Purple Magic Fingerling Potatoes – Planting Tubers

Add rich color and distinctive flavor to your garden harvest with Purple Magic fingerling potatoes. These small, elongated potatoes feature deep-purple skin and violet-to-purple flesh that may show purple-and-white marbling. Their earthy flavor, subtle nutty notes and sweet, creamy character make them an appealing specialty potato for home gardeners.

Enjoy the moment of lifting your plants to reveal a crop of colorful fingerlings beneath the soil. Their cylindrical, slightly irregular shape brings character to the harvest and variety to your kitchen.

Product Details

• Variety: Purple Magic fingerling potato.
• Product form: Potato tubers for planting, not botanical potato seeds.
• Appearance: Small, oblong tubers with deep-purple skin and richly colored flesh.
• Flavor: Earthy and subtly nutty, with a sweet, creamy character.
• Available sizes: 1 lb, 3 lb or 10 lb. Packages are sold by weight, so the number of tubers varies.

Before Planting

If planting must be delayed, keep tubers in a cool, well-lit location around 40–50°F. Short, sturdy sprouts indicate that the eyes are developing; handle them gently and do not remove them. Avoid warm, dark storage that encourages long, pale shoots.

Planting Instructions

Plant in early to mid-spring when local soil and weather conditions are suitable. Choose fertile, well-drained soil. Small tubers may be planted whole; larger tubers can be divided into pieces weighing approximately 1 1/2–2 oz, with at least one eye on each piece.

• Plant tubers or seed pieces 2–3 inches deep.
• Space plants approximately 12 inches apart.
• Allow 30–36 inches between rows.
• Expect shoots to emerge in roughly 2–3 weeks, depending on conditions.

Growing & Hilling

When plants reach 6–8 inches tall, mound approximately 4 inches of soil around their bases. Repeat as the plants grow, gradually building hills up to about 12 inches high. Keep developing tubers covered to protect them from light and greening.

Maintain consistent soil moisture without waterlogging. Rotate planting areas between seasons and inspect plants regularly for pest or disease problems. Check leaf undersides for potato beetle eggs and remove beetles and larvae by hand when practical.

Harvesting

Small new potatoes may be ready from approximately 7–8 weeks after planting, depending on growing conditions. For the main crop, allow the foliage to die back, then leave tubers in the soil for about two weeks to help their skins set before digging, provided soil conditions remain suitable.

Lift carefully to avoid damage, gently brush away loose soil and let the skins dry before storage.

Storing Your Harvest

This variety offers moderate storage potential. Keep harvested potatoes in a cool, dark, frost-free location, around 40°F, and check periodically for deterioration. Storage conditions for harvested eating potatoes differ from the well-lit holding conditions used for tubers awaiting planting.