Potato variety Zorachka: characteristics, reviews

Young potatoes are one of the best summer delicacies. As you know, late potato varieties are most suitable for storage and consumption in winter. And in order to grow tasty, tender and appetizing young tubers, it is best to plant one of the early ripe potato varieties on the site. Such potatoes will ripen within 45-50 days after planting – already in June, the summer resident will be able to dig bushes and cook tubers from his own garden. One of the popular varieties in Our Country with short growing seasons is the Zorachka potato. This culture is young, the potato is zoned for a temperate climate, gives consistently high yields and pleases with a pleasant taste.

Reviews, photos, as well as a description of the Zorachka potato variety are given below. From this article you can learn about all the advantages of culture, get acquainted with its shortcomings. Beginner gardeners will be told about the technology of growing early potatoes.

Characteristics

The potato variety Zorachka is the brainchild of Belarusian breeders. This crop was included in the State Register in 2013 and recommended for cultivation in the Central region of Our Country, in Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. The most suitable climate for the variety is moderate, without prolonged drought and excessive heat.

Characteristics of Zorachka potato varieties:

• the ripening period of young tubers is 45 days, until technical full maturity, 70-75 days must pass from the moment of planting;
• the appointment of table potatoes – Zorachka is good in the form of young tubers, suitable for cooking and preparing salads;
• bushes are compact, medium height – up to 60 cm maximum;
• shoots are semi-erect, quite powerful;
• leaves of medium and large size, dark green hue, have a wavy edge;
• the corollas are medium in size, the flowers in them are collected tightly, the color of the inflorescences is light blue;
• the tubers of Zorachka are oval in shape, their surface is smooth;
• the peel is painted in dark yellow;
• light yellow flesh;
• there are few eyes, the distance between them is large, they are small and shallow;
• Zorachka’s taste is good, rich, not watery;
• the starch content in potatoes is low – 12-14%;
• the average mass of marketable tubers is 90-120 grams (large potatoes);
• about 9-10 marketable potatoes develop in each bush;
• the keeping quality of the Zorachka variety is estimated at 96%, which is very good for an early ripe variety (tubers can be stored until the end of January at a temperature of 8-10 degrees);
• transportability is good, due to the low percentage of starch, potatoes are rarely damaged;
• commercial qualities are excellent – Zorachka is perfect for growing on an industrial scale in order to sell young tubers;
• the yield of the Belarusian potato variety is high – 35-70 tons per hectare (depending on the climate, soil composition and the amount of irrigation);
• the variety is quite resistant to external factors, but it does not tolerate drought relatively well – Zorachka will have to be watered regularly;
• You can grow this potato on almost any soil, the only requirement is that the acidity of the soil must be neutral;
• Zorachka potatoes have good immunity to the golden nematode and cancer, there is an average resistance to late blight of tubers and leaves, the variety is afraid of only the Y-virus.

Advantages and disadvantages

The description of the Zorachka variety demonstrates that this potato has much more positive characteristics than disadvantages. The same is said by the reviews of domestic gardeners and summer residents – Zorachka has proven herself well in the gardens of the country and, despite her “young age”, the variety is already very popular.

Potato Zorachka has the following advantages:

• early ripening – already on the 45th day after planting, you can dig the first bushes;
• high yield – figures of 40-50 tons per hectare are quite enough even for farms and large industrial scales;
• the variety is unpretentious to the climate and soil composition;
• care for this potato requires the simplest (watering, fertilizing, processing);
• the taste of Zorachka, as for an early variety, is very good, rich;
• tubers perfectly tolerate transportation, are not afraid of mechanical damage;
• if desired, the crop of Zorachka can be stored – this potato will withstand 4-5 months in the basement;
• the presentation and quality of the variety are good.

There are no major shortcomings in Belarusian potatoes. Some farmers leave negative reviews about the Zorachka variety only because it has to be watered often and, accordingly, regularly loosen the soil between the rows.

In practice, it turns out that it is enough to mulch the potato beds – then the moisture will evaporate less, and you will not have to loosen the ground.

Cultivation technology

Zorachka is an unpretentious potato variety, quite suitable for beginner gardeners and inexperienced gardeners. It is recommended to plant early ripe potatoes in early May, when the ground warms up to 7-10 degrees at a depth.

Each owner has his own tactics for germinating potato tubers. Experienced farmers recommend using the following scheme:

1. Since autumn, prepare seed potatoes and separate them from the rest of the tubers. To do this, the thickest and largest bushes are selected, they are dug up, the tubers are left for ventilation.
2. Only healthy and undamaged potatoes are chosen for planting. The optimal size of planting tubers is the size of a chicken egg.
3. For several days, the tubers should be ventilated and dried, for which they are placed in a cool place in the fresh air (it is important to avoid direct sunlight on the potatoes).
4. Planting tubers of the Zorachka variety should be stored in the basement, but be sure to separate them from the rest of the crop.

About two weeks before planting, planting potatoes are brought into a warm place and laid out in one layer in wooden boxes. It is advisable to sprinkle the tubers with fresh sawdust and spray the sawdust daily with water. In a humid and warm environment, Zorachka potatoes will germinate faster.

Immediately before planting, the tubers of the Zorachka variety must be treated with fungicidal preparations, since the immunity to late blight in this potato is weak.

To improve productivity, experienced summer residents advise using ordinary wood ash. The potatoes are first sprayed with water, then sprinkled with ashes and the tubers are allowed to dry completely.

Planting potatoes

It is advisable to prepare a site before planting Zorachka potatoes. By the way, potato beds should be in an open sunny place. It’s good if legumes, flax, perennial grasses, cabbage, carrots or cucumbers grew there before.

The site must be dug up in advance, scattering humus, compost or rotted chicken manure over the entire area. If the land on the site has high acidity, in addition to fertilizers, lime or dolomite flour is also scattered.

The planting scheme for the Zorachka variety is recommended as follows:

• 35-40 cm between bushes;
• 55-60 cm for row spacing;
• 7-10 cm – the depth of planting tubers.

During planting, you can additionally fertilize the soil. In each hole you need to put nutrient mixture, which should be prepared from the following components:

• 150-200 grams of peat;
• a tablespoon of wood ash;
• a teaspoon of superphosphate (it is better to take a double dose).

The finished mixture of all components is combined with the ground and the resulting composition is added one handful at a time to the planting holes.

Caring for Belarusian potatoes

It is not difficult to care for the Zorachka variety, because this potato is unpretentious. However you need to follow some rules and take into account the peculiarities of culture:

1. You need to start watering only after the green bushes sprout. The soil should be moistened regularly, but not too abundantly. Before each watering, the earth must be loosened.
2. Variety Zorachka must be hilled. The first hilling is performed when the bushes grow up to 20 cm. A second procedure is needed 14-16 days after the first.
3. Zorachka potatoes are fertilized several times a season: after the germination of the bushes, the ground is watered with a solution of urea and complex mineral fertilizer, during the formation of buds, potatoes need potassium and phosphorus (potassium sulfate must be mixed with wood ash), during the flowering period, the bushes are watered with a solution of nitrophoska and superphosphate (important do not wet the leaves).

   

4. If the prevention was carried out correctly, the Zorachka variety may not need to be treated for infections and pests. If necessary, the bushes are sprayed with insecticides and fungicides, but this can only be done before the potatoes bloom.

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Conclusion

This article provides comprehensive information about the Zorachka potato, its characteristics, taste, yield, all the strengths and weaknesses of the variety are listed here. Every farmer knows that the main guarantee of successful cultivation is the right variety. So, it remains only to make a choice!