Last edited on November 02, 2026. View history
Waikato Potato
A variety of potato
How to sow Waikato potato: Direct seed outdoors after last frost. Each piece must have one eye.
Sun requirement for Waikato potato: Plant in Full Sun
Early cropper, short season.
A very round and large potato, with no inset eyes. It has white flesh, and bright purple skin is an early potato and is an excellent one for baking in the jacket (it comes out nice and fluffy). Or, if you have to have a potato for mashing and you only grow old potatoes, then this one can be peeled or cooked with the skin on when new, and it mashes well. It is not good for boiling, chips, sautéing, etc., because it falls apart.
It was all around New Zealand, with various names and it’s clear it used to be very common.
An early, small, sweet, prolific producer that does not need new ground. Good boiled.
[Info from Koanga Institute, used with permission]
- 0
- plantings
- 0
- harvests
- 0
- seed packets
Waikato potato facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Waikato potato, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 90 days at its best temperature, about 1170 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Waikato potato will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing Waikato potatoes
- Sit seed potatoes in the light to sprout 4 weeks before planting out
- Dig compost into the bed 1 week before planting out
- Earth up the shoots 3 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
- Check the leaves for blight 5 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
- Water in dry weather 6 weeks after planting out every week
- Dig the first new potatoes at first harvest
- Lift the main crop 6 weeks after first harvest
- Dry the potatoes and store them in the dark 7 weeks after first harvest
Plant Waikato potatoes with
eggplant
marjoram
Video
What people are saying about Waikato potatoes
Nobody has posted about Waikato potatoes yet.
Sign in or sign up to post your tips and experiences growing Waikato potatoes.
Who's planted Waikato potatoes
Nobody has planted this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your Waikato potato plantings.Waikato potato harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your Waikato potato harvests.Find Waikato potato seeds
There are no seeds available to trade on Growstuff right now.
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 90 to 160 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Solanum tuberosum L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Solanales Solanaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -1 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about Waikato potatoes
Resources outside Growstuff.
