Panda potato variety is a blend of specially selected early and mid-early table varieties, allowing for tubers with a distinctive mottled skin color. The plants are semi-upright, medium height, and exhibit high yield. Tubers are oval or elongated-oval in shape with smooth surface and weight ranging from 65 to 150 grams. The flesh is creamy-colored with starch content of 10-15%, making this variety medium-starch and especially attractive to consumers due to its pleasant potato flavor. Tubers cook quickly but do not disintegrate, making them versatile for boiling, mashing, and frying.
Panda variety is resistant to several diseases, including potato cancer pathogens, aggressive races, and nematodes Ro1 and Ro4, ensuring reliable cultivation and high market yield, reaching 102 to 230 centners per hectare. Due to these characteristics, this potato is suitable not only for home use but also for industrial processing, including chip production.
Growing Panda potato from seedlings allows obtaining disease-free planting material free from viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases. It is recommended to use seedling cultivation: seeds are sown in April into seedling trays at 18-22°C, sprouts emerge within 8-12 days. Seedlings are transplanted into pots and regularly watered and fertilized with complex fertilizers. Transplanting into open ground is carried out at the end of May – beginning of June, following a planting scheme of 70x20-25 cm. Proper care is essential, including weeding, loosening, hilling, fertilization, and pest control, especially against Colorado beetle. Harvesting occurs at the end of August – beginning of September, with tubers storing well throughout the winter.
