Unfortunately these diploid potatoes lack any real dormancy and start to grow not long after producing tubers, so it was unlikely that they would survive winter without help.
Being seed grown meant that each plant was unique, and I would love to keep the best new varieties alive. Unfortunately I lack the time and space required to grow them via tissue culture, which means I had to think of a way to keep them alive through winter.
I attempted three methods of overwintering potatoes, putting them in the crisper of the fridge, leaving them in the garden, and putting them in a pot in a protected position. Read more and I will explain what worked for me and what didn't.
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| Diploid potato grown from True Potato Seed |
Method 1 - stored in the crisper of the fridge
I put some healthy potatoes in a paper bag in the crisper of the fridge. I had hoped that the cold and the dark would keep them dormant for longer and slow growth enough for them to make it through the frosts before they needed to be planted in the soil. This method works well for many other vegetables, so I expected it to work for my diploid potatoes. But it didn't.
It did not take long for these to look dreadful and I decided to try something else before they died. They still sprouted and the tubers shriveled badly. This method was the one I expected to work, but I abandoned it pretty early on.
I won't be trying this method with diploid potatoes again. I didn't bother taking a photo of this.
Method 2 - grow some in a protected position
I was pretty sure the ones left in the open were as good as dead, and the fridge ones were starting to die, but I also grew some in a pot of soil that was covered in leaves in a protected position.
I was pretty sure this would work. It works for other sensitive plants that do not like frost such as tomatoes and chillis so it should work for potatoes. The down side to this is space - I just don't have enough space to do this with too many things.
They sprouted on and off over winter and the sprouts were mostly eaten off by something. Once the weather was warmer these took off and grew well. I planted them in the soil once the frosts stopped coming and they are already flowering like mad.
So this method worked well, but takes up a lot of space.
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| Diploid potatoes waking up in a pot of soil in a protected place |
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| Overwintered potato grown from true potato seed |
Method 3 - leave them where they are and hope for the best
I left some in the soil where they were and hoped for a mild winter. I expected some of the shallower ones to perish, but there was a chance the deeper ones may survive. We had a cold winter and the soil froze solid for a while which I did not expect to end well.
These potatoes lack any real dormancy and tend to sprout withing a few weeks of being dug. Unlike regular tetraploid potatoes they kept sprouting over winter and being burned back by frost. As can be seen in the pictures I covered them with corn stubble but really I didn't expect them to survive this winter as the soil was frozen solid too often and for too long.
Strangely enough, many of these potatoes survived and grew well once the frosts stopped burning them to the ground. They are now large and flowering profusely. Due to their larger size they started flowering two months earlier than they did when grown from seed.
Above I said it was unlikely they would survive winter without help, and I was wrong. They survived just fine without me. Sometimes I love being wrong!
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| diploid potatoes coming back to life |
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| These survived where they were |
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| These got large pretty fast |
I grew each of these from true potato seed, so each one is a new variety. Some of these varieties are pretty remarkable and I have no way to replace them, so I can't be too careful.
When I have selected the best varieties and have larger numbers I may offer some for sale over winter on my for sale page.
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