How to grow a lot of potatoes with minimal care

In recent years, summer residents have begun to abandon vegetable gardens in favor of flower beds and lawns. They reasoned simply: why mess with the beds when vegetables cost a penny in season. But the coronavirus pandemic has made its own adjustments – someone had their wages cut, and someone was left without work at all.

Realtors have already noted: in the Moscow region, the demand for suburban areas has grown, they have begun to rise in price. And many of those summer residents who already have cherished acres have begun to dig up lawns and plant vegetable gardens. Potatoes have been planted – a good help in a crisis! But over the years of ornamental gardening, everyone has already forgotten how, in fact, to care for her. Let’s brush up on our knowledge.

Frost protection

Planting potatoes is easy – dig holes with a shovel and throw tubers into them. And after about 3 weeks, wait for shoots. And now she has ascended – this period falls just at the end of May. Potato is a heat-loving plant, it does not tolerate sub-zero temperatures, and frosts in the middle lane occur until June 5. How to save it in order to eventually grow a lot of potatoes?

The method is this: if weather forecasters promise night cooling, you need to spud potato shoots “with your head” in the evening, that is, cover them with earth along with the top of your head. And in the morning, when it starts to warm up, unwind. This is a very simple, but the most reliable way to protect potatoes from frost.

Watering

To grow a lot of potatoes, it is enough to spend only 2 waterings per season:

• immediately after germination – at this time the plants are gaining green mass, and they need moisture;
• during flowering – it is at this moment that nodules begin to form underground, and they also need water for development.

But further watering potatoes is contraindicated. Excess moisture provokes 2 problems: late blight develops rapidly, and then the tubers rot.

Hilling

Many varieties of potatoes have an unpleasant feature – their tubers are formed at a shallow depth and, when they gain mass, they partially appear above the soil surface and turn green, the toxic substance solanine is formed in them. And to prevent this from happening, potatoes need to be spudded. This is done 3 times per season:

• when the seedlings are 15–20 cm high, this time they are sprinkled with earth to the first leaves;
• during flowering;
• around the middle of July.

Ultimately, the height of the comb should be 15 – 20 cm.

Hilling potatoes is best after rain or watering (1), but not immediately – when the soil dries out a little, but is still wet.

Protection against pests

Since summer residents began to grow not as many potatoes as in former times, in recent years the Colorado potato beetle has become significantly smaller, and somewhere it has completely disappeared. But this does not mean that he will not return and start harming again.

Dealing with it is now simple – most modern drugs destroy it after the first treatment. Sometimes 2 treatments per season may be required. However, next year the pest may reappear. And here you need to remember the main rule: you can’t treat potato plantings with the same preparation for two years in a row.

Let’s say Arrivo did a good job this year. But this does not mean at all that it will be just as effective next summer – the Colorado potato beetle develops resistance to drugs. Therefore, they need to be changed: this season – one, in the future – another. But here it is not the name of the remedy that is important, but its active substance. The fact is that different drugs can have the same composition. For example, the active substance in the same Arrivo is cypermethrin. And the same cypermethrin is the basis of the drug Inta-Vir. Therefore, it makes no sense to use Inta-Vir after Arrivo.

Another misfortune for potatoes is the wireworm, the larvae of the nutcracker beetle (2). There are many methods of dealing with it, there are drugs on sale, but practice has shown that the best way to get rid of this pest is to put 1 tbsp. a spoonful of superphosphate. Keep this in mind for next year to grow a lot of potatoes.

Protection against diseases

Summer residents know that the main problem of tomatoes is late blight. But they have already forgotten that this disease affects all nightshade crops, including potatoes. It can develop in a very short time, hitting the entire tops.

The main reason for such outbreaks is high humidity. That is why potatoes should not be watered after flowering. But in the summer there are rains, and we can’t influence this in any way. They are especially dangerous in August, when it gets cool. In order to prevent the development of the disease, in early August, potato tops should be treated with copper-containing preparations – Bordeaux liquid (1%) or copper oxychloride (0,3%) (3).

Cleaning

Potatoes intended for storage begin to dig after August 25th. This should be done in dry warm weather. It is better to dig not with a shovel, as we are used to, but with a pitchfork – so there is less chance of cutting the tubers.

Potatoes need to be sorted immediately. The first step is to choose the most productive bushes, in which all the potatoes are even and the same in size – they need to be set aside for seeds.

The rest of the tubers need to be poured in one layer in the garden – let them lie down for a couple of hours, dry out. And then you need to sort them too. Sick and injured – in one heap. They will not be stored, they must be eaten in the near future. Healthy – in another. They can be safely laid in the cellar.

But not at once. Potatoes intended for storage should be sent for 2 weeks to a dark, cool room, for example, to a barn or a bathhouse. During this time, it will finally dry out, ripen, the skin will become dense. And only then it can be lowered into the cellar.

Storage

The ideal conditions for storing potatoes are in a cellar with a temperature of 2-3°C and a humidity of about 90% (4).

Say, we do not live in the village, where can I get a cellar? There are other storage options.

In a refrigerator. Part of the crop, the same damaged tubers, can be sent to the refrigerator – there are ideal conditions for them.

In the apartment. Potatoes can lie in bags in a dark place at room temperature for a couple of months. For example, in the closet. Or in the cabinet under the sink. Or even under the bed. The main thing is that light does not fall on it, so the bags must be tight. Cardboard boxes can be used instead of bags.

On the balcony. Potatoes can lie much longer on a glazed balcony. But here again it is important that the light does not fall on it. And you also need to monitor the temperature so that it does not fall below 0 ° C. Otherwise, the tubers will freeze and will not be stored. In addition, frozen potatoes acquire a sweet taste.

To protect the potatoes from the cold, before lowering the temperature, the bags should be wrapped in 2 – 3 layers of covering non-woven material. Spunbond-60 is ideal – they are usually covered with roses in winter.

Popular questions and answers

About the tricks that help grow a good potato crop, we said the agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Sources of

1. Yakubovskaya L.D., Yakubovsky V.N., Rozhkova L.N. ABC of a summer resident // Minsk, OOO “Orakul”, OOO Lazurak, IPKA “Publicity”, 1994 – 415 p.
2. Dolin V.G. Key to the larvae of click beetles of the fauna of the USSR // Harvest, 1978
3. State catalog of pesticides and agrochemicals permitted for use on the territory of the Federation as of July 6, 2021 // Ministry of Agriculture of the Federation

   https://mcx.gov.ru/ministry/departments/departament-rastenievodstva-mekhanizatsii-khimizatsii-i-zashchity-rasteniy/industry-information/info-gosudarstvennaya-usluga-po-gosudarstvennoy-registratsii-pestitsidov-i-agrokhimikatov/

4. A group of authors, ed. Polyanskoy A.M. and Chulkova E.I. Tips for gardeners // Minsk, Harvest, 1970 – 208 p.