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Last edited on 2 Mar 2020. View history

wai-iti taewa potato Wai Iti Taewa Potato

No scientific name recorded
Also known as Whanaako Ngati Porou (en)

A variety of potato

How to sow wai-iti taewa potato: Direct seed outdoors after last frost. Each piece must have one eye.

Sun requirement for wai-iti taewa potato: Plant in Full Sun

Blocky elongated cream skin with a lot of purples covering, turning almost to a golden russet, when fully mature.

A new cultivar bred by Koanga Institute from the aerial seed. This is an elongated potato oval shaped with a purple smooth skin and white eyes. It was named by a local kaumatua.

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Wai-iti taewa potato facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
Optimal temperature 15–25 °C
Absolute temperature 7–30 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 500–800 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 250–2000 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 5–6.2
Absolute soil pH 4.2–8.5
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

90–160 days
FAO EcoCrop

Max altitude

2800 m
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

very bright
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

For wai-iti taewa potato, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 90 days at its best temperature, about 1170 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your wai-iti taewa potato will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.

Growing wai-iti taewa potatoes

  1. Sit seed potatoes in the light to sprout 4 weeks before planting out
  2. Dig compost into the bed 1 week before planting out
  3. Earth up the shoots 3 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
  4. Check the leaves for blight 5 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
  5. Water in dry weather 6 weeks after planting out every week
  6. Dig the first new potatoes at first harvest
  7. Lift the main crop 6 weeks after first harvest
  8. Dry the potatoes and store them in the dark 7 weeks after first harvest

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Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Solanum tuberosum L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Asteridae
Solanales
Solanaceae
Killing temperature growth: 0 °C, rest: -1 °C
Life form herb
Life span annual
Habit erect
Optimal soil depth medium (50-150 cm)
Optimal soil texture medium, organic
Optimal soil fertility moderate
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells)
Optimal soil salinity low (<4 dS/m)
Photoperiod short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours)

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