The 'Annabelle' potato is a popular variety that has been approved since 2002. It is characterized by a delicate taste and delicate yellow, elongated tubers. 'Annabelle' can also be cultivated well in the garden. But what to do if the plants don't want to bloom?
Why doesn’t the potato ‘Annabelle’ bloom?
If the potato 'Annabelle' does not bloom, the causes may be drought, lack of nutrients or unfavorable weather conditions. However, a lack of flowering is usually irrelevant to tuber formation and does not affect the harvest.
Why is the potato 'Annabelle' not blooming?
There are various possible reasons for the failure to bloom:
- drought
- Nutrient Deficiency
- unfavorable weather conditions
Before growing potatoes, you should add plenty of compost to the soil and, if possible, green manure the previous autumn. Oil radish is particularly suitable here. However, you should avoid interseeding with mustard or phacelia, as this promotes nematodes in the soil - and these are disadvantageous for potato cultivation.
In addition, potatoes need evenly moist soil that should neither be too wet nor dry out. Even if it is too cold - which is often the case with the early ripening 'Annabelle' - the flowers will not bloom. Temperatures between 18 and 24 °C are ideal.
What can you do to make potatoes bloom?
Prepare the soil well before sowing the seed potatoes, compost and intermediate sowing with oil radish should be mandatory. Also pay attention to a warm, sunny location and humus-rich, well-drained soil. Water if the drought persists, but avoid too much moisture - this could cause the potatoes to rot and thus destroy the crop. You should also thin out plants that are too close so that the tubers have enough space to grow.
Does the potato ‘Annabelle’ have to bloom at all?
In the case of 'Annabelle', you don't actually have to worry about a missing potato flower: This variety is ready to harvest very early anyway - often as early as June - when most other potato varieties only begin to bloom. Sometimes the planting is done very late because it was too cold in the spring - this often results in a delay in flowering. Therefore, you can safely ignore the missing flowers and start digging up the delicious tubers. These are particularly suitable for jacket potatoes and all the delicious dishes you can prepare with them.
In general, the potato blossom is irrelevant to the cultivation of the tubers, provided its absence is not an indicator of serious location or care errors. After all, they don’t want the – deadly poisonous ones! – harvest fruits, but rather the potato tubers that grow underground. And they don't need flowers to grow. This simply shows when the tubers start to grow. However, a lack of flowering can be associated with a poor potato harvest if the location is unsuitable or the weather conditions are poor.
Tip
Pre-germinate potatoes
Potatoes may only be planted outdoors when frost is no longer expected. To bring forward the harvest time, you can let the tubers germinate in a bright place from April onwards.
