Early maturing drought-resistant potato variety "Red Lady" for long-term storage

Characteristics of Red Lady potatoes

The variety was developed by scientists from Germany. After lengthy research, in 2008 the variety was recognized by the State Register and immediately gained great popularity among summer residents for its ease of care and early ripening.

Red Lady is an ideal variety that can grow and develop even under unfavorable weather conditions. Therefore, it is recommended to grow it in the Central, Caucasus, Volga-Vyatka regions and the Far East.

Red Lady potatoes are an early ripening variety. About 50 days pass from planting to harvest, but for long-term storage of the crop, the bushes are dug up after 3 months. The culture has a spreading, compact bush with dark green foliage. The variety is immune to diseases and pests, is not afraid of drought and is resistant to heat.

Advice! The Red Lady variety is universal in use; it can be stewed, fried, mashed, chips and French fries.

Agrotechnical techniques

There is nothing difficult about growing Dutch potatoes. The Lady Claire potato variety can be planted both in open ground and in a greenhouse (relevant for northern regions). Any soil will do, as long as it is loose and nutritious and does not retain moisture.

The technology for planting potatoes is proposed as follows:

1. A couple of weeks before planting, potato tubers should be brought to a warm place for germination. You can germinate Lady Claire potatoes in the sand or in the open air.
2. Immediately before planting, it is recommended to treat potatoes with special chemical compounds or a solution of potassium permanganate. This will protect the tubers from pests.
3. The soil on the site must be loosened in advance, weeds and their roots must be selected, and fertilizers must be spread (peat, wood ash, humus).
4. The recommended planting pattern for the Lady Claire variety is as follows: 35x60 cm. The depth of the holes should not be more than ten centimeters, since in this case the tubers may rot even before germination.

Rules of care

Lady Claire potatoes are not capricious, so caring for them is easy:

• Hill up the sprouted bushes, forming high ridges around them (as in the photo below);

• water during periods of prolonged drought, avoiding waterlogging of the soil;
• fertilize the bushes once with mineral compounds based on potassium and phosphorus (this is best done before the Lady Claire potatoes bloom);
• you can carry out foliar treatment of potatoes with superphosphate dissolved in water (this should be done a couple of weeks before harvesting);
• treat potato bushes with insecticides, monitor the health of the plants;
• Weed the rows regularly or use organic mulch.

The dug up potatoes must be dried. To do this, the tubers are laid out at the edge of the plot or under a canopy. After some time, the potatoes need to be sorted and removed for storage.

Pros and cons of the Red Lady potato variety

Red Lady potatoes, according to gardeners, have their positive and negative qualities. The advantages include:

• early ripening and long growing season;
• good taste;
• immunity to diseases;
• good shelf life and transportation;
• high content of useful substances.

The disadvantages include:

• for a bountiful harvest, you need to regularly apply complex mineral fertilizers;
• the quality of the harvest is affected by the length of daylight hours;
• If care is not followed, late blight often occurs.

Description of tubers

Red lady potatoes have red skin color. The pulp of table varieties is usually white. Yellow varieties of potatoes were previously considered fodder. At least Soviet breeders once bred such tubers exclusively for pig farms. However, now many table varieties have appeared that have yellow flesh. The “red lady” also belongs to them. Judging by the reviews, the taste of its tubers is simply excellent. The pulp contains about 12.5-16.8% starch.

The size of potatoes of this variety is quite large. One tuber can weigh on average 114-142 grams. The shape of the “red lady” potato is neat, even, slightly elongated. The skin of the tubers is reticulate, flaky, and the eyes are superficial.

Planting and caring for Red Lady potatoes

To harvest large potatoes, you need to choose the right place, prepare planting material and follow the rules of care. The Red Lady variety is unpretentious and suitable for both experienced and novice gardeners.

Selection and preparation of a landing site

Varietal potatoes prefer to grow in a sunny place in sandy, light soil. The bed is prepared in the fall, the ground is dug up, organic matter is added and covered with mulch.

A good harvest can be obtained on land where carrots, beets, cucumbers, legumes and cereals previously grew.

Important! If you plant several varieties nearby, you can lose varietal characteristics, since during flowering the plants will begin to cross-pollinate.

Preparation of planting material

Before planting, it is necessary to sort and prepare planting material. First of all, medium-sized tubers are selected, without mechanical damage or signs of rot. The fruits should not be dense, weighing up to 100 g.

To get an early harvest, the tubers need to be sprouted. To do this, they are kept for 3 weeks in a well-lit place. You can also germinate tubers in plastic bags:

• take plastic bags and make small holes in them for ventilation;
• Up to 10 fruits are placed in 1 bag;
• Thanks to the greenhouse effect, germination occurs after 2 weeks.

After the emergence of seedlings, the planting material is treated with a growth stimulator. For this you can use drugs:

• "Prestige";
• "Matador";
• "Kaiser".

Landing rules

Depending on the region, varietal potatoes can be planted from late April to early June. The main requirement is that the soil warms up to 10 degrees and the absence of night frosts.

Advice! Many gardeners adhere to folk wisdom: if the bird cherry blossoms, it means it’s time to plant potatoes.

The landing pattern is simple:

• the interval between rows is half a meter;
• between holes – 35 cm;
• planting depth – 10 cm.

To make it easier to care for and harvest, experienced gardeners recommend staggered planting. Add 1 tsp to each prepared well. ammophos or a handful of wood ash. The tubers are sprinkled with earth, the soil is compacted, watered generously and mulched.

Caring for Red Lady potatoes is easy. It consists of weeding, hilling, watering and fertilizing.

Watering and fertilizing

Red Lady potatoes are a drought-resistant variety. Therefore, abundant watering is carried out during flowering, since during this period the fruits are formed.

Fertilizing is applied several times per season:

1. When seedlings appear, 500 g of mullein and urea are used per 10 liters. Consumption per bush is about 0.5 liters.
2. At the budding stage, add 15 g of double superphosphate, potassium sulfate and 100 g of wood ash to a bucket of water. For 1 bush, 0.5 liters of solution is consumed.
3. When flowering, a month before harvesting, add 30 g of superphosphate and 250 ml of slurry to 10 liters of water.

Loosening and weeding

Weeding is carried out as the weed grows. When weeding potato beds, you should not remove all weeds; you need to get rid of fast-growing and thorny specimens. You can leave the small change, since when weeding and hilling, their root system is damaged, and the plant dries out over time.

Loosening is necessary for better penetration of oxygen to the root system. The first procedure is carried out after the seedlings have germinated by 10 cm and continues every 2-3 days until the tops close. The soil must be loosened between the bushes and between the rows.

The frequency of loosening depends on the type of soil. For light, sandy soil, 2-3 times per season is sufficient; clayey soil is loosened after each irrigation.

Hilling

Hilling is carried out several times per season. It is necessary so that the stolons, and therefore the tubers, ripen faster.

Important! Stolons are formations on the root system on which tubers develop.

Hilling affects the quality and quantity of the harvest. It is carried out in 2 ways:

1. Classic - the earth is raked into the bed from the row spacing. Thanks to early hilling, the tops are covered by ½ soil, builds up an additional root system and increases productivity.
2. Fan - with this method, the soil is not raked on the sides, but placed inside the bush. The technique is simple: the stems are carefully pushed apart in different directions and the middle is covered with earth. Thanks to the access of sunlight to the entire plant, the yield increases by 2 times.

Advice! The first hilling is after the emergence of seedlings, the second – a month after the first.

Landing technology

The tubers of this potato are usually placed on the field according to a pattern of 25 x 50 cm. “Red Lady” ripens early. His bushes are quite compact. Therefore, it is not necessary to leave too much distance between plants. The planting depth of tubers of this variety should be 5-6 cm. If the potatoes have not been germinated, this figure should be increased to 8-10 cm.

Plant red lady tubers in the holes. A little manure and ash are first poured into each.

Diseases and pests

Red Lady potatoes, judging from the description of the variety, have strong immunity to many diseases, but are very sensitive to late blight.

Late blight is a dangerous fungal disease that often affects potato tubers. The fungus develops intensively in rainy and warm weather. The first signs of the disease:

• dark spots appear on the leaves;
• the tops become brown and dry out over time.

Advice! To prevent the disease, it is necessary to grow potatoes after mustard.

When the disease appears, the bushes are treated with Agat or Ridomil solutions.

If the care rules are not followed, Red Lady, like other potato varieties, may develop:

1. Leaf chlorosis. The disease can be detected by the foliage; it turns yellow with pronounced green veins. You can get rid of the disease by treating the plant with copper sulfate.
2. Black scab. When the disease occurs, the growth and development of the plant stops.
3. Brown bacterial rot. This disease affects tubers. The disease manifests itself during the flowering period. The leaves turn yellow, wrinkle and wither.

The most common pests are Colorado potato beetles. They often appear on crops grown in regions with warm climates. The pest is dangerous to crops for several reasons:

• due to great gluttony, the bushes completely disappear in a short time;
• the beetle is very tenacious, it is not afraid of the cold, insects are capable of falling into suspended animation and hibernate underground;
• fly from plant to plant;
• quickly get used to insecticides.

Review of advantages and disadvantages

Before choosing one or another potato variety, farmers weigh the pros and cons. The advantages of the vegetable are the first to be brought to the attention of farmers.

1. Stable yield (300-350 kg per hundred square meters).
2. Beautiful commercial tubers that are highly valued by consumers.
3. Dense peel, resistant to mechanical damage.
4. The shallow location of the eyes reduces the number of potato peelings.
5. Culinary versatility. After heat treatment, the color changes slightly.
6. Decent taste characteristics.
7. High resistance to potato diseases (see table).
8. Drought resistance.
9. A significant percentage of tubers keeping quality during storage (92%).
10. Possibility of cultivation on an industrial scale and in private farmsteads.

Among the disadvantages of Red Lady are:

• susceptibility of tops to late blight (while tubers are less sensitive to this pathogen);
• Potatoes need long daylight hours and fertile soil.

Storage

You can determine the time to collect tubers by looking at the foliage; it begins to turn yellow and fade. The main condition is to harvest before the first frost.

Potato bushes are carefully dug up with a shovel or pitchfork, the bush is pulled out by the tops, the tubers are separated and placed in a bucket. After harvesting, you need to sort out the potatoes. To do this, it is sorted by size and all spoiled vegetables are removed. Tubers with minor mechanical damage, cuts and dents are used first.

To preserve the harvest as long as possible, it is treated with copper sulfate (2 g of powder per 10 liters of water). The prepared tubers are placed in a box and placed in a dry, ventilated, dark and cool room.

Growing rules

Proper care will ensure a good potato harvest

Before planting in the ground, potatoes are treated with a solution of potassium permanganate or special compounds.

During planting, the tubers are not cut, as this leads to their rapid spoilage. For the germination of root crops, it is better to grow them outdoors in boxes filled with sand. To ensure plant safety, the soil is treated with copper-containing preparations and insecticides.

Seed preparation

The species may not degenerate for several years, so it is used as planting material for the next year. Despite this, farmers recommend renewing seeds every 5 years and not growing old tubers.

Seeds are germinated approximately 14 days before planting in the ground. To do this, the seeds are placed in small boxes, which are then put away in a warm but dark place. Some farmers like to cut the planting material into several parts, but such actions are contraindicated: the potatoes do not germinate.

It is necessary to ensure that the vegetables contain live eyes in the absence of sprouts. In this case, the peel should be smooth and unwrinkled.

Planting in the soil

Potatoes of this variety are planted in the soil when it warms up to at least 12°C.

Planting methods include traditional smooth and ridge planting. The option of planting seed material in so-called trenches is not excluded. This process must be carried out in rows, the distance between which should be approximately 25-30 cm. The depth at which the seed should be placed should be 70-80 cm.

Reviews of Red Lady potatoes

Ilyinskaya Ekaterina Georgievna, 65 years old, Voronezh

I am an experienced gardener. Every year I grow potatoes on the plot. I found out about the early ripening Red Lady variety, planted it and was not disappointed. The harvest was abundant, the tubers were tasty, not watery, with a beautiful color and strong skin. I especially like the fact that the crop ripens 2 months after planting and in the summer you can eat your own young potatoes.

Efremov Nikolay Andreevich, 56 years old, Anapa

I have been planting the Red Lady variety for a long time. Productivity is high, good taste. Over time, productivity decreased. I couldn’t understand why, but it turned out that the variety cannot be planted in one place for more than 5 years in a row. I changed the place and the variety began to surprise with renewed vigor. I recommend the unpretentious Red Lady potatoes to everyone.