Crop type: Potatoes
Solanum tuberosum ‘Casablanca’
Common name: Potato ‘Casablanca’
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
‘Casablanca’ is a PBR-protected AGM multipurpose first-early potato. It produces attractive oval tubers with smooth white skin, shallow eyes and creamy flesh. The cultivar is popular with exhibitors and chefs because it chips, bakes and boils well.
The profile notes that an edible crop may be produced in about 62 days and records good resistance to blackleg, late blight and scab. Its speed, compact habit and broad kitchen value make it particularly useful in containers and small plots.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 0.5–1 metre
- Ultimate spread
- 0.1–0.5 metre
- Time to maturity
- one year
- Crop class
- first early
- Tuber form
- smooth oval white-skinned potatoes with shallow eyes and creamy flesh
Space seed potatoes about 30cm apart in rows 60cm apart. In containers, use one tuber per 30cm of diameter.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Clay, loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained
- Preferred pH
- Acid, neutral or alkaline
Use deep fertile soil enriched with organic matter. Maintain even moisture for fast early growth while ensuring excellent drainage, especially in containers.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun or partial shade
- Aspect
- South- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- Hardiness
- H2
Choose an open site protected from frost. The rapid early crop still has tender shoots, so earth up or cover new growth during cold nights.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
Bushy clumps carry deciduous green foliage. The defining harvest is clean and exhibition-like: smooth oval white-skinned tubers with very shallow eyes and creamy flesh. The plate should avoid rough deep eyes, red or yellow skin and irregular fingerling shapes.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Habit
- Bushy, clump forming
- Name status
- Accepted
Genus
Solanum includes annuals, perennials, shrubs and climbers with simple or divided leaves, five-lobed flowers and fleshy fruits. Potatoes are cultivated for edible underground stem tubers.
Safety
Eat only sound, non-green tubers. Potato leaves, stems, flowers, berries, sprouts and green tuber tissue are harmful if eaten. Keep unwanted material away from children and pets.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Chit certified seed potatoes rose-end uppermost in a cool, bright and frost-free place. Plant around late March, setting tubers sprouts upwards in trenches about 15cm deep. Cover carefully and water.
Earth up emerging stems repeatedly, beginning when shoots are around 23cm high, until ridges reach 20–30cm. In containers, start half-full and add compost as shoots extend. Keep the fast-growing crop evenly watered.
Begin checking from roughly nine weeks after planting; the profile reports edible crops in about 62 days under suitable conditions. Lift when tubers reach the preferred early size, inserting the fork well away from stems to preserve their smooth exhibition skins.
Propagation
Propagate vegetatively from certified seed potatoes, chitted before planting for the earliest harvest.
Suggested locations
- Allotment or vegetable row
- Raised or no-dig bed
- Cottage or informal garden
- Large patio container
- Potato grow bag
Pruning
No pruning is required. Remove diseased foliage promptly and dispose of blighted material appropriately.
Pests
May be susceptible to cutworms, slugs, wireworms, leaf and bud eelworm and potato cyst nematodes. Rotate annually and inspect tubers at harvest.
Diseases
Shows good resistance to blackleg and generally useful resistance including to late blight and scab. It may be susceptible to tuber rot, particularly dry rot, stem canker and, rarely, honey fungus.