Solanaceous potatoes arrived in Europe from Argentina and Peru. He came to us during the reign of Nicholas I, who “by the highest command” introduced this agricultural crop into crop rotation. Interestingly, this led to the potato riots of the state peasants in 1840 and 1844. The unrest was caused by ignorance, as well as the spread of all sorts of tales about this decent vegetable in all respects.
It was argued that the one who eats it will be subjected to sinful temptations, and will go straight to hell. Every untruth contains a share of truth – raw potato juice increases potency. And the tubers stored in the light acquired a greenish tint. This signaled an increased content of solanine, which is a strong poison capable of causing serious poisoning. People ate the green vegetable and poisoned it, which also did not contribute to the enthusiasm during the planting of potatoes. About 500 thousand peasants took part in the riots, and at that time this was a very serious challenge to public order.
But over time, everything calmed down, they learned how to properly store and cook potatoes. Today we call it the second bread and cannot imagine our daily diet without it. The topic of our article will be the processing of potatoes before planting.
General information about potatoes
In order for the potato crop to be good, you need to have an idea of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe optimal conditions for growing it.
What do potatoes love?
The plant is a native of countries with a hot dry climate and this predetermines its requirements. Potato loves:
- Water- and breathable soil rich in organic matter, although it can grow on almost any soil, except for marshy ones;
- Neutral or slightly acidic soil reaction;
- Warm. With cold soil or low air temperature, growth processes will stop;
- Increased doses of potash fertilizers;
- Good lighting. Green mass grows in partial shade, and the harvest will be poor.
What potatoes don’t like
The plant does not tolerate:
- Excess doses of nitrogen, including fresh manure – in addition to pulling the tops to the detriment of the multiplication of tubers, they provoke scab disease. But this does not mean that nitrogen fertilizers can not be given to potatoes – they just need to be in moderation;
- Excess calcium. The field where potato tubers are planned to be planted is deacidified with lime or dolomite flour since autumn, if necessary;
- Fertilizers containing chlorine;
- landing shading – with a lack of light, a good harvest can not be expected;
- Excess moisture. Potatoes should be watered moderately, we will talk about this in detail in one of the following articles;
- Prolonged cooling. Potatoes will simply stop growing and wait for warmer temperatures;
- Thickening landings. In addition to darkening, this will give impetus to the early disease of late blight.
Variety choice
We will not talk in detail about potato varieties, of which there are many, let’s look at the grouping of varieties according to ripening dates. The taste qualities of tubers, storage, the expediency of planting in a particular region, resistance to diseases depend on them.
Early varieties
Ready for harvesting 60-70 days after planting and sprouting, so they do not have time to get sick with late blight. They are:
- the least productive;
- starch contain about 10%;
- quickly boil;
- usually have low taste.
Planting tubers is recommended in all regions.
Medium-Early Varieties
They are usually harvested after 70-80 days of cultivation. The differences between these varieties are:
- resistance to viral infections;
- starch content – about 15%;
- tubers are less boiled and their taste is better;
- they can get under phytophthora.
Medium-ripening varieties
Tubers ripen after 80-90 days. They are characterized by:
- all mid-season varieties necessarily fall under phytophthora;
- the starch content in tubers is more than 15%.
In regions with a cold climate, planting them is risky – the tubers may not ripen.
Mid-late and late varieties
In the north, the tubers do not have time to ripen; planting in regions with the so-called risky climate is not recommended.
Potato processing
Strictly speaking, processing potato tubers before planting is an optional procedure. But if you are interested in getting an early harvest, high quality and a large number of potatoes, as well as in protecting plants from diseases and pests, you will have to process the tubers. Each owner does it in his own way, there is no single recipe, but we hope that the information presented by us will be of interest not only to beginners, but also to experienced gardeners.
How to process potatoes before planting is up to you, there is now a huge list of drugs for sale for this purpose:
- humates;
- stimulants;
- biofungicides;
- chemicals (not all of them are toxins);
- poisons.
Every year, in our country or abroad, new funds appear. If you decide that you will process the tubers, let’s see how this is done, and also select the seed potato tubers suitable for planting.
Why process potatoes before sprouting
Treating the tubers before planting gives us the opportunity to get a good harvest, beautiful potatoes, as well as less time and effort to spend on care. It speeds up germination and strengthens the plant’s own defense mechanisms. There are many preparations for treating potatoes that protect them from pests.
Selection of planting material
The right choice of planting material is half the success when growing potatoes. Of course, it is best to buy seed material in specialized nurseries or stores. But it is expensive, and given that you usually need a lot of potatoes for planting, then this will result in a very decent amount. So, if we buy certified potatoes of the first reproduction, then in very limited quantities, and only in order to propagate it, and subsequently plant tubers of “own production”.
Perhaps you selected the seed material for planting in the fall, or perhaps you will take the best potato tubers left after the winter. Carefully inspect them, discard any affected by wireworm or rot, and then wash under running water so that possible defects are better visible.
But in this way we will only reject potatoes that are clearly unsuitable for planting.
Dissolve 1,9 kg of carbamide in 10 liters of water and put potatoes in the bottom of the dish with the solution. Wait 2-3 minutes. Healthy tubers will remain at the bottom, while the affected ones will either float or “hang out” at the bottom. Reject them.
Heating and disinfection
Approximately 30-35 days before the intended planting, fill the tubers with hot (about 42-45 degrees) water. Let it cool and add pre-diluted potassium permanganate to a bright pink color, soak for another 15 minutes. This will kill many pathogens that have fallen on tubers from the ground or from storage, and will also help start growth processes faster.
For the same purpose, boric acid can be used by adding 50 g of the drug per 10 liters of water or a mixture of copper sulfate and zinc sulfate, taking 10 g of both and dissolving in the same volume of water.
Humates for the benefit of the harvest
Humates are a powerful activator of plant growth and development, in particular, potato tubers. They have an anti-stress effect, help to develop enzymes that contribute to the survival of the plant in adverse conditions. The tubers are simply soaked in a humate solution prepared according to the instructions for 12 hours. This can be done both before germination and immediately before planting.
Phytosporin treatment
Now on sale there are biofungicidal preparations Fitosporin and Fitosporin-M, designed to protect a wide variety of plants from bacterial and fungal diseases. They showed high efficiency and are made of chalk, humate and hay sticks.
For processing before planting a bucket of potato tubers, 4 tablespoons of the drug are dissolved in one liter of water.
Watch a video on how to use phytosporin correctly:
Pickling with pesticides
Of course, the use of poisons gives the fastest and most reliable effect when treating tubers before planting. There are so many names on the shelves of stores that it is simply impossible to remember everything. But the poison is not completely removed from the plant. With the appearance and development of new tubers, what we process them with passes into them. Then, even in small doses, it enters our body. Some of the preparations can worsen the taste of potatoes.
But plants treated with poisons almost do not cause trouble for gardeners and there are state standards that regulate the permissible content of harmful substances in agricultural products. It is up to you to decide whether it is worth treating the tubers with pesticides before planting, but when buying potatoes on the market, remember that you can constantly take small doses of poison with food.
seed Processing
When growing potatoes by sowing seeds, we get clean planting material, because viruses and diseases accumulate in tubers from year to year. We can get them ourselves or buy a bag of the variety we like in the store. Processing potato seeds before planting is optional, but it is better to soak them in humate, epin or phytosporin. Further, they are sown and grown in the same way as tomato seeds.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to process potato tubers before planting. You can use one of them, or you can combine several. You can use pesticides and not have problems all season, or you can get by with natural preparations and eat an environmentally friendly product. Which tool to use is up to you.