Red potatoes — have any favourites you grow?

[Joel_BC]

I grow Russets and Yukon Golds (neither of them “reds”) as mainstays… Russets are the stalwart French-fry variety all over North America, and Yukons are a yellow-flesh spud. Usually, both these varieties size-up and produce abundantly for me. This year, the Russets did well, the Yukons not up to snuff.

But I also like red potatoes, and usually grow some Warbas too. Generally, it seems red potatoes are creamier when baked than Russets, which tad to be a little dry until the addition of lots of butter, gravy, or sauce. So now (thinking of next spring), besides the Warba variety I’m interested to try some other red varieties that can produce a largish spud and lots of them… still having that creamy texture when baked.

Got any advice?

 

[sumi]

I absolutely love red "rooster" potatoes. They grow easy and produce well. I'm in Ireland though, so I don't know if you get this variety in Canada and if so, what they are called over there.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I've planted both the Red Pontiac and the Norland. OK success with both. It has been a little while since I grew potatoes - about 6 years - so tryin gto go off memory and I grew the Norland out in Wyoming and the Red Pontiac in WI. The Red Pontiac seemed to have a slightly darker red skin and cooked up nice and creamy, the Norland seemed to have a more consistant size and shape with a slightly thicker skin. I liked them baked as well as boiled.

 

[CrealCritter]

Several years ago we grew white and red potatoes at my father-in-laws and saved some seed potatoes for planting the next spring. Well those potatoes crossed and produced both white and red on the same vine. Seriously we pulled up the vines and both white and red potatoes were on the same root system.

I thought it was pretty cool that we solved an age old problem "do i plant white or red potatoes?" but my father in law didn't see it that way at all and wouldn't even eat any of the potatoes. Unbeknownst to me he left his outside of the barn in buckets and they rotted.

We eat ours over the winter they were just as good as any potatoes we ever grew or bought from the store. Come the next spring I went to go and get some seed potatoes from my father in law and of course all were a rotted stnky mess. I've tried to produce crossed potatoes twice since then but I have been unsuccessful.

I'm big into crossing heirloom veggies and saving seeds. It's interesting to see what the next crop will produce. Sometimes it's a bust but then again sometimes the results are amazing.

 

[Britesea]

I planted some All-Blue potatoes 3 years ago (when I was still eating potatoes a lot) and loved the flavor. Since then, I keep getting volunteers in the garden, although this year they were all scabby.

 

[wyoDreamer]

This is an interesting site: http://potatoassociation.org/industry/varieties/red-rounds-potato-varieties

I like the small round red potatoes. The grade B ones. I am that lady at the grocery store picking through the red potatoes to buy only the ones that are round and the same size, lol. Picky, picky, picky

 

[Beekissed]

We've always grown Red Pontiacs and love them well. Nowadays they are the only potato I grow, as I love their silky sweet flavor and texture more than I like the Kennebecs we always planted along with the RPs.

In the cellar they don't store as well or as long as the Kennebecs, but I no longer have a cellar nor store spuds for very long, so I indulge in the RPs. Love their color, love how well they grow, love their tender skins and silky sweet flesh.

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks for that Potato Organization link. Very informative.

We keep our home-grown spuds, for as long as possible, in our cold room (concrete floor — so not really a root cellar).

This is sort of necessary, because we have about five months of no productive gardens outdoors, and a bit over three months without significant greenhouse production. Upshot is that with potatoes we like to grow bulk. I guess I'm picky, picky, picky in the other direction.

Our Russets and Yukons can provide bulk. But I guess I'll decline to select red varieties that typically produce low numbers or small (if nicely shaped) spuds.

Here's a link to read about different red varieties, some of which are grown commercially due to the high yield and some they have to grow a certain way to get smaller, more uniform spuds for commercial sale.

I find the Red Pontiacs to be a larger, high yield variety, which is one reason we have always grown them.

I've never seen much high yield or large potatoes when growing Yukon Golds nor did I particularly enjoy their flavor or texture. Do they grow differently where you live, Joel?

 

[wyoDreamer]

When I grew Yukon Golds a few years ago, I ended up with an OK crop of medium-large sized potatoes - about 3". The flavor was good, but they seemed to take a little longer to dry off before storing. I harvest my potatoes, then let them air dry in deep shade until they seem dry enough to store.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

You can get them from Fedco Seeds. This is my favorite seed company. They will not knowingly purchase GMO seed, have boycotted all Monsanto products. They are a strong partner in OSSI (Open Source Seed Initiative) which works to keep seed varieties in the public domain instead of allowing big Agri Giants to patent and restrict access to all varieties they can get their hands on.

You might get from the gist of this post that I am passionate about seeing to it that the ability to produce our own food remains a basic human right.

You can access Fedco Seeds on line, or request their catalog. I suggest that if you want to place an order for anything Fedco offers, do so ASAP. The more popular varieties and materials sell out quickly. They also have a tree catalog.