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Indeterminate or Determinate Potato Varieties? #791910

Asked May 21, 2022, 10:48 AM EDT

Are the following varieties of potatoes determinate or indeterminate?  There are a lot of conflicting answers online.  

French Fingerling

Magic Molly

Harvest Moon

Pinto Gold

Yellowstone County Montana

Expert Response

Hello and thanks for using Ask Extension. You are correct in stating there is a lot of confusion about determinate and indeterminate potatoes. While there are a number of "lists" of determinate and indeterminate varieties, none of the varieties you ask about appear on any lists that I found. None of the suppliers of seed potatoes that i looked at describe these varieties as determinate or indeterminate. 

A Colorado Master Gardener offers the following advice.
Usually we classify potatoes as “early season”, “mid season” and “late season” varieties. There is not a lot of educational websites regarding the determinate/ indeterminate topic and I could not find a list.

Early season varieties have a determinate growth habit and only need about 4-8” of soil cover. They grow tubers along the same level and might only need a couple of inches of soil to be added once tubers form.

Late season varieties are indeterminate potatoes and grow tubers within a foot of soil along the stem and require hilling. The plant above ground might be slightly taller. Mid season might belong to either group being determinate or indeterminate potatoes. You might have to check and add soil to the top layer to cover up tubers being produced. Short season/determinate potatoes will bloom earlier than indeterminate potato
varieties.  Late season varieties might not have enough time to
ripen in order to be used for storage potatoes in our short growing seasons.

 

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