five day appendix

purple valley from the top and from the side and a robust craigs snowwhite.

christmas population explosion ( sort of )

the seed potato project is moving along...the craigs snowwhite has reached two feet in height ( top photo )and the growth should be moderating a bit...the early blue in the second pot back ( second photo ) should begin setting tubers any tine now and should be done by the end of january...the purple valley in the third photo has easily topped the container but wont begin setting until the end of next month...there are spuds all along the life cycle down there...there is a yema de huevos just coming up in the fifth photo and an ollala in the bottom one...as of today there are seventeen plants up and running and more chitting away...it's almost the end of the year and late chitters may well be just planted in march rather than put under the lights...they move to their schedule, not mine and frankly it is getting crowded down there...another light fixture is on the way but space is limited.

potato progress

the early blue passed a couple of feet in height a while back...did the same thing last winter...and have slowed the vertical growth and begun to leaf out...the craigs snowwhite in the top photo has reached about 19 1/2 inches and it too is beginning to produce more leaves...it was planted on the sixteenth of last month...thirty-one days into its season and another thirty nine before it begins to set tubers...so january twenty-fifth is tuber day for them with a harvest sometime in late february or early march...the early blue were planted back on october nineteenth...fifty-nine days in but with a longer season...the fruition for both should be close...the third photo is of the purple valley four days ago and the next two are from today...noticeable leaf deployment and growth...plus another sprout to feed the roots...that was planted on the twentieth of november and will probably be finished in march...hopefully all in time for outdoor spring planting.

spuds

the purple valley in the top photo is coming along well...small rosettes of potato leaves reaching towards the light and a close look at the photo reveals more on the way...that plant has kin for company now...the purple valley in the second photo joined it this morning in a potato planting frenzy...a new container was prepared and the olalla in the third photo and the yema de huevos in the fourth all found a home for the winter...that's six varieties of spuds under the lights now so, with a bit of work and some luck, we will be having diverse seed potatoes come spring...the craigs snowwhite that was about eight inches tall ten days ago ahs doubled it height in that time...the leaves at th e have begun to fill in and it's time to begin filling the container with soil and compost to "hill" the plant and get some space for tuber to set established...that won't be happening for another forty or fifty days but i want to send the plant a clear signal about expectations...i have not watered any of the plants yet...they are very touchy about that...i brought in bags of top soil and compost to mix and use to fill the containers...the mixture was moist...from some condensation as well as residual rain water that has frozen...the moisture from that mixture alone was enough to yellow the lower leaves on the early blue and have them begin to fall off...i might water potato plants twice in a season down there...even then some will be lost to fungus...even with heat and the fans that run non-stop.

chitting

got home from work to find potatoes chitting away after being out of the ground for a couple of months...top two photos are purple valley...the third is a yukon gold...the fourth is an early blue and the bottom photo is a still out of control craigs snowwhite...these will be ready to plant with the new year and should be finishing up just in time for spring planting...ninety to one hundred and twenty days under the lights...the seed potato project is gaining some traction in the basement...with a few refinements last year's successes should be broadened...nothing teaches like last year's mistakes.

it's the light that does it

it might seem as though the craigs snowwhite potato in the top photo is so happy with its environment that it is going berserk in its verticality...and in a way it is..but not, i think, because it is in clover as it were...i am using a broader spectrum light this year and the teosinte ( bottom photo ) is doing much better for it...the craigs snowwhite and the early blue in the third photo ( the second is of the craigs' developing leaves ) i have other thoughts about...when i have planted potatoes in partial shade the plant shave put a lot of energy into larger plants to develop leaf area for photosynthesis...this diversion of energy has resulted in smaller spuds..as a rule of thumb i have found the smaller the plant the larger ( or more in number ) the tuber...broader spectrum light or not i think the plants are growing taller in a attempt to feed the roots with more leaves...and that will probably mean smaller tubers...i did not get especially large ones last winter either which is fine..these will be seed potatoes, not eating spud, so size isn't so much a factor as viability...they will be planted in natural light in the spring and they will know what to do...i am unconcerned about the size of the tubers...i just wan them to set tubers...that story has yet to unfold...i thought the scorzonera ( fourth photo ) might have been in trouble...it came out alright but then ut seemed to stall and i thought it might be done in...not so...just conserving energy to deploy a fourth leaf with...that is good news on that front..a few more leaves and some more root development and it's on to a larger container to await rhizomes.

four days growth

four days ago this potato plant hadn't cleared the top of a four inch tall peat pot ( home to a currently stalled all red )this evening it is a bit over eight inches tall ( the photo graphic scale in the third photo is six inches )...i am impressed even if no one else is...this plant is certainly in a sudden hurry and who knows why...it isn't getting any special treatment so the environment down there must be suiting it well...it has begun to deploy true leaves at last...the plant looks less like a cactus today.

wednesday spud report

it's verging on winter outside...but the indoor season is booming along...the early blue in the top photo have topped the container and then some...i have been filling the plot as the plants grow and hope to stimulate some serious tuber production before spring...the plants produced well last winter but i would like to expand the seed potato population for next spring and grow a truly local crop of tubers of as many varieties as i can muster...which is why, difficult as it may be to see, the all red up and running in the second photo is good news...the bigger the variety the better...the cactus looking affair in the third photo is actually a third variety of potato...it is the craigs snowwhite i planted ten days ago...nicely green, there should be leaves soon...finally, the bottom photo isn't a spud at all...it is the scorzonera and it seems fine...the third leaf continues to grow...but...i have zero experience with this plant so i have a steep learning curve..it may not be well at all...time and experience will reveal that story...so far so good indoors...more fixtures for lights on the way...more potato varieties chitting away and preparing for planting...there will be more to this story later.