This is a follow on video to our last potato reveal, in which the Sarpo Mira cross F2 seedling row was dug. It was clear that many of those seedlings were very high yielding, and likely to exceed the previous Oxbow Farm record for yield of a potato seedling grown from true potato seed (TPS). With the weather conditions being so wet for the second half of the summer and all the fall, the tubers were extremely muddy. They were laid out in the greenhouse to dry the mud and so as much soil could be removed as was practical before weighing the yield of each seedling.

It should be obvious from the video how variable potatoes can be even when descended from the same parent varieties. With all of these seedlings being tetraploids, the possibilities for recombining of traits is dramatically increased, so it is always exciting to dig and taste each new batch of seedlings. Some of the seedlings in this set gave us astoundingly high yields, just about pushing the maximum possible yield for a single potato plant, at nearly fourteen pounds of tubers from a single plant. That is probably the highest single plant yields we'll ever see, given that it takes a very long season potato to produce yields that high, and our growing season was approximately 3 weeks longer this fall than it normally is.

In terms of selection, more and more we are focusing on a spectrum of traits that need to be considered, beyond simply keeping the highest yielding seedlings. In the case of the biggest seedling in this weigh-off, the yield was mind-boggling (13 pounds 13 ounces!!!) but the tubers were extremely irregular and rough, as well as being unattractively colored and the largest tuber had severe hollow heart. An oddly shaped potato like this is unlikely to become shapely in the second year, in fact any tendency towards secondary growth is likely to increase. So it is not likely that the record breaker will have a place in the future, unless it is unusually delicious when we cook it and taste it.

The frequent presence of hollow heart in our potatoes has pushed us to focus on breeding away from varieties that show hollow heart as seedlings. There is a school of thought that the highest yielding seedlings are most prone to hollow heart and other growth defects like secondary growth and cracking. It is difficult to know exactly where to strike the balance between tuber yield and quality. With luck and persistence we will improve every year, and hopefully we can collaborate together with other potato enthusiasts to find great potatoes for small growers and gardeners.