CHARLOTTE POTATO

By David Marks
Charlotte potatoes are a second early variety and they are mentioned by name in many recipes. That’s always a good sign because in the end the purpose of growing potatoes is to eat them and recommendations from recipes is a sure sign of good taste.They are on the waxy side which makes them excellent for boiling, they hold their shape well and are delicious hot or cold. Using them for roasting and to sauté produces excellent results. One recipe we particularly like can be found here.

PARENTAGE

The parents of Charlotte are Hansa x Danae

APPEARANCE, TASTE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CHARLOTTE

Charlotte potatoes
The Charlotte Potato

These are long potatoes which continue to grow well even when left in the ground longer than they really should. The flowers are a attractive in their own right – most often described as red-violet but in my opinion I would describe them as pink-violet.

For a salad potato they are on the large side with thin light brown skins which are smooth with very shallow eyes. The texture is slightly waxy and the flesh is yellow-cream coloured. Easy to grow on most soils it has good overall disease resistance.

POSITIVE POINTS FOR CHARLOTTE
Taste is excellent and they boil without falling apart. Even when left in the ground longer than normal this is still an excellent variety. Average resistance to blight and unlikely to be affected by scab or slugs. They are an excellent choice if you want to try growing potatoes for Christmas.

NEGATIVE POINTS FOR CHARLOTTE
Susceptible to eelworm, in common with many other second earlies they store only for a week or two.

BUYING CHARLOTTE SEED POTATOES IN THE UK

Charlotte is a common variety of potato and is available online, from garden centres and diy store. They are available not only in late winter / spring but also in mid / late summer (for late autumn potatoes).

We recommend buying your seed potatoes from certified suppliers because those sold in supermarkets for consumption can be a source of disease and pest. We would avoid buying them from online general retailers such as as Amazon or E-bay unless you know exactly who is supplying the seed potatoes.

Buying seed potatoes from the discount store can be a good deal but it can also result in a sub-standard crop. The discount stores take the second quality seed potatoes whereas the more specialist suppliers take the best quality. Unfortunately you will only find this out after you have carefully tended your crop for several months.

Crocus (a GardenFocused approved supplier) sell Charlotte seed potatoes (and many other varieties) which are not only correctly certified but they are graded by size to avoid unduly small seed potatoes being sold. Click here for more information and to buy Charlotte online. A 2kg bag will contain about 22 good sized seed potatoes.

ALTERNATIVES TO CHARLOTTE POTATOES

The key qualities of this variety are flavour and reasonably good disease resistance. You may also want to consider Nicola potatoes which have very similar attributes. Other equally good second early varieties are Kestrel and Wilja.

For other potato varieties which we have fully reviewed, click the drop down box below, select a variety and then click the More Information Button.

WHEN TO CHIT / SPROUT CHARLOTTE POTATOES

We recommend that you start chitting / sprouting Charlotte potatoes in. This will give them four to five weeks to develop healthy sprouts just at the time when they are ready to be planted out. Keep the potatoes in cool but light conditions to ensure they grow short, green sprouts. Click here for our page dedicated to chitting / sprouting potatoes in the UK and Ireland.

WHEN TO PLANT CHARLOTTE POTATOES

Charlotte potatoes are second earlies potatoes and they are ready for harvest, if conditions are correct, 15 to 17 weeks after the seed potatoes are planted. The key factor governing the time for planting all potatoes is the date of the last frost in your area. Even a touch of frost can damage potato plants if their foliage is above ground, an unexpected severe frost can kill them completely.

The date for planting Charlotte potato seed can be calculated on the basis that seed potatoes will take four weeks before they appear above ground. Given also that you want them to appear above ground only when the danger of frost has passed is about right time to plant them.

WHEN TO HARVEST CHARLOTTE POTATOES

The harvest date for all potatoes is not only dependent on when you plant your seed potatoes, it also depends on the weather conditions throughout the growing season. But on average you can expect your potatoes to be ready for harvest some time between in your area of the UK.

BUYING CHARLOTTE SEED POTATOES IN THE UK

Charlotte is a common variety of potato and is available online, from garden centres and diy store. They are available not only in late winter / spring but also in late summer (for late autumn potatoes).

Suttons Seeds (a GardenFocused approved supplier) sell Charlotte seed potatoes which are not only correctly certified but they are graded by size to avoid unduly small seed potatoes being sold. Click here for more information and to buy Charlotte online. A 1kg bag will contain about 11 good sized seed potatoes.

PEST AND DISEASE RESISTANCE OF CHARLOTTE POTATO

The table below sets out how good or bad Charlotte potato plants are at resisting common pests and diseases in the UK. The 0 point is average with minus (red) values showing lower than average resistance and plus values (green) showing higher than average resistance.

	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5
Late blight – foliage
Late blight – tubers
Common scab
Powdery scab
Slugs
Potato Cyst Nematode (pallida)
Potato Cyst Nematode (rostochiensis)
Blackleg
Splitting
	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5