Potato Blight - which potato to grow

Hi, I have been looking through the forum and doing some reasearch online but have got myself a bit confused. I would like to grow potatoes next year and have heard about potato blight but then not sure which potatoes to grow next year. Can anyone recommend any. many thanks in advance, Sam

I've found that main crop potatoes get hit the hardest, so I grow new potatoes and Charlotte, which seems fairly resistant, a good cropper and keeps well.

Yes, I would agree; stick with  early potatoes. Leave main crop to the professionals if you want to avoid blight.

I haven't grown it yet myself, but it appears that the new kid on the block for incredible blight resistance is Sarpo Mira. Definitely worth checking out.;

I have tried and grown lots of different varieties and the most resistand to blight with me are DUNLUCE for very earlies and SANTE for main crop.

I get my seed from Dundry Nurseries , they sell from a single tuber to what ever weight you so desire, in this way I am able to try lots of varieties very cheaply, though some are a total waste of time and effort as they are tasteless.

It is difficult to escape blight, some years I get some other years there are no blighted tubers!

As for Sapro Mira I got them when they first came out at first and cost a fortune, good crop, no blight, but terrible taste, totally uneatable, so I had to dump them!

In the gardening section in the Telegraph last Autumn they published results of selected potato trials they had conducted, and two of their favourites were Sapro Mira and Rocket, me I would not take either if I got them for nothing!

So in the end, it's all down to personal choice and taste!

I agree with JIMMMY that taste is important and that it is a personal matter as we know that thousands of gardeners now grow Sarpo Mira and enjoy its taste too.  This variety, along with Axona, is usually a higher dry matter potato that bakes, chips and roasts better than it boils as then it tends to break up if peeled. Dry matter is not fixed so it varies with soil type, season (dry season normally gives highest dry matters) and with geography so one grower's spuds of same variety can taste quite different from those of another.

There are other Sarpo blight resistant varieties with very different qualities.  Early Sarpo Una and salad Kifli are waxy types and Sarpo Shona and Gwyn are intermediate types.  Many say Blue Danube is tops for roasting.

I'd like to point out that the strains of blight pathogen have been changing in recent years and that means that many of the older varieties (like Sante) that had substantial resistance to blight is now quite susceptible.  Many of the claims about resistance are way out of date.  Best to check on the British Potato Variety Database for the latest information. And watch out for varieties with resistant foliage and susceptible tubers.

Sam, if you want independent opinions on the Sarpo varieties? Ask Alan Romans and Alys Fowler or read their columns.

In fact Alys just tweeted

@SarpoUK potatoes taste great, are wonderful roasties, chip perfectly and store all winter long www.buzzbnk.org/sarvari

Hi Emm  help is on the net( The Perfect Potatoe Selector ) it was a great help also i went through Kings cataloug which explained about how good certain spuds are with different problems ie blight and such  they were both very helpfull

good luck Alan

Like others have said i do not bother with maincrop as blight seems to hit them worst

I always get 2nd earlys charlotte i find them very tasty and the skins just rub offm

good luck

Thank you so much for all your responses. I will now look around for the best deals  for buying the tubers. Really appreciate your help.

Merry Christmas

Sam

PS, If anyone can recommend any online sites to buy I would really appreciate it. Thanks again,

Hello,

Unless you live miles from anywhere, you should try a local garden centre as buying on line is much more costly and then there is the carriage to pay!

The problem with buying online is the weight of the potatoes!

Emmaandsam - There are loads of local Potato Days around the country every year where you can choose from many varieties - here's an example of a website promoting them:

http://www.potato-days.net/

Spuds start at 10p a tuber at the one I go to.

I had blight for the first time this year - I was growing the varieties I ususally do, Charlotte, Red Duke of York, and a 3rd one which escapes me at the moment  and they all got it. I put it down to the weather and have fingers crossed for next year.

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In this weeks Garden News, Nigel Coburn was posed the question what potatoes he will grow next season, the reply was Charlotte and Epicure!

My wife is a Scot so when we were up there we were fed "Ayrshire" potatoes, "the best in the world" according to my mother in law!

"Ayrshire" potatoes are actually Epicure, I tried them and they tasted nothing like the Scottish ones, so never again!

I wonder if Nigel will give us a tweet on here?

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Local garden centre has "early" seed potatoes on display !

Must say this is the earliest I have ever seen them for sale!

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