Jelly Potatoes: variety description and cultivation

 Jelly Potatoes: variety description and cultivation

Unpretentious high-yielding potato "Jelly" won the love of farmers and gardeners almost the entire territory of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.It adapts to almost any soil, does not degenerate and demonstrates drought resistance. It is important that the taste qualities of the variety are also quite high, the tubers have a pleasant yellow tint, are universal in use.

Specifications

The “Jelly” potato is a medium-early table variety recommended by the State Registry for cultivation in the Central, Volga-Vyatsky region, as well as areas with a moderately warm climate. It is worth noting that it has been listed in the State Register since 2005, and is due to the appearance of breeders from the Netherlands.

Bushes of this variety are quite attractive - tall, erect, with rich green leaves with wavy edges and white flowers. Crop ripening occurs around the third month after planting seed. Ripening tubers have a light yellow skin color with many eyes and dark yellow flesh. The latter is characterized by increased starch content (starch content is about 18%), but the Jelly variety is not boiled soft, retains its shape and friability.

It is used in the first and second dishes, and with regard to taste, it should be noted pronounced creamy taste and bright potato aroma of the finished dish. Suitable for frying and cooking french fries, but for mashed potatoes - this is not the best option.

The yield of the variety is quite high - up to 150-230 kg / ha. Reviews suggest that, on average, 15-17 tubers are harvested from a bush, similar in shape to an egg. The mass of each is from 84 to 112 g. They ripen at the same time, and therefore have the same shape and size. Description of the variety usually includes mention of good, up to 86% keeping quality.

Advantages and disadvantages

We can distinguish the following.

  • The variety “Jelly” is drought-resistant, therefore it is suitable for cultivation in arid regions, and also does not need frequent additional irrigation in a hot summer.
  • The advantage is the relative simplicity of the variety. It grows on almost any soil, with the exception of too wet.
  • Among the "advantages" - high yield, as well as the ability to be stored for a long time, while maintaining the appearance and taste. Tubers have a fairly dense skin that is resistant to mechanical damage. This allows you to use a combine for harvesting, better - with a side grip.
  • Commercial appearance of tubers is also at a height that allows you to grow a variety for sale. At the same time, the relative unpretentiousness to care, high yields and good keeping quality make the Jelly variety equally popular among farmers and among summer residents. Of course, the taste of potatoes plays a significant role here. It is suitable for most dishes, showing excellent taste.
  • This variety does not degenerate, which indicates the possibility of collecting seeds annually.

The disadvantage, or rather, the peculiarity of the variety, is the demand for feeding. The last need to make at least 2-3 times per season to get a good harvest. Like all varieties of potato, "Jelly" is involved in the crop rotation, and therefore needs a regular change of planting place. Sowing seeds at the same place for several years significantly reduces yield.

Finally, despite the resistance of the variety to potato cancer and many fungal diseases, it demonstrates an average susceptibility to phytophthora. And not only leaves are affected, but also tubers.

How to plant?

A few weeks before the proposed planting of seed material begin to prepare it. First of all, the tubers are sorted, removing green, rotted, too large or small roots. Medium sized potatoes with a large number of sprouts are suitable for cultivation.

For germination, it is important to provide a higher temperature. In addition, it is necessary to organize the illumination of the tubers, as well as several times to bring them under sunlight.In the process, a solanine forms in the tubers. The latter makes the potato unsuitable for consumption by rodents and insects, which, in fact, protects the tubers from pests during the first time after planting. In addition, potatoes that have undergone a similar preparation, gives more powerful and viable sprouts.

Despite the simplicity of the potato "Jelly" to the choice of soil, it is important to remember that this crop is involved in crop rotation. In this regard, it is not recommended to grow potatoes on the same soils for two or more years in a row. The best soil for it will be the one on which winter, winter legumes, spicy herbs, and lupins were grown.

The variety should not be planted on the soil where solanaceous crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini grew last year. With this approach, the risk of developing diseases characteristic of cultures increases.

For this variety, you should prepare the ground in autumn, carefully and deeply plowing it and adding humus and mineral fertilizers. Manure requires 5-7 kg per 1 m2, superphosphate - 30-40 g per 1 m2, potassium - 15-20 g per the same area. In the spring repeat digging. The optimum is a light fertile soil with a high content of sand in it.

As a rule, planting seeds begins in mid-May. However, one should be guided not so much by the calendar time, as by temperature indicators - the soil should be heated to 7-10 ° C.

The variety “Jelly” demonstrates a higher yield with early planting compared with the crop, which is removed with a late planting. The difference reaches 25-30%. Can be planted as whole tubers, and their halves. The main thing that the seed had at least 2-3 shoots. Slices are usually dried in the sun and powdered with ash to eliminate the appearance of rot.

The use of agrofabric spunbond allows to prevent the negative impact of return frost on green shoots that have appeared. It protects the bushes from lowering the temperature, does not violate the air exchange and helps to reduce the activity of weeds. Prevent freezing of shoots and allows their early hilling, in which shoots sprinkled with earth.

When planting this variety, the wells are dug at a distance of 35 cm from each other. In waterlogged soils, you can plant seeds on the ridge. The distance between the rows should be at least 70-80 cm in order to provide the possibility of high-quality hilling.

Potatoes should not be buried too much - wells of 8–10 cm deep are sufficient for this variety.

In each hole you can pour a little ash and onion peel. The first will be fertilizer, the second - will drive away the pests. Immediately after landing, the site must be broken, repeating the procedure in 10-14 days.

Care rules

It is important to know the following features of care.

  • The variety “Jelly” demonstrates resistance to insignificant temperature fluctuations, short drought. Basic care is reduced to loosening the soil and hilling, preventing the development of diseases and attacking pests.
  • With prolonged temperature increase and drought, it is recommended to water once every 2 weeks followed by mulching. The latter is best done using well dried straw. When restoring the temperature regime, the mulch should be removed, since it impedes the necessary heating of the soil.
  • When typing color and flowering period, if there are no rains, it is necessary to water the bushes. It is worth refusing to drip irrigation and flooding the bushes from above, as this may provoke the development of phytophtoras. The preferred method is watering in the aisle.
  • The variety requires at least 2, and preferably 3 hilling. The first is carried out when the height of the bushes reaches 10-15 cm, repeated - in 14-20 days. If the potato tubers are bare, it is also necessary to sprinkle them with earth so that they do not turn green.
  • Care also includes the regular removal of weeds, which should not be left in the aisle.This can provoke the appearance of rot and phytophtoras.

Diseases and pests

Despite the resistance of the Jelly variety to potato cancer, rhizoctoniosis, scab, and the attack of the golden nematode, it is prone to undergo late blight. The latter usually affects the foliage and a little less - tubers. To prevent the development of phytophthora largely allows the preparation of soil and seed material. From autumn, the field should be dug to the depth of the shovel bayonet, removing the roots, crop residues, detected pests and their laying.

It is important not to thicken the planting and avoid stagnant moisture in the soil. With the latter can handle tilling and hilling. During the period of raging, phytophthora are recommended prophylactic treatments of bushes with drugs containing copper.

If any infected leaves are detected, they should be immediately cut off and removed from the site. The sore bush, as well as the rest, is prophylactically treated with Oxyhom, Ridomil, Arcedil and other preparations.

If it is not possible to save the plant, it should be removed in order to avoid contamination of the remaining bushes. The diseased root should be removed from the site, avoiding its contact with other plants, and the hole should be disinfected.

To cope with the wireworm (small bugs, damaging the tubers) also allows soil preparation and proper care. When the latter are found, it is possible to fight them with folk methods (using bait) or specialized means. As bait, stick-on pieces of potatoes or carrots or “treats” cans, buried in the ground, are used. After a few days, the bait is removed with the larvae or adults around them.

To destroy the Colorado potato beetle, you can use the manual method (collect them by hand and destroy) or special fumigators. It is important to dilute the latter, following the instructions exactly, ensuring reliable protection of the respiratory tract during spraying. Work should be done on a windless day. If it has rained after spraying, the process should be repeated.

2-3 weeks before harvesting, the use of toxic drugs should be abandoned. Most pests do not tolerate the smell of garlic and marigolds, so they can be planted around the perimeter of the field with potatoes or in the aisle.

Harvesting and storage

The ripening period of potatoes since planting seed is 90-110 days. Despite this, you can try the first young crop at the end of June. This is exactly what gardeners usually do, digging up several bushes "on trial".

About a week before the digging of tubers (the readiness of the crop is usually indicated by the widespread yellowing of the bushes) it is recommended to mow the tops and leave the bushes in this form for 5-7 days. This will strengthen their skin, making it coarser and less susceptible to damage.

You can dig up “Jelly” potatoes with a shovel, with a pitchfork or by drawing a combine into the fields. The crop dug from the ground is laid out on the border or under a canopy, allowing it to dry. It is necessary to avoid contact of dug potatoes with tops and grass. It is better to dry the tubers on the bags laid out, the old cloth. Then the potatoes are sorted, removing rotten and green tubers that are unfit for human consumption.

It is also necessary to refuse storage if there are moves in the potato and pests damage, eggs can be laid inside the tubers.

Potatoes are stored well, maintaining their taste properties until spring. When growing and storing a variety on large agricultural sites, it is recommended to control the conditions with the help of special devices for determining the humidity and air temperature. At home, when potatoes are grown for themselves, a thermometer is enough. The optimum storage temperature is + 1- + 3 ° C.

Periodically, the tubers should be touched and sorted out, which makes it possible to promptly establish an increase in the humidity level, as well as remove rotted or sprouted potatoes from the total mass.

The peculiarity of storing the Jelly variety is the need to cool it in the first days of storage. This should be done gradually, lowering the temperature every day by half a degree. To prevent the germination of tubers in the spring, when the air temperature rises, allows daily ventilation of the boxes with potatoes. Do it better in the morning and evening.

Video review of this and other varieties of potatoes, see below.

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