Indeterminate and Determinate Potatoes (2024)

FAQs

Indeterminate and Determinate Potatoes? ›

These potatoes, sometimes called "early potatoes," are usually determinate and are ready in about 70-90 days. Indeterminate or late season potatoes on the other hand grow in multiple layers, so it is important to mound soil around the plants. This will give you a better yield.

The only way to know is to grow them and if the potato has a bush-like appearance, flowers and dies, they are a determinate variety. And if they sprawl all over, continue growing until a killing frost gets them, they are an indeterminate variety.

Yukon Gold is a determinate variety and senescence occurs 70-90 days after emergence (about 100 days after planting); natural die-off is mid to late August with an early May planting.

These are good for small spaces because they allow you to grow up and still get a good yield of potatoes. Examples of indeterminate potatoes include Snowden, Russet Burbank, and Banco*ck Russet.

The stem continues to grow and produce more laterals, so the plant is able to continue growing and flowering for longer. Determinate potatoes normally top out at about two to three feet tall. Indeterminate varieties can grow stems as much as seven feet long, eventually becoming sort of sprawling vines.

This is why hilling determinate potato varieties does not impact your yield. You do not want the growing potato tubers exposed to sunlight as this will turn them green. Adding mulch or hilling them once, although not altering the yield, will ensure they don't end up green.

You'll find them classified as first earlies, second earlies, or maincrop, each referring to their planting and harvesting times. First earlies, like the Rocket or Swift varieties, are ideal for beginners due to their swift growth and early harvest.

Dig a shallow trench about 6-8 inches deep. This can be done with a rake in loose soil, but you may need a shovel or hoe in heavier soils. Place cut potatoes 10-12 inches apart in the trench. If larger potatoes are planted whole they will produce larger plants and should be given a little extra room, 12-16 inches.

Determinate potatoes are a good choice for container growing, because you can grow multiple layers in one container. If planting an indeterminate variety (and the majority of late cropping or maincrop varieties are indeterminates), plant just two potatoes in the bottom.

Raised beds are one of the best ways to grow potatoes, as they thrive in loose, well-draining soil. As such, growing potatoes in a regular or keyhole garden raised bed offers numerous benefits. For one, it's easier to keep weeds at bay since the beds are elevated off the ground.

What is the highest yielding potato? ›

Highest yielding cultivars were the late season varieties Belmonda and MonDak Gold. A contributing factor to this may have been that later varieties were able to “weather” the long-term drought and heat effects of the season.

Yukon gold, white, yellow, blue, and purple potato varieties are the happy medium of the potato world. They're a great potato staple and are not too starchy or too waxy.

Determinate potatoes rarely grow very tall and are often early to bloom. However, if the plant's stems just keep growing up and up, it's indeterminate, a fact you can confirm by mounding the stems and checking to see if new tubers form in the added layer.

Indeterminate varieties do continue to grow above the soil and you keep covering those stems up leaving a bit of green and you'll get more potatoes growing off those stems and very high yields.

How Many Potatoes Form Per Plant? You can expect at least five to six new potatoes for each potato you plant. If only every plant multiplied this way! There's something so magical about pulling up a potato plant and seeing so many new potatoes attached to the small one you planted months ago.

Determinate tomatoes have a set growth limit. The fruit will ripen all at once, typically within a week or two, and the plant will die back after the harvest. Further, determinate tomatoes tend to fruit earlier than indeterminate varieties. These plants are smaller and more bush-like.

Russet Potatoes - Russets are large potatoes with rough brown skin and pale flesh. Yellow Potatoes - Yellow potatoes have thin gold skin and yellow flesh. White Potatoes - White potatoes have thin beige or tan skin with pale flesh. Red Potatoes - Red potatoes have thin red skin and pale flesh.