Heritage Potatoes- Marketing Gimmick? Or doing are bit to preserve old varieties?

Cardinal Richelieu

I am more speaking about the Heritage varieties that many of the large DIY stores and Garden Centres sell rather than varieties bought from specialist sites online . To give an example varieties such as Sharpe's Express.

Oldtree

the yields wont be as big as run of the mill spuds but its all about the taste when you grow your own. Home guard is my favorite as its an early and a reasonable yield and a bit ot blight resistance as I dont spray and take what I can get. My main enemy is the crows who will dig up newly planted so I use chicken wire around and twine zig zaging across to keep them off. when the blight appears I pull the stalks so as not to blight the potatoes, and then leave them in the ground till needed and have to use chicken wire to keep them off.

Cardinal Richelieu

Oldtree wrote: »

the yields wont be as big as run of the mill spuds but its all about the taste when you grow your own. Home guard is my favorite as its an early and a reasonable yield and a bit ot blight resistance as I dont spray and take what I can get. My main enemy is the crows who will dig up newly planted so I use chicken wire around and twine zig zaging across to keep them off. when the blight appears I pull the stalks so as not to blight the potatoes, and then leave them in the ground till needed and have to use chicken wire to keep them off.

Yeah I grow Homeguards every year, first early so never a high yield but is it sold as a Heritage variety?

Technophobe

Not sold in the shops but this year I sowed Dempsey's Darlings, Peaches Bloom and May Queen....I havent dug them yet but have cut back the foliage to prevent blight spread....
Got them from Irish Seedsavers...

qzy

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

To give an example varieties such as Sharpe's Express.

Sharpe's Express are a lovely floury Early potato - I am growing them for years

Zuiderzee

grew Mr Littles Yetholm Gypsies, third year running now - lovely spud, great colours

I sincerely believe its important to keep as many varieties going as possible, bio diversity and all that.

Cardinal Richelieu

Zuiderzee wrote: »

grew Mr Littles Yetholm Gypsies, third year running now - lovely spud, great colours

I sincerely believe its important to keep as many varieties going as possible, bio diversity and all that.

Ohh I agree with your point but my point is that the big gardening chains sell varieties in Heritage packs that are fairly common at a mark up price. Take my example Sharpe's Express, its fairly common to find, its from 1901 but Kerr's Pinks arn't much older(1907). They also don't appear to stock Irish traditional potato varieties. I much rather be keeping the bio diversity and historical value of Irish varieties like Lumpers than a fairly common UK variety.

recedite

There are 2 sides to biodiversity; 1) keeping old varieties. 2) creating new ones.
I'm looking forward to getting some of the new genetically engineered blight-free varieties when they finish the field trials in Carlow.

tommy2bad

After this year, I love a blight free spud, I don't think it'll work that way though, what we'll get is more resistance to blight and another year like this will test the best of them.
Do Lumpers taste that good? never grew them meself.

Qualitymark

tommy2bad wrote: »

Do Lumpers taste that good? never grew them meself.

Main thing about lumpers is that they're huge potatoes, and in a time when a working man typically ate two stone of potatoes per day, they were cheap fuel. I haven't tasted them, but understand that the taste is pretty ordinary.

But lumpers are terribly blight-prone, and in a five-year stretch when blight hit every summer and rotted the potatoes even in clamps, people relying mainly on lumpers were in a particularly bad way. (Protestants tended to eat parsnips, while Catholics ate potatoes; useless factoid...)

Pa ElGrande

Unless you like the taste of the old varieties they are scarcely worth the effort if they are not blight resistant. I've gone for 'Sarpo Mira' for the last few years now and I'm happy with the yield and level of resistance shown to blight and slugs. They are floury.

I have not tried 'Orla' yet which is also meant to be blight resistant maybe next year if I can find a local supplier.

Qualitymark

Pa ElGrande wrote: »

I have not tried 'Orla' yet which is also meant to be blight resistant maybe next year if I can find a local supplier.

Lidl often sells Orla as eating potatoes...

recedite

Pa ElGrande wrote: »

I've gone for 'Sarpo Mira' for the last few years now and I'm happy with the yield and level of resistance shown to blight and slugs.

Mira are the white ones, I've grown both them and the Sarpo Axona for about 3 years and axona give a much better yield, though slightly later. They are red, similar to Roosters in appearance and taste. Just keeping a few back for planting the following year, works OK so far.

redser7

recedite wrote: »

Mira are the white ones, I've grown both them and the Sarpo Axona for about 3 years and axona give a much better yield, though slightly later. They are red, similar to Roosters in appearance and taste. Just keeping a few back for planting the following year, works OK so far.

Can I ask, did you bother to spray them at all?

recedite

No sprays at all.