Family run potato growers throughout Tayside & Fife

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Kestrel

  • Very Attractive Bold Tubers
  • Tasty Boiled, Mashed or Baked
  • Good for Early Chipping Markets

Kestrel combines outstanding taste attributes with excellent culinary qualities. Its has very attractive tubers with smooth skin and distinctive flashes of purple around the eyes. It is marketed as a premium branded variety by at least two GB packers. Kestrel makes very good quality chips early and is especially popular for customers that prefer a golden coating and creamy white flesh. Kestrel has become an established variety of choice for garden produce competitions and is frequently the triumphant variety. Kestrel is relatively easy to grow in both gardens and on commercial farms. The variety has partial resistance PCN G.Pallidia and some resistance to slugs. It has very good resistance to Blackleg.

View Technical Information

Husbandry Guidelines

This information is intended to give growers a broad understanding of the variety and its growth requirements; it was last updated on 24 August 2014. Please consult your own agronomist for the best practice on your farm and your end requirements.

Pre Planting

We recommend all seed should be removed from the packaging at the earliest possible opportunity and no later than 5 days after delivery. Seed should then be kept in a dry, well ventilated, frost free. If an earlier harvest is required, consider moderate physiological aging of the seed.

Planting and Growing

To ensure the tuber number is adequate and common scab is avoided aim to keep the crop moist around the time of tuber initiation. Trials indicate Kestrel may be treated pre-emergence with Metribuzin (Sencorex). When grown for prepacking we suggest a planting population of 33,000 tubers (13,400/acre) for a typical 35x55mm 650 tubers/50kg seed stock. 13” spacing on 36” rows (33cm on 92cm rows). In a medium to high blight risk environment, ensure a robust blight protection programme is initiated promptly.

Harvest and Storage

To maintain a good skin-finish in store, try to keep the relative humidity low and minimise free moisture, especially during the curing period