Papa Cacho

I got these from the USDA gene bank as platelets in 2024. Papa Cacho (“horn potato”) is a landrace potato originally collected on the Guaitecas archipelago of Chile, bordering the more famous potato growing region of Chiloe. It is a member of Solanum tuberosum group Chilotanum, potatoes that adapted to lowland Chilean conditions and and became a distinct population. Chilean potatoes tuberize under long days, unlike Andean potatoes, but they are also almost entirely male sterile. The primary virtue of this variety is immediately obvious: it has wonderfully long, serpentine tubers. This variety is frequently reported to be Peruvian, which is definitely not the case. The confusion seems to have resulted because it was first imported to the USA from a genebank (International Potato Center) based in Peru. But their records indicate that it was collected in Chile and its traits are consistent with Chilean potatoes.