Content
They love potatoes in Russia, crumbly, with garlic and onions, with meat and with cabbage, not a single main dish is complete without potatoes. Many varieties of this root crop have been bred by Russian breeders, one better than the other. The hero of our story is the Gulliver potato variety - one of the best representatives of the varieties bred and zoned in different regions of our vast country.
Origin story
In November 2015, the originators of the Gulliver potato variety (Research Institute named after Lorkh and the Korenevo agricultural center in the Moscow region) applied for the inclusion of a new variety in the State Register catalog, and in 2018 the variety was officially registered and approved for sale, so it can be freely purchased from distribution companies on the territory of Russia and other countries.
Description and characteristics
According to the characteristics declared by the originators, the Gulliver potato variety has the following qualities:
- Gulliver potatoes early ripening, the first harvest is dug 45 days after planting, table variety;
- potato bushes are tall, lodging, leaves are large, saturated green, the corolla of flowers is medium with a weak anthocyanin color;
- the average yield varies from 160 to 290 centners per hectare (a yield record was recorded at 371 centners / ha);
- Gulliver's root vegetable has the shape of an elongated oval, the eyes are small, the peel is earthy-beige, the pulp is creamy, the average weight of one tuber is from 100 to 140 grams;
- the indicator for the starch content reaches 15%;
- yield of marketable root crops up to 98%, storage safety 95%;
- taste is good and excellent;
- variety Gulliver is resistant to crayfish and golden nematode of potatoes, weak resistance to late blight in tubers and average in tops, rather resistant to potato mosaics: wrinkled and banded.
Advantages and disadvantages
It is too early to talk about the pros and cons of the Gulliver potato variety, it has not yet received widespread distribution. According to some reviews of vegetable growers posted on the forums, they note the following advantages of Gulliver potatoes:
- large tubers of excellent presentation;
- unpretentious care;
- resistance to many potato diseases;
- high degree of transportability.
Potato growers are dissatisfied with the low level of preservation during storage, many Gulliver's tubers dry up or rot before spring.
Landing
Gulliver potatoes are planted in the same way as any other variety of these root crops. Many gardeners who have been growing potatoes for more than one year know how to do this correctly, but for novice potato growers this process becomes a big problem. Lacking experience in planting and growing potatoes, they make many mistakes that can be avoided if they get down to business correctly. In the table, we noted the fairly common mistakes of novice gardeners, indicated their undesirable consequences and answered the question: how to do it right?
You can't do this | Why | How to do it right |
On a slope plot, rows of potatoes are planted along the slope | Natural moisture quickly flows down, the plantings do not receive enough water | Rows of potatoes are always planted across the slope |
Tubers are planted too deep or not deep enough | New root crops are poorly formed, they will be small, with shallow planting, the tops will grow rapidly | The optimal planting depth of potatoes is no more and no less than 15-20 cm |
Too little or too much distance between rows and plants | Dense plantings prevent the airing of the bushes, and rare plantings lead to a rapid drying out of the soil. | The distance between the rows should be 50-60 cm, between the bushes 35-50 cm |
Fresh manure applied before planting | Root crops overfed with nitrogen fertilizers will actively grow green mass, but not tubers | Organic fertilizers should be applied in the fall, or rotted manure should be used in the spring, making it 1 bucket per 2 square meters. m before boarding |
Used large tubers when planting | Large root crops, as seed, will produce small new tubers | It is better to plant potatoes of medium or small sizes, large potatoes are cut into several parts, leaving 2-3 eyes on each |
The seed is not germinated | The growth and formation of new tubers is delayed for 2-3 weeks | Potatoes are taken out of the cellars 1-2 months before planting and placed in a warmer and brighter room. |
Potatoes were not treated with fungicides before planting | Planting is at risk of fungal diseases | 2 hours before planting, spray the seed with solutions of copper sulfate or other special means against diseases and pests |
Care
After planting the potatoes before the first shoots appear, no maintenance of the plantation is required. After 2-3 weeks, the Gulliver variety gives the first friendly shoots, and after another week it is necessary to carry out the first hilling.
Hilling and feeding
It will be easy enough to take care of Gulliver's potato plantings if you have a mechanized tool for hilling, if there is no such device, then an ordinary hoe is used. The soil in the aisles is loosened and scooped up to the bushes almost to the very top leaves.
The first feeding of Gulliver potatoes is carried out before the onset of the second hilling pore, that is, after flowering, at the same time it is necessary to spray the raised bushes from the hated pest - the Colorado potato beetle. A huge number of chemical preparations are produced to combat it, you just have to choose the most effective remedy.
Diseases and pests
The Gulliver variety, as mentioned earlier, has an increased immunity to many potato diseases, but can be exposed to other fungal and viral diseases such as late blight, scab or formosis. The main pests feeding on potato tubers are wireworms, and the Colorado potato beetle devours leaves and flowers.
Disease Signs and Treatment
- Late blight on potatoes.
Signs: appear after the end of flowering, brown spots form on the leaves of the tops, the spores of the fungus live on the back of the leaf plate, in rainy weather they enter the soil and infect root crops.
Treatment: planting only healthy seed material, hilling up to 3 times per season, treating bushes with Bordeaux mixture, preparations containing copper. - Scab on potatoes.
Signs: tubers are affected, ulcers and growths appear on them, the peel cracks, forming dark brown scales, on the stems of the tops, the spores of the fungus combine in the form of a gray oily plaque.
Treatment: plots for potatoes must be alternated with other vegetable crops every 3-4 years, plant non-infected tubers, spud 2-3 times during the entire growing season, process the seed before planting with copper sulfate, carefully reject diseased seeds. - Phomoz on potatoes.
Signs: root crops and stems are affected, dark elongated spots appear on them, over time, in this place the flesh of the potato dries up and rots, the stems and petioles of the tops are also covered with elongated brown spots, this can be seen during the flowering of potatoes.
Treatment: disinfection of the land before planting with Trichoderm, use healthy planting material, loosening and hilling, obligatory removal of the tops before harvesting in order to prevent infection of tubers.
Wireworm Fight:
- digging the soil in the potato plot in late autumn or early spring to destroy the beetle larvae;
- regularly reduce the acidity of the soil by introducing dolomite or lime;
- treatment of plantings with solutions of chemicals: Tuberculosis, Prestige, Provotox.
Gulliver potatoes are an early variety, already at the end of June the first trial digging of tubers begins, in early and until mid-July the tubers are ready for the main harvest.
Conclusion
The Gulliver variety has not yet gained sufficient popularity among potato growers, since it is supernova, was registered at the beginning of 2018, but according to the reviews of those gardeners who tested it on their plots, it deserves the highest rating. We also recommend you to try Gulliver potatoes, because in the middle of summer you will be with a new crop of your own potatoes.
