Contents
Medium-early potatoes of the Courage variety are gaining popularity due to their taste characteristics, due to the high percentage of starch. Farmers choose the variety for its disease resistance.
History of origin
The authorship of the Courage potato variety belongs to the well-known Dutch company HZPC Holland BV The variety has been registered in Our Country since 2007 and is recommended for all central regions. Now the seeds of the variety are offered by a number of farms from the Leningrad, Omsk, Kirov regions, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Udmurtia.
Description and characteristics
Vegetation period | Before ripening 75 days, phases of technical ripeness 80-90 days |
The above-ground part | The stems are medium-sized and tall, straight and semi-erect. The leaves are medium and large, slightly wavy along the edge. Flowers red-purple |
Tubers | Round-oval, few ocelli moderately deepened |
Peel | Smooth, reddish |
Pulp | Light yellow color, dense structure |
Starch content | 13,0-19,9% |
Solids | 22-23% |
Weight of marketable tubers | 100-145 g |
Commodity output | 83-99% |
Quantity in nest | 6-9 items |
Productivity | 159-270 c/ha, maximum – 435 c/ha |
Storage dormant period | 91% |
Vegetation features | Drought tolerance |
Disease resistance | Immune to potato cancer, scab and virus, not infected with golden nematode. Moderately prone to late blight of tubers – 5 points, for green mass – 3 points |
The taste of Courage potatoes is rated as good and excellent. The tubers are boiled soft, retain a pleasant light color after heat treatment. True, not all vegetable growers agree that Courage potatoes are crumbly. This property of the tubers depends largely on the variety, but also on the weather and fertilizing:
- Слишком большое количество удобрений увеличивает массу клубня, а крахмал не успевает образоваться;
- There is more starch in those tubers that developed mainly in dry weather.
Tubers of the Courage variety endure mechanical damage without darkening of the pulp, and are subject to long-distance transportation. Suitable for puree, making chips, starch.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Excellent consumer qualities: smooth tubers, pleasant taste, starchy | Меньший период хранения, чем у других ранних сортов |
Transportability |
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Drought tolerance | Rapid decline in yield if planting material of low reproduction |
Immunity to a number of dangerous crop diseases | Leaf susceptibility to phytophthora |
Landing
Courage potatoes are planted in April or May, when the soil to the depth of the hole – up to 8-10 cm warms up to + 8 ° С. The tubers selected for planting weigh an average of 50-70 g, and use small ones, from 25-30 g, but healthy, without damage. Starting from the middle or end of March, planting material is sorted out after storage and germinated. The temperature in the room where potatoes are vernalized is 12-15°C. Sprouts grow by 1-2 cm. Large light shoots can break when planting. So that they do not outgrow, Courage seed potatoes cannot be kept at a temperature above 16 ° C for a long time.
- The optimal layout of potato nests: 60-70 x 30-35 cm;
- The best predecessors are all cereals and legumes, perennial and annual grasses;
- On sandy soils, Courage potatoes are well planted after lupine;
- Those areas where sunflower was grown last year are too depleted. Potatoes are planted on them only after the autumn application of a complex of fertilizers.
Care
Variety Courage is drought-resistant. The plant can thrive during short periods of heat, but during prolonged drought, potatoes must be watered. Moisture is especially necessary for the plant in the budding phase and after flowering. In very hot periods, a bush requires 12-20 liters of water, in normal weather – 3-6 liters. A plot with Courage potatoes is regularly cleared of weeds and the ground is loosened, especially after watering and rains, so that a crust does not form on the surface of the soil. Air is necessary for the roots of plants for normal life.
Hilling and top dressing
Courage potatoes spud 2-3 times after rain or watering before flowering. The first hilling is possible even during planting, when forming a ridge, which will protect seedlings from late frosts. Usually potatoes begin to spud when the sprouts rise to 10-12 cm.
With a weak development of tops at this time, foliar top dressing is carried out. At the beginning of the growth of potato varieties Courage fertilize with urea, ammonium nitrate, potassium sulfate. The second time you can carry out foliar top dressing or fertilize with mineral complexes.
Diseases and pests
Diseases/Pests | Evidence | Treatment |
Fitoftoroz | There are dark spots on the leaves, which later become covered with a gray bloom. In cool weather, not higher than + 10 ° C, the fungus captures the entire area in a matter of days. Later, the tubers are affected and rot | Spraying germinated tubers with growth stimulants, which allows Courage potatoes to avoid infection with faster development. Preventive treatment with fungicides. Burning the remnants of the stems |
Alternaria | Dark dry spots on the leaves in dry weather, with a lack of moisture, spread to the stem, the plant dries up. There are rotten spots on the tubers. Yields are reduced due to the death of the green part | The disease often affects tomatoes, so potatoes are not planted nearby. Fungicide treatment. The stems are harvested and burned. The disease is provoked by an imbalance between insufficient amounts of nitrogen and potassium in the soil and an excess of phosphorus. |
Verticillosis | It develops at a temperature of 17-22°C, in the flowering phase. Leaves turn yellow and curl. The plant dies. Sometimes the disease manifests itself already on the sprouts. Wilted tubers, with lesions | Compliance with crop rotation. The stems are mowed 10 days before harvest. The tubers are dried and sorted before storage. |
Wireworm | Личинка жука-щелкуна, что повреждает клубни и корни | Destroy areas of wheatgrass on which the pest lives. Baits are laid out in early spring: 3 tubers per 1 sq. m |
Harvesting
Courage potato stalks are mowed 7-10 days before harvesting for better ripening and prevention of possible infection. After digging, they are dried for several hours in the field, then cleaned in a dark room. Before laying in storage, they are sorted out again.
Conclusion
The universal potato variety Courage attracts with its resistance to dangerous and common diseases. The variety is suitable for cultivation in private farms. In large volumes, potatoes are in demand at processing enterprises.
