I am thinking of growing some I do see a source for eyes. I haven't grown them before and don't even see them in the stores here so I am wondering if they are worth while? Do you plant them like regular spuds with the same spacing ? Is the production fair or kindy skimpy? I plant 120 feet of row for the full size just wondering how many sets to plant to get a good sampling.Ernie
ps are they worth growing whats your experience with these?
Well, my experience in growing these little devils was disappointing - you might even say disasterous. I planted them a foot apart in all directions in my raised beds, and got great looking plants, but few spuds. I've since figured out that my beds were too high in nitrogen content and probably not enough P or K. However, I have grown regular spuds in the same ground with no problems, so I dunno. Seed potatoes of fingerling varieties ain't cheap, but restaurants clamor for them. I was trying to grow some for that particular market, but as I said, it didn't turn out well for me at all.
Well high n would do that but reg spuds would do the same seems to me. Are you going to try again with more P and K. The seed I saw was 7 bucks for 25 eyes. Thanks
I have a funny story on myself and a friend regarding my first fingerling experience. This was some years ago before I had read about them in cookbooks and cooking magazines.
I planted lots of ordinary potatoes and they grew nicely. Some did better than others, but all the regular potatoes looked more or less like other potatoes.
I also planted a package of fingerlings. I kept checking them but they never got very big. At the very end of the season, I dug up a few-- the production was excellent but they didn't look like potatoes to me. I thought that maybe they didn't develop correctly. I cooked a pot of them and they tasted okay but nothing to write home about. So I dug up all the rest and asked one of the nearby stable owners who grew up on a farm if he wanted some freshly dug potatoes. He said he would because there was nothing like freshly dug potatoes. So I gave him an entire bucket full. I thought that since he had grown up on a farm he would recognize them.
He must not have ever seen them before either. I gave them to him and he looked embarrassed but didn't say a word. He thanked me and took them away and I never heard another word about them. I bet he threw them away and never tried them.
Later I had some in a fancy restaurant and they were fabulous. And I have never had such a good crop again.
I have since learned that fingerlings require a long growing season and never get all that big, but are truly delicious. Duh!
One of the high-end restaurants I sell to does something to their potatoes that makes me think I've tasted Heaven!
I later learned to put fingerling potatoes, unpeeled in with a roast during the last 1/2 hour of baking in the oven and I, too, tasted heaven. You just have to get them in early and wait until late to harvest. At least here in the mountains of New Mexico.
I have grown fingerlings, got the seed potatoes from Wood Prarie Farm. They did well and they have an excellent buttery flavor, very good roasted in the oven with oilive oil and some flake sea salt.
I love fingerling potatoes! I prefer them boiled until just tender in a little bit of water, then drain, throw in splash of olive oil or butter, lots of sea salt and black pepper. Then slap the lid back on the pot and give it a good shake. MMMmMMMMMM.
I grew some last year along with regular potatoes. Got seed from Wood Prairie Farm and Ronniger Potatoe Farm. The yield from the fingerlings was lower than expected but that could be because I was too impatient to wait long for them and dug some up each day until there were none left. I'll try them again this year but plant more regular spuds to enjoy while we wait for the fingerlings.
Ernie, Kathy (MistyMeadows) and Ralph grow them for mkt...you might want to check with her.
As for me, I grew them out several years ago and, like others have mentioned above, didn't get much of a harvest from them. The sure didn't produce the poundage for me that other spuds do. Perhaps that is why they sell for a much higher price at the markets, eh?
As for taste, they were okay and maybe one day I'll try them again but am not too excited about it right now.
Shoe.
TNX Shoe and the rest . So far with the above info I think I will proceed but there is still time to be swayed. If Kathy can't find her way in here in a bit I will e mail her its the expected per plant yield I am really looking for. I would hate to grow 15 feet of row and finf out I have potatoe salid for one lol. Ernie
