Crop type: Potatoes
Solanum tuberosum ‘Maris Piper’
Common name: Potato ‘Maris Piper’
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
‘Maris Piper’ is an AGM reliable maincrop potato grown as an annual vegetable. It produces heavy crops of oval tubers with cream-coloured skin and flesh and a good flavour. Its familiar floury culinary texture makes it particularly valued for chips, roast potatoes, mash and baking.
This is a broad-purpose storage crop rather than a small waxy salad potato. The combination of reliable yield, reasonably large oval tubers and cream flesh gives it a clear visual and practical identity.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 0.5–1 metre
- Ultimate spread
- 0.5–1 metre
- Time to maturity
- one year
- Crop class
- maincrop
- Tuber form
- substantial oval tubers with cream skin and cream flesh
Use maincrop spacing of about 37cm between seed potatoes and 75cm between rows. The profile's relatively broad spread supports generous row spacing so the bushy foliage receives light and can be earthed up properly.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Chalk, clay, loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained
- Preferred pH
- Acid, neutral or alkaline
Plant in deep soil enriched with plenty of organic matter. It should hold moisture during tuber development while draining freely. Water during dry weather, particularly through the main bulking period, without leaving the soil saturated.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun
- Aspect
- South- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Exposed or sheltered
- Hardiness
- H2
Choose a sunny site away from frost pockets. The plant tolerates exposed as well as sheltered positions once established, but tender emerging shoots still need protection from late frost.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
Bushy deciduous potato foliage rises above the ridge during spring and summer. The mature harvest consists of large, even oval potatoes in muted cream tones. Cut tubers show cream-coloured flesh, without the red skin, pink blush, bright-yellow flesh or long knobbly form of other cultivars.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Habit
- Bushy
- Name status
- Accepted
Genus
Solanum includes annuals, perennials, shrubs and climbers with simple or divided leaves, five-lobed flowers and fleshy fruits. Potato cultivars are grown for the enlarged underground stem tubers.
Safety
Eat only sound, non-green potato tubers. Foliage, stems, flowers, berries, sprouts and green tuber tissue are harmful if eaten. Keep waste plant material away from pets and follow handling advice supplied with treated seed potatoes.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Grow from certified seed potatoes, optionally chitted in a cool, bright and frost-free place. Plant from April onwards, using the mid-April to early-May maincrop window as local conditions allow. Set seed tubers sprouts upwards in trenches about 15cm deep and cover without damaging shoots.
Earth up as stems grow to exclude light from developing potatoes. Begin when shoots reach about 23cm, leaving their top 10cm visible, and repeat until the final ridge stands 20–30cm high. Keep watered in dry weather and weed until the vigorous bushy canopy closes over the row.
Lift from late August for immediate use or allow healthy crops to bulk up into autumn. For storage, wait for foliage to yellow, remove the tops, leave the tubers for about ten days and lift carefully. Dry briefly, brush off soil and store only undamaged potatoes in a cool, dark and frost-free place.
Propagation
Propagate vegetatively from certified seed potatoes, chitted before planting where desired.
Suggested locations
- Sunny allotment row
- Large vegetable or raised bed
- No-dig plot with deep compost mulch
- Large potato container
- Potato grow bag
Pruning
No pruning is required. Remove seriously diseased foliage promptly. Healthy yellowing tops can be cut before lifting a storage crop.
Pests
The profile records possible susceptibility to flea beetles and potato cyst nematodes. The linked crop guidance also identifies common soil pests, so rotate annually and inspect lifted tubers.
Diseases
May be susceptible to potato blight, blackleg, scab, tuber rot, virus diseases and, rarely, honey fungus. Certified stock, crop rotation, suitable drainage and careful storage hygiene reduce risk.