"Some Of The Cultivars Did Not Even Form A Tuber" - Potatoes Don't Do Well On Warmer Earth

[hatrack]

Potato crops do not perform well in high temperatures, according to a new research paper, and that could be a problem as the weather warms with climate change.

Om Rajora, one of the authors of the study, said they tested 55 different varieties, or cultivars, of potatoes, including russet Burbank, a workhorse of the potato industry. The study was published earlier this month in Canadian Science Publishing's Botany journal.

None of the cultivars performed very well. The plants actually grew bigger in the heat, but the key factor for farmers — tuber production — fell dramatically. "The plants increased their chlorophyll content overall, but potato tuber yield decreased by 93 per cent," said Rajora, who is a professor at the University of New Brunswick. "Some of the cultivars did not even form a tuber."

Even the best-performing cultivars had a 70 per cent reduction in yield. The russet Burbank produced just one tuber. The researchers grew half the cultivars in daytime temperatures of 35 C and nighttime temperatures of 28 C. The control group was grown in 18 C to 22 C temperatures, closer to the climate where potatoes evolved in the Andes in South America.

EDIT

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-climate-change-potato-industry-1.4952282

[Farmer-Rick]

1. I learned that the hard way

A while back it was all the rage to plant potatoes in tires filled with good soil. As the plant grew, another tire with soil was added, and another until the end of the season. Since our top soil is very thin before you hit shale, and used tires are free, this sounded like a great way for us to grow potatoes without using our scarce garden area.

At the end of the season, we had big seven tire tall plants in 3 different areas. But as we took off each tire and the rich damp soil came spilling out, all we got were tiny little potatoes if we got any at all. In one tower the soil got a bit dry and the few potatoes looked as if they had been cooked.

The problem: big black tires in the southern heat of summer. Unlike in deep soil that stays cooler (especially with mulch) and gets cooler the deeper the plant goes. The tires absorbed the heat and made them nice tall heat sinks. Live and learn

[hatrack]

2. Spray paint the tires white?

The modular/portable concept is cool, but yeah, the heat sink problem.

[Farmer-Rick]

3. I tried that later but it still got too hot

They didn't cook that time. They just didn't produce much.

[hatrack]

4. Oh well . . .

It sounded like a good idea, I guess . . . . If I had to add up my gardening failures, I'd run out of numbers.