The Ranger Russet is a late-maturing

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

that is used for baking and processing into

fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

. It was originally bred by Joseph J. Pavek of the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

in Aberdeen, Idaho,Paul R. Wonning and released jointly by the USDA and the agricultural stations of Idaho,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, Oregon and Colorado in 1991. Ranger Russet is not under plant variety protection. It yields medium to high numbers of tubers with a short dormancy period.

Botanical Features

* The Ranger Russet plant is medium to tall in height and semi-erect with single, wavy, very prominent wings. * The stems are slightly pigmented and the non-pigmented nodes are slightly swollen. * The open, medium green leaves have weakly pigmented midribs. * Primary leaflets appear in four pairs with a narrowly ovate shape, an

acuminate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

tip, an obtuse and symmetrical base and weakly wavy margins. Terminal leaflets also appear in four pairs with a narrowly ovate shape and an acuminate tip but the base is obtuse and asymmetrical. * Sprouts are broad with a cylindrical shape; the base is medium red-violet and strongly pubescent while the apex is weakly pigmented and moderately pubescent. * There are numerous flowers that have a medium red-violet corolla and a lemon yellow anther. The flower buds are strongly pigmented. * Tubers are long with a slightly flattened shape. * The brown russet skin has evenly distributed medium deep eyes with slightly prominent eyes. * The flesh is white. * Tubers have high

specific gravity Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water at its densest ...

Agricultural Features

* This variety has a high resistance to heat necrosis, hollow heart (hollowed center of potato),

Verticillium wilt Verticillium wilt is a wilt disease affecting over 350 species of eudicot plants. It is caused by six species of '' Verticillium'' fungi: ''V. dahliae'', ''V. albo-atrum'', ''V. longisporum'', ''V. nubilum'', ''V. theobromae'' and ''V. tricorp ...

, PVY, and PVX. * It has moderate resistance to

early blight ''Alternaria solani'' is a fungal pathogen that produces a disease in tomato and potato plants called early blight. The pathogen produces distinctive "bullseye" patterned leaf spots and can also cause stem lesions and fruit rot on tomato and tube ...

common scab Common scab is a plant disease of root and tuber crops caused by a small number of '' Streptomyces'' species, specifically '' S. scabies'', '' S. acidiscabies'', '' S. turgidiscabies'' and others. Common scab mainly affects potato ...

, leafroll, and

Fusarium ''Fusarium'' is a large genus of filamentous fungi, part of a group often referred to as hyphomycetes, widely distributed in soil and associated with plants. Most species are harmless saprobes, and are relatively abundant members of the soil mi ...

dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...

. * It is moderately susceptible to growth cracks. * Ranger Russet is very susceptible to

late blight ''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by ''Alternaria solani'', is also often called " ...

and

root-knot nematode Root-knot nematodes are plant-parasitic nematodes from the genus ''Meloidogyne''. They exist in soil in areas with hot climates or short winters. About 2000 plants worldwide are susceptible to infection by root-knot nematodes and they cause appr ...

Storage

Ranger Russet has a dormancy period of approximately 100 days when stored at 45 F. This means if the potatoes are being stored to be used as seed they must be kept about 7-9 degrees cooler in order to prevent excessive sprouting and aging. Potatoes that are in storage to be used for processing can be stored in the same type of conditions that Russet Burbank can be stored at. If the potatoes are in storage for more than three months a chemical sprout inhibitor should be applied before 90th day. If the potatoes are immature or damaged fusarium dry rot can become an issue. It is also important that the storage unit is at a high humidity level to reduce the risk of pressure bruise.

References

{{potato cultivars Potato cultivars