Potato variety Svitanok Kievsky
Svitanok is a medium-early variety of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) of Ukrainian selection. It was obtained in the Kiev region by employees of the Institute of Potato Growing of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences. In 1987, five years after filing an application for registration, it was included in the state register of plants of the Russian Federation under the official name "Svitanok Kievsky". Approved for cultivation in six regions of the country: North-West, Central, Middle Volga, Ural, West Siberian, Far East. It is considered one of the best Ukrainian varieties grown in Russia. Recommended for cultivation in personal backyard plots.
The period from full germination to harvest is 85-105 days.
The plant is low, erect, compact, moderately leafy. Stems are of medium thickness, strong, not spreading, gathered together. Leaves are small, dark green in color. Corollas are light red-violet in color. Abundant flowering.
On one plant, an average of about 8-12 tubers weighing 90-120 grams are formed. Tubers are oval-rounded, often irregular. The peel is thin, light pink in color. The flesh on the cut is yellow. The eyes are small, shallow, have a dark pink color, often stand out against the general background. By the way, because of this feature, Svitanok can be easily confused with Zhukovsky early, Bullfinch and some other varieties, so be careful when buying planting material.
Our hero has a very good yield. It is possible to harvest up to 460 quintals of potatoes from one hectare of area. On average, the indicator is in the range of 250-300 kg / ha. Thus, with proper agricultural technology and favorable climatic conditions of the season, more than 300 kg of tubers can be obtained from one hundred square meters. Their keeping quality is very high - 95%.
The variety has excellent taste. The tubers are very soft boiled, suitable for making mashed potatoes and a variety of fillings. Also suitable for cooking, stewing, baking. But for frying and preparing salads, it is better to use a different variety, less boiled. The pulp has a pleasant rich texture, without excessive wateriness, and a bright "potato" aroma. During heat treatment, it retains its color, which makes it look appetizing when finished. The starch content is quite high - about 18%.
Svitanok adapts to absolutely any soil and climate, but it was originally bred for cultivation in temperate climatic latitudes. The plants show the best productivity on light fertile soils in regions with stable weather conditions. Still, it is worth mentioning that even in not quite suitable conditions, our hero has proven himself perfectly. It has spread quite widely in the Urals and Siberia, as well as in many other regions, and, despite its "age", remains among the gardeners' favorites, leaving behind the modern mid-early varieties.
In care, these potatoes are unpretentious, only standard agrotechnical measures are required, such as loosening the soil, hilling plantings, weeding, watering and feeding. You should also pay attention to preventive treatments against diseases and pests; for this species, this is a rather important agrotechnical moment that should not be neglected. Otherwise, our hero does not require the creation of special growing conditions and, even with minimal care, is able to delight you with the harvest!
Svitanok is resistant to the causative agent of cancer and rhizoctonia. It is moderately resistant to mosaic viruses, black leg and common scab, but it is quite susceptible to leaf-rolling virus. It has a moderate susceptibility to late blight, so preventive measures and observance of crop rotation on the site should not be neglected. According to some reports, the variety is resistant to the Colorado potato beetle, subject to timely insecticide treatments.
Over the long years of its existence, our hero managed to earn many positive and warm reviews from gardeners. It is especially appreciated for its excellent taste, which remains the benchmark even in modern realities, when the market is overflowing with many other varieties. No wonder it is called one of the most delicious varieties of Ukrainian selection! It is also worth noting its reliability, undemanding to growing conditions and unpretentious care, excellent keeping quality. According to the observations of gardeners, these potatoes are highly resistant to degeneration, due to which the seed material will have to be renewed very rarely.
But one cannot fail to mention the disadvantages. The main one is the insufficiently high yield of Svitanka, in comparison with other varieties on the market. Many modern varieties in this regard bypass our hero, moreover, not particularly inferior to him in taste. But nevertheless, “a matter of taste” matters here - someone will never exchange this potato for another, but someone will gladly replace it with a higher-yielding one, similar in consumer qualities. By the way, the disadvantages include a very good digestibility of tubers. According to gardeners, if you digest them a little, you will automatically get mashed potatoes, without any additional effort. On the other hand, someone might attribute this to the merits.
Also of note is the relatively low disease resistance. Of course, preventive measures can easily fix this problem, but not everyone has the opportunity to regularly monitor plantings. Summing up, we can say that Svitanok is an old, time-tested potato that will never leave you without a crop, albeit not as abundant as modern popular varieties of foreign selection promise.
