New potatoes are a speci alty among potato tubers. They taste so fresh and tender, somehow different. It's no wonder that many people are so excited about the first copies of the year. When is it finally time?
When are new potatoes ready to harvest?
Early potatoes can be harvested from around the beginning of June when they have matured around 90 days after planting in the bed. To harvest earlier, you can consider growing potatoes in a greenhouse or pre-germinating seeds.
When are the first tubers ripe?
Everything is green and blooming in the potato patch, but what does it look like in the ground? The tubers grow in secret. We don't know how many there are under each plant, nor do we know what size they have already reached. Below is the interpretation of the visible characters:
- tuber formation begins with the flowering
- they get bigger over time
- when the green turns brown and withers, they are ripe
Calculate harvest time
The harvest time of each early potato variety can be approximately calculated. To do this, you need to know which variety you have planted in the bed and how long it ripens.
Most new potato varieties require around 90 days until their tubers are large and edible. If you planted them at the end of March, you can harvest in June.
Harvest even earlier
The current weather plays a crucial role in determining whether the crop is ready, because the warmer it is, the faster the potato plants grow. But while we cannot influence the weather, the following two factors are in our control when planting early potatoes:
- Potato growing in a greenhouse
- the pre-germination of potato seeds
Both variants enable harvesting up to three weeks earlier.
Harvest before ripeness
As soon as the potato plant flowers, the tubers begin to form. Nobody has to wait until the leaves wilt to add the tubers to their diet. A short time later, individual, sufficiently large specimens can be carefully dug up, while small tubers are allowed to continue to grow.
New potatoes from the supermarket
If you don't have your own garden or can't wait patiently for the first edible tubers, you can stock up on them in stores from May onwards. However, many types of new potatoes offered in supermarkets have come a long way because they usually come from warmer countries.
Tip
Plastic bags are not breathable and nets allow a lot of light to reach the tubers, which leads to the formation of toxic solanine. It's better to reach for new potatoes that are packed in paper bags.
