Exposure Full sun
Matures 60-80 days
Season Warm season
West Coast Seeds ships anywhere in North America. However, we are not able to ship garlic, potatoes, asparagus crowns, bulbs, onion sets, Mason bee cocoons, or nematodes outside of Canada. We regret, we cannot accept returns or damages for orders outside of Canada. The minimum shipping charge to the US is $9.99.
For every order online, we donate a pack of seeds to gardens and communities worldwide through our Seeds of Growth program, supporting sustainable growth and local food systems.
Late season. GemStar Russet Organic seed potatoes are a result from breeding the old standby Gem Russet with an improved Idaho variety that went by the catchy name, A8341-5. GemStar tubers are oblong, slightly elongated, and covered by attractive brown skins. The crisp white flesh is very good for baking and frying, and the French fries take on a superb golden colour. The plants are medium sized, with dark, yellowing green leaves and numerous white flowers.
This variety has high resistance to common scab, powdery scab, and potato virus X. It is moderately resistant to verticillium wilt (V. dahliae), Erwinia soft rot, tuber net necrosis, and corky ringspot. GemStar is susceptible to late blight, fusarium dry rot, and rhizoctonia, with high susceptibility to potato virus Y and leaf roll.
Seasonal item shipping: Items shipped at specific times of the year such as garlic, potatoes, onion sets, asparagus crowns, mason bee cocoons, nematodes and flower bulbs require special handling. They will be shipped separately as a new order with the applicable regional shipping charges applies. Whenever possible, we will combine your orders to minimize shipping charges.
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Latin
Latin
Solanum tuberosum
Family: Solanaceae
Difficulty
Difficulty
Easy
For Urban Gardeners
For Urban Gardeners: Reusable Potato Grow Bags (HG402) allow you to grow potatoes pretty much anywhere other than full shade. Grow some on your balcony or in your driveway!
Season & Zone
Season & Zone
Season: Warm season
Exposure: Full-sun
Zone: 4 and up
Timing
Timing
Potatoes are tolerant of cool soils and moderate frosts. Minimum soil temperature at planting time should be 6°C (43°F). Plants will emerge about 2-3 weeks after planting.
Starting
Starting
Set tubers approximately 7-10cm (3-4″) deep, and 30cm (12″) apart in prepared trenches spaced 60cm (24″) apart.
For Growers
For Growers:
Approximate Seed Potatoes Needed by Area
Potato Spacing Chart
Growing
Growing
Ideal pH: 5.5-6.5. Well-drained, loamy soil rich in organic matter is preferred, but potatoes are not overly fussy. If heavy clay or clay/loam soils are used, double-digging and improving organic matter content by growing cover crops or adding compost or manure can correct drainage problems. Do not lime areas planned for potatoes. When the above-ground portion of the plant is 30cm (12″) tall, “hill up” soil 15cm (6″) around the plants. It’s okay to cover green leaves. Straw or grass mulch also works well. This process can be repeated up two or three times. It is recommended that no irrigation take place between planting and sprout emergence in order to avoid disease. It is important, though, not to let the soil become too dry, and to irrigate while plants are flowering.
Harvest
Harvest
“New” potatoes can be harvested about 7-8 weeks after planting. Potatoes grown for late summer and fall “fresh” use can be dug when tubers are full size or when foliage begins to die. For potatoes grown for storage and winter use, harvest should take place after vines have died back, alternatively, the plants may have to be cut or mown. After killing and removing the plants, tubers should stay in the ground for another 2 weeks to allow firming of their skins for storage. Optimum storage conditions are a dark location 4-7º C (40-45ºF) and 90% relative humidity. Paper sacks stored in a garage will suffice. Check them often though to remove any that are starting to go soft.
Diseases & Pests
Diseases & Pests
Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) is problematic, especially on the Coast. Symptoms appear as water-soaked gray spots on tips and margins of leaves, leaf axils, and on stems. Even if nothing shows on the leaves, late blight makes black spots under the skin of the tuber. Left unchecked, it will destroy the plant. Copper spray is effective if applied regularly through the growing season, including drenching the soil. The most important step to avoiding disease is to establish a vigorous and healthy crop; this can be accomplished by using disease free seed, planting in rich soil, avoiding pre-emergence irrigation and watering carefully once the crop emerges.
The most common pests to bother your potatoes on the coast are wireworms (especially in gardens recently taken out of grass).
Wireworms are the larvae form of a very slender black beetle known as the Click Beetle because if you turn one over, when it goes to right itself, it makes a “Click!” sound. The beetle lays its eggs in grass, and the larvae eat in our gardens. They burrow into the roots, seeds, and underground stems of tomatoes, corn, potatoes, peppers, and squash. The damage is worse on land that has been recently been converted from lawn to garden. The larvae themselves are crisp, golden, up to 1cm long and can live for up to 7 years in the soil.
If your seeds don’t appear to sprout, or the plants wilt and die suddenly, your soil may have wireworms. An irregular pattern of plants dying in a field is typical of wireworm damage. To find out if you have wireworms before you start planting, create bait made of carrot and potato pieces. Bury the bait in 10cm of soil, and mark it with a stick. Dig it up in 3 or 4 days. If there are more than 1 or 2 wireworms per bait, you have a problem. They are difficult to control but regular cultivation of the top 10cm of the soil, as well as trapping them on pieces of potato, and crop rotation will slow the damage. Digging in an overwintered Cole crop can also be effective. Predatory nematodes work also.
Companion Planting
Companion Planting
Bush beans, Brassicas, carrots, celery, corn, garlic, marigolds, onions, and peas all do well planted near potatoes. Avoid planting potatoes near asparagus, cucumber, kohlrabi, melons, parsnips, rutabaga, squash, sunflower, and turnips.
More on Companion Planting.
West Coast Seeds is a family-owned company that embraces an organic lifestyle. A group of imagination catalysts and passionate educators, dedicated to producing products and services that better the environment. As part of our mission to repair the earth, we aim to inspire and empower people to take responsibility for the state of the planet. For us, organic is about much more than saying no to chemicals, it is about saying yes to building a healthy soil for the future.
For over 35 years, we have upheld our strong reputation as a leading seed supplier, seeking out the highest quality untreated seeds for organic growing and putting them through rigorous independent testing. We built our company on the exchange of generational wisdom in a masterclass community of newbies and masters alike. Our world may have changed, but our commitment to our people, our customers, and our planet has not.
We’re a values-based business that has blossomed into a lifestyle ethos, with products that support seeders, feeders, keepers, and the tiniest of creepers. Our mission? To mobilize the next generation of gardeners with products that nourish soil and grow vigorous, sustainable gardens. We believe all plants should be grown without the use of chemicals, and that the seeds we supply are an important component of regenerative gardening.
We don’t just offer seeds, we offer experience, insight, and understanding. From timeless garden wisdom to new tech know-how, this is learning on the job: knowledge gleaned not from the pages of a book but from burying our fingers in the soil. We test, experiment, observe and adapt, never happier than when we get to share what we’ve learned with others.
Gardens don’t just grow seeds. They grow minds and imaginations, people and communities. Our vision encompasses both the micro and the macro. We eat locally, protect pollinators, teach people to grow from seed, and support regional biodiversity. We think big but act small and deliver unexpected impact — always with community and purpose.
At West Coast Seeds we believe in the power of small and that little can be large. Like the tiniest seed germinates to evoke incremental change with massive potential, so to can our community of gardeners and growers together. Gardeners are the earth’s stewards, planting seeds of creative declaration. The soil provides the canvas, we provide the seeds.
Potatoes are tolerant of cool soils and moderate frosts. Minimum soil temperature at planting time should be 6°C (43°F). Plants will emerge about 2-3 weeks after planting.
Set tubers approximately 7-10cm (3-4″) deep, and 30cm (12″) apart in prepared trenches spaced 60cm (24″) apart.
Ideal pH: 5.5-6.5.
Well-drained, loamy soil rich in organic matter is preferred, but potatoes are not overly fussy. If heavy clay or clay/loam soils are used, double-digging and improving organic matter content by growing cover crops or adding compost or manure can correct drainage problems. Do not lime areas planned for potatoes. When the above-ground portion of the plant is 30cm (12″) tall, “hill up” soil 15cm (6″) around the plants. It’s okay to cover green leaves. Straw or grass mulch also works well. This process can be repeated up two or three times. It is recommended that no irrigation take place between planting and sprout emergence in order to avoid disease. It is important, though, not to let the soil become too dry, and to irrigate while plants are flowering.
Days to maturity: From direct sow.
“New” potatoes can be harvested about 7-8 weeks after planting. Potatoes grown for late summer and fall “fresh” use can be dug when tubers are full size or when foliage begins to die. For potatoes grown for storage and winter use, harvest should take place after vines have died back, alternatively, the plants may have to be cut or mown. After killing and removing the plants, tubers should stay in the ground for another 2 weeks to allow firming of their skins for storage. Optimum storage conditions are a dark location 4-7º C (40-45ºF) and 90% relative humidity. Paper sacks stored in a garage will suffice. Check them often though to remove any that are starting to go soft.
The most common pests to bother your potatoes on the coast are wireworms (especially in gardens recently taken out of grass).
Wireworms are the larvae form of a very slender black beetle known as the Click Beetle because if you turn one over, when it goes to right itself, it makes a “Click!” sound. The beetle lays its eggs in grass, and the larvae eat in our gardens. They burrow into the roots, seeds, and underground stems of tomatoes, corn, potatoes, peppers, and squash. The damage is worse on land that has been recently been converted from lawn to garden. The larvae themselves are crisp, golden, up to 1cm long and can live for up to 7 years in the soil.
If your seeds don’t appear to sprout, or the plants wilt and die suddenly, your soil may have wireworms. An irregular pattern of plants dying in a field is typical of wireworm damage. To find out if you have wireworms before you start planting, create bait made of carrot and potato pieces. Bury the bait in 10cm of soil, and mark it with a stick. Dig it up in 3 or 4 days. If there are more than 1 or 2 wireworms per bait, you have a problem. They are difficult to control but regular cultivation of the top 10cm of the soil, as well as trapping them on pieces of potato, and crop rotation will slow the damage. Digging in an overwintered Cole crop can also be effective. Predatory nematodes work also.
