How to plant potatoes in order to get a good harvest?
Planting potatoes is carried out in various ways. You need to choose the appropriate method for the region and convenient for the grower himself. Determine the right time when to plant a vegetable, know how to properly cultivate the land so that weeds do not appear. In this case, the potatoes will please with their quantity and quality.
You need to plant potatoes in your country house according to all the rules. Potatoes are unpretentious to the soil. It develops well both in chernozem and in loamy, sandy soils. It is best to choose flat areas of land where light enters freely. Fertilizers will help to fill the lack of trace elements in the soil.
In the event that groundwater passes close to the surface of the earth, it is recommended to make ridges. In the elevation made, holes are made into which prepared germinated tubers are planted.
Tubers are usually planted in mid-spring, but can also be planted in summer. Agronomists say that there are only positive aspects in the summer planting of potatoes.
You can grow potatoes from tubers or from sprouts. As soon as the sprouts from the eyes hatch, they begin to plant in open ground. 4–5 healthy sprouts are placed in one recess at a distance of 15 cm. The interval between similar groups of sprouts should be at least 20 cm.
Quality potato seeds - the key to a good harvest
There are different types of potatoes, which differ in different terms of ripening of the crop, color and size of the tuber. Which varieties are suitable for a particular region depends largely on climatic conditions.
Early varieties begin to ripen after 65 days. Mid-early varieties will allow you to harvest in 75 days. The ripening of medium-late and late potato varieties occurs only after 100–120 days. In Russia, for example, it is best to plant potatoes in early and mid-early varieties.
When choosing seed potatoes, you need to study the characteristics of the tubers where it is recommended to grow a vegetable. The size of the seed material should be approximately 5-6 cm. The tubers should be dense, smooth, dry. The tubers should not have any spots of rot, cracks, cuts.
Getting ready to plant potatoes
A rich harvest is obtained only if you know the exact time when you can plant potatoes in the ground.
If you plant potatoes too early, in unheated soil, then it will sprout poorly, develop slowly. This reduces immunity, increases the risk of contracting infections.
You can not miss the favorable landing time. Otherwise, all the moisture that the soil absorbed during the melting of snow will evaporate. And it is very useful for plant growth.
The best period is considered when the top layer of soil (about 10 cm) has warmed up to +8. It is at this depth that the tubers are planted. Most often, planting begins on May 10. By this time, the morning frosts are usually gone.
Rows for planting potatoes are best placed from north to south. The distance between rows should be about 70 cm. In each row, the distance between the holes with planting material should be at least 30–40 cm for early varieties and 45–50 cm for mid-early and late-ripening species.
Soil and its preparation
The land is prepared in advance for planting vegetables. To enrich the soil with oxygen, the soil is dug up in autumn and spring. During the autumn digging, it is not necessary to level the area with a rake. In the fall, after digging up the ground, it is recommended to apply fertilizer. In the spring, the soil is again dug up and loosened.
Traditionally, potatoes are planted in the spring, around the beginning of May. But recently, vegetable growers began to plant even later, at the end of July, to get a double crop.
The rate of potatoes intended for cultivation per hectare per 1 hectare depends mainly on the size of the tubers. If their average weight is 50–80 g, then about 2.5 thousand tubers per 1 hectare will be required.
By the middle of summer, areas are already freed from growing early vegetables (for example, onions, lettuce), so a fertilized area is already ready. By this time, the peak activity of the Colorado potato beetle and other pests is minimized. The earth warms up well, and the development of tubers is more active, seedlings appear faster.
Late planting of a vegetable is widespread in the southern regions. To grow a late crop in the temperate and middle lane, you need to make a number of efforts. Be sure to select the appropriate variety, ensure timely and sufficient watering. Not the last role is played by the peculiarities of weather conditions.
Warm, not too hot weather with occasional rains will allow you to harvest a large crop from potatoes planted in July. But most often in the middle of summer the weather is hot, so the vegetable will need to be protected from overheating of the tubers. Soil mulching is the ideal way to combat heat.
Early varieties are best suited for summer planting of potatoes, their ripening occurs after 50–70 days. In this case, before frost, it will be possible to harvest. The main thing is that the air temperature does not fall below +8 degrees.
How to prepare seed potatoes for planting?
Seed potatoes must be prepared for planting, they must be processed and germinated. Without sprouts, potatoes may not sprout. During winter storage, tubers can deteriorate, so they need to be sorted out. For sowing, smooth, dense tubers are left without damage and deformation. It is also useful to sort by size.
Selected tubers are placed in boxes with holes for ventilation and moved to a warm, bright room (air temperature is about +11 degrees).
You can roughly calculate the rate of planting material. To do this, gardeners need to multiply the length of the row by their number. Then the resulting number is divided by the number of eyes that prevail on the tubers selected for planting. The received answer is considered an indicator of the rate of planting potatoes per one hundred square meters.
The planting rate depends on the quality of the planting material and the composition of the soil, variety, and the level of agricultural practices. For example, for the northern regions, where chernozem soil is rarely found, the planting density is approximately 50 thousand bushes per 1 ha. For the central regions - 45-50 thousand rubles.
What to do if the earth does not warm up?
In the middle lane, they begin to plant potatoes already in late April, early May. You can warm up the soil yourself:
- In the spring, beds are laid out and covered with a light-colored film.
- To speed up the melting of snow, you can scatter coal dust, which will attract the sun's rays.
- All beds can be raised by 5-7 cm. In this case, the ridge dries out faster.
- Compost is considered an environmentally friendly and economical way to warm the soil. Compost warms and nourishes the soil with useful trace elements.
If the earth is not warmed up, the seed material may freeze, rot, and then there will definitely be no harvest.
It's landing time
Any of the selected potato planting schemes involves marking on the land.
You can plant potatoes in the usual way under a shovel. The soil is dug up in the fall and it is advisable to fertilize. In the spring, it remains only to level the site and loosen large clods of earth.
Potatoes are planted in early May. By this time, the earth warms up quite well. Rows are made on the prepared land plot at a distance of 70 cm. Shallow holes (about 10 cm) are made in each row with a shovel and one potato is planted with a sprout up. On top of the planting material, it will be useful to pour compost and wood ash. The previous potatoes are buried with earth from the next dug hole. The distance between planted tubers is about 30 cm.
Can be planted in pre-prepared furrows. Dig a furrow about 19 cm wide and up to 14 cm deep. Then the tubers are distributed at a distance of 30 cm and lightly covered with earth. As the potato tops grow, the earth is added and as a result, a mound is formed near each bush.
The Dutch method of planting potatoes involves making ridges up to 36 cm high. The distance between the ridges is about 70 cm. Dig holes and distribute the tuber.
On average, the seeding rate of potatoes per one hundred square meters is about 3-4 buckets of seed material, which is about 30-35 kg.
How and when is the best time to plant?
You can plant potatoes not only in spring. Summer planting of potatoes can be done in two main ways. The first of these is planting a vegetable with tubers from last year (so that the tubers do not germinate ahead of time, they are placed in a cold place). But you can also use freshly dug tubers.
There is a special way for lazy people. Using this method of planting potatoes, you can reap a good harvest. The land for planting vegetables is practically not dug. Planting begins in early May, it is better to take early varieties. Compost is poured into the prepared rows (layer thickness is about 5 cm), tubers are placed and covered with earth.
As soon as shoots appear, hilling is carried out, during which the shoots are again covered with earth. This will prevent frost. The second hilling is carried out when the bush reaches 20 cm. It is recommended to cover the soil with a layer of straw.
How to cut tubers for planting?
From the shares of a potato tuber, you can grow a full-fledged crop rich in nutrients. Potato yield will be no different from a whole planted tuber. It does not matter what size it will be, the main thing is that there should be a place for a kidney on it. Ideally, there should be two.
The only disadvantage of planting cut potatoes is the high susceptibility to rotting during rainy weather. To prevent this, cuts can be treated with wood ash.
Cutting the planting crop is best done in advance. Approximately 5 days before the start of landing in the ground. Store cut side up in a warm place. During this time, the place will become weathered and hardened, and the buds will begin to sprout.
The work will take a lot of manual labor, but if you have to plant a couple of buckets, then you can try.
Landing scheme
With any method of growing potatoes, all recommendations must be followed. At what distance you need to plant potatoes depends on the method of cultivation. Most often, the distance should not be less than 70 cm. Planting material is laid out in a row every 30 cm.
A new method is the smooth planting of potatoes under the film. The place that is reserved for planting the vegetable is dug up, fertilized in the fall and covered with a black film. At a distance of 30 cm, holes are made in the film into which the planting material is placed. There is no need for weeding from weeds, no need to hill and water too often.
The smooth landing has similar rules to the shovel method. The only difference is that the rows are made even with the help of markings (pegs and twine will help). Potatoes are laid out in holes and covered with earth.
The method of growing potatoes in trapezoid beds is becoming common. Tubers are planted on the ridge in two rows, staggered. As the bushes grow, 2-3 hillings are carried out.
