Jersey Royal potatoes

[Odsox]

Has anyone grown these before ?
I am growing them this year for the first time and quite impressed with them, but there is an oddity about them.
When you dig other varieties, the original seed tuber is normally rotten and virtually non-existent, but on these J. Royals the seed tuber is as fresh and solid as the day I planted it ... and it even has tiny embryo shoots from a new set of eyes.
Needless to say I am saving them as I go in the hope that I can (re-)chit them and get a second autumn crop off the same set of seed tubers.
Now that really would be recycling.
But has anyone else noticed this ?

[oldjerry]

Should be ready for Christmas ,Tony. Invite please!!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

My experience has been the same as yours - seed potato a blackened husk. I'll be interested to see what happens.

Given the number of volunteers that seem to survive the winter, I'm wondering if there might be any mileage in autumn sowing of potatoes, perhaps with a thick layer of compost / manure on the bed?

[gregorach]

Given the number of volunteers that seem to survive the winter, I'm wondering if there might be any mileage in autumn sowing of potatoes, perhaps with a thick layer of compost / manure on the bed?

Get 'em deep enough and they'll certainly survive, but the question is - do your volunteers show up any earlier than your first earlies? Mine don't seem to... The first earlies in bags in the greenhouse, on the other hand, really are early.

I've certainly never seen the original seed potato still be sound on harvesting. That's just weird...

[Green Aura]

Nope, never seen that either. Can anyone remember the commercial name for them? JR is a brand isn't it but you can get the seed potatoes under a different name. I've always fancied growing some myself.

Our spud crop (in bags) will be interesting this year. We didn't harvest ours last year- due to a combination of weather and flitting (my gal not us) we simply forgot about them. During a discussion about whether we should even bother this year we peeped in the bags to find several vigorous plants. So it'll be pot luck spuds for us - we have no idea what we planted!

[Odsox]

Can anyone remember the commercial name for them? JR is a brand isn't it but you can get the seed potatoes under a different name. I've always fancied growing some myself.

They're sold as "International Kidney" Maggie, but on the seed I bought, that was in small print with Jersey Royals emblazoned in huge letters across the top.
They really are a strange item, the new potatoes are solidly attached to the plant, so much so that you can pull the whole plant up with the complete crop attached and leave none behind in the soil. You almost have to cut them off.
They taste nice though.

[Green Aura]

I'm thinking 12 month spuds Tony to go with the tomatoes and strawberries.

When you send OJ his invitation, don't forget to put mine in the post too!

[Odsox]

Well 9 months new potatoes was one of the experiments this year and I'm on track for that so far .....
When you and OJ come to dinner I can give you the choice of Jersey Royals, Belle de Fontenay, Home Guard or Pink Fir Apples or Lidl's frozen chips.
Tomatoes are still going to plan, can't remember how long it is now.

[Odsox]

Given the number of volunteers that seem to survive the winter, I'm wondering if there might be any mileage in autumn sowing of potatoes, perhaps with a thick layer of compost / manure on the bed?

My first early volunteers usually emerge in November and sometimes grow into quite sizeable plants, but I have only ever got more than a handful of marble sized spuds from them as they inevitably get blasted out of the ground by spring gales.
Maincrop volunteers are still emerging in last years tatty bed, along with tiny plants growing from potato "apples"

[Zech]

I harvested some volunteers a week or so ago - I say harvested, I was weeding, and was surprised to find baby potatoes on the plants. It was very difficult to tell the old seeds from the new babies until I cooked them, then the seeds were watery and tasteless. I guessed it was because all their energy* had gone into the new plants. Have you tried eating any of the seed potatoes yet Odsox?

*Very unscientific term - I guess it's starch. Whatever it is that the potato is storing for next year and that we want to eat.

[Odsox]

Well, this is what my saved Jersey Royals looked like this afternoon before I planted a row of them.
Remember that these tubers have already produced one sizeable crop and I'm now hoping to get a second crop from them. It looks like they will certainly grow, just how well and what sort of crop remains to be seen.
How about that for the height of meanness, sorry thriftiness, two crops from one set of seed potatoes.

Jersey Royals.jpg (92.56 KiB) Viewed 5709 times

[oldjerry]

I'm dusting off the rucksack.........d'ya reckon if I set off for your place say Dec 11th,I can thumb it in time for Christmas?

(nb. I probably wouldn't stop for me!).

[Odsox]

You probably could manage it quite easily OJ, although I don't know how easy it is to thumb a boat across the Irish Sea.
But it would all be for nought as these spuds should be ready in 12 weeks, which means I should start digging in October, which means they will be all gone by Christmas.
But all is not lost if you like Home Guard, as I have some left in the ground to mature which I intend to use as seed and they will be planted in August to follow on.

[marshlander]

Saw a brilliant idea for a container to growing new spuds; they were in a 1 tonne crane bag in the polytunnel. These things are rot proof and about 1Mtr square at the base. Friend put a layer of soil at the bottom, laid out 16 seed spuds and covered with compost. Then topped up regularly. Simples;)

[Odsox]

As this thread has been resurrected it occurred to me that you might like to know the outcome of the Jersey Royals saga.
I planted about 7 that had "chitted" with green shoots as in the photo and another dozen or so that didn't have green shoots but looked like they would have if left in the light a little longer.

Well, the green shooted ones did indeed grow and produced a small crop before being clobbered with blight.
The ones without shoots didn't grow, but when I dug them up I found that they had still produced pea sized tubers but no growing shoot, so would never have produced a usable crop.
All very odd, and in fact the original seed tubers without shoots were still firm and fresh while the ones that did grow had withered seed tubers, but still not rotten.
I think in a warmer, dryer summer, without the constant threat of blight, the chitted ones would have produced a very reasonable second crop (for the price of one).