Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
A Swiss potato specialty
Maluns is a typical dish of scrambled or long-fried potatoes from the Swiss canton Graubünden.
It is made with 'Parli', a traditional “floury” potato variety with sunken eyes. This cultivar is un-
usually high in starch and remains relatively dry when boiled, yet does not crumble. Parboiled
potatoes are quickly skinned in one “yank,” then mashed and sautéed for a long time in butter
with wheat flour and salt—a hearty meal for hard-working farmers.
A fully fledged plant can grow from each eye of a potato. Yet for each potato, half the eyes are bet-
ter developed than the other half. To encourage all eyes to develop their full potential, cut tubers in
half (except for a small “bridge” connecting the two) two weeks before planting out.
If you have very few seed potatoes of a given variety, production can be maximized by cutting down
tubers to one eye per piece. Simply cut each eye out, along with a cylindrical portion of potato flesh;
an apple corer works well for this. In this way, you can get up to about 10 seed potato pieces from one
tuber. Wait until the wounds have dried before planting in pots. When new roots have established
themselves, plant out in the garden more densely than you would otherwise plant potatoes.
HARVEST
Harvest tubers to be used as seed potatoes the following year by pulling the bushes early, as
described in step 2. Otherwise, wait until the above-ground foliage dies off, usually in early autumn.
Leave tubers in the ground for two weeks after the foliage dies before harvesting, to harden their skin.
Store potatoes in dark, well-ventilated conditions at low temperatures (35-39°F [2-4°C]). Sprouting
should be inhibited until late winter, so that sprouting can take place with maximum vigor in spring.
Cellars with dirt floors are ideal, but only if freezing is an impossibility in all corners, as this can kill
the tubers. Potatoes should not be kept with apples, which emit ethylene gas, thus shortening the life of
any vegetable stored with them.
SELECTION CHARACTERISTICS
Selection should not be based merely on shape, size, and health of
the tubers but also on the vigor and health of the foliage. Mark the best-looking and most vigorous
bushes with a pole, and harvest seed potatoes only from these plants. Ideal seed potatoes are mid-
sized. Further selection criteria may include:
• shape and color of tuber (inner and outer)
• good skin development
• earliness
• storage life
DISEASES AND PESTS
The biggest problem in potato cultivation regardless of the region is potato
blight (
Phytophthora infestans
). Symptoms: starting in early summer, foliage first turns brown, then a
silvery white fungal layer forms on the undersides of leaves, leading to an early death of plants. The
disease can spread further on tubers in storage. Prevention: plant with sufficient spacing for good air
circulation in the foliage; plant only in areas with good air circulation; do not grow potatoes directly
