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Lasunok potatoes are known not so long ago, but have already managed to fall in love with both professional agricultural technicians and amateur gardeners, primarily due to their excellent taste and high yield. The article provides a detailed description of the Lasunok potato variety, the rules for planting, care and storage, as well as photos and reviews that allow you to appreciate it.
Characteristics of potatoes Lasunok
Lasunok belongs to high-yielding medium-late or late-ripening varieties of potatoes, depending on the planting region. It has an excellent taste, is suitable for preparing various dishes, is quite well stored, does not require special care, and is resistant to diseases and pests.
General characteristics of Lasunok potatoes:
- The bush is tall, upright, multi-stemmed. The stem is thick, fleshy. The leaves are dark green, covered with hard hairs, which provides protection from the Colorado potato beetle.
- The tubers are large, oval in shape, the flesh is white-yellow, the peel is yellowish, light. The eyes are rare, set deep, but this does not interfere with germination. In the spring they “wake up” early. The average weight of tubers is 120 – 180 g. Especially large fruits reach 200 g.
- Blossoming – plentiful, long, flowers – white with a yellow core.
- The ripening period is 90 – 120 days, depending on the region of cultivation, care, weather conditions.
- Productivity: on average 10 – 12 tubers per bush, under favorable conditions – up to 15 – 17.
- The keeping quality is average, if the recommended temperature regime is not observed, the tubers begin to actively germinate.
The variety is recommended for cultivation in the Central, North Caucasian, Far Eastern, Volga-Vyatka regions of Our Country. Due to the high yield, unpretentiousness, disease resistance, it is suitable for large agricultural enterprises and small garden plots.
From the photo you can evaluate the characteristics of the Lasunok potato variety.
The taste of potatoes
The potato variety Lasunok, bred by Belarusian breeders, has been known in Our Country since 1988. Due to its taste characteristics and versatility, it quickly gained wide distribution and popularity.
Potatoes have a delicate, creamy taste. At home, it is used for mashed potatoes, potato pancakes, casseroles, first courses, vegetable stews. On an industrial scale, it is processed into chips, starch, and included in frozen mixtures.
After heat treatment, the tubers become loose, easily boiled soft, crumble, but do not lose their attractive appearance and color.
Pros and cons of Lasunok potato varieties
Potato variety Lasunok is popular among and Belarusian farmers due to:
- high yield, large size of tubers;
- unpretentiousness, ease of cultivation;
- immunity to phytological diseases (late blight, black leg, nematode);
- resistance to pests (Colorado potato beetle);
- excellent table qualities.
Disadvantages of the Lasunok variety:
- a short dormant period, in the spring the tubers begin to germinate early;
- loose structure: when cooked, the potatoes become very crumbly;
- requires good watering, does not tolerate drought well, and with insufficient moisture loses yield.
Planting and caring for Lasunok potatoes
Lasunok potatoes are not demanding on agricultural technology; both a novice summer resident and an experienced farmer can get an excellent harvest.
Selection and preparation of the landing site
Potato variety Lasunok is undemanding to the quality and composition of the soil. For landing, it is worth choosing even, bright, sufficiently moist, spacious areas.
Organization of the landing site:
- Soil preparation for potatoes begins in the fall. The site is plowed, leveled, fertilized with manure. To replenish nutrients, cereals (oats, rye) or watercress are planted.
- After the snow melts, the site is re-plowed along with early shoots of winter crops, weeds are removed.
- Immediately before planting, the ground is re-loosened and moistened.
Once every 4 years, it is worth changing the site for planting potatoes, since Lasunok greatly depletes the soil. It should be placed on lands where cereals and legumes were previously cultivated.
Preparation of planting material
To get a decent harvest, potato tubers need to be germinated properly. 3 – 4 weeks before planting, they are taken out of the winter storage to a warm place. Within 2 – 3 weeks, the roots come to life, strong sprouts appear.
Lasunok potatoes tolerate division well. Immediately upon planting, the tuber is cut into 2 or more parts, following the uniform distribution of the eyes.
To speed up germination, you can use 2 methods:
- Dry way: baskets or wooden boxes with tubers laid out in 1 – 2 rows are taken out into the sun. Potatoes acquire a greenish tint, eyes start to grow. It is important to monitor the sufficient distribution of light, periodically turn the tubers over so that the sprouts develop evenly and are strong.
- wet way: the root crop is covered with a layer of moistened humus or small sawdust. Store at a temperature of about +15 oC. In such conditions, not only strong sprouts appear, but also roots; tubers take root better, grow faster after planting in the ground.
Rules of landing
Potato tubers are planted in the ground from late April to May, when the soil warms up by at least 10 cm.
Optimal landing pattern:
- distance between rows – 70 – 90 cm;
- between plants – 45 – 50 cm;
- potatoes are placed in holes to a depth of 5–7 cm on loamy soils and 10–12 cm on sandy loamy soils.
Breeders recommend adding a little humus, wood ash when planting, watering with a weak solution of manganese (especially when dividing tubers).
On waterlogged soils, potatoes are planted in “furrows”. To do this, a shaft (comb) is raked with a hoe, a shovel or garden equipment, into which germinated tubers are added dropwise.
With this arrangement, the bushes have enough space for growth and development, the optimal level of soil moisture is maintained, the stems and lower leaves have enough sunlight and heat.
Watering and top dressing
Potato variety Lasunok is undemanding to fertilizing and fertilizing, but needs timely watering.
The first moistening of the soil is carried out 7-10 days after planting, before germination – by light irrigation (using sprinklers or a watering can). If the weather is dry, there is no rain, after the first sprouts appear, the potatoes are watered again.
Further moistening is carried out as needed: when the soil dries out, there is a long absence of natural precipitation.
Abundant watering is required only during the flowering period. As a rule, water is allowed to flow by gravity along the furrows: this way it impregnates the ground with high quality, penetrates deep to the roots.
To improve the yield on poor soils, when planting potatoes, a complex mineral fertilizer, humus or urea is added. The next top dressing is carried out during the budding period. Nitrofos, Diammofoska, Potassium monophosphate are brought in to saturate the earth with phosphorus and potassium.
Loosening and weeding
Loosening and weeding of potatoes is performed several times a season, as needed, most often after watering.
Lasunok develops best in soft, crumbly soil. To get a good harvest, tubers and roots need oxygen. The first loosening of potatoes is carried out 10 days after planting, simultaneously removing the weeds that have appeared.
If, after watering, a hard crust forms on the ground, preventing normal air circulation, it is broken with a hoe. At the same time, do not forget that Lasunok potatoes also require sufficient moisture.
Mulching the area with straw or sawdust helps to find a compromise. Mulch is poured between the grooves after the first hilling of the potatoes. This coating retains moisture while preventing the growth of weeds.
Hilling
The first hilling is carried out 2-3 weeks after germination, when young bushes reach 10-15 cm in height. To each plant, from all sides, the earth is raked from the aisle, simultaneously loosening the soil and removing weeds.
After another 3 – 4 weeks, hilling the potatoes is repeated. The depth of the furrow should be about 10 – 15 cm.
Diseases and pests
Variety Lasunok has a high immunity. It is immune to viral, fungal infections – subject to the irrigation regime, timely removal of weeds, deep digging of the site in autumn and spring.
Only wireworm can cause significant damage to tubers.
Preventive measures to control the wireworm and preserve the crop:
- Setting traps a week before planting: plastic cups or bottles are filled with potato peels, buried in the ground. After 2 – 3 days, the trap, along with the larvae, is destroyed, if necessary, a new one is installed.
- Planting along the edge of the field of legumes (beans, peas, beans) or mustard.
- Introducing eggshells, onion peels, wood ash, mustard powder into the hole when planting potatoes.
- Compliance with the regime of crop rotation.
- Timely weeding. Weedy grass of wheatgrass is a favorite habitat for wireworms.
In addition, in autumn, piles of unharvested tops or grass should not be left on a potato field: pests overwinter in them.
Potato yield
Lasunok, with favorable agricultural technology, gives a rich harvest, without requiring the cost of fertilizing and pest control.
With sufficient watering, loosening, timely removal of weeds, up to 50 – 60 t / ha of selected potatoes can be harvested. Each bush gives an average of 10 – 12 large tubers weighing up to 200 g.
The indicator largely depends on the quality of the planting material. For amateur gardeners, who from year to year leave seeds from the same bushes, the yield of the Lasunok variety decreases over time, the tubers become smaller, their number decreases.
Harvesting and storage
Digging up potatoes of the Lasunok variety is carried out starting from the end of August, when the foliage and stems begin to dry out. Before being sent to storage, the tubers are dried in the open air for several hours. Then they sort out, clean the dirt, discard the damaged root crops.
Lasunok potatoes are packed in wooden boxes, boxes, nets, sent to the cellar, basement, warehouse. Optimum storage temperature from -1 to +2 oC, at air humidity not more than 80%. Planting material selected for the next year is located separately from the main crop.
Compliance with optimal conditions helps to keep the freshness of potatoes up to 6 – 7 months.
Conclusion
Potato Lasunok is unpretentious in cultivation, does not require additional processing from pests and excessive feeding, has consistently high yields, and is well stored. In addition, it has excellent taste, suitable for any dishes. Variety Lasunok occupies a worthy place on the plots of amateur gardeners, breeders, professional farmers.
