Red La Soda is a red, main season

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 ...

cultivar. It is a deep red mutant of the potato variety 'La Soda'. The non-mutant form was developed by the

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

potato breeding program in 1948 as a cross between 'Triumph' and 'Katahdin'. The mutant form was first observed in 1949 but was not released until 1953 by the United States Department of Agriculture, (

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 ...

) and the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station.Paul R. Wonning

Botanical Features

* Plant is spreading and medium in size. * Stems, leaves and petioles are all green and are lightly pubescent. * Their large lavender flowers are limited in pollen. * Tubers range from a round to oblong slightly flattened shape. * Tuber skin is red and smooth but may fade in color over time. Skinning also may occur. * Tuber flesh is white. * Tubers have a low specific gravity

Agricultural Features

* Red La Soda is susceptible to early and late blights, scab, corky ring spot and bacterial wilt. * It is mostly grown for the fresh market, very good for boiling. * It is primarily grown in the southeastern part of the United States and mainly harvested in the winter months.

References

{{Reflist Potato cultivars