I grow banana potatoes every year and love them a lot. I boil them in the skins and when cooked just rub the skins off. Does anyone else grow them and how big do yours get - mine get to about 5 to 6 inches long with a diameter of 1.5 inches. I read some where that a potato should be cut a day or 2 before planting and the meat of the potato rubbed in potash to help them build op resistance to disease and scabbing.

Any one know how to reduce scabbing it will be my second year in this new garden that I tilled out of a great lawn... lol... I try to reduce the amount of organic matter and stuff that would hold moister and will be tilling in sand this year. When I plant my spuds I make a trench 12 inches deep with the soil mounded on each side of the thence and as they grow push the soil over them…

Sorry, but does the name come from it being long and thin, or is there a unique flavor to the banana potato?

It is shaped like a banana and is yellow inside.
They are very creamy.

Hi Cliver_McGyver..

i wonder if u r referring to Sweet Potatoes...? r u? m very curious abt Banana Potatoes..can u post a pic...of da plant or of da potato..?

I have grown these for many years, and they are the best tasting spud I have ever eaten.
This is my seed I kept from last year.

Hi Clive....

They really look like what we call Sweet Potatoes here.... but m not so sure tho... gotta see da plant or da leaves to b sure...

i have a purple variety in my garden... some time ago i posted some cuttings to a friend (she was a member of da forum..but have not seen her for sooo long) in Texas...

da last time we communicated she said they were growing fine... dunno how they r now...s we seem to have lost contact...

I think this is what you are talking about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato

The banana potato I am speaking of was breed in Canada

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/potpom/var/banana/bananae.shtml


Origin & Breeding: grown in British Columbia for over 90 years. Research indicates that the variety might have been introduced to early settlers and natives by Russian fur traders. The exact origin, parental lines or breeding techniques used in its development are not known.

Hi Clive..

so itz not a sweet potato after all... have learnt something new!!

they look like something sold around here as "yukon gold". only the ones here are a little rounder, but not much. if they are the same, they taste wonderful, and i'd love to grow some, but i have not the first clue if they would grow here in our heat.

does make me want to get some to see if they will set eyes so i can try!

Yes Jiffy, that was what I wondered. Yukon Gold is my favorite potato!!

Yukon Golds are really good. I'm gonna look around and see if I can find some of those banana potatoes to try in my garden--they sure do look good.

I grew Yukons last year. White Cobblers the year before, this year all I found was Kennebec.

I grew Yukon Golds in the row after the red Pontiac's. Banana potatoes are from BC and I am thinking they are the same as the ones that the peasants grew for the Zars. It is believed to be imported from the fur traders of the west coast of Canada. I paid 12 dollars for 8 or 10 seed potatoes.

And can I say I love the red line spell check - with right click and correct - was that always there or could I not see it in Netscape that kept crashing so I went to Firefox and it is GOOD...