Comparing Potato Cultivars Sarpo Mira and Valor

Potato Harvest

Finally got round to digging up the main crop potatoes and I am pretty pleased with the results so far. Two thirds of the crop required the car to get them home, filling the boot and back seat with very full carrier bags.

Harvesting Sarpo Mira Potatoes

Harvesting Sarpo Mira Potatoes

To recap, I am growing two cultivars

  • Sarpo Mira, the new super blight resistant variety which are supposed to be slug resistant as well.
  • Valor, an older resistant variety

I’m trying to compare the following:

  • Blight Resistance
  • Slug Resistance
  • Yield
  • Taste
  • Keeping Qualities

Neither crop has shown any sign of blight and I’ve not seen much sign of it around so no report there.

Both crops have some slug damage but at first sight the Sarpo seem to have less although where they are damaged they seem more so than the Valor. The Sarpo seems to have a habit of producing tubers nearer the surface and these are more damaged than the lower tubers.

When I harvest, I split the potatoes into:

  • Throw away – too badly damaged, rotten, etc.
  • Those to use first – minor damage, slug chewed but should keep a while
  • Perfect to store – as it reads.

In yield per plant, after throw aways, the Sarpo are slightly ahead.

We?ll sort out perfects from ‘use first? at home and I?ll report further on net yield, as I will on taste and keeping qualities.

I’ve got about two thirds up today and hope to harvest the rest tomorrow before visiting the dentist for three fillings. Scared? Me?

Total quantity so far is probably over 150 lbs ? haven?t weighed them but at least 3 56 lb sacks, I know this is hardly a scientific study but my main aim is self sufficiency in potatoes.

Aberystwyth University has been undertaking trials and the results can be found here

Posted in Allotment Garden Diary Tagged with: , , ,

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