Colette Potatoes

A German potato variety named Colette will be of interest to those who need extra early harvests. The variety is a little capricious, but very tasty and with excellent performance when well cared for. The variety was included in the Russian State Register of Approved Varieties in 2002.

Colette is an ultra-early variety with yellow flesh. This color of tubers is considered one of the most useful. Breeders in some countries deliberately exclude pure white flesh varieties from their programs. Yellow varieties are distinguished by a high content of vitamins, they contain a lot of carotene. Colette is quite demanding for potatoes, will show super-high yields only on well-prepared soils, but its characteristics are sufficient in ordinary areas. Gardeners are satisfied with the taste and harvest, and even call Colette one of the most delicious varieties.

The bush is semi-erect. Leaves are medium, standard green, with barely noticeable waviness. The flowers are medium-sized, lilac.

Tubers are oval, elongated, yellow-skinned, with shallow eyes. The skin is smooth, very pleasant to the touch. The average weight of tubers is 66-125 grams. The pulp is light yellow. The starch content is 12-15%, which is a low to medium starch content. Such varieties have dense, slightly boiling pulp.

The taste is very good, balanced. The tubers are dense, therefore they retain their shape during cooking. Suitable for all types of frying, roasting, soups and salads. Ideal for making chips.

The variety is early maturing, ripening period - 60-70 days. Harvested with preliminary germination after 1.5 months. after landing, in mid-June. In warm regions, cleaning is carried out twice. The yield is friendly.

The maximum yield is 290 c / ha. Marketable yield - 166-217 kg / ha, which corresponds to the level of Zhukovsky early. In the first digging (45th day), you can dig from 113 to 153 c / ha, in the second (after another 10 days) - up to 276 c / ha. The yield of marketable tubers is from 76 to 98%. From 1 bush, 6 to 12 tubers are dug out. The keeping quality of tubers is good, 92%. The dormant period of tubers is long, potatoes are well stored.

The variety is recommended to be grown in the Central and North Caucasian regions of the Russian Federation. It grows just as well in the Volga-Vyatka region. Growing Colette in colder, wetter climates faces a number of challenges.

The tubers are germinated before planting. This is what allows you to get a crop twice a season. Planted in warm soil warmed up to 5 ° C. The distance between the holes is 25-30 cm, in the row spacing - 70 cm.

The variety loves good watering, the yield and caliber of tubers directly depend on the moisture supply.

Colette loves feeding. One of the possible options: 50 g of nitrogen, 100 g of potassium, 30 g of a little phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, boron, copper. This amount of minerals is applied in 1 season in several doses: nitrogen in the spring, phosphorus and potassium during the season. Colette is a fast variety, so it is easier to fertilize the soil when digging, or when planting, add 1 glass of humus and 1 tbsp. spoon of sifted wood ash.

3 weeks before harvesting, stop any feeding, watering and processing by any means. The tops are cut 1 week before harvesting.

The Colette variety has no specific soil requirements. It does not belong to the most hardy varieties that are capable of producing good yields in clay soils, but it is not the most demanding either. The needs of the variety correspond to the wishes of the culture as a whole. You need a light, fertile, very loose soil, into which you can easily immerse your hand up to the elbow. Recommendations for the preparation of various types of soil for planting Colette.

1. Clay. Green manure is plowed in, fine gravel, broken brick, coarse sand, humus, manure, peat, rotted sawdust are brought in.

2. Sandy. They need increased nutritional value. Humus, rotted manure, ash, phosphorus fertilizers are introduced.

3. Black earth and peat - ideal for potatoes. But black soil can be too fat, oily-dense for Colette, therefore, loosening components are added. And peat bogs are poor in maintenance, they are improved by introducing organic matter and minerals.

4. Podzolic soils are difficult for all crops, not just potatoes. They are both lean in content and dense. Long-term cultivation will be required, or instead of Colette it is better to plant more hardy varieties: Nevsky revitalized, Ostara, Rosamund.

The best soils for potatoes are sandy loams and loams with a slightly acidic reaction pH 5.1-6.0.

The variety is susceptible to the main problem of potatoes - late blight of leaves and tubers. This is especially true for pathogens of the Moscow and Sakhalin regions - according to scientists from the All-Russian Research Institute of Phytopathology. The issue is partially solved by the fact that the variety is early, in warm regions the harvest is harvested before the mass spread of the late blight pathogen.

Otherwise, the Colette variety has a good innate immunity. It shows good resistance to cancer, golden nematode, blackleg. Slightly less resistant to common scab, PVY and PLRV viruses.

Reviews of Colette potatoes are inspiring, they are all positive, without exception. Criticism is rare, and concerns small and subjective things, for example, the shape of the tubers. Pros of the variety: early and friendly return, excellent caliber of tubers, they are even and beautiful, good keeping quality.The taste was highly praised: the potatoes are tender and moderately crumbly, wonderfully suitable for frying, deep-fried they are amazingly tasty. The variety is resistant to the golden nematode, which is important for regions and areas where this pest, which is not amenable to any control methods, was found. Cons: not very suitable for cooking, slightly washed out, the harvest is not always impressive, it can be crushed.

This variety is worth considering for anyone looking for a very early maturing and very tasty potato.