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RED CLOUD: MANAGEMENT PROFILE
 There has been no specific studies done on Red Cloud with respect to management. The following are observations from variety trial testing.
Seed
Red Cloud has an unusually long dormancy. Cutting seed tubers is recommended to help break eye dormancy. Warm seed tubers for a month prior to planting. For spring and summer cropping (early planting after harvest), the application of a sprout promoter may be needed.
Planting to Emergence to Bulking
Most trials were conducted at nine to 10 inch seed-piece spacing. If dormancy is not fully broken, stands can be erratic. Tuber set usually takes longer than most varieties but once the first set forms, tuber grow rapidly and achieve bulk at the same time as Russet Norkotahs. Red Cloud, possibly due to its slow tuber set, is tolerant of mid-season heat stress.
Irrigation Management
Normal irrigation is suggested.
Fertilizer Management
Nebraska trials used 160 to 200 lb N/acre. North Central Regional Trial (1982) used a wide range of fertilization.
Tuber Quality Note
The only defects observed were some off-typing due to bulging eyes. The only defect that occurred is the formation of knobs. Cooking quality is excellent having a mealy flesh when micro-waved and lighter fries than the Norlands and Red LaSoda. Red Cloud’s major market in the 1990s was in the Mississippi delta States. When Red Cloud is grown in dry sand, tuber skin may turn light brown.
Vine Desiccation and Harvest
No problems in desiccating observed nor any unusual sensitivity to bruising. When Red Cloud tubers are allowed to over-mature by leaving them in the ground too long after desiccation, their skin will turn light brown.
Storage
Red Cloud stores exceptionally well. If tubers aren’t over-mature, they will hold the red skin color much better than red-skinned standards.
Suggested Readings
O’Keefe, RB, AD Pavlista and E Dempsey. 1993. Red Cloud: A dark red-skinned potato cultivar which holds color in storage. Am Potato J 70:301-307.
Pavlista, AD and RB O’Keefe. 1993. Red Cloud: A new red-skinned potato cultivar from Nebraska. NebGuide 93-1140.
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