Gala potatoes are an early table variety from the breeder Norika: the tubers are round-oval, the skin is smooth and yellow, the flesh is yellow and the eyes are shallow. On its variety sheet the breeder presents it as a safe choice for packed table potatoes, with a high marketable yield. We grow Gala in Żuławy as one of our four table varieties and supply it wholesale to the fresh market. Below we set the breeder's sheet against the results of variety trials and show how we lift, sort and pack Gala.
Gala potatoes on the breeder's sheet
We take the variety's traits from the breeder's sheet, not from seed potato sellers' descriptions. We keep the German terms in brackets, so anyone can check them at the source.
| Trait | Entry on the Norika sheet |
|---|---|
| Use | table (Speise) |
| Earliness | early (früh) |
| Tuber shape | round-oval (rundoval) |
| Skin and flesh | smooth yellow skin, yellow flesh |
| Eyes | shallow (flach) |
| Raw flesh discolouration | very low tendency (sehr gering) |
| Late blight on foliage | medium susceptibility (mittel) |
| Late blight on tubers | very low susceptibility (sehr gering) |
| Rhizoctonia | low susceptibility (gering) |
| Potato cyst nematode | resistant to Ro 1 and Ro 4 |
| Potato wart | resistant to pathotype 1 (D1) |
| Virus Y | very high resistance (sehr hoch) |
| Leafroll virus | low resistance (gering) |
| Storage | medium dormancy, very good storability |
| Starch and yield | no figures on the sheet |
The breeder gives neither the starch content in percent nor the yield per hectare. For potassium fertilisation Norika recommends chloride-free fertilisers only, to secure early starch content.
What Gala is good for
Gala is a table potato: Norika gives its use as "Speise". For fries we grow other varieties, Innovator and Donata.
On the same sheet Norika writes that Gala is excellent for machine peeling and that it can be lifted green, with excellent washability. On top of that comes a very low tendency of the raw flesh to discolour.
The breeder's sheet gives no culinary type. In its 2012 variety trial report, Landwirtschaftskammer Nordrhein-Westfalen wrote that Gala was a reference variety there, and placed it in the mostly firm-cooking segment (vorwiegend festkochend).
What variety trials show
The breeder's sheet is one thing, results from the field are another. In the same 2012 report, Landwirtschaftskammer NRW rated Gala's yield in the 2012 season as below average, but with very even grading. The chamber also praised the robust tuber and its suitability for many sites, while noting a lot of scab on the dry site in Buir.
The Bavarian agricultural office AELF Ansbach, in its variety recommendations for 2026, describes Gala as a very small-tubered variety, with a below-average share of oversized tubers and a higher share of undersized ones. The breeder, in turn, stresses uniform grading and a high share of marketable produce, as Norika writes.
The takeaway for a buyer is practical: results differ between sites and years, so the caliber is decided by the specific batch, not by the variety name alone. We sort potatoes on the DOWNS CropVision, and grade and pack them to the customer's needs.
Gala on Żuławy alluvial soil
Everything we sell grows on our own fields in Żuławy, in Wocławy near Cedry Wielkie. Żuławy means alluvial soils: heavy, humus-rich soils laid down by water, rich in nutrients and good at holding moisture. We farm more than 800 ha, including around 400 ha of vegetables, and we work with 87 machines.
Norika states that Gala suits all soils, and for heavy soils recommends planting every 30 cm, 44,000 tubers per hectare (on light soils every 34 cm, 39,000 tubers). The breeder recommends 140-160 kg/ha of nitrogen including Nmin and advises treating seed potatoes against rhizoctonia. We apply fertiliser at variable rates, giving each part of the field as much as it needs, and we steer our machines with Trimble GPS navigation with RTK correction.
The same alluvial soils grow our speciality, onions, which we describe in our guide onions from Żuławy: how we grow them. We compare Gala with Twister, Bella Rosa and Joline in our post on table potato varieties, and we cover the sheet of a neighbouring variety in our post on Twister potatoes.
How we lift Gala with the AVR Puma 3 harvester
Norika recommends gentle harvesting and avoiding lifting when tuber temperature drops below 10°C.
We lift potatoes with a self-propelled AVR Puma 3 harvester. It takes four rows at once and has a 469 hp Volvo engine and an 8-tonne tank, so it works fast and without downtime, at night too. We use the same harvester to pick up onions from the windrows, and it handles both crops gently, sparing the onion skins and the tubers.
How we sort and pack Gala
After harvest the potatoes go through the DOWNS CropVision optical sorter. Cameras and AI scan every tuber through 360 degrees and reject stones, soil clods and defective pieces, at up to 100 tonnes per hour. We select every batch for firmness, colour and dry matter content.
Then we grade and pack to the customer's needs:
- loose,
- in big bags,
- in sacks of 15 kg, 10 kg and smaller.
We produce using a technology free of pesticide residues, in line with the principles of Integrated Plant Production. We test every batch for pesticide residues, heavy metals and substances harmful to health. We hold GlobalG.A.P., GRASP, FSA Gold (Farm Sustainability Assessment) and GMP+ certificates. We have gathered all varieties and delivery forms in our potato offer.
The breeder's sheet and variety trials tell you what to expect from a variety, but they do not describe a specific batch. That is why we still sort Gala optically and select it for firmness, colour and dry matter.
Storage and availability
Norika describes Gala as a variety with medium dormancy and very good storability. How much Gala we have in a given season and when, we tell you on request, together with the delivery details.
Price and sample
The price of Gala potatoes is calculated based on current market prices, so we give it after a conversation about quantity, timing and form of delivery. On request we send a free sample, so you can assess the produce before ordering. Write to us via the contact form.
