Content
High yielding and unpretentious table potatoes Innovator has been present on the Russian market for more than ten years. Due to the plant's resistance to weather conditions, it has spread to many regions.
Origin story
The Innovator variety is a product of the labor of Dutch breeders of the HZPC Holland B.V. company. In Russia, a new variety of potatoes intended for commercial production has been grown since 2005, when it entered the State Register. Recommended for all central and Volga regions, i.e. climatic conditions of the middle zone of the country. But it gained popularity in Siberia and the southern steppe regions. Now many farms are included in the State Register as domestic originators of seed material of the Innovator variety: from the Moscow region, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk regions, Stavropol Territory, Tatarstan.
Description and characteristics
Stable yields have made the Innovator medium early potatoes popular among industrial crop growers. Harvesting begins after 75-85 days of plant development. They get 320-330 centners per hectare. The maximum yield of the Innovator variety was obtained in the Kirov region: 344 c / ha. On personal plots from 1 m2 you can collect potatoes from 15 to 30 kg. The marketability of the crop is from 82 to 96%, there are few small tubers.
Potato bush Innovator develops up to 60-70 cm in height. Semi-erect, spreading stems grow quickly, with medium foliage. Large leaves are slightly wavy, light green. Many white, large flowers. Berries are rarely formed.
The tubers of the Innovator variety are oval, oblong, covered with a light yellow rough skin, with small, flat eyes. In the nest, from 6 to 11 large, uniform potatoes are formed, weighing from 83 to 147 g. Light creamy flesh of the Innovator potato is dense, slightly boiled, after cooking or freezing it retains a pleasant color. Contains 12-15% starch, 21.3% dry matter. The tasting score is 3 and 4 points.
The Innovator variety, due to its dense structure, has established itself as one of the best for preparing salads, French fries, baking in foil, frying or stewing. Tubers are used to make chips, mashed potatoes.
The keeping quality of the variety reaches 95%, with an average dormancy period. Potatoes Innovator endures mechanical damage, is suitable for long-distance transportation, is stored for 3-4 months, which is a good indicator for an early variety.
Planting varieties Innovator are resistant to typical diseases: pale potato nematode, potato cancer. But the golden potato cyst nematode parasitizes the plant. The innovator demonstrates average resistance to late blight and scab. The variety is susceptible to the fungal disease rhizoctonia and attacks of the Colorado potato beetle.
Advantages and disadvantages
Landing
For the Innovator variety, according to potato growers, any soils are suitable, although it works best on fertile sandy loam soils with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction. In such areas, water does not stagnate, and oxygen easily penetrates to the tubers. Heavy clay soils need structuring, adding sawdust or sand per 1 m bucket2... The acidity is lowered by adding 500 g of lime or 200 g of dolomite flour. In the spring, a glass of wood ash is placed in the holes.The soil is prepared and fertilized with humus, compost, superphosphate during autumn plowing.
In the middle climatic zone, the Innovator potatoes are planted in May, when the soil temperature rises to 7 ° C. A month and a half before planting, seed potatoes are taken out of storage, sorted out and germinated.
- Lay out the tubers in 2-3 layers;
- Indoor temperature is not higher than 17 ° С;
- Before planting, tubers without seedlings are discarded and treated with growth stimulants according to the instructions;
- Also, the tubers are sprayed with special pre-planting insecticides directed against the Colorado potato beetle;
- Layout of nests for the Innovator potato variety: 70 x 25-40 cm. Small tubers are planted more densely, and large ones less often.
Care
The plot with Innovator potatoes is regularly loosened, removing weeds... If necessary, the beds are watered if the weather is hot. For potatoes, watering in the bud phase and after flowering is important.
Hilling and feeding
After rains or watering, hilling is carried out at least three times, having managed to form high ridges before the Innovator potato blooms. They are fed by sprinkling mullein (1:10) or poultry droppings (1:15) between the rows. These fertilizers are also available for sale. Before the first hilling under the root of the Innovator variety, 500 ml of a solution of 20 g of urea or ammonium nitrate is poured into 10 liters of water.
Diseases and pests
| Disease / pests | Signs | Control measures |
| Late blight | The leaves have brown spots. White bloom underneath | Hilling potatoes until the leaves close in the bush. Spraying with copper sulfate 15 days after germination |
| Rhizoctonia | Infection could take place through the planting of tubers with rough black spots. Black rotting spots on the bottom of the stems, white bloom on the leaves | Spraying tubers before planting with boric acid - 1% solution or fungicide Ditan M-45 (80%) |
| Powdery scab | White growths are noticeable on the stems, which turn brown and crushed over time | Before laying, the tubers are treated with a 5% solution of copper sulfate |
| Golden potato cyst nematode | Small microscopic worms live on the roots. During flowering, the plant turns yellow, the lower leaves fall off. The roots become fibrous. The nematode remains in the form of a cyst and spreads easily, remains viable for up to 10 years | The tops and all plant residues are burned. On the site, potatoes are planted after 4 years |
Harvesting
Before harvesting Innovator potatoes, you need to make sure that a thick skin has already formed on the tubers. Potatoes harvested in the technical maturity phase will keep better.
Conclusion
The variety for dining purposes deserves more attention from large farms and owners of personal plots. Resistance to a number of diseases makes it easy to grow. High marketability, productivity and keeping quality provide attractiveness.
