Origin story
German quality is not only about things and equipment, it is about the selection of new varieties that have become hits in industrial and private plant growing for decades. Zekura potatoes are just such a success of the Germans, which is better known throughout the world. The variety has been grown in Russia for more than 20 years.
Zekura potatoes inherit the main advantages of European varieties, such as high disease resistance, productivity, stability, and high commercial characteristics. There are also a number of disadvantages due to the place of selection.
general information
The Zekura potato variety is very popular among gardeners around the world. In addition, it is included in the State Register of the Russian Federation and is grown in the central region of the country. Despite the fact that this variety was bred in Germany, it is perfectly adapted to the climate and soil types of the CIS countries. Therefore, most gardeners in our country plant this variety in their plots.
Description of the potato variety Zekura
Zekura potatoes belong to the mid-early ripening varieties and at the same time they have fairly high keeping characteristics. When properly stored in a cellar, potatoes are able to maintain their ideal appearance and high nutritional qualities for 4 to 6 months.
The Zekura potato bush is compact, slightly spreading, low - up to 35 cm. At the same time, 20 tubers of different weights are formed under the bush.
The high taste qualities of the Zekura variety are especially noted. The tubers contain a large amount of carotene, which not only determines the color of the potato when cut - rich yellow, but also allows the variety to be classified as dietary. With a fairly high starch content - up to 18%, potatoes do not become overcooked and have a rich, very distinct taste.
Harvesting
Harvesting takes place from mid-August to the second ten days of September. For subsequent storage of potatoes, you need to disinfect the storage, dry it and, if possible, ventilate it. Potatoes should be sorted, removing all tubers with signs of disease or damage.
Advice! It is best to store potatoes in nets or wooden boxes with holes in them in a dark place. The temperature in the room with potatoes should not be higher than + 3° C.
Main characteristics
- Ripening period: mid-early,
- Harvest: 90-100 days from planting,
- Productivity: 350-370 centners per hectare,
- Demanding on soils
- Requires watering
- Bush: low-growing, compact, about 35 cm
- Excellent for mechanized planting, processing and harvesting,
- The tubers are sandy outside, clearly yellow inside,
- Number of tubers per bush: 15-20 pcs.
- Average tuber weight: from 60 to 135 g.
- Disease resistance: average. The variety is resistant to scab and leaf curl virus,
- Easy to grow variety
- Taste qualities are high,
- The variety is classified as dietary due to its high carotene content.
- The starch content is up to 18%, it cooks poorly.
These characteristics of the variety have made it very popular in private breeding in Western Siberia, the Far East, the Middle Volga and Central Black Earth regions.
Diseases and pests
Zekura potatoes are resistant to a wide range of diseases and pests, including rust, late blight, scab, leaf curl virus, and blackleg. Despite this, there are often cases of bushes being damaged by the Colorado potato beetle, mole cricket, cutworm caterpillars, and wireworms.
To destroy the Colorado potato beetle, it is recommended to plant calendula between rows of potatoes, and also cover the soil with wood ash. As preventative measures for the appearance of pests and the development of diseases, it is necessary to regularly weed and loosen the beds, add ash and lime after digging the area. Also follow the watering regime, do not allow the soil to become waterlogged or dry out too much.
Advantages and disadvantages
The advantages of the Zekura variety include:
- Stability of yields,
- A large number of tubers in the nest,
- Smooth tubers, suitable for both mechanized and manual harvesting,
- Good keeping quality
- Excellent presentation,
- Excellent taste and dietary properties,
- Early harvest
- Suitability of the variety for cultivation in almost all regions of the Russian Federation,
- The compactness of plants, which facilitates their agricultural technology.
On the downside:
- Demanding requirements of potatoes to the soil: the variety reveals its full potential only on nutritious soils and with the application of organic and inorganic fertilizers,
- The variety requires regular watering.
Landing
Zekura potatoes have their own characteristics of agricultural technology, and they relate, first of all, to soil preparation. The variety does not tolerate poor podzolic soils. Therefore, starting in the fall, a number of organic and mineral fertilizers must be applied to the area allocated for potatoes. But the variety tolerates slightly increased acidity, so you should not lime the soil.
For organic matter, rotted manure and soil from compost heaps, previously sifted and disinfected, are preferable. Pre-sown green manure works well: rapeseed, peas, mustard, which, when dug, make the soil lush, richer, and fight weeds and pests.
Before planting, the seed material should be prepared in advance: warm it up, drive out strong shoots, stimulate root formation.
Zekura potatoes are planted either under a shovel or in furrows, the main thing is that the soil has time to warm up well, but remains moist. Folk omens recommend sowing potatoes on the days when leaves appear on the birch tree. For earlier harvests, you can cover a well-lit area with covering material in advance, wait a couple of days for the soil to warm up and, after planting potatoes, cover the area again with textiles.
The planting scheme for the Zekura variety allows you to save a little space. Due to the compactness of the bush, the distance between holes can be reduced to 35-40 cm, and between rows - to 55-60 cm.
How to store and prepare potatoes for planting?
The storage conditions for potatoes must be strictly observed, and then the vegetable will delight you with its excellent taste for more than 1 month.
After the harvest has been harvested, the main task is to properly preserve it. Potatoes of this variety can be classified as those that can easily last for 10 months after harvest. How to achieve this effect? The main conditions that must be observed are correctly selected temperature and humidity. In this case, the air temperature should be fixed at +1° C, so the room must be constantly ventilated. If these points are met, a high-quality harvest will certainly please consumers for a long time.
Storing potatoes in boxes
The taste qualities of Zekur will satisfy every adherent of potato gastronomic masterpieces. The tubers of this variety are yellow inside, boil quickly and well, so they are great for preparing first courses.
How to prepare potatoes for planting? There are no special secrets in this matter. About 15 days before the potatoes are supposed to be planted, they should be placed in a room with a favorable room temperature. In this case, first place it in a container in two layers. Be sure to take into account the following point: there should be no drafts in the room. After 2 weeks, the potato tubers germinate. This indicates that they are ready to disembark.
sprouted potatoes Zekura
Positive reviews from those who have already planted this variety of potatoes on their plots fully demonstrate its advantages. Almost maximum results are observed at minimal costs, so many summer residents will agree that the variety is extremely profitable. Excellent taste and short ripening period at minimal cost - the dream of every gardener.
Care
Zekura potatoes are quite demanding to care for. Already a week after planting, it is necessary to walk with a rake over the area with potatoes to break the top crust.
Two weeks after germination, it is important not to miss the first hilling. The ground is raised as high as possible due to the characteristics of the variety - the nest of tubers is located very close to the surface. The second hilling is carried out during the period of color development.
Important! All work on hilling, weeding, loosening and fertilizing is carried out only on wet soil! If there has been no rain for a long time before work, deep watering of the potatoes should be carried out.
Zekura potatoes should be fertilized twice during the growing season. These can be either organic fertilizers: infusions of manure, vermicompost, herbs, ash, or mineral complexes that are scattered around the plant at a distance of 10-15 cm and lightly sprinkled with soil.
The first fertilizing is carried out with potassium fertilizers. They allow you to increase green mass, improve plant nutrition, and stimulate root formation. The second feeding is done during the period of color development with sulfate-based preparations. These fertilizers provoke an increase in tuber mass, and also increase the resistance of potatoes to rot, scab, and late blight. The tubers not only absorb nutrients, but also “build” a strong skin around themselves, which will ensure better preservation of the crop in the cellar.
Separately about watering. During the dry season, Zekura potatoes require 3-4 abundant waterings. The first at the moment of germination, the next two with an interval of 3 weeks. After flowering has ended, watering potatoes is contraindicated.
Important! It is best to water potatoes in the early morning hours before the sun appears. An increase in temperature will cause abundant vaporization, which will create conditions for the development of fungal and viral diseases. When watering, try not to get water on the leaves.
The crop is harvested 90 days after planting, dried thoroughly without exposure to sunlight, excess soil is removed and stored.
Harvesting and storage
If the planting date and cultivation rules are observed, the Zekura potato crop is harvested in the first ten days of August. This can only be done in dry weather. The tubers are laid out on the furrows and allowed to dry a little.
Then they are sorted and put into bags.
For the first 15–20 days, the tubers are stored in a dark room at a temperature of no more than +15 °C
For the winter, potatoes are sent to the cellar or vegetable store. There they maintain a constant temperature of +2–4 °C and humidity of 70–80%.
Damaged, too large and very small root vegetables are best consumed first.
Reviews
Anna Vladimirovna, 53 years old, Smolensk region
Zekura is the most delicious potato I have ever tried! The potatoes are soft when boiled, but completely retain their shape, while being richly yellow, the oil on them looks like a white spot. I get the harvest in the Smolensk region at the end of July, and the variety seems to have been created for our humid and not always warm summer.
Ivan Andreevich, 44 years old, Dalnegorsk
It’s a good variety, stable. I’ve been planting Zekura for 15 years now, and the potatoes haven’t gotten smaller, and the number of tubers under the bush hasn’t decreased. It is very easy to hill up - the plants are compact and do not lie down. The most difficult thing is to save the seed material until April. You have to dig it out already in August, and in January-February the potatoes in the basement begin to wrinkle.
Dmitry Konstantinovich, 38 years old, Salavat
It’s rare that a European variety produces good yields here in the Trans-Urals, so Zekura was a great and pleasant surprise. It’s nice to dig and choose when there are a lot of tubers under the bush and all are even. A small drawback for potatoes is that part of the harvest is less than average, so I don’t leave it for winter storage, because it pleases us from July to September, until the main potato varieties ripen.
Igor Sergeevich, 37 years old, Kostomuksha
I was not impressed by the variety, the yield was average, there were a lot of small potatoes slightly smaller than a chicken egg - just boil them in their uniforms. I planted it for two years, then bred it, not an interesting variety.
