Most gardeners pay attention to the planting pattern when planting potatoes. They are more interested in how wide the rows should be, what the distance between the tubers should be. This information is very important for anyone garden crops, however, not everyone thinks about planting depth.

Most gardeners, especially when manual landing potatoes don't think that planting depth must be observed. However, compliance with the optimal planting depth ensures uniform, early shoots. Plants at correct landing form a beautiful bush with a strong root system. Therefore, they are more resistant to diseases and pests, thereby making plant care much easier. Ultimately optimal Potato planting depth affects yield and tuber size.

Optimal potato planting depth

The problem of the depth of planting potatoes has often been violated, but a final result has not been achieved and it has not been determined at what depth it is most optimal to plant potatoes.
Mostly potato planting depth ranges from 5 to 15 cm.

When choosing the depth of planting potatoes, you need to consider:

• landing date,
• soil structure,
• moisture availability
• and other factors.

Factors influencing planting depth:

When planting potatoes, you need to maintain a uniform planting depth. After all at the same depth, plant seedlings are aligned therefore they do not suppress each other.

Growing in unfavorable conditions

To grow potatoes in unfavorable conditions, gardeners need to constantly look for optimal technologies.

In unfavorable conditions, it is better not to till the soil deeply, It is better to place plants in narrow beds and use mulch(hay, leaves, straw). Untreated soil creates ideal conditions for the growth of the root system, because there are preserved walks from the worms and the root system. The planting depth of tubers should be about 5 cm.

When using this planting method, it is impossible to hill up the plants. After all, stolons can only appear on the white areas of the stem that are not exposed to light. Therefore, the main task is to increase the length of the stem under the soil, but without increasing the planting depth. This can be achieved if plant tubers sprouts down and their length should be up to three centimeters. Wherein root system will be formed from sprouts rather than tubers. Potato bushes with this planting are wide and form strong stems. Thus, the plants are better provided with light, which in turn contributes to better photosynthesis. In addition, tubers form more, because the stems do not compete with each other.

However, planting with shoots down does not always ensure intensive tillering. To improve the effect of such a landing The tips of the sprouts need to be pinched. In addition, with such planting, seedlings will be later. However, this will not significantly affect the growth and development of plants. After all, refusal of deep processing and planting tubers at shallow depths helps to warm up the tubers more quickly and obtaining earlier shoots.

This way the plants will be strong and resistant to negative factors environment. Therefore, caring for potatoes during the growing season is much easier.

no need

• spud,
• loosen the soil,
• remove weeds
• water.

Potatoes will also be less affected by diseases and damaged by pests.

And further...

This technology can also be used to obtain early products. You need to warm up and germinate the tubers; they should form sprouts as long as up to two centimeters. Then they need to be placed in boxes and covered with dry sawdust. In such conditions, the root system will not grow, but the sprouts will change the direction of growth and will rise upward. Next, you need to follow the elements of the technology described above.

Hi What did you use?

In most of the materials, the author tried to orient readers towards ecological gardening, and also, if possible, recommend biological or folk remedies plant protection. However, judging by the fact that readers did not notice in the article published in the issue before last a small error in the form of a recommendation for nitrafen, which has been discontinued and banned for use in the private sector, we can conclude that the majority of our readers do not think about not only about the toxicity or origin of drugs (chemical or biological), but even about their approval for use. Therefore, it will be relevant to repeat the educational program on plant protection products.

In old literature on gardening, you may find recommendations for the use of some outdated plant protection products, previously called pesticides, and now called pesticides. For example, in the 20th century it was proposed to use DDT, nitrafen, DNOC (dinitroorthocresol), HCH (hexachlorane), chlorophos, the herbicide TCA (sodium trichloroacetate), Paris green, and other drugs that are currently discontinued and prohibited for use in Russia . In addition, in recent years, the insecticide Decis in the form of an emulsion concentrate and karbofos have been banned for use in private household plots.

Moreover, even many approved drugs are moderately toxic - quite poisonous. Such drugs include copper oxychloride, Oksikhom, copper sulfate, fufanon (insectoacaricide) and some others. Therefore, initially all plant protection products and other substances toxicity, durability and other indicators are divided into 4 hazard classes. Hazard class 1 includes extremely dangerous drugs, most of them are prohibited. Hazard class 2 includes highly toxic drugs, a typical representative of which was the recently banned Decis. Class 3 includes moderately dangerous (usually moderately toxic) drugs, such as copper oxychloride, Horus, Tanrek (insecticide). Class 4 includes low-hazard and harmless drugs, which include most biological products, except for Fitosporin, which is classified in class 3 due to its ability to irritate the eyes. To ensure that plant protection is safe for you, we provide a reference table so that you can choose biological products whenever possible.

Harmful objects	Biological products
	Biofungicides:
Late blight	Planriz, Fitosporin, Alirin-B, Gamair
Brown spot of tomatoes (cladosporiosis)	Pseudobacterin, Alirin-B
Blackleg	Baikal-EM11 ( prevention), Alirin-B, Glyokladin
Strawberry brown spot	Planriz, Fitosporin
Apple scab	Fitosporin, Alirin-B, Gamair
Clusterosporiosis (hole spotting) of stone fruits	Alirin-B, Baikal-EM1 (prof.), EM-52, Planriz3
Pests:	Bioinsecticides
Sucking (aphids, thrips, mites)	Fitoverm
Colorado potato beetle, caterpillars, spider mite, currant and gooseberry sawflies	Bitoxibacillin
Most caterpillars, including leaf-eating caterpillars, moths, codling moth	Lepidocide

Alexander Zharavin

In order not to waste a lot of time and effort when planting potatoes, you need to use straw. This technique does not involve hilling and weeding. As for regular planting, healthy pre-sprouted potato tubers are used. Growing potatoes wisely without weeding and hilling does not involve deep digging of the soil. Peat is added to the bed where the root crop will be planted. The selected area is only slightly loosened, small holes are made into which the potatoes are placed. During this period you can make complex fertilizer. And if the area is infested with wireworms, it is necessary to place onion peels or sprinkle with ash next to the planting material. After that, the tubers are covered with dry grass or hay to a depth of 25-30 cm. If the layer of grass is smaller, then it risks drying out in the process and not giving the desired effect, while a larger amount of straw will hinder germination, which is also not desirable.

Growing potatoes under straw can be done in a simpler way. To do this, you just need to loosen the soil and lay out the tubers in a checkerboard pattern. Next, simply cover the potatoes with a 30 cm layer of straw, grass or dry leaves.

The method of growing potatoes under hay is similar to the method of planting under straw or leaves.

Planting care

As such, no maintenance is required for potato plantings when using the methods described above. Growing potatoes under straw does not involve hilling or weeding, since a thick layer of straw prevents weeds from germinating, protects young tubers from heat and retains moisture. And the decomposition of the lower layer of straw provides sufficient nutrition for the plant.

What is the effectiveness of the method?

Many people are surprised by this simple way like planting potatoes under straw. A hassle-free garden is simply the name for beds with plants covered with hay or straw. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the method is quite understandable. Doesn't like potatoes high temperatures. And since the temperature under the straw, even on the hottest days, is no more than +20 °C, this condition has a positive effect on the growth and development of plants. If you move the layer of hay a little and touch the soil, you can feel the moisture that potatoes need so much. With the help of a layer of straw, moisture does not evaporate, so there is no need to water the potato plantings.

Carbon dioxide, which is formed when hay or straw rots, has a beneficial effect on plant growth. Also, during the process of rotting the lower part of the straw, nutrients, which also contributes to a rich harvest of potato tubers.

By planting potatoes in this way you can get good result, without any effort. Potato tubers form on top of the soil, so harvesting involves pushing aside the straw and picking clean potatoes. The taste of potatoes planted using this technology is more pleasant with a pronounced aroma.

It should be noted that potato seedlings under hay appear a little later than when planted in the usual way. But this fact is only beneficial for the plants, because when a massive invasion of the Colorado potato beetle occurs, the potatoes will not yet sprout from under the straw. And the beetle rushes to its usual landings. Despite the approximate difference of two weeks, in the future, potatoes grown under straw will catch up and outstrip traditional plantings in growth.

The method of planting tubers under straw answers the question of how to grow potatoes without weeding and hilling. The first year of planting potatoes using this method, it is recommended to plant only part of the plot. This will help you identify all the benefits and gain experience.

A method for growing potatoes in straw from a Siberian agronomist Ivan Parfentievich Zamyatkin.

Ivan Parfentievich Zamyatkin, retired agronomist from the village of Shushenskoye, Krasnoyarsk Territory. As a result of ten years of experience, Ivan Parfentievich mastered his own version of organic farming, based on the active and varied use of “green manure” - green manure.

Its yields of potatoes and vegetables are 10 or more times higher than those obtained using traditional “official” technology.

The historical village of Shushenskoye - the bank of the Yenisei. The soil is poor sandy loam, in summer it can be above +35°, in winter up to −45°, there is little snow. Every second year there are severe droughts. Bread burns out in arable fields, potatoes don’t bear fruit—many people don’t even dig them. And at this time, Zamyatkin steadily and effortlessly collects fivefold harvests.

Zamyatkin’s site has not seen a shovel for about twenty years. According to him, in ten years the fertile layer has deepened to 30-40 cm. The soil has become so loose that there is no need to drive in pegs for tomatoes - they stick in easily. The potato harvest approached two tons per hundred square meters. Cabbage - heads of cabbage per pound - up to 1800 kg per hundred square meters. The yields of cabbage and carrots are three to five times higher than average, and the berry fields produce abundantly. Zamyatkin does not use manure, much less compost. From fertilizers - only ash. Now in his beds, as he puts it, there is truly fertile agrozem. This means that the maximum harvest is guaranteed in any year.

How does he do this?

Of course, a third of the increase comes from varietal agricultural technology: Zamyatkin selected the best varieties for himself and literally became close to them. But two-thirds of the success is the natural garden system: narrow beds, no plowing, sowing green manure, reasonable fruit replacement, mulching.

“The harvest is no longer a problem. I seem to have gotten over record mania. Now my goal is maximum natural fertility and sustainable agro-biocenosis.”

beds

Zamyatkin’s beds are stationary, 80 cm wide, with passages of at least a meter. This is how they are born. In the first half of June, the lush grass is trampled down. A half-thick layer of various plant organic matter is piled on top of it. And from above - two fingers of the earth. An ideal bed: it won’t let out the weeds, and it breathes so that it can quickly rot, and it’s a home for the worms. It stays like that until the end of summer.

In August, cold-resistant green manure is sown here: mustard, oilseed radish. And in the spring - peas, beans, beans: let them fertilize the soil additionally. Fruit production begins with them. And if the soil is good, you can plant both watermelons and potatoes.

Only a flat cutter takes care of the beds, and only superficially. All summer - mulch, in spring and autumn - green manure. The weed problem disappeared along with the empty land. When there is always a dense crop, or mulch, or thick green manure in the garden bed, where can weeds live when their niche is occupied? And they exist quietly, without pretending to be massive and greyhound.

Diseases are also a thing of the past

Zamyatkin introduced into his practice the smartest technique - eliminating morning dew. Places simple film screens over the beds. Heat rays are reflected back onto the garden bed - that’s it, no dew! Only those things that are prone to getting sick are covered this way: onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes.

Mulch

Zamyatkin’s mulch is the same basis for soil maintenance as green manure.

He spends almost no time and effort on collecting organic matter. A thick layer of separately harvested “hay” is used only for special purposes: to create new beds, smother weeds, cover trunk circles seedlings. And on the beds all year round there is natural, “green manure mulch”.

The technology is simple. In August, some kind of cold-resistant green manure is sown under a rake, and before frost it produces a thick green mass. Without allowing it to set seeds, we cut it off with a sharp shovel. It turns out to be a layer of hay. In the spring it is three times thinner: it has become denser and partially melted. We rake clean furrows in it, sow and plant in them. The plants stood up, burst into bloom - all the soil was covered.

Winter rye usually does not freeze out and begins to grow in the spring. This “mulch” has to be cut below the tillering node, otherwise it will grow back.

Option: the green manure is not cut, it freezes, and in April the bed is bristling with straw. Mulch is also effective - it will protect from wind and frost. We make holes directly in it or cut rows. Later we break it and put it on the garden bed.

You can mulch with any organic matter, the main thing is that it is

Experiments have shown that excellent potatoes grow under a thick layer of plant dust and straw. In recent years, Zamyatkin has been growing it this way. I spread the “seeds” over the bed, covered them with loose organic matter, helped the sprouts emerge if necessary, and finally covered everything up. In August, I lifted the mulch - there were clean tubers underneath, even right into the pan.

And here’s what’s typical: wireworms, May beetle larvae and other beetles are not found in mulch. Apparently, they do not risk rising from the soil: too many here are not averse to feasting on them. One way or another, but for many years now under the straw all the tubers have been clean and without damage. And if you bury them in the soil, many will be chewed up.

Organic Mulch Rules

In the fall, cover the soil as early as possible - let it live longer and freeze later. In the spring, on the contrary, first rake the coarse mulch onto the paths: let the soil thaw and warm up.

What gardeners cover their seedlings with in order for them to take root! And it still dries. Zamyatkin, as always, took a closer look at nature - and everything there was already invented. The snow has melted - we sow phacelia. At the time of disembarkation - a covering carpet. We dig holes and plant. Quiet, partial shade - the seedlings are thriving. And if frost threatens, it’s easy to throw the film directly on the green manure. The seedlings began to grow, it became crowded - we cut off the green manure and put it as mulch.

Now everything is clear!

Mulch is a multi-layered and multifaceted concept. Speaking about protecting the soil and seedlings, it is difficult to draw a clear boundary between the layer of sawdust, dead turf, dry stem... dwarf cedar, shrubs, trees. Forests and steppes are the “mulch” of the planet. Woodlice and worms live and swarm in the forest floor and turf, and you and I live in the layer of forests, gardens and parks. But imagine that your garden and forest are uprooted. “One month the soil is bare - a month it dies,” says Zamyatkin.

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Vladimir Vysotsky

Collection of poetry

It’s hard to believe, but back in the middle of the 19th century, Vladimir Semyonovich could have paid with his life for such “rhyme-weaving” if he had fallen into the hands of a peasant from the Saratov or Kazan province.

The introduction of potato cultivation both in Rus' and in Europe met with resistance and was carried out using the “carrot and stick” method.

It is not known for certain who was the first to bring potato tubers from South America. Various sources V different hands give the palm. Surely it was not just one person.

The people, having chewed corned berries and crunched raw root vegetables, did not understand the pioneers.

So the English peasants had to be given gold medals for growing potatoes, and the Prussian peasants had their noses and ears cut off for not growing them.

The French cultivated potatoes as a flower. Ladies at the court of Louis XVI, at the suggestion of the first lady of the kingdom, Marie Antoinette, inserted a bouquet of blooming potatoes into their hair.

French women used to put these branches in their hair.

Compared to Europe, the vegetable arrived in Russia late. Turnips and rutabaga remained the staple food of the Russian peasantry for a long time.

Only after a series of “potato riots” in the 40s of the 19th century, brutally suppressed by the tsarist government, and after the abolition of serfdom in 1861, was culture given the “green” light.
Harvest of the early 20th century

So what kind of vegetable is this and what is it eaten with?

And potatoes are combined with meat, vegetable and butter, vegetables and herbs. Gourmets do not recommend using it with fish, excluding herring. But these are gourmets. The product is universal and is used in all cuisines of the world.

Benefits and Applications

By chemical composition Potatoes are close to bread: they contain proteins, fiber, glucose, sucrose, and a large amount of carbohydrates in the form of starch. The latter is absorbed slowly, so the feeling of fullness after eating dishes made from this vegetable lasts for a long time.

The plant has found application in folk medicine and cosmetic procedures:

1. Normalizes the functioning of the cardiovascular system, treats headaches.
2. Used for inhalation for diseases of the upper respiratory tract.
3. Restores the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, treats hemorrhoids and heartburn.
4. Heals wounds and fights inflammation.
5. Fights the effects of burns, fungal diseases and erysipelas.
6. Has a rejuvenating effect.

Contraindications

Potato as a plant

Potatoes are a perennial herbaceous shrub consisting of several stems. Cultivated as an annual. Belongs to the nightshade family.

Propagated by seeds and vegetatively. TO vegetative propagation include:

• Propagation by tubers. The method is popular, but leads to degeneration of potatoes.
• By dividing the tuber. The method is simple, used when there is a lack of planting material, which also leads to degeneration.
• Reproduction by sprouts and layering. Sprouts and cuttings are twisted out of the sprouted fruit several times. The method allows you to increase the amount of planting material.
• Rooting the tops.

None of these propagation methods, with the exception of seed, guarantees healthy tubers.

Tubers are the thickened end of an underground shoot (stolon), transformed into a storage organ, on which there are several dormant points - ocelli. Each eye contains 3 dormant buds. The top ones usually germinate. If the sprouts are removed, the lower buds will also wake up, and sprouts will appear from the removed ones again.

The shape and color of the tubers are varied and depend on the variety. Just some kind of rainbow

Varieties

There are over 4 thousand varieties of this crop in the world, and in Russia, according to the latest data from the “State Register of Breeding Achievements Approved for Use,” there are over 400. The tables given in the register contain basic information about the parameters of the plant:

1. Variety code and name.
2. Year of inclusion in the document (we learn about new products).
3. Tolerance region (where it is recommended to grow).
4. Originator (author) and patent holder.
5. Direction of use.
6. Maturing period.
7. Plant type - given important information about resistance to certain diseases.

Based on this set of documents, you can decide on the choice of varieties for planting, consumption, and production.

Depending on the indicators and properties, the plant is classified:

1. By ripening period (early, middle, late).
2. By country of selection (Russia, Holland, Belarus).
3. According to the color of the peel and pulp (red, yellow, purple). In colored potatoes, the content of bioflavonoids is 2 times higher than in light potatoes, and the percentage of starch is lower, so they are used in the diet.
4. By reference to the region (Northern, Northwestern, Central, Central Black Earth, Volga-Vyatka, North Caucasus, Lower Volga and Middle Volga, Ural, West Siberian and East Siberian, Far Eastern).
5. According to the purpose of the variety.

According to their intended purpose, varieties are divided into 4 large groups:

• table - with tender pulp and starch content of 12–16%;
• technical - starch content over 18%, alcohol and starch are made from them;
• feed - with an increased amount of protein (2–3%);
• universal - determined by the average between table and technical varieties.

Each consumer eventually acquires a list the best varieties, which suit him for one reason or another.

Growing potatoes in seedlings

If you want to try young potatoes as early as possible, but are afraid to eat market potatoes, try growing them through seedlings.

Advantages

1. Getting an early harvest.
2. Rejection of low-quality material.
3. Better conditions are created for early plant development than when grown in soil.
4. In bad weather conditions (heavy rains, for example), the time for planting in the ground can be delayed.
5. The crop is not subject to return frosts.

Minuses

The disadvantages include the laboriousness of the method. The woman had no worries, the woman bought a piglet.

Three steps to growing seedlings

When growing potatoes seedling method We will go through 3 stages:

1. Preparing tubers.
2. Planting in pots.
3. Landing in the ground.

Step 1: prepare the tubers

The varieties are taken early and mid-early, shifting the growing season and “cheating” the heat, the Colorado potato beetle and late blight. When choosing a variety, focus on the region. Kuban tubers will not produce a good harvest in Siberia.

Healthy seed material, dry, with a strong skin, smooth, without cuts, cracks, stains and rot, weighing 50–80 g, is soaked for 10–15 minutes in a solution of Fundazol or for 30–40 minutes in 1% Bordeaux mixture. The liquid is allowed to drain and sent for 1.5–2 weeks for landscaping. The process occurs in the light at 12–15°.

Proponents of organic farming do not support this method, believing that solanine accumulated in the light is harmful even in seed tubers. What goes around comes around.

Then the tubers are germinated for another 1.5 weeks at a temperature of 18–20° without light. The emerging sprouts are periodically sprayed with water, preventing them from drying out.
Healthy planting material with beautiful sprouts

For better education Root sprouts are stimulated by making a circular cut that does not reach the middle and redirecting nutrients from the upper buds to the lower and lateral ones. The procedure is carried out a month and a half before the start of germination of root crops.
A transverse or longitudinal incision stimulates the awakening of dormant buds

Step 2: Planting in Pots

Take a container for planting with a volume of 250–300 ml and plant it in peat pots or boxes. The soil should be loose and rich in humus; soil from a greenhouse and peat without additives are suitable. Peat pot - universal container

The container is half filled with the substrate, the tuber is lowered and sprinkled with soil to a depth of 4–6 cm.

Choose a place that is warm (20°) and bright, however, shading will not cause harm.

One of the secrets of growing potatoes through seedlings is that from the moment the tubers are planted until the seedlings emerge, the soil is not watered. Potatoes respond negatively to waterlogging. After germination, water carefully.

Step 3: planting in the ground

When the plant reaches a height of 15–20 cm and the number of leaves is 8–13, the bush is transplanted into the ground. It should not be overexposed, since the possibilities of development in containers small size limited.
A little more - and you can change your place of residence

The row spacing is made wider than with the usual planting method - from 80 cm.

The transplant time depends on local climate. It is desirable that the threat of return frosts pass. If you plant the plant horizontally rather than vertically, then lowering the temperature will not harm it. The tops covered with soil feel good and after 5–7 days they come to the surface.

Growing potatoes in seedlings from seeds

Potato super-elite will grow from these tiny grains

If previously this method was used only by breeders and rare amateur enthusiasts, now it is becoming more and more popular.

Advantages

1. Seeds are cheaper than elite and even ordinary tubers.
2. Seed storage does not imply special conditions: cellar, basement, etc.
3. The yield of a crop grown from seeds is higher than that grown from tubers.
4. Tubers grown from seeds are resistant to viral and bacterial diseases, as well as to adverse weather conditions.
5. For 5–7 years you will provide yourself with good planting material:

• I year - mini-tubers.
• Year 2 - super elite.
• III year - super elite.
• IV year - elite.
• Year V - the first reproduction of the elite.

Minuses

1. Seedlings are capricious and require additional care.
2. May get blackleg.
3. Two-year growing period.

The soil for sowing seeds is light, loose, breathable: 2 parts garden soil - 6 parts turf and 1 part sand. To prevent fungal diseases, the biological product trichodermin is added.

Before planting, seeds are treated with a solution of epin or root, germinate and planted in furrows 1.0–1.5 cm deep at a distance of 5 cm from each other. Sprinkle dry sand on top, moisten with a spray bottle, cover with film and send to a warm place.
Seedlings require very careful watering

They dive in the phase of 2 true leaves, deepening down to the cotyledon leaves. Water carefully and moderately, periodically spray with epin, and feed with complex fertilizer once a month.

Hardened seedlings are planted in well-heated soil at a distance of 40 cm from each other. Further care no different from normal plant care.

Growing without seedlings in open ground

Potatoes from planting to harvest

Most summer residents and gardeners use this method when planting potatoes, despite its disadvantages:

• high cost of planting material;
• rush hour and lack of time;
• The accumulation of bacterial and fungal diseases in the soil and tubers, even super-elite purchased on the market can be infected.

Landing

The soil for planting is prepared in the fall by adding necessary fertilizers. In the spring, ash is added or the tubers are dusted with it. To avoid fungal epidemics, it is recommended to do without fresh manure at this time.

The planting method is chosen depending on the soil and climate. The vegetable is planted in holes and trenches on light soils in areas with dry summers; ridges are cut on heavy, waterlogged soil.

Planting in rows under a shovel is the most popular method. The disadvantage of this method is that with heavy rainfall the tubers suffocate.
Late potato planting scheme

The trenches are prepared in the fall, filled with organic matter that settles during the winter. With this planting, soil fertility improves and you can do without chemical fertilizers. Labor intensity when constructing trenches and availability large quantity herbs for mulch are considered to be the disadvantages of this method.

In regions with large amounts of summer precipitation, ridges are used, in which the soil warms up faster, maintenance is easier, and with high hilling, many tubers develop. On sandy soil, ridges dry out quickly.
When groundwater is high, planting in ridges will help

General conditions for these methods:

• for uniform illumination, planting in the direction from north to south;
• maintaining distances between rows of 60–70 cm, between plants 25–30 if the potatoes are early and do not bush much, and 30–35 cm when planting late potatoes with thick tops.

Alternative planting methods

It cannot be said that these methods have become widespread, however, with their help a number of problems are solved:

• reduce physical stress on the body;
• reduce water consumption to a minimum;
• get rid of weeds without weeding and loosening.

These methods include the following plantings:

• for hay or straw;
• under black film or non-woven material;
• planting in boxes;
• planting in bags and barrels.

Design of a plot with a potato bush

I would like to talk about one more method. We are talking about winter planting. Before you reject this method, remember that once upon a time a categorical “no” was said to potatoes.

They are planted in the usual way, only the varieties chosen are not very early, but early and even mid-early, characterized by frost resistance: Nevsky, Lugovskoy. Mulch with a thick layer (15–20 cm) of straw or reeds, creating the effect of a thermos.

Tubers do not germinate.

Growing conditions and care

Potatoes are plants temperate climate, it needs a cool summer with daytime temperatures up to 25° and night temperatures not higher than 15°.

Caring for the crop involves:

• watering;
• loosening;
• weeding;
• hilling;
• feeding;
• pest and disease control.

Watering

The vegetable does not tolerate drought well, so watering is necessary in the hot summer. If the plant is not watered, late rains will cause the formation of ugly fruits.

A special need for watering arises:

• when the plant reaches a height of 5–10 cm (growth of the aboveground part is ensured);
• during budding (the number of tubers increases);
• when tubers gain weight.

The best time for watering is in the evening, but so that by night the bushes are dry and do not catch late blight. You can determine whether the plant is thirsty by dipping your fingers into the soil: if they remain dry, this is a sign of dehydration.

As the bush develops, the amount of water consumed also increases. When the tubers ripen, it reaches 20 liters.

Loosening, weeding, hilling

Loosening and weeding are carried out after rains, when the soil is compacted, or in the morning after evening watering.

Hilling (adding soil to the base of the bush) is necessary to form additional underground stems on which the crop is formed. Hill up at least 2 times per season: when the shoots reach 15 cm and before flowering. The procedure is performed on moist soil.

I would like to note that if you plant potatoes using an alternative method, then these three physically difficult components of plant care will not be required.

Top dressing

Potatoes are a big glutton. From one hundred square meters of land per season it consumes:

• nitrogen - up to 3 kg;
• potassium - 4.8 kg;
• phosphorus - 0.8 kg.

Even if the soil is well fertilized in the fall, summer plantings (root and foliar) cannot be avoided. Root feeding combined with irrigation.

1. After the first watering, add mullein (0.5 kg per 10 l warm water) at the rate of 0.5 liters for each bush.
2. The second watering is combined with the addition of potassium and phosphorus needed at the moment (15 g of potassium sulfate and 15 g of double superphosphate are dissolved in 10 liters of water).
3. The third time the crop is fertilized with manure (0.25 kg per 10 liters of water).

For foliar feeding take:

• urea (0.2 kg urea and 10 g boric acid per 10 liters of water) – 2 weeks after emergence;
• humates - when the 4th leaf appears and throughout the entire growing season;
• phosphorus is used to improve taste a month before harvesting (0.1 kg per 10 l)

Followers natural farming mineral fertilizers are replaced with organic matter.

Pest and disease control

The Colorado potato beetle, wireworm, and potato nematode love root vegetables just as much as we do. They cope with them both with the help of chemistry and folk remedies.

Problems when growing potatoes

Mulching

Mulching is an agricultural technique that creates a protective layer on the soil by covering it with organic (hay, straw, peat, sawdust, humus) or artificial material(agrofibre), which retains moisture, prevents soil washout, accelerates crop development and prevents weed growth.

Mulch allows you to save on watering and extend its duration.

Harvesting and storage

The timing of fruit ripening depends on the variety.

1. 45–60 days - ultra-early (Ariel, Caprice).
2. 60–70 days - early (Zhukovsky early, Bryansk early).
3. 70–80 days - medium early (Red Scarlett, Reserve).
4. 80–100 days - mid-season (Altair, Talisman).
5. 120 days - late ripening (Atlant, Temp).

The main sign of potato maturity is the drying and lodging of the tops, from which tubers with dense skins are easily separated.

They dig up the crop in dry weather, sort it out, removing cut and diseased tubers, and dry it in the shade.

Store in a cool, dry place in disinfected “breathable” containers (wooden and plastic boxes, cotton bags), which will prevent the appearance of rot in vegetables. For better preservation, the tubers are lined with garlic cloves, and the boxes with mint and horseradish.

Growing potatoes in a greenhouse in winter

The harvest is pleasing

Growing potatoes in a greenhouse will cost more than growing them in the ground. The advantage of this method is:

• cultivation during the period when open ground this is impossible, practically 8 months a year;
• getting an early harvest;
• small number of pests.

If the greenhouse is heated, tubers planted in August will produce a harvest by the New Year. The next planting takes place at the end of February. When planting in a greenhouse, the sprouted root crop must meet the following parameters:

• be larger than for planting in the ground (80–100 g);
• go through the landscaping process so as not to be of interest to rodents;
• be whole - cut vegetables attract pests.

The varieties are taken from very early and early varieties. Kharkov early and Priekulsky early are well adapted to growing in greenhouses.

Pre-planting soil preparation consists of adding peat, manure, ash, and digging.

Planting is carried out according to the following schemes:

1. The distance between bushes is 25–30 cm, between rows – 60–65 cm.
2. If provided drip irrigation, then staggered landing is preferable. A gap of 25–30 cm is left between bushes, 30 cm between double rows, and 80 cm between rows.

Planting depth is 6–7 cm. To create the desired microclimate, the bed is covered with film, which is removed after the first shoots.

At different stages of development, the room is maintained at a certain temperature:

• during the growth period - 18–20°;
• during budding and flowering - 22–23°;
• during tuber formation - 16–18°.

When the plants reach a height of 10 cm, water and fertilize with fermented mullein solution diluted 1:10. The next time these procedures are carried out before hilling and during flowering.

On sunny, non-frosting days, greenhouses are ventilated.

After harvesting, any vegetables that are not nightshades are planted.

Growing potatoes at home

This crop can also be grown on the balcony.

If you don’t have a greenhouse or a summer house, but you want to consume your own potatoes, grow them in pots and boxes on the balcony and enjoy creating and eating them.

Industrial cultivation

No end to the potato fields

At industrial cultivation plants, the profitability reaches 300%, but the investments are huge. Otherwise, profitability will be zero.

Common in Russia Dutch technology, which involves mechanized processes and the use of agrochemicals.

Features of growing potatoes in different regions

When growing potatoes in the regions, you need to focus on zoned varieties and suitable planting methods.

Moscow region

Popular superstitions say that if a birch tree has a leaf the size of a penny, then you can plant potatoes. The varieties chosen are mid-early: Tuleevsky, Synok, Chugunka. On chernozem they are planted in rows and ridges; on loam it is better to plant in straw.

Siberia

Due to the short summer, early varieties are chosen for planting so that they have time to ripen. Planted in rows and ridges. During the first hilling, the tops are completely covered with soil due to the threat of return frosts.

Ural

In the Urals, it is better not to rush into planting; there are frosts even in June. The varieties chosen are early and mid-early: Governor, Bullfinch, White Spring. They are planted in trenches, in ridges, and in straw.

Krasnodar Territory and Rostov Region

Due to the arid climate in the southern regions, very unfavourable conditions for growing this crop. If early potatoes still manage to survive the heat, then late ones freeze in development, and after rains they grow again, as a result, the tubers crack. But southerners are not going to give up their favorite vegetable, so they attach great importance to choosing a variety adapted to local conditions and diseases.

And the choice is small:

• from early varieties- Early Zhukovsky (Russia), Cleopatra (Holland), Impala (Holland);
• from the middle early ones - Nevsky (Russia), Escort (Holland), Adretta (Germany);
• from the middle-late ones - Picasso (Holland).

Planting is done in trenches with a large amount of organic matter. Watering and mulching are necessary.

Anyone who has ever tried to grow potatoes on their plot has fully appreciated how much time and effort it takes to fight weeds, pests and hill up bushes. In addition, most of the territory of Russia is a zone of risky agriculture, which means that all the work of a gardener can go down the drain due to the vagaries of the weather.

Meanwhile, in order to get a decent potato harvest, you don’t need to bend your back under the scorching rays of the sun for days on end. Growing potatoes without hilling and weeding is an ancient method, known since the 19th century and improved by modern agronomists for summer cottages. This method allows you to increase potato yields by one and a half to two times.

Preparing the site in the fall

Weeds, especially wheatgrass and sow thistle, are the scourge of the garden. Many even believe that they can only be limed with strong herbicides. However, there is a simple, environmentally friendly way to completely get rid of weeds in your potato field. It is enough in the fall, after harvesting, to fill the area with hay (preferably fresh, but dry is also possible) or straw. There is no need to be afraid that the seeds spilled from the mown grass will sprout: this is only possible if the layer of hay covering the ground is thin. If you lay the hay in an even thick layer in the fall, then by spring both the stems and the weed seeds will rot.

You need to cover the area with hay or straw (mulch) as early as possible. The soil is first dug up to a depth of 20-22 cm, in large blocks, without loosening: this way the soil gets the opportunity to “breathe”. Then it is fertilized with ash or peat, from mineral fertilizers Urea is most preferred. For additional protection against the Colorado potato beetle and wireworm, onion peels are scattered on the ground. The area prepared in this way is covered with a “fur coat” (40-60 cm thick) of hay or straw.

The soil is mulched in the fall after harvesting.

If manure is used for fertilizer, it is better to spread it on top of the hay: this will prevent the grass from being blown away by the wind, and it will rot faster.

Colorado beetles burrow into the soil for the winter. If the soil is covered with a thick layer of compost in the fall, pests will not be able to penetrate deep into it and will freeze, and most overwintered beetles will not make it to the surface. Ash and urea are poison for them. That's why early fertilization followed by mulching will help exterminate not only weeds, but also Colorado potato beetles.

By spring, the layer of rotted compost is compacted, its thickness is reduced to 13-20 cm. In early spring, the mulch should be stirred a little with a rake and raked from the beds so that the snow melts faster, the soil warms up and is well saturated with moisture. When the snow melts, the mulch is leveled with a rake and rows of potatoes are outlined. The distance between rows must be at least 60 cm.

Seed preparation

In a mulched area, you can grow potato varieties of any ripening period. The soil covered with hay or straw warms up faster, so this method is especially good for planting early potatoes.

Although Dutch varieties are becoming increasingly popular, we should not neglect the varieties domestic selection, zoned for your area, even if they are considered to be slightly less productive. Domestic varieties tolerate frost, drought and other unfavorable conditions better. In the central and southern regions good harvest(400-600 kg per hundred square meters) are produced by the Dutch varieties “Impala” and “Red Scarlet”, which are very resistant to diseases. “Kholmogorsky” (yield up to 392 kg per hundred square meters) and “Antonina” (up to 300 kg per hundred square meters) are perfect for the northern regions.

As seed material tubers with a diameter of 3-4 cm are used; each potato must have at least five eyes. If planned early boarding, it makes sense to take larger tubers, weighing 80-100 grams: they will give stronger and more viable shoots.

Planting large sprouted tubers is half the success

Germination begins approximately 30 days before planting. The temperature in the room where the tubers are germinated should not exceed +15°C, otherwise the shoots will turn out too long and thin. Before sprouting, potatoes are dipped in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for several minutes.

Potatoes are laid out on shelves or in boxes. Once a week, the tubers are lightly sprayed with water from a spray bottle. If the site is far away, potatoes can be sprouted in plastic bags with handles. For ventilation and to prevent mold, several holes should be made in the bags.

The soil under the mulch is very warm, so the shoots may be longer than when planting potatoes in the usual way. They should reach 3-8 cm.

Planting and caring for potatoes

Before planting, you need to prepare several buckets of soil in advance (preferably black soil). The most important thing is that you don’t need a shovel. The humus is so soft and crumbly that holes in the beds are made with a pointed pole. The depth of the hole is 10-12 cm, the distance between them is 40 cm. A tuber is thrown into each hole with the shoots up, sprinkled with a small amount of ash, crushed eggshells, dry bird droppings, onion peels, and on top with earth. When planting is completed, the bed is covered with a layer of dry straw 30 cm thick. To prevent the straw from being blown away by the wind, it is lightly sprinkled with earth.

If the summer is dry, potatoes should be watered occasionally (once every one to two weeks). But you shouldn’t be zealous: mulch retains moisture well even during drought. IN additional feeding tubers have absolutely no need, since all the necessary substances are obtained from mulch.

If you grow potatoes in this way, they are not afraid of wireworms: pests usually do not crawl up. And predatory insects, enemies of the Colorado potato beetle larvae, settle in the mulch.

In the fall, all that remains is to rake the straw and dig up the tubers: large (nothing in the loose mulch interferes with their growth) and very clean. The straw that has been lying on the bed all summer will finally rot and become fertilizer for next year.

Tubers in straw are always clean

Using green manure

It is sometimes quite difficult for gardeners to obtain straw. Mowing and transporting hay to the site also takes a lot of effort. But there is an option in which you do not need to prepare hay or straw. Cut stems of plants grown in the same area are used as mulch. Plants that are specifically sown for the purpose of further mulching are called green manure. Legumes (they saturate the soil with nitrogen), rye, oats, mustard (the wireworm is afraid of it), and phacelia are often used as green manure.

Phacelia is one of the best spring green manures for potatoes

At the end of August, the plot is sown with oats or winter rye. The grains must sprout before frost. All that remains is to cut them off with a sharp shovel - and the winter “coat” for the soil is ready. Another option is not to cut the plants, but to allow them to overwinter. As a rule, winter rye is already in early spring begins to grow rapidly. It will need to be cut before it produces seeds, and the stems left on the beds.

In the spring, after the snow has melted, the area can be densely sown with phacelia: it grows very quickly. Phacelia flowers attract bees, which is especially convenient if the gardener has an apiary. Tubers are planted directly in beds with phacelia: it will protect the seedlings from frost, and in the event of a serious drop in temperature, light agrofibre can be thrown over the green manure. When the potato shoots become taller than the phacelia, the green manure is cut off and used as mulch.

Potato yields will increase significantly if it is possible to plant this crop in the same place no more than every other year. In the summer, legumes are grown in the area “resting” from potatoes: beans, beans, peas, lupine.

Inorganic mulching

You can grow potatoes without weeding and hilling without using hay or straw. It is enough to purchase dark agrofibre and cover the area with it. Holes are cut in the canvas, potatoes are planted there, and the agrofibre protects the beds from weeds all summer. However, in this case, you will have to fertilize the soil well before planting, and also use insecticides to combat the Colorado potato beetle. Ordinary cardboard is sometimes used as mulch material. They cover the bed with it, and cut round holes in the holes.

Advantages and disadvantages of the method

Advantages of growing potatoes under mulch materials:

• When using organic mulching materials, potato yields increase significantly. Every year, the fertile soil layer on the site becomes 2-3 cm thicker;
• no hassle associated with hilling and weeding;
• if the cottage is located far away, the owner does not need to travel there too often to care for the potatoes;
• complete absence of weeds and a significant reduction in the number of pests;
• the method is environmentally friendly.

Practice shows that with regular use of organic mulching materials, the yield of individual potato varieties can be increased to 1000 kg per hundred square meters.

Flaws:

• additional costs for purchasing green manure seeds or inorganic mulching materials. These costs are offset by a significant increase in yield;
• the need to mow and transport hay.