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After harvesting potatoes in autumn, the soil is left without a lot of nutrients. And since potatoes have a poorly developed root system due to the intensive growth of tubers, the soil at the next planting is in dire need of certain fertilizers in recommended quantities. What top dressing must be applied to the hole along with the tubers in order to get a good harvest of your favorite root crop?
Factors affecting yield
In order to get an excellent potato crop, you will have to make some efforts. Although many inexperienced gardeners believe that the potato is a perennial vegetable crop, in fact it is an annual plant. In this case, the root tuber is a continuation of the stem, and not its root. The eyes, which are located on the surface of the potato tuber, are a kind of growth points. About 4 – 8 stems can grow from one tuber, on which new tubers appear a little later.
Potato is a vegetable crop, for which the condition of the soil is very important. It is in order to prepare the soil as best as possible that it should be made loose and light. According to experts, medium loamy and sandy loamy soils are best for planting a root crop. And what soils should not be used for growing potatoes? These are bog-peat and sandy lands.
An important factor that can affect the yield is also the airiness of the soil. In order to provide him with this, gardeners periodically loosen it during the period of crop growth. The destruction of the resulting crust provides an excellent opportunity to keep the earth moist, since after such manipulation, evaporation can be reduced several times.
Planting potatoes should be carried out in open sunny areas. If done in a tree-shaded garden, the stems can quickly turn yellow. A special role in increasing the degree of productivity is given to irrigation. During the growing season, the required amount of liquid per one hundred square meters of land is about 35 – 45 cubic meters. Normal watering is especially important at a time when buds appear on vegetable crops, as well as during the flowering period. To prevent the appearance of such a dangerous disease as scab, thorough watering of potatoes should be carried out, especially on dry days. Immediately after the flowering of water, on the contrary, less is required so that the tubers do not begin to rot. Experts advise planting potatoes according to the timing of their ripening – today there are such types of vegetable crops that have early, mid-season and late ripening.
An important role is also played by the timely application of the necessary fertilizers during planting and after harvesting, which we will discuss in more detail a little later.
Video “The secret of planting potatoes”
Choice of fertilizers
It is important for every gardener to know what fertilizers should be applied directly to the hole. As experience shows, the best fertilizers are ash, bone meal, rotted manure, peat-manure compost, urea, ammonium nitrate, granulated superphosphate, as well as a number of complex mineral complex fertilizers – such as potato Kemira, nitrophoska. If potatoes are planted in acidic soil, it is necessary to add phosphorite flour to the hole simultaneously with superphosphate. According to the rules, any type of fertilizer must be applied directly into the rows or holes in the recommended doses.
Ready-made mineral fertilizers for potatoes must be balanced and maximally adapted to all the needs of a vegetable crop. Thus, one-sided application of mineral fertilizers to the soil will not be able to fill the earth with all the necessary useful substances. It is very important to maintain a balance of minerals with trace elements, since, for example, too much nitrogen can cause potatoes to grow rapidly into leaves. Also, organic top dressing can always improve the condition of the soil. It is on whether it is sufficiently moistened, warmed up, airy that the process of normal growth and harmonious development of the root depends very much.
Thus, the selected fertilizer is applied when planting directly into the hole. For example, if you chose organic top dressing, then in each of the prepared holes you need to put about 700 gram cans of dry humus and five tablespoons of ash (about a handful that can be placed in an adult’s hand). And in the event that the gardener decides to use agrochemicals, about a tablespoon of nitrophoska and half a glass of bone meal should be added to the hole. It is also permissible to use purchased fertilizers – Kemira has proven itself well. This mineral dressing should be added to the wells in the amount indicated in the instructions.
How to fertilize
What fertilizer and in what quantities should be applied – a lot in this matter depends on how fertile the soil is for planting. An approximate calculation is as follows – for fertile soil, they take about 2 kg of compost and manure, 5 kg of superphosphate and one and a half kg of potash fertilizers. If the soil is of average fertility, it is customary to use no more than 2 kg of manure, the same amount of nitrogen supplements, 5 kg of potash and 3 kg of phosphorus fertilizers. If the soil is in a problematic state, then it is necessary to take a centner of humus somewhere, add a kilogram of ammonium nitrate and 2 kg of superphosphate to it.
The main thing is not to overdo it with fertilizers, so as not to achieve a deterioration in potato yields instead of improving. Potassium should be applied especially carefully – after all, some of it is already in the soil, therefore, only if it is used according to the instructions, it can help the soil absorb nitrogen and phosphorus better.
Many experienced gardeners consider it important to put top dressing directly into the hole, since potato roots tend to develop only in the surface layer of the earth. Therefore, the amount of fertilizer used is small, and it immediately goes where it is needed. Manure can be used when planting only in the form of humus, so as not to harm the vegetable crop instead of benefit.
All top dressings should be applied to the soil strictly in the recommended dosage. If you apply top dressing along the ridge, then they can be on the surface, and in the fall you can see green tubers almost on the ground. This is because in case of insufficient soil moisture or the presence of problematic land, substances important for normal growth and development will remain shallow in the soil. And the first potatoes appear exactly closer to the roots, to which all the necessary substances simply do not get.
That is why today gardeners have adapted to use planters for planting potatoes, which have a convenient design with a fertilizer applicator. This will not take much time and will not require an excessive amount of effort from the owner of the site. Thus, the roots will develop at the optimal depth for them very harmoniously.
Video “Potatoes, ash and fertilizers”
In the video, you will learn the most effective methods for feeding potatoes before planting in the holes.
