Spud Smart wishes you happy holidays. And while you’re having a great time with your families and friends over the holidays, there may be moments, you’d like to take a break and escape with a bit of good reading. We are republishing some of our most read stories from 2024.
Editorial Note: At the start of every year, Spud Smart is proud to bring you the latest potato varieties for Canadian potato growers during the upcoming season. Spud Smart checks in with potato breeders and seed companies across the country to see what the latest varieties available for the upcoming growing season are.
A look at latest potato varieties available for Canadian potato growers for the 2024 growing season.
As thoughts turn towards with the upcoming growing season, it means it’s time to think of what new potato varieties you will be planting. Spud Smart checked in with potato breeders and seed companies across the country to see what the latest varieties available for the upcoming growing season are.
Edmonton Potato Growers
Carminelle
Carminelle is a fresh potato variety with dark red skin and light-yellow flesh. It has a good yield with small, long oval shaped tubers. Carminelle has medium early maturity and medium dormancy. It has low sensitivity to internal bruising.
Hanse Seeds
Baby Lou
Baby Lou is a maincrop variety suitable for long term storage. It’s a firm cooking smaller shaped potato with yellow skin and yellow flesh. Baby Lou produces a very high number of tubers and is tasty, pretty and extremely even in size. It shows good resistances to potato virus Y, bruising, growing cracks, common scab, Rhizoctonia and internal rust spot.
Belmonda
Belmonda is a high yielding, main crop variety with excellent storability. It has attractive round oval tubers with a very uniform grading, shallow eyes, yellow skin and flesh. Belmonda has excellent tolerance against bruising, Rhizoctonia, blackleg, early blight, Phytophthora, internal rust spot and potato virus Y. When grown under dry conditions Belmonda shows tremendous promise specifically with reducing incidence of second growth.
Sinatra
Sinatra is a white fleshed, white skin, med to early maturing chip potato variety with excellent frying qualities. It has excellent yield with a relative high set of medium to big size tubers. Sinatra has even grading and is heat tolerant with strength against second growth and internal problems.
La Patate Lac-Saint-Jean
W6511-1R
W6511-1R has a uniform size with nice red smooth skin. It has shallow eyes and is mid-resistant to common scab.
W9576-11y
W9576-11y has uniform size with shallow eyes and slightly rough skin. It has good common scab tolerance. W9576-11y is good for boiling, mashed potatoes and baking.
New Brunswick Department of Agriculture
AF5819-2
AF5819-2 is a white fresh market variety with mid-season maturity from the University of Maine potato breeding program. It’s mainly round and has high yield potential with a uniform size profile and a high percentage of medium sized tubers. AF5819-2 has low incidence of internal and external defects and has resistances to shatter bruise, pink rot, and soft rot. Its gravity is low but similar to Superior. While commercial seed isn’t yet available, breeder seed can be obtained for further evaluation.
Solanum International
Pink Gypsy
Pink Gypsy has artistic dual coloured red and yellow skin. It originates from Scotland and features delicate white floury flesh perfect for boiling baking, wedges, mashing and roasting. Pink Gypsy has very good all- around disease resistance including to common and powdery scab as well as dry rot. It has large oval tubers and matures early.
Potato Variety Management Institute
Becca Rose
Becca Rose is a medium to late maturing variety with round, attractive tubers. It has bright red skin and white flesh. Becca Rose retains its red skin colour following extended storage.
Castle Russet
Castle Russet is a medium to late russet with an excellent set of disease resistances, including potato virus Y. It’s suitable for fresh and processing. Castle Russet can be susceptible to hollow heart and has moderate glycoalkaloid levels.
Clearwater Russet
Clearwater Russet is medium to late maturing variety, with oblong-long tubers that have medium-russet skin. Tubers exhibit excellent fry colour out of storage making this variety suitable for processing and fresh market use. Clearwater Russet also has a higher protein content than those of standard potato varieties, with 38 per cent greater concentration than Russet Burbank. It has moderate resistance to Verticillium.
