Determinate potato (left), indeterminate potato (right). Ill.: www.supercoloring.com, montage: laidbackgardener.blog
Most serious gardeners know the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum). Determinate tomatoes are the shorter ones, the ones that don’t necessarily need staking. They grow to a certain height, then stop growing. They also produce most of their fruits all at once. Many early tomatoes are determinate.
Indeterminate tomatoes are the tall ones. Staking or caging is required and they keep growing taller and taller all season. They produce fruits over a long period and indeed, in tropical climates or heated greenhouses, produce continuously. They’re usually mid-season to late types.
So, that’s what you know. But did you know that potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), also come in determinate and indeterminate varieties and that this can influence how you grow them?
The difference is that this mostly happens underground.
Determinate Potatoes
Determinate potatoes produce a single layer of tubers just below the soil surface. They produce fewer tubers than indeterminate ones, but they tend to be earlier, even much earlier, most maturing in 55 to 70 days. In short season climates, only determinate potatoes may have time to produce full-size tubers good for storage. They also have shorter stems not given to flopping.
Plant determinate seed potatoes (small tubers) about 4 inches (10 cm) deep. There is no need to mound up soil at their base, but mulching can be of great help, ensuring that the tubers are not exposed to the sun. (Those touched by the sun will turn green and be inedible.)
The following varieties are among the more popular determinate potatoes:
- ‘Accord’
- ‘Adirondack Blue’
- ‘Adirondack Red’
- ‘Amanda’
- ‘Annabelle’
- ‘Anya’
- ‘Arcade’
- ‘Atlantic’
- ‘Caribe’
- ‘Carlingford’
- ‘Charlotte’
- ‘Chieftain’
- ‘Colmo’
- ‘Courage’
- ‘Cranberry Red’
- ‘Dakota Pearl’
- ‘Dakota Pearl’
- ‘Dark Red Norland’
- ‘Dundrod’
- ‘Endeavour’
- ‘Estima’
- ‘Gold Rush’
- ‘Harmony’
- ‘Innovator’
- ‘Innovator’
- ‘Irish Cobbler’
- ‘Irish Cobbler’
- ‘Juliette’
- ‘Kennebec’
- ‘Kestrel’
- ‘Lady Claire’
- ‘Lady Rosetta’
- ‘Marfona’
- ‘Maris Bard’
- ‘Maritiema’
- ‘Melody’
- ‘Minerva’
- ‘Miranda’
- ‘Mozart’
- ‘Nadine’
- ‘Nectar’
- ‘Norland’
- ‘Onaway’
- ‘Orchestra’
- ‘Orla’
- ‘Pentland Javelin’
- ‘Premiere’
- ‘Purple Caribe’
- ‘Purple Majesty’
- ‘Ratte’
- ‘Red Norland’
- ‘Reddale’
- ‘Rembrandt’
- ‘Rocket’
- ‘Russet Norkotah’
- ‘Russian Banana’
- ‘Saxon’
- ‘Shannon’
- ‘Shepody’
- ‘Sierra Gold’
- ‘Sierra Rose’
- ‘Soraya’
- ‘Superior’
- ‘Vales Emerald’
- ‘Viking’
- ‘Vivaldi’
- ‘VR808’
- ‘Warba’
- ‘Wilja’
- ‘Winston’
- ‘Yukon Gem’
- ‘Yukon Gold’
Indeterminate Potatoes
These potatoes are capable of producing tubers at multiple levels, so, although you plant them at the same depth as determinate potatoes (4 inches/10 cm), you will need to keep mounding soil, mulch, chopped leaves or straw up around the plant as the season progresses. This mounding will not only help support their tall, often floppy stems, but tubers will form in the increasingly high mounds, to a maximum of up to about 1 foot (30 cm) above the original level. They’re also the potatoes used in “potato towers” and “potato bags.”
Indeterminate potatoes produce more tubers than determinate potatoes, but need a longer growing season. Some are mid-season (70 to 90 days) varieties, but most are late varieties (90 to 110 days, even 135 days). Not all late varieties are adapted to short-season climates.
The following varieties are indeterminate, at least to a certain degree:
- ‘Agria’
- ‘All Blue’ (‘Russian Blue’)
- ‘Alturas’
- ‘Amarosa’
- ‘Ambo’
- ‘Amora’
- ‘Arsenal’
- ‘Asterix’
- ‘Bellanite’
- ‘Bintje’
- ‘Brooke’
- ‘Butte’
- ‘Caesar’
- ‘Canela Russet’
- ‘Cara’
- ‘Carbaret’
- ‘Carola’
- ‘Century Russet’
- ‘Cultra’
- ‘Daisy’
- ‘Desiree’
- ‘Dutch Cream’
- ‘Elba’
- ‘Electra’
- ‘Eos’
- ‘Fambo’
- ‘Fianna’
- ‘French Fingerling’
- ‘German Butterball’
- ‘Green Mountain’
- ‘Hermes’
- ‘Katahdin’
- ‘King Edward’
- ‘Lady Balfour’
- ‘Lady Christl’
- ‘Lady Valora’
- ‘Lehigh’
- ‘Maris Piper’
- ‘Markies’
- ‘Morene’
- ‘Navan’
- ‘Nicola’
- ‘Pentland Dell’
- ‘Pentland Squire’
- ‘Picasso’
- ‘Pink Fir Apple’
- ‘Ranger Russet’
- ‘Record’
- ‘Red Cloud’
- ‘Red Cloud’
- ‘Red Maria’
- ‘Red Pontiac’
- ‘Rooster’
- ‘Royal’
- ‘Russet Burbank’
- ‘Russet Nugget’
- ‘Russian Nugget’
- ‘Sante’
- ‘Sassy’
- ‘Saturna’
- ‘Shelford’
- ‘Slaney’
- ‘Stemster’
- ‘Strawberry Paw’
- ‘Up to Date’
- ‘Vales Everest’
- ‘Vales Sovereign’
- ‘Valor’
- ‘Victoria’
- ‘Yellow Finn’
Helpful Hint: No matter what type of potato you grow, you can tell the tubers are ready to harvest when the foliage begins to die back.
How to Tell?
Oddly, potato suppliers rarely seem to mention which type of potato—determinate or indeterminate—they sell. They tend to stick to the terms “early,” “mid-season” and “late” in their descriptions: helpful information, to be sure, but it doesn’t necessarily tell you which ones will produce tubers on mounded stems and which won’t. Mid-season varieties, for example can belong to either group.
Of course, you can find out if a potato is indeterminate or not by growing it! Determinate potatoes rarely grow very tall and are often early to bloom. However, if the plant’s stems just keep growing up and up, it’s indeterminate, a fact you can confirm by mounding the stems and checking to see if new tubers form in the added layer.
Still, knowing in advance which potatoes are determinate and indeterminate would really help gardeners, especially those who want to experiment with growing in towers and bags, so, potato suppliers, would it really be so hard for you to just add one more word to your descriptions: either determinate or indeterminate?
Thanks so much!
Eva – indeterminate or determinate? Cannot find the info anywhere. Grew these last year in Wisconsin (Zone 5b) with the Yellow Finns and German Butterballs. All grew to about the same height in a raised bed, did the hilling method with all varieties. I didn’t know until now about the determinate/indeterminate qualities of potatoes, so unfortunately cannot remember how the Eva was layered when harvesting. Much appreciate the list! Thank you for your hard work.
Barney, you write that the I/D (indeterminate/determinate) distinction is “just…different names”. I’ve done a bit of networking among plant scientists who work for the USDA and they agree, to the contrary, that the I/D growth habit in potato is observable and reliable as to classification. Also, check this out: “If [like most people] you only grow potatoes from tubers, which are clones, cross pollination will not alter the potatoes in any way.” https://www.cultivariable.com/risks-of-cross-pollination-by-gmo-potatoes/
Thank you for the clarification! ?
The truth is no one can really tell if the potato is Determinate or Indeterminate, even if its labeled with certain variety. It would actually require a DNA test for a specific growing gene for every tuber. The reason is cross pollination thus some potatoes would produce tubers with different characteristics. Unless somebody is growing potatoes on Mars and DNA tested every tuber, the farmer cant tell for sure that all their harvest is one specific variety, they may all look and taste the same, but some can become Determinate or Indeterminate, Why do you think there is so many potatoes varieties, its ridiculous, all because they cross pollinate so easily by themselves, even if the fields are miles apart, and no one cant really stop it, so they just come up with different names.
Thank you, Larry, for the best list of determinate vs. indeterminate potatoes that I have been able to find! This must have taken a lot of research on your part…..I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t quite have the patience for research!
I will certainly understand if you don’t have the time to look these up, but I ordered three varieties this year that I have no idea what kind they are: Huckleberry Gold (a newer variety, I believe, that is “low glycemic”), Red Gold, and Purple Viking. Even if you can’t determine what kind these are, I still appreciate your great list!
Mary
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Hi Mary, I’ve updated this list quite often in the past (it’s been amazingly popular) and just don’t have the time right now. I’ll try to do so in the future.
Huckleberry Gold: determinate or indeterminate?
I haven’t been able to find that information.
why is red pontiac in both catagories
Because I goofed. Thanks for letting me know! It’s indeterminate.
I always thought Red Pontiacs were determinate
I found that info here: https://www.gardeningdream.com/the-ultimate-list-of-determinate-and-indeterminate-potatoes/
Thank you !!
Thanks for all your info! I agree that the seed producers Should include that one extra word. I also like that you seem to answer all the questions in the comments. My only question is the medium to grow in. Will it be better in sandy soil, straw, compost or mulched leaves, etc. Would something light allow the tubers to increase in size?
They’ll grow in almost any soil or even mulched leaves! However, light or sandy soils make for easier harvesting. Heavy clay soils can be too wet and harvesting is difficult. Tuber size is not really affected to a great degree by soil type.
This is great info thank you for taking the time to put it together.
Charlotte – determinate or indeterminate?
Determinate
Many thanks, I see you have added to the lists by a lot 🙂
Yes, since I wanted to add “your suggestion”, I figured I might as well uodate.
Thanks for the info. What about these cultivars Alaska Bloom, Jennifer, and Colomba?
Sorry, I don’t know them.
In South Africa we have a variety called Up To Date – Known locally as UTD. I can’t find out if this is determinate or indeterminate. Any ideas?
Sorry, I checked but couldn’t find that information.
No worries, managed to determine they are intederminate.
Hi, I’m wondering if you know of any indeterminate purple varieties. I havent really grown the plants correctly to be able to observe them growing more tubers up the stem but they have been growing since april and are just now only some are starting to die back in october. The stems are purple and the early foliage is mostly purple but then turns green. The skin of the tubers is not quite black but a dark purple and the flesh seems to vary from mostly white to a purple about half as dark as the skin.
On one plant that had its stem base mostly rotted away, it made some small potatoes on the first few nodes up the stem. Seems like a last ditch effort to perennialize, not sure if that is hard evidence that its indeterminate.
I believe I got the original tubers from a baby potato medley.
Hopefully the details help rather than complicate.
I’m sure there must be indeterminate purple varieties, but I don’t have time to do the research. Sorry!
Will topping an indeterminate variety (katahdin) help them put energy into the potato and stop new growth? I couldn’t find an answer to this, so I tried it. This is the first year I learned of indeterminate by accident. Thanks for the info.
It probably will make little difference, but do remember you’d theoretically be reducing the energy, since you’d be reducing the foliage and plants get all their energy from the sun via their leaves.
Thank you for the concise and explicative post! I just had my first container harvest and was wondering what went wrong, because the tubers were only at the bottom of the container. I stumbled upon this blog entry and now I know that I simply planted a “wrong” determinate variety. I didn´t even know that potatoes had determinate varieties 🙂 Thank you for explaining clearly how it works. Next year I just have to find an indeterminate variety.
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THANK you for this information! It really makes me wonder why this isn’t common knowledge (like tomatoes).
So with this “new” information in mind, I guess my question would be for indeterminate potatoes grown in pots. If seedlings aren’t growing at the same rate, let’s say one is 6 in high and the other is barely popping through the soil, do you go ahead and cover them up? Will that “drown out” the one barely popping through?
Just add the soil bit by bit, as the plants grow.
How about Yukon Gem and Prada? Thanks!
Yukon Gem is determinate. I don’t know about Prada.
You have a picture of French Fingerlings, and the caption reads “determinant” and then in the list below of indeterminant varieties, the French Fingerling is listed.
I am about to plant these, and am wondering which of the two it is, so I know whether to hill or not, thanks.
Sorry. They’re indeterminate.
Great site. I would like to know why kennebec potatoes are sometimes listed as determinate and sometimes as indeterminate.
I can’t say. I built my list based on the information I found in government publications. I have not grown all these varieties myself.
Is the Ludmilla potato indeterminate?
Sorry, I don’t know.
Hi..great info! thank you!
question: is dakota pearl determinate? thank you for responding …that resume is impressive!
Determinate.
Tried roosters last year not knowing if they were determinate or indeterminate. Dug through a foot of nothingness when I took the side off my tower, clearly determinate :'( Got a nice yield for a 2*2 tower though 🙂
Great topic and content! I just started growing 8 months ago, I don’t know when to mound and where not too……
Are All Russets indeterminate?
My guess would be yes: it’s one of the traits of the original. But there could be exceptions.
Are Yellow Finn Potatoes determinate or indeterminate?
Indeterminate
Hi, I will be planting russet burbanks this year as inderterminate in towers… hope that will work. But I also would like to have a red skin rather large variety. Are there any large red skin potatoes that are indeterminate?
Sorry, but that would require a bit too much research at the moment: I’m just too overloaded.
Thank you so much for this. I have grown potatoes for years and didn’t know this. Trying to hill them when they didn’t need it and grow in dirt that was to hard for them to grow in! Now I know which to grow in bags & containers.
I have listed them and will grow better from now on!
Wire worms are the death of us!
Wire worms? Uggggh!
Are Irish Cobblers indeterminate?
Determinate
Red Pontiac is listed as being both? Is that a mistake? Or is there a variety of each?
Oops! Yet another “copy/paste” error. It’s definitely determinate! I’ve fixed the page. Thanks for letting me know!
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Are Dutch Cream Potatoes Determinate or Indeterminate? Helpppp? lol
Indeterminate.
Are all fingerling potatoes determinate?
Yes.
Thank you.
Yes, it would help, especially since some of the early sorts are rather perishable. For example, Yukon Gold is ready early, but does not store well for a long time after that. It would be nice to grow some indeterminate sorts for later, especially if they can be stored a long time. Mid-season does not say enough. Of course, it helps to be familiar with the particular varieties.
I haven’t had a good baked potato in a long time. 🙂
I did not know this!
Purple Caribe is the most successful variety we grow. Do you think it is determinate or indeterminate?
Determinate.
Thank you! Not only did you answer my question, you have such good, easy to understand information I think I’ll be able to remember it. This my first year to plant potatoes so I’m trying to learn as much as possible?
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Thank you! I will humbly admit, I had no idea. Since I’m hoping to plant my potatoes this week, this is a huge help.