.
~So we are always on the lookout for slug resistant varieties.

The HDRA poster of recommended varieties had listed as slug resistant
King Edward, Pentland Dell, Red King Edward, Romano.

There was a lecture on Nemaslug, though typically it was more of a
sales talk and the chap who was doing it didn't know the answers to a
lot of basic science questions, like, if the nematodes find slugs to
breed and produce another generation, how come they've all died out
after 6 weeks (the reapplication time) if there are still lots of
slugs in the soil? They did recommend watering already wet ground
with the stuff at the end of March in order to knock down slug levels
for the rest of the season, as it needs to be able to penetrate down a
fair distance to work well.

~This year we have bought...FE:- Concorde: SE:- Kestral: EMc:- Romano:
~Mc:- Golden Wonder. The first two have proved themselves to be good doers
~here on our Thames silt/clay. Not grown the last two before but Romano is
~supposed to be even better at slug avoidance than Kestral, not sure about
~that or their keeping/eating qualities but we will see.

Kestrel is down as having reasonable blackleg resistance and good
eelworm resistance. Golden Wonder is down as scab resistant (which I
could use!). I can email you the full listing if you're interested - I
took a couple of digipics and transcribed the text when I got home...

I'm still trying to type up the pests and diseases talk, though have
done the growing from basics one.

~I understand NIAB has lots of details on their site regarding resistance to
~pests and disease and they have now graded spuds for slug resistance too,
~must take a look.

NIAB?
Ah, crop testing folk.

~
~Use a useful Screen Saver...
~http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
~and find intelligent life amongst the stars
~371 data units completed.
~
I had 7762 last time I looked. Oops!


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 17:46:11 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

~
~"jane" wrote in message ...
~ I went with an allotment collegue to the HDRA this weekend, where they
~ were holding their annual potato weekend.
more snips
~((SNIP)).
~
~ Meanwhile, I have got Pink Fir Apple, Ratte, Accent, Estima, Red Duke
~ of York, Mimi and the three trial Sarpo maincrops. Should be fun!
~
~ I can recommend next year's event to anyone interested in potatoes,
~ whether a novice like me or someone with years of experience.
~ Admission was 3.95 and worth a day out (fortunately mostly inside,
~ given the weather!)
~
~
~Unfortunately it's a bit far to go for us but luckily we have a local
~offshoot of an independent GC chain of two that does a good selection of
~seed spuds ( www.charlton-park.co.uk/ ) they also get in anything you want
~I'm told.
Sounds like a good place to know about...

~
~Our problem here is not Blight but slugs, they really are dreadful on our
~site. Tried Nemaslug last year but decided it was not effective enough to
~warrant the heavy cost, we could buy bags of commercially grown Organic
~spuds for the year and save on money and effort.
~So we are always on the lookout for slug resistant varieties.

The HDRA poster of recommended varieties had listed as slug resistant
King Edward, Pentland Dell, Red King Edward, Romano.

There was a lecture on Nemaslug, though typically it was more of a
sales talk and the chap who was doing it didn't know the answers to a
lot of basic science questions, like, if the nematodes find slugs to
breed and produce another generation, how come they've all died out
after 6 weeks (the reapplication time) if there are still lots of
slugs in the soil? They did recommend watering already wet ground
with the stuff at the end of March in order to knock down slug levels
for the rest of the season, as it needs to be able to penetrate down a
fair distance to work well.

~This year we have bought...FE:- Concorde: SE:- Kestral: EMc:- Romano:
~Mc:- Golden Wonder. The first two have proved themselves to be good doers
~here on our Thames silt/clay. Not grown the last two before but Romano is
~supposed to be even better at slug avoidance than Kestral, not sure about
~that or their keeping/eating qualities but we will see.

Kestrel is down as having reasonable blackleg resistance and good
eelworm resistance. Golden Wonder is down as scab resistant (which I
could use!). I can email you the full listing if you're interested - I
took a couple of digipics and transcribed the text when I got home...

I'm still trying to type up the pests and diseases talk, though have
done the growing from basics one.

~I understand NIAB has lots of details on their site regarding resistance to
~pests and disease and they have now graded spuds for slug resistance too,
~must take a look.

NIAB?
Ah, crop testing folk.

~
~Use a useful Screen Saver...
~http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
~and find intelligent life amongst the stars
~371 data units completed.
~
I had 7762 last time I looked. Oops!


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 18:16:50 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

~
~"jane" wrote in message : (snip))
~
~ ~Our problem here is not Blight but slugs, they really are dreadful on our
~ ~site. Tried Nemaslug last year but decided it was not effective enough to
~ ~warrant the heavy cost, we could buy bags of commercially grown Organic
~ ~spuds for the year and save on money and effort.
~ ~So we are always on the lookout for slug resistant varieties.
~
~ The HDRA poster of recommended varieties had listed as slug resistant
~ King Edward, Pentland Dell, Red King Edward, Romano.
~
~Unfortunately King Edward does not like our soil type and grows only small
~tubers and lots of top. Stemster grows beautifully here but is a slug dinner
~treat so that's no good. :-(

Yes, Alan Romans has Stemster at slug resistance 2, which is one off
the worst.

The main problem here is scab - growing in heavily alkaline soil over
chalk doesn't give us an option but to lump it. The HDRA gave a whole
load of things to do to avoid it, but Chris and I reckoned we might as
well forget the lot as no way can we prevent it short of growing them
in growbags!

~ ~This year we have bought...FE:- Concorde: SE:- Kestral: EMc:- Romano:
~ ~Mc:- Golden Wonder. The first two have proved themselves to be good doers
~ ~here on our Thames silt/clay. Not grown the last two before but Romano is
~ ~supposed to be even better at slug avoidance than Kestral, not sure about
~ ~that or their keeping/eating qualities but we will see.
~
~ Kestrel is down as having reasonable blackleg resistance and good
~ eelworm resistance. Golden Wonder is down as scab resistant (which I
~ could use!). I can email you the full listing if you're interested - I
~ took a couple of digipics and transcribed the text when I got home...

Looking into it a bit more, Kestrel really is a good bet. Perhaps I
should have tried it!

~Thank's for the offer but I have a book from that GC I mentioned, details
~from which are also on their site, so no need, thanks. Mind you, isn't it
~strange the way different people say different things about the same
~variety, one reference said Golden Wonder was good for slug resistance and
~another says it's a slug attractant. I do hope not.

The one I've got says GW has slug resistance 5 (out of 6) and best
saved till after New Year for best flavour. Silly amount of dry matter
and so very floury. Not my preferred spud!

~ ~Use a useful Screen Saver...
~ ~http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
~ ~and find intelligent life amongst the stars
~ ~371 data units completed.
~ ~
~ I had 7762 last time I looked. Oops!
~
~You running a Cray computer there Jane? :-)
Um... no, just in a very competitive group so have it running all over
the place. The top scorer has done nearly 88000. (Second place has a
mere 21000.) Though it helps to have a PC that can do a unit in an
average 2h 50min, and another that takes just over 4h. And to have
been going for years.

I also run them in text mode only - takes about 2/3 of the time of the
screensaver version.


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 18:16:50 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

~
~"jane" wrote in message : (snip))
~
~ ~Our problem here is not Blight but slugs, they really are dreadful on our
~ ~site. Tried Nemaslug last year but decided it was not effective enough to
~ ~warrant the heavy cost, we could buy bags of commercially grown Organic
~ ~spuds for the year and save on money and effort.
~ ~So we are always on the lookout for slug resistant varieties.
~
~ The HDRA poster of recommended varieties had listed as slug resistant
~ King Edward, Pentland Dell, Red King Edward, Romano.
~
~Unfortunately King Edward does not like our soil type and grows only small
~tubers and lots of top. Stemster grows beautifully here but is a slug dinner
~treat so that's no good. :-(

Yes, Alan Romans has Stemster at slug resistance 2, which is one off
the worst.

The main problem here is scab - growing in heavily alkaline soil over
chalk doesn't give us an option but to lump it. The HDRA gave a whole
load of things to do to avoid it, but Chris and I reckoned we might as
well forget the lot as no way can we prevent it short of growing them
in growbags!

~ ~This year we have bought...FE:- Concorde: SE:- Kestral: EMc:- Romano:
~ ~Mc:- Golden Wonder. The first two have proved themselves to be good doers
~ ~here on our Thames silt/clay. Not grown the last two before but Romano is
~ ~supposed to be even better at slug avoidance than Kestral, not sure about
~ ~that or their keeping/eating qualities but we will see.
~
~ Kestrel is down as having reasonable blackleg resistance and good
~ eelworm resistance. Golden Wonder is down as scab resistant (which I
~ could use!). I can email you the full listing if you're interested - I
~ took a couple of digipics and transcribed the text when I got home...

Looking into it a bit more, Kestrel really is a good bet. Perhaps I
should have tried it!

~Thank's for the offer but I have a book from that GC I mentioned, details
~from which are also on their site, so no need, thanks. Mind you, isn't it
~strange the way different people say different things about the same
~variety, one reference said Golden Wonder was good for slug resistance and
~another says it's a slug attractant. I do hope not.

The one I've got says GW has slug resistance 5 (out of 6) and best
saved till after New Year for best flavour. Silly amount of dry matter
and so very floury. Not my preferred spud!

~ ~Use a useful Screen Saver...
~ ~http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
~ ~and find intelligent life amongst the stars
~ ~371 data units completed.
~ ~
~ I had 7762 last time I looked. Oops!
~
~You running a Cray computer there Jane? :-)
Um... no, just in a very competitive group so have it running all over
the place. The top scorer has done nearly 88000. (Second place has a
mere 21000.) Though it helps to have a PC that can do a unit in an
average 2h 50min, and another that takes just over 4h. And to have
been going for years.

I also run them in text mode only - takes about 2/3 of the time of the
screensaver version.


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!