Potato variety Handsome, description, photo, characteristics and reviews, as well as features of cultivation

Variety Handsome will appeal to those who love red-skinned moderately friable medium-sized potatoes. A plus will be disease resistance. But the variety reveals its full potential in the climate and on the soils of the Central Black Earth Region.

Origin of Potato

Handsome is a variety of domestic selection created by VNIIKH Lorha. This is the largest scientific center in Russia specializing in potato growing. The history of the institution began in 1919 with the creation in the suburbs of the Korenev selection station. The main task at that time was the creation of domestic highly productive varieties of potatoes.

The founder and head of the station was Professor Lorch Alexander Georgievich. It was he who in the 20s of the last century bred the first varieties in the USSR - Korenevsky and Lorch. Lorch potato issued copyright certificate number 1. By 1962, a small breeding station turned into a scientific center of VNIIKH, today it has one of the largest potato gene pools in the world. More than 160 varieties have been created, 104 of which are listed in the State Register as selection achievements.

Potato Handsome - a modern hybrid, obtained by crossing Hannibal and Peresvet. Application for registration filed in 2004. In 2009, after variety testing, he was included in the State Register and received permission to grow in the Central Black Earth region.

The State Register also lists Potato Beauty. He is similar to Handsome in the form of tubers, in productivity, but inferior in starch content and superior in resistance to diseases and nematodes.

Grade description

Handsome is a mid-early variety. Harvest ripens 90-100 days after emergence. Bushes of medium height, erect. Corollas of flowers have a mild anthocyanin color. In accordance with the name of the variety, the tubers are beautiful, smooth, oval, not ugly, but different in size. Weight ranges from 91–166 g, there are also small ones, which indicates the ability to accumulate a crop more than declared if the weather and the gardener allow the bushes to grow longer than the prescribed 100 days.

The peel of the tubers is smooth, red, covered with a net. Creamy flesh, contains 12.4–17.8% starch. When cooking, the potatoes crack slightly, do not fall apart. The taste is rated “good” and “excellent”. The purpose of the variety is table. Handsome is suitable for making soups, mashed potatoes, casseroles, frying and stewing. On an industrial scale, it is processed into dry mashed potatoes.

Strengths of potatoes

• good productivity - 169–201 c / ha;
• marketability - 85–98% of tubers have a beautiful appearance;
• high shelf life - 97% of the crop is stored until the next season;
• resistance to cancer, wrinkled and banded mosaics, and also to late blight on tubers.

When growing, it is worth considering that Handsome is susceptible to a golden nematode, and the tops can affect late blight.

Growing Potatoes

The main thing when growing Handsome is to carry out the prevention of potato nematodes. Otherwise, the land will be infected by pests so badly that even the most productive and stable variety cannot grow on it. Nematodes are microscopic worms, they settle on the roots of potatoes and suck out juices. First, the lower leaves turn yellow and fall, then the entire bush dries prematurely, and if they grow, the tubers are small.

The pest hibernates in the ground, on the remains of roots, and on dug up tubers, and multiplies rapidly. If in the first year only a few dried bushes are found on the field, in the subsequent years their number will increase exponentially. The infected area from a small spot will grow to a whole field.

How to protect handsome potatoes from a golden nematode:

• Observe crop rotation! You can’t grow this variety for two consecutive years on the same site.
• Wash seed tubers in the fall and before planting with warm water.
• Every 5-6 years, update planting material by growing mini-tubers from botanical seeds.
• Fool pests. There are plants that secrete roots that awaken the larvae of nematodes. Insects leave cysts ahead of schedule, when it is still cold, there is no food (no potatoes are planted), and they die. The most effective: tansy, tagetes, white mustard and other plants from the cabbage and aster family.
• Autumn deeply plow the ground. Handsome is not suitable for natural farming, allowing only loosening of the upper soil layer.
• Close up the ground stalks and flowers of marigold, calendula, clover in the ground when digging.
• Cultivate the land and bushes with chemicals Nematicide, Nemabakt, BI-58. This is an extreme measure necessary for severe infection.

In order for Handsome to better resist diseases and pests, strengthen his immunity by regular watering and top dressing. In the fall, add 20–30 g / m² of superphosphate and potassium sulfate to the ground. During the growing season, a week after emergence, feed with a solution of urea or ammonia saltpeter - 15–20 g / m², and in the budding phase - with complex fertilizer for potatoes or vegetables (BioMaster, Fertik).

The rest of the care for this potato is classic. The earth should be loose and fertilized with humus or compost. Sprout seed tubers before planting in the light. Plant them according to the standard scheme - 30X70 cm, embedment depth - 8-10 cm.
Aisle and loosen aisles before closing the tops. Twice before flowering, cover the bushes with damp earth. Like any other potato, Handsome will require protection from the Colorado potato beetle. Preventive spraying on tops with fungicides against phytophthora will also be useful. You need to make it before flowering.

Video: the secrets of growing large potatoes

Harvest Features

I have a different kind of potato, but it has the same property as that of Handsome: in the bushes during digging, in addition to already grown and mature tubers, there are small ones on thick stolons. That is, the bush is at the same time as if ready for the harvest, and only small potatoes that have begun to grow could still grow. This year we have a warm and dry autumn, so I, digging up a couple of bushes and seeing such a picture, postponed the harvest for a week to grow a trifle.
I have another approach to such varieties. Perhaps this is a long-known know-how, but I thought of it myself when one summer I wanted a young potato, and it was a pity to spoil the whole bush. I run my fingers under the roots (since the earth in my area is loose), I grope for large potatoes and take them out. The bush itself continues to grow further, as if nothing had happened. Of course, you won’t dig a whole field like that, but if the potato grows, like mine, on a personal plot, and this variety is only 2-3 rows, then it is quite possible to harvest the first crop and let the second ripen.

The technology of collecting two crops from one bush:

1. Dig a bush, stepping well away from it to minimize hurt the roots.
2. Cover the bush on its side and select large potatoes.
3. Put the bush back in place, cover the roots, water and mulch at least with dry soil.

Reviews gardeners

handsome grew in 2014, the yield was so-so, it was a very hot summer. But in comparison with other varieties, there was no scab or sores, and not one tuber was rotten.

The handsome does not have more than one rotten one, but the tubers are smaller than those of the joy of somewhere up to 300 grams.

Handsome - recalled the Kiev scroll, only the flesh is lighter and rounder, of medium size. Not boiled, tastes good.

Potato Handsome, despite the name, is interesting not only for the marketable appearance of tubers. It has great potential. Official yields may be higher if vegetation is extended. In addition, the variety is resistant to dangerous viral diseases, and only the tops are affected by late blight. You can forget about the prevention of nematodes if you observe crop rotation.