How to plant potatoes if the last harvest did not meet expectations?

Potatoes are traditionally a pioneer in virgin summer cottages, are popular in agricultural farms, this culture almost always has a place even in small gardens. Planting potatoes is not a difficult task, but there are also some peculiarities that must be taken into account in order to obtain a bountiful harvest. There are general rules of agricultural technology, as well as various methods and schemes of sowing.

Tuber preparation

Seed potatoes (the optimal size of tubers is the size of a hen's egg) is subjected to vernalization before planting - a set of preparatory measures to activate the growth processes. It is advisable to start the procedure 40 days before planting.

The easiest way is to spread the tubers in the light in a relatively warm room (about + 15 ° C) and wait for the stolon sprouts to appear. You can pre-soak potatoes in potassium permanganate, dry and dust with ash.

But there are also more labor-intensive, but very effective methods of preparation, for example this:

1. potatoes are washed and dried;
2. several tubers are packed in plastic bags, in which 2-3 holes are made for ventilation;
3. packages are laid out in a bright, not cold room and periodically turned over (it is advisable to put boards or cardboard down);
4. when potato sprouts appear in several layers sprinkled with sawdust, they are stacked in a plywood box placed in a pallet or a large basin;
5. from above, everything is gently spilled with water until it begins to drip from below;
6. then the boxes are transferred to a dark room (together with a pallet) and stacked on top of each other (boards are laid between them). The process requires weekly humidity control.

As a result of the above activities, thin roots appear on each stolon sprout. In order not to damage them, immediately before planting potatoes, the boxes are again spilled with water.

The advantages of vernalization:

• culling of diseased tubers;
• germination after about 15 days;
• almost double the yield;
• antiseptic treatment of tubers increases disease resistance;
• cleaning 2-3 weeks earlier.

Some gardeners successfully plant potatoes in sprouts: they simply break off the stolons and immerse them in a growth stimulant solution for several hours. Planting is carried out to a depth of 6 cm according to the 15 * 70 cm scheme. This method significantly saves planting material, and the yield increases almost 4 times.

Advice

If it was not possible to complete the preparation for the full program, then you can warm up the potatoes at room temperature in the light two weeks before planting.

Average consumption rate of seed: 250 tubers per hundred square meters, 65 thous.

Landing dates

Each region has its own time for the arrival of spring, so the timing of planting potatoes varies. General rule: the soil at a depth of 10 cm should warm up to + 7–10 ° С. During this period, a characteristic green haze from swollen buds appears on birches, dandelions begin to bloom.

• In the Urals and Siberia, the deadline comes around the end of May or even early June. It is preferable to plant early and medium early varieties of potatoes here.
• In the northwestern region, in particular in the Leningrad region, planting is traditionally carried out in early May, the last date is the end of the second decade.
• In Transbaikalia, mass plantings of potatoes also occur in the first ten days of May.
• The earliest date is in the Krasnodar Territory, here you can plant potatoes from mid-April.

Planting material should be selected based on the characteristics of climatic conditions, so that the tubers have time to grow. Early potato varieties ripen in 2 months. Medium early enough for 60-80 days, and mid-season - about 100. Mid-late and late can be dug after about 120 days.

As for the lunar calendar, which many gardeners are used to following, according to its recommendations, it is customary to plant root crops on the waning moon, however, weather conditions are increasingly making their own adjustments. In the full moon it is not recommended to carry out any work on planting and transplanting plants.

How to plant potatoes: basic methods

Potatoes prefer loose soils with neutral acidity. Fresh manure is not applied under it, since watery tubers will be obtained at the exit. You can fertilize the soil in autumn with rotted manure, and a few days before planting or directly into the hole, compost is usually placed (about 5 kg per 1 m²) and ash (about 300 g per 1 m²). Experienced gardeners also use onion peels. If you add it to the hole or dig it next to a potato bush, then there is a chance to scare off the Colorado potato beetle, which does not tolerate the smell of onions. In addition, the husk is a good fertilizer and antiseptic, preventing a number of diseases of nightshade crops.

Under the shovel

The method of planting potatoes "under a shovel" is the simplest and most popular among gardeners: holes are dug into which fertilizers and tubers are laid, then everything is buried, the field is leveled. It remains to wait for germination and proceed to the first hilling. The following scheme is usually used: the distance between the holes is 30 cm, between the rows - about 70 cm.

Consider the markup tips.

• The more eyes on the potato, the thicker the tops will be. Accordingly, the gap between the bushes can be increased.
• For early varieties of potatoes, it is enough to make holes at a distance of 25 cm from each other (this is also true when planting with eyes or sprouts), for later varieties it is better to leave 35 cm.

The structure of the soil should also be taken into account, since it will depend on how deep the potatoes are planted. The heavier the soil, the shallower the hole should be: for sandy loam the optimum depth is 8-10 cm, for loam - no more than 6 cm.

If potatoes are not planted with whole tubers, then the holes are pre-spilled with water.

Into the ridges

Planting potatoes in ridges in rainy regions is much more popular than planting potatoes with a shovel. The main advantage of the method is that the root system of the bush will not suffocate with heavy rainfall, since the water will flow down. Even in loamy soil and in wet summers, potato yields will be good. But there is also a minus: if the soil is sandy loam or sandy, then in dry weather you cannot do without additional watering.

The technique is simple: the ridges are cut at a distance of 60-70 cm from each other using a cultivator or plow. The height of the embankments is about 15 cm.The depth of planting potatoes using this method is 5-6 cm, the indents between the holes are 30 cm each.

In the trenches

Planting potatoes in trenches is relevant for arid regions. The method is more complicated than the previous ones, since you will have to mark and dig grooves in the fall. The depth of the trenches should be about 30 cm, the distance between them is about 70 cm. Ash, compost, manure are laid as fertilizer, then all the components are mixed with a shovel. In the spring, due to soil shrinkage, the depth of the trenches will be about 5 cm - this is just enough for planting potatoes. Tubers are stacked at a distance of 30 cm from each other. On top, you can pour about 5-6 cm of mulch.

The main danger of this method is the risk of potato bushes damping out during heavy rainfall. To avoid this, drainage grooves are cut along the edge of each ridge.

Double beds

Doubled (paired) beds are essentially wide ridges with a longitudinal depression in the middle, on both sides of which potato tubers are staggered (30 cm apart). The distance between such beds is about 40 cm, between rows (lines) of bushes - 25-30 cm, the width of the ridge is about 80 cm.

The good thing about the method is that the root system of the potato feels more spacious, each bush gets more light, and better ventilation. In one movement, 3 plants are spilled at once, and it is convenient to lay fertilizers and water in the longitudinal grooves in the middle of the ridges.

Seed planting

Growing potatoes from seeds is a very troublesome task, which makes sense in case of a lack of planting material or to restore the yield of a variety (tubers tend to degenerate, accumulate a tendency to disease). The principle is the same as, for example, with onions or garlic: in the first year, a small onion (set) or one clove is obtained, and in the second year - a full-fledged head. In the case of potatoes, small nodules (20-40 g) will be collected in the first season - planting material for next spring.

You can buy potato seeds or wait for your own seeds to appear. By autumn, instead of inflorescences on the bushes, the so-called bulbs are formed, which must be collected and put to ripen in a warm room. When the berries are soft, crush them and remove the seeds.

The difficulty of seed propagation of potatoes is that in this case high requirements are imposed on the composition of the soil and the conditions for germination. Therefore, the seedling method is used, that is, sowing is carried out in containers (at the beginning of March), and then the seedlings are transferred to a permanent place.

There is more trouble with potato seedlings than with the usual tomatoes or peppers. The root system develops difficult and slowly, therefore the best option is to germinate seeds in wet sawdust, and then transplant them into loose fertile soil (after about 25 days).

In May, when a favorable temperature regime is established, the seedlings are transferred to the open ground. The holes should be made deep so that the straightened root fits in them up to the cotyledonous leaves. Then the plantings are mulched and covered with agrofibre until the onset of stable heat.

Unconventional landing methods

There is no limit to the ingenuity of gardeners, and the result of the next research was the planting of potatoes in various containers: voluminous pots, buckets or bags. Moreover, such devices are already being produced on an industrial scale under the names such as "smart pot", "pot-bag". Their capacity is from 20 to 250 liters, some models have opening pockets for neat extraction of tubers. However, not all summer residents are ready to spend money on experimental planting, therefore they use ordinary dense garbage bags (from 60 to 200 liters) or standard ones made of sugar. The method of growing potatoes in containers is also suitable for those who do not have a land plot, but have a loggia or balcony where you can put the pot.

The advantages of the method:

• potatoes do not need to weed and spud;
• if necessary, the containers can be rearranged around the site;
• ease of cleaning: you just need to empty the soil.

Advice

Potatoes require a lot of light, so do not place containers in shade or partial shade. For the same reason, an experiment on growing young tubers at home in the autumn-winter season on a loggia or on a window will obviously fail.

In the open field, to get an earlier harvest, you can plant potatoes in the second half of April, placing a small layer of straw on the bottom of the container for humus and heat release. It is better to put the bucket or bag itself in the greenhouse.

If potatoes are planted in a bag, then its edges are folded up until a height of 80 cm remains.About 5 cm of drainage material is laid at the bottom of the planting container (you can do without it in the garden, excess moisture will freely go through the lower holes). Then 35-40 cm of nutrient soil is poured (you can use a summer cottage: mix 2/3 of the compost with 1/3 of the earth and 1.5 glasses of ash). On the surface of the compacted soil, tubers are laid out with eyes upward at a distance of 15 cm from each other (usually 2 or 3 pieces).

Advice

You can cut one potato into several parts with eyes, saving space when planting.

Another 15 cm of soil is poured on top, on which the tubers are also laid out, but in such a way that they are not exactly above the lower ones. Another 15 cm of soil is poured and watering is performed. As the potato tops grow, the soil will need to be added 2 more times (instead of hilling). The first filling is done when the stems reach a height of 10-12 cm, while the sides of the bag gradually unfold.

Planting potatoes in a pot or bucket is done in the same way, the tubers are laid out in one or two layers, depending on the volume of the container.

2 weeks after the flowers appear, you can pick the first young potatoes. On average, one standard bucket produces about 2.5 kg of tubers.

Another original planting option: a large bag is completely filled with nutritious soil, then tied and laid on its side. Cross-shaped holes are made from above, into which sprouted potato tubers are laid.

No matter how the planting is done, the main thing is to observe the basic rules of agricultural technology and meet the deadlines, then you can get a good harvest of potatoes. This culture does not require special care: 2-3 hilling per season, watering necessary only in severe drought conditions. The two main dangers are late blight and Colorado potato beetles. In the first case, prophylactic treatment with Bordeaux mixture will help, and beetles can be dealt with either by hand picking or by insecticides.

The careful preparation of the seed also plays an important role in accelerating germination, preventing diseases and increasing the yield of potatoes. So that the labor of cultivation is not in vain, you should choose zoned varieties adapted to the conditions of a particular area and resistant to diseases.