Potato Zhuravinka

Contents

Variety description
Characteristics of a variety
Tuber characteristics
Peculiarities of growing
Testimonials from truck drivers
Conclusion

Holland is considered to be a model country for agriculture. It is not for nothing that Dutch tulips and other flowers are considered to be the best; Dutch vegetable varieties are very popular all over the world. And Dutch potato varieties have always been famous for their productivity and resistance to infections. But not only Holland can boast of its potatoes. For Belarus, potatoes are almost a national symbol. And, of course, potato varieties bred in Belarus are not much inferior to their Dutch counterparts.

Zhuravinka potatoes are a clear example of what Belarusian selection can achieve in potato growing. Many indicators of this variety, such as yield, disease resistance, keeping quality, are quite at the level of world standards.

Variety description

It is logical to begin the description of the Zhuravinka potato variety with the history of its creation. The variety was bred by Belarusian breeders in collaboration with farmers from the Niva farm more than 10 years ago. In 2005, he was registered in the State Register of Breeding Achievements. The patent was issued for the Republican Unitary Enterprise SPC of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for potato and horticulture. Variety Zhuravinka was recommended for use in the North-Western, Central and Volga-Vyatka regions. Thus, this potato is zoned everywhere from the Vologda region to the Perm region. However, due to the versatility and many valuable qualities of this variety, it is successfully grown in other regions of our country.

The Zhuravinka potato bushes themselves are low, the shoots are strong, erect. The leaves are small in size with fairly well-defined veins, while anthocyanin color predominates near the central vein. A slight waviness runs along the edge of the leaves. Each bush forms up to six stems.

The inflorescences are large and beautiful, the corollas are purple-red. Berries with seeds are formed quite rarely. Seedlings during planting appear very amicably, and the aerial part in the first period of development grows very intensively. The root system also develops rapidly in the first month after planting.

Characteristics of a variety

The potato variety Zhuravinka belongs to the medium-late variety, which means that it usually takes 90 to 110 days from planting to harvest.

Productivity is one of the biggest advantages of the Zhuravinka variety. On average, it is about 400-600 centners per hectare. But it is known that it is quite realistic to receive up to 700 centners. This figure is quite comparable with the yield of the best potato varieties from Holland.

Attention! One bush of Zhuravinka potato yields on average 15-20 medium and large tubers.

It is important that, other things being equal, we can talk about the stability of such yield indicators. That is, it is not as dependent on environmental conditions as it is with other potato varieties.

If we talk about such a characteristic of potatoes as its safety, then here the indicators are at a high level. The keeping quality of tubers is estimated at 96%, which means that by spring only about 4% of potato tubers are in poor condition. The rest do not lose their commercial characteristics and, when used for food, practically do not differ from tubers freshly harvested in autumn.

An important positive feature of the Zhuravinka variety is that the tubers tolerate mechanical damage well.

Separately, it is worth emphasizing the rather high resistance of this potato variety to various diseases. It completely resists potato cancer and golden nematode, shows sufficient resistance to scab, black leg and some viruses, as well as tuber late blight. Resistance to rhizoctoniosis and late blight of the aerial part is low.

Tuber characteristics

The tubers of this variety are quite diverse in appearance.

The shape can be either oval-rounded or simply rounded. The surface of the tubers is smooth, and sometimes embossed, covered with a kind of mesh.
The peel is pronounced red, while the flesh is light yellow.
The eyes are small, evenly distributed over the surface of the tuber.
The tubers of this variety, the photo of which is presented below, are quite large, up to 300 grams.

Although the average size varies from 92 to 145 grams.
By the amount of starch in the tubers, the Zhuravinka variety is also a leader. Its content can vary from 14,8 to 20%. With such a high starch content, tubers of this variety can be used for industrial processing and the production of potato starch. Zhuravinka potato pulp does not darken after heat treatment and is well boiled.
The taste of potatoes is excellent. You can cook a wide variety of dishes from Zhuravinka. This variety is used in the industrial production of potato chips.
The marketability of the variety is also quite good, from 83 to 97%. This indicator determines the number of tubers suitable for consumption when digging potatoes.

Peculiarities of growing

The preparation of Zhuravinka potato tubers for planting is no different from other varieties. As a rule, a few weeks before planting, the tubers are taken out of storage, sorted and laid out in boxes for vernalization. Since resistant varieties of potatoes to the Colorado potato beetle have not yet been invented, it is possible to treat tubers before planting with Prestige or Commander preparations. This will increase the degree of protection of potato plants from colorado and other pests several times. True, protection usually only works until flowering, subsequently it will be necessary to treat with any suitable insecticide at least once again.

Any soil for growing Zhuravinka potatoes is suitable, but this variety has a negative attitude to an excess of nitrogen fertilizers in soils, so it is better to underfeed it than overfeed it.

Zhuravinka potatoes grow well only in areas fully lit by the sun. This factor must also be taken into account when choosing a place for planting potatoes.

Due to the large number of tubers in the bush, planting potatoes must be done more sparsely than for other varieties. The row spacing should be at least 60 cm, and it is better to leave 70 cm. In this case, it will be possible to carry out a full hilling of the bushes. They will increase ventilation and each bush will eventually receive more sunlight, which will certainly have a positive effect on productivity. In the case of a conventional thickened planting, Zhuravinka potato bushes will in any case please you with a large number of tubers. But the size of these tubers will be so small that it will be more rational to use it as animal feed.

The Zhuravinka potato sprouts very amicably and is distinguished by powerful and rapid growth of both the above-ground and underground parts, in the first month of its development. It is during this period, before flowering, that additional moisture is very desirable for him. And although it tolerates short-term periods of drought, this cannot but affect the yield.

Interestingly, the increased moisture content in the soil is also not very popular with Zhuravinka potatoes. In such conditions, outbreaks of diseases are possible, therefore, if the summer is too rainy, then preventive treatments with fungicides, for example, Fundazol, are necessary.

Testimonials from truck drivers

Gardeners all over Our Country love to plant Zhuravinka potatoes, so there are a lot of reviews, and they are different, but generally positive.

Victoria, 28 years old, Victoria, 28 years old

We have been planting Zhuravinka for 3 years. So far we really like her. Potatoes have a wonderful taste and, most importantly, are well stored. The only thing that is bad for our latitudes (Non-Chernozem zone) is that it has been growing for too long – after all, it is a late variety. But there is an advantage in this – you don’t have to dig up all the potatoes at a time, but you collect different varieties at different times. After all, we plant on our site every year 30-36 varieties at the same time.

Mikhail, 34 years old, Nevinnomyssk

In our family, everyone is very fond of Zhuravinka potatoes, so for several years in a row we have been planting only him. But last summer was very dry, in June there was no rain at all, and in the end we were a little disappointed in the harvest – there were very few potatoes, and the one that grew was mostly small. Now we are thinking of planting several different varieties so as not to get into such a story again.

Lyudmila, 35 years old, Ulyanovsk

This year I decided to try to plant Zhuravinka. Bought 10 pieces of small potatoes. After landing, my kids became interested in them. I didn’t follow them, so they dug up half of it and roasted it at the stake. But from those that remained in the ground, I collected almost two buckets of large, good potatoes. We tried to cook it to check its taste – we liked it. Now I keep the rest for seeds. I think potatoes will be good, although what kind of vegetable grower am I?

Margarita, 32 years old, city of Saratov

I just love zhuravinka. It has a lot of starch, so it boils so softly that sometimes nothing remains of the potato itself. It keeps very well which is an added bonus. However, it is late, and they are usually well kept. He likes the earth to be loose. It is better to plant it separately from others. In order not to confuse and not remove ahead of time.

Elizabeth, 36 years old, Volkhov

We are constantly testing different varieties of potatoes in order to choose the very best for ourselves. For several years I planted Belarusian varieties, including Zhuravinka. Basically, the varieties did not fit our rather harsh climate, they gave a poor harvest, and the tubers themselves did not come out in size. I was pleased only with the Zhuravinka variety – it turned out to be the most productive. Under each bush there were constantly at least 20 tubers, however, their size was small. It turned out, moreover, resistant to scab and late blight on tubers. But late blight from the leaves all the time tried to get down – I had to cut off the leaves. Among its shortcomings, it can only be noted that it requires landing only in a sunny place. No penumbra. And in dry weather, he needs watering.

Conclusion

Zhuravinka potatoes, although they came to Our Country from Belarus, are quite popular throughout the country because of their yield and excellent taste.

Preplant germination of potatoes

Смотрите это видео на YouTube