Potatoes Limonka – characteristics of the variety, reviews, taste

In recent decades, it is difficult to surprise vegetable growers with any new varieties of vegetable crops - among their wide variety, each farmer finds for himself those types of vegetable crops that are suitable for them for planting in garden beds according to their characteristics.

The same applies to potatoes - vegetable growers grow this vegetable crop with tubers of different colors (pink, white), but many of them are wary of potatoes with yellow skin or pulp. And it’s completely in vain - such tubers are very beneficial for human health, because they contain a lot of carotene. And their taste is simply excellent.

Therefore, summer residents should familiarize themselves with the description of a potato variety with yellow tubers, whose name is Limonka .

History of the variety's creation

Unfortunately, many potato varieties have one significant drawback - their tubers cannot be used for replanting, since it is not possible to obtain a repeated harvest from such tubers.

Potatoes Limonka – characteristics of the variety, reviews, taste

Therefore, breeders from around the world again returned to solving this problem - they tried to breed potatoes that would produce stable yields every year.

One of these recently bred varieties is the Limonka potato , the originator of which is the Dutch agricultural company AGRIKO. This variety was bred by Dutch breeders at the end of the last quarter of the last century.

It quickly became popular among vegetable growers from around the world due to its high yield, the possibility of using seed material for planting in subsequent seasons, ease of care and good resistance to many diseases.

Limonka potatoes were included in the Russian State Register in 1995 and recommended for cultivation in the Central and Central Black Earth regions of the country.

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Pests and diseases

The Limonka variety is resistant to cancer and late blight of tubers. However, potatoes are susceptible to other infections.

Among them:

• leaf roll virus;
• late blight of tops;
• scab.

For prevention during planting, it is necessary to pour antiseptic granules or tablets into the holes. It is advisable to treat the bushes with Bordeaux mixture or other fungicidal preparations.

Plants that have been subjected to leaf curling should be dug up and burned.

Common pests of Limonka potatoes include wireworms, cutworms and click beetle larvae. For prevention, granular insecticides are added to the soil or the bushes are treated with a solution of potassium permanganate. It is imperative to remove weeds and loosen the soil.

Description

This potato variety is late-ripening - at least 4 months pass from the moment the tubers germinate until the harvest is dug up; Limonka potatoes are usually harvested from the last ten days of August to the first ten days of September. And the tops begin to die off approximately 5 months after planting the tubers.

The bushes of this variety are tall, the shoots are thickened and slightly spreading. The foliage is quite large, typical of potatoes - elongated, slightly wrinkled, with sharp tips, dark emerald color.

Potato Limonka

The flowers that appear are small and white.

The tubers are irregularly round-oval in shape with unequal sides. the average weight of one tuber is 110-120 g. The skin is of medium thickness, light yellow or pale brown. The eyes are small, the color of the skin around them is pink. This color makes the tubers very picturesque.

The pulp is slightly compacted, cream-colored with a yellowish tint. The starch content in the pulp is small, no more than 12%. The taste of potatoes is pleasant, with a characteristic potato aroma.

The harvested crop tolerates transportation well at any distance, it can be stored in a cellar for long periods of time, and practically no eyes form on the tubers during the winter.

Ways to preserve potatoes until spring

Plant characteristics

The Limonka potato variety came to us from Holland, where breeders called it Picasso. The name was given for a reason. Descriptions of potatoes usually begin with their unusual color. The tubers are yellow with pink spots, reminiscent of the artist's whimsical work.

Description of Limonka potatoes:

• the bush is tall, spreading, with a powerful stem;
• leaves are dark green, medium size;
• white inflorescences;
• from one bush you can collect root crops of various sizes;

Description of the fruit

The fruits are pear-shaped. The peel is light brown or yellow with pink spots. When cut, the flesh is lemon yellow.

In too dry climates, the fruits take on a tart taste. If all agrotechnical rules are observed, root vegetables have a pleasant sweetish taste and boil well when cooked. Limonka potatoes are used to prepare all kinds of dishes; chips are made from them on an industrial scale.

Root crops do not ripen at the same time. The average weight of a tuber is 100-120 g. From 1 hundred square meters you can collect up to 300 kg of root crops. The starch content is reduced, so root vegetables are perfectly stored.

How to choose a site for planting

The area in which this potato will grow must be well illuminated by sunlight, because the Limonka variety does not grow well even in light partial shade - its tops begin to turn yellow and stretch out in such areas.

Also, this area should be protected from gusts of cold wind, so you can plant Limonka potatoes along the fence or garden buildings.

You should not plant this vegetable crop in lowlands or places where groundwater may come too close to the soil surface - potatoes do not like stagnant moisture in the soil.

Although this vegetable crop can grow on any type of soil, heavy clay soil before planting tubers must be fertilized with a mixture of river sand and rotted manure or compost, otherwise potatoes will not grow on such soil.

Also, when choosing a place for planting, you need to remember the rules of crop rotation and not plant potatoes where vegetables from the nightshade family (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants) or strawberries were grown in the previous area. And the best predecessors for Limonka potatoes will be pumpkins, cabbage, cucumbers, peas, beans, and soybeans.

Landing Features

In Russia, the Limonka variety is best accepted in the Southern and Central regions. It is important to plant potatoes at the right time and properly prepare the site to get a quality harvest.

Landing dates

The variety is quite late, so it is planted in the second half of April, towards the end. In warm southern lands, according to the characteristics, planting is possible a week and a half earlier - while the soil is still quite moist.

The main condition is that the soil for potatoes must warm up to no less than 8°, and the air temperature - up to 12°.

Site preparation

In the fall, the area near Limonka is cleared of debris, dug deep and fertilized with organic matter. Sandy soil with low water flow is best suited for such potatoes. The site is chosen to be sunny, open to light, but inaccessible to the winds.

The ideal predecessor for the crop is rye or mustard. In the spring, a week before planting, the area under the variety is loosened again and fertilizing is applied - peat, compost, or ash.

Planting scheme

Limonka is a very branched and spreading variety; according to its characteristics, it will need a fairly large area. Between two adjacent bushes it is necessary to leave a distance of 50 cm. And the optimal row spacing for this potato is 60-65 cm.

If the plantings grow too densely, you will have to get rid of the weakest bushes - otherwise the rest will not receive enough light. The depth of the holes for potato sprouts is determined based on the climate - in hot weather, Limonka seedlings are planted shallowly, in cool, rainy climates - deeper.

How to prepare a site for planting potatoes

The area for planting tubers should be prepared in the fall. After the entire crop has been harvested, you should remove all remnants of vegetation along with the roots, add compost or humus and dig, incorporating organic matter into the soil.

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But many vegetable growers plant green manure in the vacated area in the fall, approximately 40-45 days before the onset of frost. These plants will rot under the snow during the winter and become a source of useful substances. Before planting potatoes, it is recommended to plant the following plants as green manure:

• lupine;
• alfalfa;
• sweet clover;
• grain crops.

Growing and care

Potatoes require watering, especially during dry periods. During ripening, you don’t have to water it if it rains often enough, and during the period of tuber formation and bush development, abundant irrigation is desirable. It is necessary to water during the period of green mass growth and at the beginning of budding. Use warm water, which should soak the ground to a depth of 50 cm.

During budding and flowering, the number of tubers is laid. If there is a lack of moisture, there will be few of them. If the bush does not have enough water during ripening, the tubers may become small and contain a lot of starch.

Fertilizers are applied only to moist soil. In total, you need to fertilize the bushes three times:

1. 1-2 weeks after germination, nitrogen fertilizers (you can use a solution of mullein or chicken droppings, but weak).
2. At the beginning of budding, superphosphate and potassium sulfate (about 20 g of each drug per bucket of water).
3. As soon as flowering ends, apply a solution of mullein with superphosphate at the root or spray the leaves with a solution of superphosphate.

At the beginning of growth, at a height of 10 cm, the bushes are hilled for the first time. The procedure must be carried out on moist soil after watering or rain. Hill up the second time when the bush grows to 20 cm.

Loosen the soil during weeding. As weeds appear, they are pulled out.

Preparation of planting material

Approximately 30-45 days before planting, planting material is taken out of the cellar and inspected. In this case, you need to discard rotten or damaged tubers.

Important! For planting, it is better to choose medium-sized potatoes with an average weight of about 70 g.

Then the selected seed is laid out in one layer in wooden boxes for germination. Although Limonka can be planted without this procedure, sprouted tubers will sprout faster.

Means for processing potatoes before planting

Also, before planting, the seed material is treated with any growth stimulant, which will protect the plantings from pathogenic microorganisms, and also activate the growth and flowering of potatoes.

Comparison table with other potatoes

How to plant potatoes

These root crops should be planted when the soil warms up to a temperature of +7+9 degrees Celsius, and the threat of return spring frosts has passed approximately in the last ten days of April - the first ten days of May. But in the southern Russian regions, you can plant Limonka potatoes already in the first ten days of April.

Planting holes should be located at a distance of 0.4-0.5 m from each other, and the row spacing is usually 0.6-0.7 m. This distance must be maintained because the growing Limonka potato bushes are quite tall and spreading, and if the plantings are thickened, the plants will not have enough sunlight and nutrients. When planting on heavy soils, the tubers are buried shallowly in the soil (unlike planting on loose soils).

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Harvesting and storing Limonka potato varieties

The duration of its storage will depend on how correctly and on time you collect the potatoes. A withered, yellowed bush is a signal to start harvesting Limonka potatoes. The end of summer or the beginning of autumn is the time to take up the shovel.

About 10 days before harvesting the tubers, you need to mow the tops at a distance of 10 cm from ground level and select weeds.

Root crops dug up in dry weather must be dried in a well-ventilated and shaded place for a couple of days. Then the tubers are sorted. Damaged potatoes should go first for cooking. Small and large are placed in different boxes. Large potatoes last longer.

Potatoes should be stored in a dry, dark and cool room at a temperature of 3–5°C. Air humidity should be 90% or slightly lower. During storage, potatoes should be periodically sorted, removing spoiled tubers.

The sorted tubers are stored in a dark and cool room.

Compliance with irrigation regime

Although this potato variety is resistant to periods of drought, this does not mean that the bushes of this vegetable crop can be watered rarely. Be sure to water this vegetable crop during the period of active bud formation and after the potatoes have flowered. Subsequently, watering is carried out approximately once every 1.5 weeks. If the weather is rainy, then the amount of watering should be reduced. Typically, potatoes are watered up to 6 times during the growth period of the tops.

You can add moisture for planting potatoes into the grooves that remain after hilling the bushes.

Watering is carried out in the evening strictly at the root; care must be taken to ensure that drops of moisture do not fall on the foliage and stems of the potato bushes.

After each watering, it is recommended to loosen the soil around the bushes to ensure access of air and moisture to the potato roots.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

• excellent taste;
• suitable for dietary nutrition due to low starch content;
• attractive appearance;
• keeping quality;
• possibility of transportation over long distances;
• immunity to dangerous viral and fungal diseases;
• ease of care;
• drought resistance.

Disadvantage: predisposition to late blight of tubers and tops.

Reference. According to one version, potatoes came to Europe thanks to the monk Neronim Kordan at the end of the 16th century. But until the end of the 18th century, people did not eat it even during periods of famine, considering the fruits to be poisonous and causing fatal diseases. Potato berries are truly poisonous, and people figured out how to eat the tubers a little later.

Fertilizing

If the soil in the area where Limonka potatoes will grow is not fertile enough, then the taste of the harvested tubers will deteriorate significantly.

Therefore, fertilizers are applied to the soil when preparing a site for planting, when planting seed material, before the first hilling, and during the period of active flowering of bushes.

The best fertilizers for potatoes

When planting tubers, add the following nutrient mixture to the planting holes: 0.7 kg of humus and a handful of wood ash. Before hilling, it is fashionable to water the potato bushes with an infusion of chicken manure. It is prepared as follows: 1 part of the litter is poured with 15 parts of water and infused for 24 hours. Then the solution is filtered and the potato bushes are fed. For each plant, add 1 liter of this infusion. Fertilizing with this infusion should be done immediately after watering so as not to burn the root system of the plants.

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During flowering, this vegetable crop is fed with a solution of potassium sulfate - 30 g of the drug is dissolved in a bucket of water. This amount of fertilizer is enough to water 10 m2 of land.

Fertilizing is stopped approximately 30 days before harvest.

Diseases and parasites

The Limonka variety has good immunity and is not very attractive to various parasitic insects. However, this potato will still require compliance with standard preventive measures for the crop - crop rotation, seed treatment and weeding from weeds.

Late blight

The disease attacks potato tubers and tops, causing them to dry out and leaving rotten marks. Late blight spreads most quickly in lowlands where water drains poorly, so Limonka, according to its characteristics, is best planted in perfectly flat areas.

Pre-planting treatment of tubers with a solution of potassium permanganate will also serve as an excellent prevention. A solution of iodine and milk, as well as the antifungal agent “Trichopol” - one tablet diluted per liter of water - works well to stop the spread of the virus on potatoes. For the prevention of untouched bushes of the Limonka variety, a decoction of garlic with 2 drops of potassium permanganate is suitable.

Curling leaves

The disease appears first on the lower leaves. The tops on potatoes become hard and brittle, their color changes to light brown, the leaves dry out and curl. Most often, according to the characteristics, the infection is transmitted to Limonka from pests - beetles or aphids. To avoid infection, the area under the variety is deeply dug up and fertilized with chicken droppings and ash.

Don’t forget about regular weeding – weeds often provoke the spread of harmful bacteria. Regular tillage between rows is of particular importance. Spraying potatoes with a weak solution of copper sulfate will help fight an already manifested disease. At the same time, all infected Limonka bushes will need to be dug up and burned, burying the ashes deep into the ground.

Alternaria blight

This disease is also known as dry rot. Most often it occurs on potatoes growing in hot, arid climates with strong, dry winds. Alternaria blight is characterized by the appearance of growing brownish-putrefactive marks with a greenish tint on the leaves and tubers.

Potassium fertilizing will serve as a good disease prevention for the Limonka variety. The most effective treatment for Alternaria blight is treating the area with potatoes with fungicides: Utan, Mancozeb, Kuprikol, Thanos, etc. Most often, the virus appears during the period of tops closing. In one season, when the first signs of the disease appear, 3-4 treatments are carried out on potato plantings.

Where to buy seed potatoes with delivery

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