Estonia, like many other countries, faced the problem of potato crop failure due to the dry summer. The quality of the tubers is also unsatisfactory.
Terje Tähtjärv, a researcher at the Jõgeva Department of the Estonian Plant Industry Institute, says that due to the drought, potatoes have developed characteristics unusual for varieties.
According to Terje, this year there is a lot of scab, overgrowth, babies, the quality of tubers has suffered greatly from unfavorable growing conditions. The usual color of tubers has also changed this year. For example, the Maret variety, which has a bright red skin color, turned out to be lighter than usual.
The quality of the tubers was primarily affected by the heat. The rains that followed the drought helped the later varieties, but the early varieties suffered from a moisture deficit and the tubers were quite small.