Drought Tolerant Potatoes

Drought Tolerant Potatoes
Certain varieties of potatoes are resilient enough to tolerate drought. Examples include Prada potato and Elfe potato.


Prada Potato

Prada potato originated in Germany. It was introduced by the Solana Group in 2011. This variety is generally very early, 65 to 90 days.

A drought tolerant variety, the fast growing, semi-upright plants bear white blossoms. The very smooth tubers range from oval or long to oblong. The skin is vivid to light yellow.

Prada potato can vary slightly in size. These feature pale yellow flesh. This remains firm after cooking. The flesh doesn’t discolor after being cooked.

This variety provides a very high yield. These potatoes store reasonably well. They’re ideal for frying and salads.

The plants are resistant to silver scurf, nematodes, leaf blight, tuber blight, and rhizoctonia. It has moderate resistance to common scab, black leg, internal rust spot, nematodes, and bruising.

Elfe Potato

Like Prada potato, Elfe potato also originated in Germany (in Ebstorf) in 1994. Trials were held in Canada in 2007. One of the parents of Elba potato is Filea potato.

There are certainly lots of good things to say about this potato. Let’s start with the fact that Elfe potato is touted as a substitute for Yukon Gold potato

these potato plants are two feet in height with a matching spread. This has a spreading growth habit. It is known to be tolerant of drought.

It bears very few blossoms. The uniform tubers are smooth. Elfe potato is early to mid-season. The skin is deep yellow. The flesh is yellow and retains this color after cooking.

These potatoes are especially good roasted or baked. They’re also recommended for boiling, steaming, and mashed. The flesh has a creamy texture. It has a delicious buttery flavor.

Elfe potato is very high yielding, and yields even better than Yukon Gold. The yield is generally about 1.8 pounds per plant for Elfe.

These potatoes store very well. This potato plant is resistant to common scab, late blight, nematodes, black leg, and rhizoctonia.


Other Drought Tolerant Potato Varieties.

There are quite a few other potato varieties that are drought tolerant. Some of the ones that have been featured in other articles include Peter Wilcox potato, Pinto Gold potato, Nicola potato, Red Pontiac potato, Red LaSoda potato, Red Cloud potato, Kennebec potato, and Desiree potato. In addition, Irish Cobbler is reasonably drought tolerant and suited to dry climates. Oddly enough, at least three of the potato varieties listed above are red skinned potatoes.




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This content was written by Connie Krochmal. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Connie Krochmal for details.