Snowden

Even without an official release by the University of Wisconsin, Snowden has grown rapidly in its popularity in the 1990s. Its first published description was by Peloquin, SP, C Thill and AD Pavlista in the newsletter Nebraska Potato Eyes volume 6 issue 1 in Spring, 1994. This cultivar is designated for the potato chip market. Snowden (W 855) was selected in the late 1970s in Wisconsin from a cross between Wischip and B5141-6, and named in 1990. Selection and early testing was done by Dr. Stan Peloquin and Mr. Donald Kichefski at the UW-Lelah Starks Potato Breeding Farm, Rhinelander, WI. In 1993, 7,230 acres of certified seed were grown nationwide ranking eighth in acreage; a fourth (1730) of this acreage was in Nebraska, second to Wisconsin. It is now a standard in the North Central Regional Trials. It is very much like Atlantic except that it chips out of 45F storage without reconditioning (Table 1).

Summary of Properties:

Purpose -- Potato Chips
Growth Type -- tends to be indeterminate
Maturity -- medium-late (110-120 day after planting), later than Atlantic
Emergence -- rapid and uniform
Vine -- large erect, medium; closes rows later than Atlantic
Leaves -- light green, closed
Flowers -- few per cluster, white with yellow anthers; tend to abort; male sterility common, fruit rarely develop
Eyes -- medium, deeper at apical end; uniformly distributed
Roots -- medium,about 16 inches
Tuber -- white flesh; light tan skin, slightly netted skin; round shape slightly flat, uniform; consistently 2.5 to 3.5 inch diameter, tends to undersize resulting in the slightly lower yields compared to Atlantic
Set -- high on long stolons; space further apart than Atlantic
Dormancy -- medium
Yield -- slightly less than or about the same as Atlantic
Specific Gravity -- high, slightly less than or about the same as Atlantic
Sugar -- about the same as Atlantic out of the field; stores better - lower temperature (45F) and longer (9 months); glucose = 0.1% and SR value = 0.4 to 0.75 (0.5 to 0.6 for Atlantic)
Chip Color -- very light out of the field; can store to May at 45F and chip light without reconditioning; chips out of 45F like Atlantic out of 50F
Tuber discoloration - none
Bruising -- not a problem
External Defects -- none; smooth and uniform
Internal Defects -- none; tolerant to hollow heart and brown center
Disease -- susceptible to early and late blights, and common scab
Insect -- attractive to Colorado potato beetle
Herbicide Sensitivity -- metribuzin (preliminary data): less sensitive than most chipping cultivars such as Atlantic and Norchip
Fertilization -- responds very well to higher levels of nitrogen
Irrigation -- responds very well to added moisture
Other -- competes well against weeds

Comments: Tables 1 through 6 show that

Snowden yields the same or slightly less than Atlantic.
Snowden’s specific gravity is the same or slightly less than Atlantic’s.
Chip quality from Snowden is better than from Atlantic after longer or cooler storage condition and reconditioning is not required.
There may be a slightly lower susceptibility to tuber defects in Snowden compared to Atlantic except for common scab for which their susceptibility is about the same.