Why potatoe form mini tubers

I have had a number of potato tubers form tiny potatoes on the side of them. Kinda like the potato had baby's attached. Sometimes it is caused by the tuber being old. Yet, this one was never dug up from growing new. I have heard a potato can do this if it is stressed also. 

Dry potato with small micro tubers attached

I was never able to harvest this plant. The top died back like it was time to harvest. Yet, new growth was forming from the new potatoes. With all the rain and temperature up and down. I think this broke the dormancy of the new tuber. Or it had no dormancy in it. I do not have a name for this potato. It was part of an exotic variety pack I ordered to grow this year. It did have a dark purple to brown woody stem and purple flowers.

wet potato tuber to show more color

It seems the loner I leave these micro tubers attached the more they grow and the parent potato shrinks from feeding it. I have them sitting out of soil now. Yet they continue to enlarge. Adding water to the parent helps it to survive and re-hydrate a bit. If I were to put it in moist cocoa coir it would help to re-hydrate it more. Yet it could create roots to get the get plant process going again.

Seed potatoes to grow in 2016

Muru

Blue and white potatoes, patterns of splashes. Will segregate for white flesh or partially blue flesh. Good blight resistance

Huagalina   PI 619141 Peru

Tetraploid. Very late maturity (probably has some day-length sensitivity). Tiny, yellow with red splashes, yellow flesh. 

Katahdin

Tetraploid. Round white, flavor typical of a commercial potato

 

Touch Down 

Tetraploid. White skin, white flesh, descended from a high-flavored line

Pig Knuckles:
Tetraploid. Pink skin with yellow and pink flesh. Some frost resistance in the tubers.
Pokhipsie
Variable shape and colors. Red, yellow, and purple with assorted flesh colors. Diploid.

Maris Piper
 GRIN: PI 377745
 Floury white-fleshed potato. Sets tuber high. early-mid season
Bora Valley
GRIN: PI 634776
 medium-late maturing potato cultivar with purple skin and flesh color, good processing quality, and excellent stability. It has medium plant height and dark foliage. ‘Bora Valley’ has a profuse flowering habit and light purple flowers. Tubers have smooth skin, round, with medium eye depth, and short to medium dormancy. It has stable yield under wide range of climatic conditions. This variety is grown in Korea for raw eating - NOT a cooking potato

TPS seeds for 2016

Pig knuckle  purple berry
Yukon gold
Huagalina PI 619141 Peru

Chaucha Amarilla CIP 703308  Peru (Open pollinated)  Genus Solanum, Species phureja

Blue

Tollocan  (Tom Wagner)
yellow skin and flesh 
seedling of Tollocan Fiesta

white Fingerling

Red tuber fingerling

Chiar Choque Pitu PI 604207 (Bolivia) (BE-4832 < Other names> Q 30933 )
 female parent is a S. x curtilobum, a pentaploid, so ploidy of the progeny is probably variable. [60 chromosomes instead of 48].

Late harvest
Tetra mix, White- tuber/flesh/flowers
  
 (TL)

Choosing potatoes for my garden

 It is kinda sad to see the end of this years garden. Yet fun to collect and put away the bounty. I have been so happy with the potato garden doing well this year. When I go to some of the local places that sell from there home. I see my potatoes came out bigger and healthier than theirs. It puts a smile on my face.

What I learned from this year is, some of the exotic potatoes should have been planted closer. I did not have enough info on them to know they were small fingerling type of potatoes. So they will be planted closer together next spring.

My plans for next year

I will continue to grow potatoes from TPS (True botanical seeds).

 What I am looking for is productive sustainable potatoes to add to my collection. So this winter I will continue to research and buy some, that may be more productive and produce berry's. .I placed an order for the ones below. They will come some time in October. So I will have to store them for the winter.

 Desiree  ( 95-100 days, Mid season)
 I have read it is a red-skinned main-crop potato originally bred in the Netherlands in 1962. Disease resistance It has a waxy, yellow flesh with a distinctive flavor. I have seen many in the UK grow it on videos. It seems very productive.  I have also seen potato berry's and TPS seed collected from it. 
 General purpose potato (best for Mash potatoes) 

Purple Majesty (85 days, Early season)
Plant should be under 2 foot tall. With a spread of about 12-15 inches.
Purple inside and out. Said to be full of antioxidants The tubers may be small in size. Will update after I grow them. This plant can set berry's for TPS seed collection.

Viking Purple (90 to 100 days, Mid season)
 Pink/red-splashed purple skin, white flesh.
Small-to-medium spreading plant, yet it produces 3 1/2 to 4-inch round tubers some times larger. These tubers grow near the soil surface so keep the ground covered to prevent greening.  Needs the soil to be lose and fertile.
 Good for baking or mashing
.
 Russian Banana Fingerling (80-90 days)
Plant is under 2 foot tall around 8 inch wide.
Crescent-shaped small 4-5 inch tubers, yellow/tan skin with yellow flesh.
The plant can produce potato berry's.(TPS)
 perfect for boiling, roasting and baking


Yellow Finn.( 95-100 days) (Mid season)
dark yellow flesh tan to yellow like skin. Medium size tubers.
I have read it very productive, and has a buttery sweet flavor.
Good general purpose potato.  (boiling, mashing, frying, or baking).

Oct 15, update
I just ordered 1 pound each @ $7.00 per pound


77CHA     Charlotte - Certified Seed Potato    Early-Season
    Good producer of medium oblong nuggets, sometimes slightly crescent shaped, with very thin, golden yellow skin and flesh with shallow eyes. Great salad variety, excellent storage qualities.(waxy tubers and creamy yellow flesh)

77HU  Huckleberry - Certified Seed Potato (aka Cranberry Red)  Early-Season
 90-110 days. Skin color is a maroon-beet red and the flesh is dark pink with white marbling. Has an oblong potato shape, medium to medium-large tubers and is a consistent producer of vigorous medium to medium-large tubers. This is definitely one of a kind. Named after the legendary wild huckleberry of the Northern Rockies.  Early (for tubers to steal without disrupting the vines) and mid-season for a larger crop to harvest once the vines have naturally died. And it sets seed pods

77RFA     Rose Finn Apple Fingerling - Seed Potato Fingerling
90 to 110 days. A rosy colored skin with deep yellow flesh and a waxy, firm texture. finger-shaped spuds 2 to 5 ounces each.  A great roasting potato. Delectable flavor and a fine keeper with vigorous vines. Many chefs are finding that these potatoes cooked and pureed lend themselves well as a soup thickener for sauces and gravies. A fine keeper with vigorous upright vines. Mid-Season variety. 
12 to 18 inches tall but spreads up to 4 feet wide
TPS  added
Pokhipsie
Purple Vally
USDA B 0850-4 x USDA B 0975-1purple skin and partially blue fresh), will throw lots of non purple (blue flesh)
POTATO VALLEY CO. LTD. Korea
Mt. St Helen
Pam Wagner
Anna's Gold

The seed potatoes are sprouting too early

 How do you deal with early sprouts?
I have had 3 day of (50f /10c) outside temperature. I was keeping the tubers  in a cool unheated room. Most sunlight was blocked for a few weeks. But with that temp increase outside. Inside temps rose. So the Red Pontiac (Harvested July 08) &  Kennebec (harvested end of Aug), have started to sprout too early.

 I moved them to an area that gets indirect light. I hope to green up the sprouts and stop growth. The Yukon gold (Harvested Aug 08) is the only one not affected. I have been looking for info on Length of dormancy for them,

I will be adding some of the ones with really tall sprouts, to a mixture of cocoa core & organic potting soil. I will try to grow them indoors,for the winter. This is my first attempt to grow potatoes in the house  I may try some in straight core. See what happens.