Planting and growing potatoes + video

To date, potatoes are one of the most common vegetable crops in Our Country, and who can now imagine that 300 years ago no one even heard about him. And on the American continent, which is the birthplace of potatoes, the indigenous population has been growing it for not even hundreds, but thousands of years. Therefore, it is clear that we cannot do without potatoes in the next hundreds of years. True craftsmen cooks are able to cook about 500 dishes from potatoes, while never repeating themselves. And how many auxiliary substances are prepared using potatoes – this is starch, and alcohol, and glucose, and molasses and much more.

Поэтому и экспериментируют люди с посадкой картофеля, стараясь придумать новые интересные способы посадки картофеля и ухода за ним в открытом грунте. Некоторые ориентируются на рекордные урожаи, другим же важно, чтобы максимально снизить трудозатраты по уходу за картофелем. При этом многие так называемые новые методы, являются лишь хорошо забытыми старыми. В этой статье будет подробно разобрана как традиционная методика посадки и ухода за картофелем, так и освещены новые, иногда весьма необычные способы выращивания этой всеми любимой культуры.

Factors Affecting Potato Yield

Все хотят, чтобы картофель не просто вырос, но и порадовал своей урожайностью. Так, чтобы хватило как минимум себе и своей семье на сезон, да еще осталось на посадку в следующем году. Отчего же зависит получение хорошего урожая картофеля?

Variety of potatoes

Varieties are very different. Each has its pros and cons. And if one of the advantages is precisely the yield, the other may have a wonderful taste, but to the detriment of the yield. This factor must be taken into account first of all, otherwise, no matter how hard the gardener makes, nothing will work out. This is already incorporated in the tubers at the genetic level.

Качество клубней для посадки

Potato tubers differ in the quality characteristics of the seed material from mini-tubers to the second reproduction. See table below.

В специализированных магазинах чаще всего предлагаются для продажи в качестве посевного материала элита и первая репродукция. Это в лучшем случае. На рынках чаще всего можно встретить уже вторую репродукцию и далее. Как легко можно понять из вышеизложенного, что как бы вы ни ухаживали и не удобряли картофель, если он выращивается из посадочного материала низкого качества, ничего хорошего от него ожидать не следует. Это одна из основных причин всех неудач большинства огородников с урожаем картошки.

Размер клубней для посадки

Something also depends on the size of the potato planting material. For some reason, many people think that the larger the potato, the more harvest it will give. This is not entirely true. The fact is that large tubers, when planted, give a lot of small tubers, but a trifle, the size of a pea, on the contrary, can give one or two, but large tubers. That is why experts recommend taking medium-sized tubers about the size of a chicken egg for planting, so that both the size and number of future tubers are at a good level.

Preparation of planting material

What a few decades ago was not taken into account by anyone, now they are trying to master everything, or almost all gardeners. To get a good potato harvest, tubers need special preparation before planting. It includes protection against diseases, and germination for an earlier harvest and, often, rejuvenation of planting material.

Soil preparation

This is exactly the factor that from time immemorial has been taken into account by all gardeners, but is also the most time-consuming. It is for its simplification that various methods are currently being invented.

Care of potatoes

Traditional, well-known work, which includes, in addition to planting itself, also weeding, hilling, watering, fertilizing, treatment against pests and diseases, and harvesting. So many new methods of growing potatoes are trying by any means to remove or at least facilitate many of these works.

Traditional methods of planting and caring for potatoes

Some time ago, it was considered traditional to get several buckets of potatoes from the cellar in the spring and immediately go to the prepared area and plant it. Now every self-respecting gardener must begin to prepare potatoes for planting about a month or even two before planting.

Preparatory procedures

It is necessary to select tubers by size for small (25-45 g), medium (45-75 g) and large (more than 75 g). In the future, when planting, it is necessary to plant each size separately so that the seedlings are more uniform. This will ensure the simultaneous speed of development of the bushes and facilitate their care. In addition, large tubers can be divided into several parts when planting to get more planting material.

How is it carried out? Selected tubers are laid out in boxes in one layer on a film, sprinkled with warm water and covered with the same film to maintain minimal moisture inside. The boxes are exposed.

The temperature at which vernalization is carried out can be from +10°C to +20°C. It is advisable to turn the potatoes every few days. The duration of vernalization can be from 2 weeks to 2 months, depending on your conditions.

В процессе зеленения на клубнях начинают просыпаться ростки. И вот тут можно отобрать все больные клубни. Они отличаются тем, что ростки на них очень тоненькие, нитевидные, или, вообще, их нет. Такой картофель сажать бесполезно и даже вредно – толку от него не будет, а заразить соседние кусты он вполне способен.

Disinfection of tubers can be done in different ways:

• Soaking in garlic infusion. Для его приготовления 100 г раздавленного чеснока развести в ведре воды. Отобранную картошку замачивают в этом растворе на ночь.
• Soaking in a solution of biogenic fungicide “Maxim”. Достаточно около 2 часов.

  

• Soaking in a solution consisting of 0,5 g of potassium permanganate, 15 g of boric acid, 5 g of copper sulfate, which dissolve in 10 liters of water. About one or two hours is enough.

Some increase in yield is also provided by the treatment of tubers with a solution of complex fertilizers mixed with microelements. To do this, 10 g of complex fertilizer must be diluted in 400 liters of water. Keep the tubers in the solution for about one hour, dry and plant.

Tuber cutting is also a very interesting way to get a significant increase in yield. Potato tubers can be cut across, leaving only about 1,5 cm at the very end. Or you can make a shallow cut along the entire diameter.

Чтобы было удобно, под нож рядом с клубнем можно положить небольшую дощечку, тогда процесс ускорится и можно не опасаться разрезать картошку целиком.

Interestingly, this technique is even more effective than the usual cutting of tubers into several parts. The only remark is that incision is best done before vernalization.

Preparing the soil for planting potatoes

Potatoes will give the maximum yield in breathable and loose fertile soils. Therefore, the preparation of the soil for planting potatoes usually begins in the fall. Traditionally, the future potato field is plowed with a tractor, a motor plow or manually with a shovel. At the same time, rotted manure is introduced.

In recent years, the method of sowing a field for potatoes in autumn with green manure – rye, mustard and others – has become widespread. In the spring, they are mowed down, and potatoes are planted right in them. This allows you to save on manure and get soil suitable for planting potatoes.

Planting potatoes

Существует три основных способа посадить картофель:

• Гладкий;
• Grebnevoy;
• Trench.

Smooth

The most traditional way of planting potatoes. Small holes are dug, 9-12 cm deep, into which tubers are placed one at a time. The distance between standard tubers of medium size is 25-30 cm for early varieties, 30-35 cm for late varieties.

You can plant:

• Рядками с одинаковым расстоянием около 50-70 см между ними.
• По квадратно-гнездовой схеме, 60х60 см, годится лишь для поздних и объемных кустов картофеля. Для всех остальных невыгоден, если мало земли для посадок.
• Double ribbons of two rows. It is this method that gives the best yields. Between the rows in the tape remains 50-60 cm, and the passage between the tapes is 80-90 cm.

  

  В этом случае и сажать клубни можно чуть поплотнее, каждому кусту будет достаточно места для роста.

Гребневой

This method is suitable for the northern regions, as well as for those areas where there is heavy, too wet soil. At a distance of 70 cm from each other, ridges 15-20 cm high are raked with a chopper, into which tubers are planted. Due to better warming by the sun and ventilation, potatoes grow better.

Траншейный

This method is best for southern regions with a hot, dry climate. For planting potatoes, trenches are dug, 10-15 cm deep, with the same distance of 70 cm between them. Potatoes are laid in the trenches and covered with earth. This traditional way of planting potatoes has been greatly improved in recent years. And most likely, they returned to what it was a hundred years ago.

Trenches for planting potatoes have been prepared since autumn and covered with all kinds of organic matter, plant waste, straw mixed with decomposed manure. In the spring, as early as possible, potato tubers are planted, covered with the remaining earth and covered with straw on top. This combined method allows you to get earlier and more abundant harvests without additional feeding. The tubers use nutrients from the decaying organic matter in the trench.

Caring for planting potatoes

The basic procedures for caring for potatoes after planting include:

• Watering – their frequency depends on weather conditions. Usually mandatory are watering 1-2 weeks after emergence, during flowering and after flowering in hot and dry weather.
• Feeding – are needed three times per season, the first with nitrogen-containing fertilizers, the second and third during budding and flowering with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

  

• Hilling – carried out several times as the potato bushes grow in height. It helps to protect bushes from frost in the initial stage of growth, removes weeds, retains moisture and stimulates additional growth of shoots and tubers.
• Зprotection from pests and diseases. Already at the stage of planting tubers, ash, onion peel and egg shells can be placed in the holes. These funds are able to scare away the Colorado potato beetle, bear and wireworm. But the Colorado potato beetle cannot be dealt with in one go. If you do not want to use chemistry when growing homemade potatoes, then you can try spraying the bushes with a solution of tar – dilute 100 g of tar in 10 liters of water and leave for 2 hours.

Эффективен также регулярный механический сбор жука и его личинок.

Нетрадиционные способы посадки картофеля

There are many such ways, and every year restless gardeners try to come up with something else new. With these methods of planting potatoes, they try to minimize their care.

Planting potatoes under straw or straw

The popularity of this method is growing every year, despite the fact that it has both active supporters and equally ardent opponents. The main advantage of the method is less effort spent on growing potatoes, plus an improvement in the structure of the land after such a planting. Therefore, it is especially often used on heavy or virgin lands.

There are also disadvantages – many say that the tubers are often damaged by mice, and not everyone will have the required amount of straw for large potato plots.

Обычно клубни раскладывают прямо по земле, слегка вдавив их, и накрывают 10-20 см слоем соломы. Когда ростки появляются сквозь солому, ее докладывают, так делают несколько раз в течение лета. Дополнительных поливов, также как и подкормок, этот способ не требует. Окучивание производится с помощью соломы. Вместо соломы, можно также использовать сено, скошенную траву и другие растительные отходы.

An important modification of this technique is that it is combined with the trench method of growing potatoes. To date, this method is considered the most versatile.

Watch the video below – material on planting potatoes under straw.

No-till method

This technique resembles the traditional one, but it attempts to greatly facilitate the work and time in preparing the land and planting potatoes. Potatoes are placed directly on loose soil prepared in autumn, fertilized with ash and lightly watered. Then the earth from neighboring passages is thrown on top of it. As the shoots grow, hilling is carried out from the passages with their deepening. The harvest is quite comparable to the traditional one, but less effort is applied. Watch a detailed video on how to do it.

Planting potatoes under a black film

You can also use non-woven black material instead of a film. The material is simply spread on the selected area, fixed at the edges. Then incisions are made, into which tubers are laid at an appropriate depth (9-12 cm) and sprinkled with soil. According to the technology, neither hilling nor weeding is necessary. In reality, the bushes bulge with growth, and the potatoes turn green, so a little hilling is still necessary. But for early landings, the method may be interesting. Below you can watch a video about this technique.

Growing potatoes in beds-boxes

This method requires a very time-consuming initial preparation, but then the care is minimal. First, beds-boxes are built from boards, slate, bricks and everything that is at hand. The principle of their construction is similar to the manufacture of warm beds. Then they are filled with a variety of organic materials mixed with humus. Finally, tubers are planted in them, usually in a checkerboard pattern in two rows. Hilling, weeding and top dressing are not required, watering as needed, but usually minimal. It is argued that the potato yield under such conditions is an order of magnitude greater than with the traditional method. The main disadvantage is that the method is suitable only for small landings.

You can watch a video on this topic below.

Planting potatoes in barrels, buckets, bags and other containers

This method came from the so-called Chinese technology. It stated that only 3-4 tubers can be put on the bottom of the barrel and covered with fertile soil as the shoots grow. By the time the shoots grow to the edges of the barrel and fill it with earth, the entire barrel will be filled with ripe tubers. In fact, the tubers grow only in the upper layer of the earth, equal to 40-50 cm. And the yield, therefore, is similar to the traditional one.

Nevertheless, growing potatoes in various containers can be successfully used when there is a shortage of land. Bags or bags of potatoes can be placed on any inconvenience, and thus grow a few more buckets of potatoes without much effort. Since weeding, hilling and fertilizing with this method of cultivation are also not required. Watch the video about this original way of growing potatoes.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many ways to plant and care for potatoes. It makes sense to try, experiment and judge from the results which ones are best for you.