The Picasso potato variety is a bright representative of the Dutch selection. Like other varieties bred in Holland, it has excellent taste, good disease resistance and high yield. We will tell you about the distinctive features of this variety, as well as about caring for it below.
Characteristics of the variety
The Picasso potato is a late-ripening potato that can only be harvested after 110 to 130 days. Taking into account such ripening periods, as well as the general unpretentiousness of the variety, the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation recommends planting it in the Central and Central Black Earth regions.
These potatoes cannot boast of the compact size of their bushes. At the same time, they stand out not only for their height, but also for their width. The spreading tops are composed of large, dark green leaves that have good curl resistance. During flowering, white flowers are visible among the large leaves of this variety.
Each bush can form up to 20 tubers. Potatoes, like bushes, do not differ in miniature size. They are large and heavy, with an average weight of 80 to 140 grams. In their shape, they are similar to a rounded oval. A distinctive feature of Picasso is the color of the potatoes. It was thanks to her that this variety was named after Pablo Picasso, the great Spanish artist.
The light yellow color of the skin of the potato, with pink spots around its eye, obviously reminded the breeders of Picasso's paintings from the "pink period" of his work. The flesh of potatoes has a classic cream or milky white color. The starch in it is at a low level - only 10-12%. This potato tastes excellent. It does not darken when sliced and does not boil soft during cooking. In addition, potatoes have excellent keeping quality and retain their taste and marketability for a long period of time.
Picasso potatoes have a good immune system that protects them from the most common diseases of this culture, namely from:
- fusarium;
- scab;
- nematodes;
- viruses X and Yn.
There is only one disease that can breach the immune system of this potato - fusarium. From it, the tubers must be processed even before planting with any available drug, for example, "Batofit", "Integral" or "Fitosporin-M". You can learn about other methods of dealing with this disease from the video:
The yield of this potato is quite high. If we take average values, then from one hectare of land can be harvested from 20 to 50 tons of potatoes. At the same time, 95% of the crop will have a presentation of the tubers.
Growing recommendations
This potato is late ripening, so it can be planted a little earlier than early or mid-early varieties. It is recommended to start disembarking in late April - early May, when the threat of sudden frosts has passed, and the air temperature will keep from +7 to +10 degrees.
Not the least important when planting late-ripening potatoes, to which Picasso belongs, is the pre-sowing germination of tubers. To do this, the potatoes must be placed in a bright place and the temperature must be no higher than +15 degrees.
When planting Picasso tubers, you need to take into account the large size of future bushes.Therefore, the minimum distance between tubers should be about 50 cm.
After the emergence of seedlings, caring for the potatoes should include:
- Weeding and loosening - these procedures will allow the roots of the potato bushes to receive more oxygen and moisture. They should be carried out only after young seedlings reach a height of 6 - 7 cm.
- Watering - This potato can do just fine with rainwater. But if the season turned out to be dry, then you need to water the potatoes yourself. Watering once every 10 days will be enough for him.
- Fertilizer - potatoes respond well to organic and mineral fertilizers. In total, potatoes must be fertilized three times during the season: after germination, before flowering and during flowering. After the end of flowering, fertilizing the potatoes is not worth it - it will not do the good.
Subject to all recommendations, the harvest of this potato will exceed any expectations.
