One of the most outstanding colored potato varieties - Surprise: description and reviews

Description and characteristics of the variety

Potato Surprise belongs to the line of late species. It takes 115-125 days to ripen. Tubers are formed of large and medium sizes, the shape is uniform - elongated oval.

Pink Surprise has an attractive appearance - the vegetable has a beautiful smooth skin of deep pink color. The cut of the core is also pinkish-red. The tubers have excellent taste in any form - boiled, fried, stewed. They can be grated into fresh salads.

The bushes are medium-sized, with strong shoots. The height of the stems is 55-65 cm. There are 10-12 tubers in 1 nest. When flowering, the buds are colored red-violet. The foliage and branching are good.

What you should know about tubers:

Potatoes have a more pronounced color when cultivated in heavy loams and chernozems (up to a light ruby ​​hue). In sandy loam, the tubers are light pink. With high humidity, the color is higher.

Potato Surprise was created by Russian farmers on the basis of the All-Russian Research Institute named after A.G. Lorja. Originator: Meteor x Bora Valley.

Propagation by seeds

FORUMHOUSE user Ukilful talks about his experience of propagating colored potatoes by seeds.

Before planting, the seeds are heated on a radiator for a week, then soaked for a week.

The soil is being prepared (you can take soil for tomatoes and mix it with vermiculite and agroperlite in a 1:1:1 ratio). The seeds are laid out and sprinkled on top by 0.5 cm.

Shoots appear in a week, and on the ninth day they are picked.

Due to lack of light, the sprouts will begin to rapidly stretch. This problem is solved by a second pick into larger cassettes. At the beginning of May you will have strong plants that can be planted in the beds in the middle of the month.

There is no need to feed the seedlings. The lack of light can be eliminated by backlighting.

Colored potatoes are less resistant to low temperatures. But we will show you what results have been achieved by users of our portal who live far from the south.

Here are colored potatoes with blue and red flesh grown by our portal user Andrey 3812 from Omsk:

Mahonia tastes potatoes with colored flesh that she grows in her garden.

Purple Majesty – delicious, crumbly potatoes. Of the reds, semi-crumbly Cranberry Red turned out to be tastier than the others. Rosemarie – for frying, non-crumbly. There is no bitter taste in any variety.

Source

Landing

A month before planting, the tubers are brought into warm rooms (temperature at 14-15 degrees). Sprout on the floor, laying out 2-3 pieces in a layer; you can also place the seeds in 1.5 kg bags.

Planting dates are from the first days of May, when the earth steadily warms up to 11-12 degrees. 5-6 bushes are placed per 1 m2.

Description and characteristics of the variety

Potato Surprise belongs to the line of late species. It takes 115-125 days to ripen. Tubers are formed of large and medium sizes, the shape is uniform - elongated oval.

Pink Surprise has an attractive appearance - the vegetable has a beautiful smooth skin of deep pink color. The cut of the core is also pinkish-red. The tubers have excellent taste in any form - boiled, fried, stewed. They can be grated into fresh salads.

The bushes are medium-sized, with strong shoots. The height of the stems is 55-65 cm. There are 10-12 tubers in 1 nest. When flowering, the buds are colored red-violet. The foliage and branching are good.

What you should know about tubers:

Potatoes have a more pronounced color when cultivated in heavy loams and chernozems (up to a light ruby ​​hue). In sandy loam, the tubers are light pink. With high humidity, the color is higher.

Table of the best potato varieties with descriptions

Toucan variety

Next in alphabetical order is the Toucan variety. Mid-early variety, suitable for the production of chips. The leaf is medium sized, intermediate, green to dark green. Marketable yield is 103-301 c/ha, at the level and 149 c/ha higher than the Nevsky standard. The maximum yield is 394 c/ha, at the standard level (Tula region).

Photo of the Toucan variety

The pulp is light yellow. The weight of the marketable tuber is 94-118 g, oval-round with eyes of medium depth. The peel is yellow. Starch content 15.0-16.5%. Taste is good and excellent. Marketability 89-97%. Keeping quality 95%.

Resistant to the causative agent of potato cancer, resistant to wrinkled mosaic golden potato cyst nematode.

Potato variety Udalets

And our next potato variety in alphabetical order is Udalets. The yield of the UDALETS variety is 213-496 c/ha, 43-248 c/ha higher than the Nevsky and Dachny standards. The maximum yield is 602 c/ha, 259 c/ha higher than the Svitanok Kiev standard (Omsk region).

The photo shows the potato variety Udalets

The peel is smooth, yellow. The pulp is white. The weight of the marketable tuber is 177-392 g, oval with very small eyes.

The starch content of the UDALETS potato variety is 12.3-16.2%. The taste is good. Marketability 86-91%. Keeping quality 94%.

Resistant to the potato canker pathogen, weakly affected by the golden potato cyst nematode.

The tops and tubers are moderately susceptible to the causative agent of late blight.

Advantages:

• high safety;
• starch content about 13%;
• variety resistance to late blight;
• growing on any type of soil;
• high yield.

Flaws:

• degenerates after a few years.

Recommended for a large number of regions:

1. Volgo-Vyatsky
2. Central
3. Far East
4. Central Black Earth Region
5. North Caucasus.

Variety Fritella

The next potato variety in alphabetical order is Fritella. Fritella potatoes are a mid-season variety. The tubers are beige, elongated oval in shape. The peel is smooth, the eyes are superficial.

Photo of potato variety Fritella

Number of tubers in a bush: 6-10 pieces, white pulp, weight 120-150 g. Potential yield 550-480 c/ha.

Potato variety is disease resistant:

• potato cancer;
• Alternaria blight;
• rhizoctoniasis;
• moderately resistant to common scab;
• late blight of tops and tubers;
• relatively resistant to ring rot.

Recommended regions for cultivation North-Western, Central Black Earth

Variety Folva

Selected in Denmark.

Advantages:

• good resistance to degeneration;
• high yield of this variety.

Flaws:

• Small and medium-sized potato tubers make up about 70% of the crop.

The most productive potato varieties - video

Table of characteristics of early potato varieties

Variety Escort

Selected in Holland.

Advantages:

• long storage;
• the variety does not degenerate;
• highly profitable variety.

Flaws:

• Use only for winter storage.

All potato varieties, both early and mid-ripening, have their own pros and cons of selection, so which type to grow is up to each potato grower to decide individually.

Variety Yanka

And the last potato variety in alphabetical order is Yanka. Yanka is a mid-season table variety. The shoot is erect, the tops are spreading. The inflorescences are purple, bloom quickly and fall off just as quickly.

The photo shows the Yanka potato variety

The berries appear very rarely. The shape is oval-round, the average weight is 90 - 100 g. Up to 12 large tubers are formed on the rhizome. The peel is yellow, moderately thin. The pulp is dense, juicy, creamy or light yellow. The starch content is moderate, ranging from 14.8 to 15.4%

Advantages:

• good yield;
• collected tubers are stored for a long time;
• Can be planted on any soil.

Flaws:

• Potatoes do not resist rhizoctonia blight well.

History of selection in Russia

Russian breeders began to grow potatoes with colored pulp quite recently, in 2007. But this crop is far from new in our gardens. Before the revolution, the well-known company of Grachev breeders could order potatoes with red and blue flesh.

Soviet breeders did not deal with colored potatoes. They had other tasks ahead of them; there was no time for self-indulgence - to feed all those in need, to fulfill the food program brought from Moscow. Scientists began working closely on potatoes with colored pulp again several years ago, and now in Russia about 10 breeding groups are working on this task.

In the near future, each breeding group will have 1-3 varieties with these characteristics, and the market will be filled.

Potatoes with colored pulp also captivate amateurs.

I knew about the existence of colored potatoes for a long time, but then it came with terrible force.

Potato growers are attracted not only by the unusual color of the root vegetable, although blue mashed potatoes or red fries always make a very strong impression on guests. Russian research institutes of potato farming began to work closely on developing varieties of colored potatoes suitable for our climate when it became known about the beneficial properties of carotenoids contained in this crop. Colored potatoes contain plant glycosides, also known as antioxidants - these are the substances that color the pulp of blueberries, cherries, eggplant peel and slow down the aging of the body... But the main thing is that, unlike regular potatoes, potatoes with colored pulp are not prohibited for diabetics - they can be eaten in baked, and this does not affect sugar levels.

Varieties of colored potatoes: tested and new

Colored potatoes are especially popular in America and Germany.

Common American varieties:

Common European varieties:

The most delicious variety is Vitelotte, by the way, it has the highest content of antioxidants. But this variety of colored potatoes has “ugly spindle-shaped” tubers, which turns many people off.

In our conditions, it is not possible to obtain good yields of American and, with rare exceptions, European potato varieties with colored pulp; they are all “carried by viruses and late blight.” The fact is that, according to FORUMHOUSE experts, foreign breeders are not working to increase plant resistance to diseases and pests.

In the world, this type of potato is left to organic farmers, and they conjure protection only with Bordeaux mixture.

The most popular variety of Russian selection can be called Violet, known for its high content of antioxidants and flavanoids - it can be eaten by people with diabetes. The variety is not early, but its starch content does not exceed 12-13%.

This potato has oval tubers, weighing on average 70 grams, with a bright purple color of the peel and pulp. It is resistant to cancer, moderately resistant to late blight, and susceptible to potato nematode. The taste and keeping quality are characterized by breeders as excellent.

Productivity depends on growing conditions and reaches 250 kilograms per hundred square meters.

For people who complain about the productivity of Violet, breeders recommend “disassembling the planting”: where, when and under what conditions it was carried out, what the air and soil temperature was, what the soil was like, the width of the rows and between plants, whether fertilizers were used, including, organic.

Unlike some other varieties of our selection, Violet does not lose the color of the pulp during cooking, especially if it is boiled with its skin on.

The Lilac variety is the same as Violet, but Lilac is the very first Russian potato that appeared on the market back in 2009. Purple is the final type of Lilac registered in the State Register.

Other well-known varieties of Russian selection:

There are blight-resistant colored ones, and there are virus-resistant ones. But such material is still damp; the speed of supply determines demand.

Given this, you should not neglect health improvement: treat the tubers before planting to help the sprouts emerge strong and healthy. There are medications that will protect against wireworms, Colorado potato beetles, and fungal diseases. It's not something that organic farming advocates will get excited about, but it's "more environmentally friendly than chasing a bug under a net."

Features of cultivation

Considering the “dampness” of the material, we can say that the agricultural technology of colored potatoes is no different from the agricultural technology of the familiar, one might say, native light potato. Like light potatoes, colored potatoes are watered 3-4 times (in normal summers) and twice as often in dry ones. It is important that abundant watering does not turn into excessive: this can reduce the shelf life of the root crop, especially if the potato beds are shaded by the garden.

When dealing with small root tubers, there is a temptation to save soil, but this is wrong.

UnskilfulFORUMHOUSE User

Close planting, in a row of 20 cm, is normal for planting potatoes from seeds or planting seedlings from seeds, also from seeds. Commercial (for food) potatoes need to be planted 30 cm and 70 cm apart between rows, or in paired rows 30x40x30 apart.

There are many ways to plant and process tubers - try them and you will find the best one for yourself.

The yield and size of tubers largely depends on the land, but size rarely matters - the main thing is that the potatoes are treated less often with chemicals.

There is an old method that allows you to make a potato variety more productive. Breeder Alexey Med talks about it at FORUMHOUSE. According to him, in Russian villages they always exchanged seeds, and it was desirable that the one with whom you exchanged lived somewhere far away. This method is called the “first year effect” and is still used in modern experiments by scientists.

The fact is that in the first year on the plot, potatoes almost always produce a harvest of better quality than in subsequent years. This happens for a number of reasons.

What causes the “first year effect”

• other food;
• different soil structure,
• other infestation with diseases and pests.

Good potato harvests come in waves, along a chain: your neighbor got good seeds of a new variety, you took them for the next year, so your neighbor had a good harvest this year, you had a good harvest next year, and so on. Therefore, the value of a variety is determined, among other things, by what it shows in the second and subsequent years of cultivation.

This method can be used by alternating where to plant potatoes, especially if you have a large area with different types of soil.

Alexey Med User FORUMHOUSE

My potatoes grew on clay, they were bad, but when they were transferred to well-developed sands they gave a phenomenal harvest throughout the year. I used it like this for 6 years, but it continued to be no good on clay (unlike other varieties).