Russet Norkotah is an early to medium maturing (95-110 days from planting), determinate potato variety. Some key management characteristics are: medium-sized upright vine resulting in about 85% row closure, poor drought tolerance due to a small root system, and tendency to oversize.
Plant Characteristics
- Growth Type - determinate, growth abruptly stops at flowering, hail sensitive with little to no re-growth.
- Maturity - early to medium
- Emergence - rapid, sensitive to cold soil at planting.
- Dormancy - medium, 3-4 months.
- Eyes - many, well-distributed, shallow.
- Vine - small-medium, upright.
- Leaves - open, average-sized, medium green.
- Flowers - few, small and white.
- Tubers - oblong to long, well-shaped. (most marketable quality)
- Set - light to medium (8-12), high on hill. (greens easily with oversizing)
- Yield - potential for over 400 cwt/acre, slightly better than Norgold Russet under good conditions.(Table 2)
- Gravity - low to medium (1.075-80).
- Sugars - medium (fry only out of field).
- Storage - short-term, market by mid-March.
- Bruising - dehydrates in storage resulting in blackspot and pressure bruises.
- External Defects - none (# 1 strength for fresh market)
- Internal Defects - occasional hollow heart (oversizing)
- Disease Susceptibility - all common viruses, early dying, black dot, both blights, blackleg/soft rot, dry rot, pink rot, leak, seedpiece decay, silver scurf.
- Disease Resistance - common scab.
- Insect Attractiveness - aphids.
- Weed Control - competes poorly with weeds, herbicide use needed.
- Herbicide Sensitivity - none, very resistant to metribuzin.
