Picasso Potato: description and characteristics of the variety, cultivation with photo

Picasso Potato is designed in Holland. This late-ripening variety is popular with Russian gardeners. The product has excellent technical characteristics and consumer properties.

Picasso is often planted in small gardens. It is unpretentious, resistant to major diseases. Even the Colorado potato beetle is not attracted to the plant.

Gardeners affectionately call potatoes Little Red Riding Hood, Ivan da Marya, Matryoshka, Ryabukha. In 1995, the variety was included in the State Register of Vegetable Crops of the Russian Federation. Recommended for cultivation in the Central and Central Black Earth regions.

What attracts gardeners

The Picasso potato variety is often found in summer cottages. Gardeners appreciated it. Unpretentiousness and productivity are especially attracted.

Variety description:

• belongs to the late-ripening group (from germination to lodging of tops takes up to 140 days);
• dense skin, yellow with pink patches;
• a large number of heavily recessed eyes;
• pulp is firm, cream or cream color;
• bush tall, sprawling;
• top color bright green;
• nest up to 20 tubers;
• tuber weight from 70 to 140 g;
• starch content up to 12%.

Picasso potatoes keep well due to their low starch content. Dense peel allows you to transport the crop without loss. Marketability Picasso - 95%.

Potato is characterized by uniformity of tubers. The weight and size in the nest are almost the same: there are no small ones. Gardeners who comply with agronomic standards receive up to 300 kg of tubers per weave.

How to use the harvest?

Picasso - table variety. Due to the low starch content in potatoes, various dishes are prepared from it. Gardeners boil, fry, bake potatoes. Tubers do not crumble when exposed to heat. Some note the special taste of mashed potatoes made from Picasso.

How to plant correctly?

The characteristic of the variety promises a high yield of delicious tubers. But without observing the rules of agricultural technology, the result cannot be achieved. Growing conditions:

1. The soil should be prepared in the fall. Dig the ridges, pick out the weeds.
2. Potatoes prefer neutral or slightly acidic soils. On acidic, lime, ash or dolomite flour should be added. Alkaline - treat with acid peat.
3. Soils should be well structured. They must pass air and moisture well. Sanding is carried out on heavy soils, claying is carried out on light (sandy and peat) soils.
4. To enrich the land with nitrogen and improve he alth, it is recommended to plant the place of the intended landing with green manure. Suitable mustard, phacelia, rye, oats. Mustard and phacelia can not be dug up in the fall. During the winter they will rot under the snow. Rye, oats, after growing back by 10-15 cm, dig up with incorporation into the soil.
5. In the spring, a week before planting the tubers, nitrogen fertilizers should be applied. Humus or mature compost will do. Consumption rate: bucket per square meter of bed.
6. After planting with tubers, additional nutrition will be required. It will be provided by the application of the mineral complex according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Picasso does not require pre-germination. It is enough to warm the potatoes in the sun for a week. To accelerate the development of plantings, it is recommended to treat the seed material with any stimulant: Epin, Potassium Humate.

With a lack of seed stock, it is permissible to cut the tubers into pieces with 2-3 eyes. The operation is carried out with a knife treated with alcohol or potassium permanganate. Air dry the cutting area. Then smear with brilliant green or sprinkle with activated charcoal.

Should be planted after the earth warms up to 9 degrees Celsius. Planting pattern: 45 cm between rows, 70 between bushes. On light soils, it should be deepened by 9-10 cm, on loam - 6-7 cm.

Folk omen: it's time to plant potatoes if there is a nickel-sized leaf on a birch. At this time, there is enough moisture in the soil, the return frosts have already passed.

How to care?

Picasso is an unpretentious vegetable. But it is necessary to follow the rules of cultivation. How to proceed:

1. If the mineral complex was not applied during planting, feed the first time after the tops grow by 10 cm. The second top dressing is done before flowering.
2. Simultaneously with top dressing, hilling should be carried out.
3. Drop weeds regularly.
4. Picasso manages with a minimum amount of moisture in the soil. But in severe drought, watering is required. The soil should be 10-15 cm wet. Repeat once a week. After irrigation, be sure to loosen the ridges.
5. The signal of potato ripeness is drying and lodging of tops.

Some gardeners mow their leaves a week before harvest. This helps to ripen the underground parts of the plant. But Picasso does not need such a measure: the outflow of nutrients from the tops to the tubers occurs naturally.

Dig up tubers should be in dry sunny weather. Gardeners use pitchforks: they injure crops less.

Potatoes should be left for 2-3 hours in the sun to dry and disinfect: these tubers store better.

Proper organization of the cellar will allow avoiding losses during storage. It should be whitewashed and have good ventilation. The temperature should be maintained around 5-6 degrees Celsius.

What is sick?

Picasso is a disease resistant variety. It is not affected by fusarium, scab, X and Yn group viruses. But late-ripening potatoes are resistant to late blight. To protect against adversity, preventive measures should be taken: observe the turnover of vegetable crops, remove plant residues after harvesting, and cultivate the soil.

Don't plant potatoes next to tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, strawberries and garlic. These plants oppress each other.

Opinions of gardeners

Gardeners from different regions share their impressions about the variety. Features of Picasso lie in his unpretentiousness. It gives excellent harvests in the middle lane and southern regions.

Summer residents of hot areas plant a variety very early (in March) or very late in (late June). A good harvest is obtained in both cases.

Gardeners conducted a study. Two equal plots of land were allocated. They were equally prepared for Picasso's landing. Germinated tubers were planted on one (stolons were 0.5 mm long). Tubers warmed up in the sun for a week were simultaneously placed on the second plot.

On the first plot shoots appeared 4 days earlier. On the second sprouts were stronger. Potatoes quickly gained green mass. Care was the same. The harvest from the two plots was almost equal.

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