BulbPotato
Potato French Fingerling
French Fingerling is an heirloom potato that earned its reputation for elegance and reliable performance across most of North America. These organic, non-GMO tubers mature in 100 to 109 days and grow as compact bushes reaching 18 to 24 inches tall, making them manageable in gardens from zone 3 through zone 9. Prized for their smooth skin and exceptional culinary qualities, they deliver consistent harvests when given full sun and properly spaced rows.
Photo © True Leaf Market
Growing Conditions
USDA Zone
3-9
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Soil
Well-drained, Loose Loam, High Organic Matter
Growth Stats
24 in
Height
TypeBush
Spacing
12
Plant Profile
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Zones
3-9
Size
24in H x ?in W
Growth
—
Care
Moderate
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Highlights
French Fingerling tubers are recognized for their distinctive smooth texture and refined character in the kitchen. This heirloom variety resists early blight, late blight, mosaic virus, scab, and verticillium wilt, which means fewer disease headaches than many other potato cultivars. The combination of proven disease resistance, organic certification, and genuine heirloom genetics makes this a variety that works as hard as you do.
Common Uses
French Fingerling excels in preparations where the potato's form and texture matter as much as flavor. Roast them whole or halved to showcase their smooth skin, boil them for potato salads where they hold their shape beautifully, or pan-fry them to develop a golden exterior. Their waxy character makes them particularly suited to vinaigrette-dressed preparations and any dish where you want the potato to maintain its integrity rather than break down.
Growing Timeline
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Care Instructions
Transplant Outdoors
French Fingerling seed potatoes should be planted directly in the garden after the soil has warmed in spring, typically 2 to 3 weeks before the last frost date in your region. Plant them 4 to 6 inches deep, positioning the seed piece with the eye pointing upward, and cover gently with soil. Space tubers 12 inches apart in rows that are 36 inches apart to ensure adequate room for canopy development and good air flow to prevent disease.
Direct Sow
Plant seed potatoes directly in the garden bed at the appropriate spring timing for your zone.
Harvesting
French Fingerling reaches full maturity in 100 to 109 days from planting. You can begin harvesting small new potatoes after the plants flower, gently digging around the base to feel for tubers without uprooting the plant. For full-size harvest, wait until the foliage begins to yellow and die back, then dig carefully with a garden fork to avoid bruising the smooth skin. Allow harvested tubers to cure for 1 to 2 weeks in a cool, dark place before storage to toughen the skin.
Growing Calendar
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Companion Planting
Pests & Diseases
Ecology & Traits
Edible
Scientific Classification
Solanum tuberosum
Family
Solanaceae
Genus
Solanum
Growth Habit
Bush
Native Status
L48 (I)HI (I)PR (I)CAN (W)
History & Origin
“French Fingerling carries the weight of traditional potato growing in its pedigree. As an heirloom variety maintained and preserved through successive generations of gardeners, it represents the kind of seed stock that families have saved and passed along because it performed reliably year after year. The variety has earned its place in organic growing circles precisely because it was developed and selected long before modern fungicides existed, relying instead on inherent resistance traits that growers learned to depend on.”