Crop type: Potatoes
Solanum tuberosum ‘Sarpo Mira’
Common name: Potato ‘Sarpo Mira’
Crop slug: potatoes
This Allotment Pro editorial draft summarises the cited RHS cultivar profile and its linked crop guidance. Check the sources and adjust cultivation decisions for local conditions.RHS cultivar profile
1 - Overview
‘Sarpo Mira’ is a PBR-protected AGM late-maincrop potato distinguished by natural resistance to late blight. It is a high-yielding cultivar with red-skinned tubers, pale floury flesh and vigorous foliage that helps shade out weeds. The crop stores well, so its generous harvest need not be used immediately.
In the kitchen it is a dependable all-rounder. Its floury texture is particularly well suited to baking, roasting and making chips. The RHS profile also records good resistance to blackleg, slugs and some potato viruses, making this a practical choice where those recurring problems limit less resilient maincrops.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 0.5–1 metre
- Ultimate spread
- 0.1–0.5 metre
- Time to maturity
- one year
- Crop class
- late maincrop
- Tuber form
- red skin with pale, floury flesh
Allow maincrop spacing of about 37cm between seed potatoes and 75cm between rows. The substantial leafy canopy benefits from this room and should be earthed up repeatedly as stems extend.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Clay, loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained
- Preferred pH
- Acid, neutral or alkaline
Prepare deep, fertile, moisture-retentive soil enriched with garden compost or well-rotted manure. The bed must still drain freely, because stagnant wetness encourages tuber decay. Water thoroughly during dry spells, especially while the long-season crop is bulking its tubers.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun or partial shade
- Aspect
- South- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- Hardiness
- H2
Choose an open, frost-free growing position. Although the cultivar is disease resistant, its emerging foliage remains tender to freezing conditions. Earth up or cover young shoots whenever a late frost is forecast.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
Strong clump-forming plants carry abundant green deciduous foliage and white to purple flowers in spring and summer. The foliage may remain green into autumn while the crop matures. At harvest, smooth red skins contrast clearly with the tubers' pale interior; a cut tuber can communicate the floury light flesh.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Habit
- Bushy, clump forming
- Name status
- Accepted
Genus
Solanum contains annuals, perennials, shrubs and climbers with simple or divided foliage, five-lobed flowers and fleshy fruits. Potato cultivars are grown for edible underground stem tubers rather than their harmful berries.
Safety
Eat only sound, non-green tubers. Potato foliage, stems, flowers, berries, sprouts and green tuber tissue are harmful if eaten. Keep discarded top growth away from pets and follow any protective instructions supplied with treated seed potatoes.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Maincrop potatoes gain little from chitting, but seed tubers can still be stood rose-end uppermost in a cool, bright and frost-free place before planting. Set certified stock from mid-April to early May in 15cm-deep trenches, sprouts upwards, and cover with at least 2.5cm of soil.
When shoots reach around 23cm, draw soil around their bases while leaving the top 10cm visible. Repeat until a ridge 20–30cm high covers the developing crop. This prevents greening and reinforces the cultivar's natural weed-smothering canopy. Water in dry weather and rotate potatoes to fresh ground each year.
Begin lifting for immediate use from late August. For storage, allow healthy foliage to yellow, cut off the tops, wait about ten days and lift carefully in dry weather. Dry tubers briefly, brush off loose soil and store only undamaged potatoes in dark, cool, frost-free conditions.
Propagation
Propagate vegetatively from certified seed potatoes, with optional chitting before planting.
Suggested locations
- Allotment or vegetable plot
- Large raised bed
- No-dig bed with deep organic mulch
- Large potato container or grow bag
- Garden where late blight pressure is recurrent
Pruning
No pruning is required. Remove blighted or badly diseased foliage promptly. Cut healthy yellowing tops before lifting tubers intended for storage.
Pests
Shows good resistance to slugs. It may still be susceptible to cutworms, wireworms, leaf and bud eelworm and potato cyst nematodes. Maintain crop rotation even when growing a resistant cultivar.
Diseases
Shows good resistance to late blight, blackleg and potato virus Y. It may be susceptible to potato scab, tuber rot, stem canker and, rarely, honey fungus. Resistance reduces risk rather than eliminating it, so use certified stock and sound cultivation hygiene.