Rocket

Origin

Breeder PBI Cambridge

Parentage F12/17 x D42/8

National List Trials 1987

Botanical Features

Maturity First Early

End Use

Haulm Low to Medium

Flowers Pale blue/violet, tipped white

Tubers Round, white skin, white flesh, uniform size and shape

Pest & Disease Performance

Wart Disease

Immune

Spraing

Foliage Blight

Black Dot

Tuber Blight

Black Scurf

Blackleg

Skin Spot

Common Scab

Silver Scurf

Powdery Scab

Dry Rot (Fusarium coeruleum)

Gangrene

Dry Rot (Fusarium sulphureum)

Potato Leaf Roll Virus

PCN Ro1

Resistant

Potato Virus Y

PCN pallida

Partial Resistance

Consumer Quality

Rocket ware should be marketed with the very earliest of home grown new potatoes. Rocket has white skin and white flesh combined with excellent cooking qualities. It’s firm waxy texture and good flavour when dug green make it ideal for the first early produce market.

Agronomic Features

Rocket has consistently shown itself to be THE earlier of first early varieties. Official independent trials confirm that Rocket is ready for lifting earlier, and yields are higher, than Premier or Maris Bard. The variety bulks early, with no blackleg melting, and should be the first lifted to provide maximum early season premium returns for the grower. Rocket sprouts readily and responds well to Polythene to give the crop a good early start, yet produces a low canopy, thereby avoiding wind damage. Rocket is particularly suited to a Northern European climate.