Today we will introduce you to premium European potatoes, which, over a relatively recent period of cultivation in the CIS countries, managed to become one of the most popular varieties in Russia and abroad.
This was facilitated by its excellent taste, as well as many other positive properties that make it almost universal.
In our article you will find both a detailed description of the variety and its characteristics, peculiarities of cultivation, a tendency to diseases and attack by pests.
Potatoes Asterix: variety description
Grade name | Asterix |
general characteristics | medium late table variety Dutch selection with stable yield |
Gestation period | 120-130 days |
Starch content | 14-17% |
Mass of commercial tubers | 65-110 g |
The number of tubers in the bush | 6-11 |
Yield | 137-217 (maximum - 276) c / ha |
Consumer quality | good taste, medium stew, suitable for cooking chips and french fries |
Recumbency | 91% |
Skin color | red |
Pulp color | yellow |
Preferred growing regions | Middle Volga, Far Eastern |
Disease resistance | moderately susceptible to late blight on bottova; resistant to late blight; resistant to other potato diseases |
Features of growing | moderate soil fertilization required, responsive to watering |
Originator | HZPC Holland B.V. (Holland) |
The Asterix potato was obtained thanks to the efforts of Dutch breeders, and has been listed in the State Register of Varieties of the Russian Federation in the Middle Volga region since 1998. It belongs to late-ripening varieties, the full vegetation cycle lasts 100-120 days after the first shoots.
The average yield can vary 137-217 centners per hectare. Not prone to darkening from physical damage, making it perfect for long-term transportation.
In addition, it has a unique keeping quality, which provides it with safe storage in cellars or vegetable stores during the whole seasons. Marketability of fruits leaving is in the region of 71 - 91%.
And in the table below you can see what are the yields and the percentage of marketability of tubers in other potato varieties:
Grade name | Yield (kg / ha) | Tuber marketability (%) |
Asterix | 137-217 (maximum - 276) | 91 |
Lemongrass | 195-320 | 96 |
Melody | 180-640 | 95 |
Margarita | 300-400 | 96 |
Alladin | 450-500 | 94 |
Courage | 160-430 | 91 |
Beauty | 400-450 | 94 |
Grenada | 600 | 97 |
The hostess | 180-380 | 95 |
Read more about the storage of potatoes: the timing and temperature, places and possible problems. And also how to store roots in the winter, in the apartment and on the balcony, in boxes, in the refrigerator and peeled.
The tubers are oval and oblong, of medium size and weighing from 70 to 120 g. The skin is dense (it is this which provides resistance to mechanical damage), pink-violet. The eyes on its surface form a little. The flesh is a pleasant light yellow color, the starch content, like most of the later varieties, is quite high - from 14 to 17%. Usually one plant forms about 10 to 12 such beautiful tubers.
The amount of starch in potato tubers of other varieties:
Grade name | Starch |
Asterix | 14-17% |
Lady claire | 12-16% |
Innovator | up to 15% |
Labella | 13-15% |
Bellarosa | 12-16% |
Riviera | 12-16% |
Karatop | 11-15% |
Veneta | 13-15% |
Gala | 14-16% |
Zhukovsky early | 10-12% |
Lorch | 15-20% |
Bushes in this variety are erect and quite tall. Treat intermediate type with averagely developed tops. The leaves are small, dark green with a barely noticeable waviness at the edges. The corollas of flowers of red-purple hue, bloom beautifully, but quickly fall off.
What is dangerous solanine, the benefits and harms of raw potatoes, why eat sprouts and drink juice.
A photo
See below: potato variety Asterix photo
Features of growing
Asterix potatoes, which is not in vain for table varieties, and it will surely become an ornament to any holiday table. Its flesh does not have the properties to darken during heat treatment, and, in addition, it has an average friability. Because of this, is well suited for cooking fried and boiled dishes. Separately, I would like to note that this potato variety makes excellent chips.
In terms of agricultural technology - planting and care, he also has several of its nuances. Asterix is unpretentious in terms of the choice of soil typeHowever, it develops best in the area in which leguminous plants or perennial herbs were grown before it.
Germinated planting material is recommended to be planted in late April, when the soil warms to the cherished 7 ° C and the danger of the return of the last frosts disappears. If you don’t know how to plant, then many gardeners recommend a 70 x 35 planting scheme.
That is, between the rows of potatoes, you retreat by 70 cm, and between the holes in the rows themselves by 35 cm. The optimal digging depth of your seedlings will be 7 - 10 cm.
For further care of the plant you need to remember a few basic rules.:
- Asterix reacts positively to harrowing. The first is to be held already 5 days after planting the material, then twice more before the emergence of shoots and the last 2 times after them.
- Also, this variety responds well to fertilizers, especially to manure. The use of the latter can increase your yield by more than 50%;
Read more about how to feed potatoes, when and how to apply fertilizers and whether it is necessary to do this when planting, which feedings are the best and why minerals are needed.
- The variety requires the maximum amount of light and air, so the soil needs to be kept on the ground and free of weeds. Mulching between rows is a great help in this.
- But he does not need multiple waterings, you can do only three at the right time: the first time immediately after the emergence of shoots, the second during the appearance of buds and the last after the completion of the flowering period;
- With feedings special zeal is also not required, for one season three feedings will be quite enough. It is best to use those drugs that develop the root system, and accordingly stimulate the appearance of powerful and beautiful tubers. For example, granular superphosphate.
Read useful information about whether hilling is necessary for potatoes, rather than carrying out this procedure - manually or using a tiller, whether you can get a decent crop without weeding and hilling.
Diseases and pests
However, its weakness is the Y virus, from which this variety is practically not protected. Y virus - is the most dangerous virus for the whole potato culture. If your plants got infected with them, then most likely it will not be possible to overcome it.
Therefore, the best means of protection will be preventive measures that will protect your potatoes from this disease.
Among them are:
- The virus can persist in plant debris, so weeds and outdated potato stems should be destroyed in a timely manner;
- Aphids and cicadas - can be carriers of this disease, for this reason it is recommended to spray potato bushes with complex insecticides against these insects;
Correct crop rotation using Y-resistant varieties can protect your plot from it for more than a year. Read also about such common potato diseases as alternaria, late blight of leaves and tubers, scab, verticillous wilt.
If we talk in more detail about insect pests, the main problems for gardeners are delivered by Colorado beetles and their larvae, the bears, the potato moth, the wireworm. There are many effective ways to deal with them, with the majority you can find on our website:
- How to get rid of the wireworm in the garden.
- We fight with Medvedka with the help of chemistry and folk remedies.
- Potato moth that will help get rid of the pest: drugs 1 and drugs 2.
- Let's chase the Colorado potato beetle - folk methods and chemicals:
- Aktara.
- Regent.
- Prestige.
- Corado.
Potato cultivar Asterix can be recommended to experienced gardeners, because, obviously, it requires some care and protection. However, he has much more advantages, so if you are confident in your abilities, then you should definitely pay attention to it.
Due to its resistance to damage and its long-term storage, it is perfect for selling in large quantities.
Read also interesting materials about the most different ways of growing potatoes: Dutch technology and early varieties, under straw, in bags, in barrels, in boxes. And also which countries grow potatoes most of all, which varieties are most popular in Russia, how to turn potato growing into a profitable business.
We also suggest you to get acquainted with other varieties that have a variety of ripening terms:
Superstore | Early maturing | Medium early |
Farmer | Bellarosa | Innovator |
Minerva | Timo | Pretty boy |
Kiranda | Spring | American |
Karatop | Arosa | Crown |
Juvel | Impala | Manifesto |
Meteor | Zorachka | Elizabeth |
Zhukovsky early | Colette | Vega | Riviera | Kamensky | Tiras |