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Potatoes have been and remain one of the most important products on the table of all residents of Ukraine, Our Country and Belarus. The largest area of the garden is allocated for its planting. The current biochemical technologies provide gardeners with a lot of means to care for and protect the plant. However, it is still chemistry, to some extent giving side effects both on the plant itself and on the soil. Therefore, our people are more inclined to use grandmother’s secrets in the garden. One of these is planting potatoes under straw, a method that is gaining popularity today. It appeared on our territory back in the XNUMXth century, was used by some peasants after the revolution, but was never widely used.
About what are the advantages of using the “potato under hay” method, how to properly plant and harvest potatoes and where to get straw for work – later in the article.
Advantages
Before embarking on planting potatoes under straw, you need to familiarize yourself with the advantages of this method.
The advantages of this method are:
- facilitating the work of the gardener: you no longer need to dig up the land and fiddle with the correct location of the holes, with hilling and weeding potato bushes;
- save water: worrying about watering is now a thing of the past;
- gluttonous Colorado potato beetles will no longer disturb your potatoes on the plot;
- straw retains moisture, so even in a drought the ground under it will not be dry;
- straw keeps the temperature balance: in the heat or in the cold, your potatoes under the hay will feel great;
- thanks to the straw, weeds cannot break out of the ground, and this saves your work and keeps the garden in order;
- carbon dioxide released during the decomposition of straw is useful for root crops;
- in decomposing straw, worms and various kinds of microorganisms multiply, which has a beneficial effect on the quality of the soil;
- due to the regular use of planting potatoes under straw, the volume of fertile soil will increase, the yield will increase;
- potatoes under hay dry out quickly even after rains, which means that you will not need to clean the crop from the earth adhering to it.
As you can see, there are a lot of advantages of using this method of planting potatoes. The use of hay benefits both the tubers of the plant, the garden itself (soil), and the owner of the site, saving him time, effort and money that could be spent on the purchase of funds to combat the Colorado beetles.
Planting and Harvesting Instructions
Before starting to consider the processes of planting and harvesting potatoes under hay, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic conditions for this process. These are:
- Enough hay. The location of the potatoes in the next few months should be covered with a layer of hay about 0,5 meters thick. Lack or overkill with the amount of hay will lead, respectively, to drying out of the soil or poor heating of the soil, which means slowing down the growth of the plant.
- Straw quality. Dense and compacted hay will lead to disruption of gas exchange and water exchange. Consequently, potatoes under hay will grow worse.
- Soil quality and condition. The earth must have sufficient moisture. It is not difficult to check this: putting your hand into the straw to the already planted potatoes, you should feel the moisture. If not, water the tuber.
- The quality of the planting material itself. Use varietal potatoes and don’t use store-bought ones for consumption.
So, you have decided to use the method of planting potatoes in straw. I will please you, it is not required to dig up the earth, it will be enough to process it with a hoe – so it will be more loose and fertile. We turn to planting material: pre-selected and germinated, it is laid in rows on the site and covered with a layer of hay. As already mentioned, it must be at least 50 cm thick (from 50 to 70).
Before you start planting potatoes, you can apply additional measures at your discretion:
- On top of the tuber, you can pour a little earth mixed with fertilizer. Ash or manure can act in its role. This will help rid the plant of diseases.
- In order for the hay to remain in place and not scatter, it must be lightly sprinkled with soil.
- In addition, you can dig small trenches (about 10 cm), lower the tubers into them and, accordingly, sprinkle with hay. Thanks to the trench, seedlings will appear earlier.
After some time, when the sprouts rise to 5 cm, you need to apply another layer of straw (15-20 cm). Just do it carefully so as not to damage the plant.
And in the fall, when the harvest is ripe, all that remains is to harvest it. This should be done at the moment when the tops dry out. Remove the layer of hay with a rake or by hand and collect the fruit.
As you can see, growing and harvesting potatoes under hay is quite simple. Planting potatoes in straw is a pleasant and useful chore.
Where to get straw?
If the problem of straw shortage is acute enough, you can use all the proven methods of obtaining it directly on your land.
So, first you need to divide the site in half. It turns out that you will alternate: on one half of the garden you plant potatoes in the usual way, on the other half immediately after the snow melts – peas or oats, you can also vetch. The earth is not being dug up.
Everything that has grown in the first half of the plot (oats or peas) is left untouched for the winter. We collect planted potatoes.
After winter, you will have an even, wonderful layer of hay in your garden. It will be used further: potato tubers are laid on this hay for planting. Only in the straw for this you need to make small holes. Sprinkle the whole thing with earth (layer up to 5 cm).
The second half of the plot (where potatoes were grown by the standard method) is now sown with oats, vetch or peas.
Thus, alternating plots of land in your garden when planting potatoes in straw, you will significantly increase the yield of your plot of land and get a great harvest.
So, planting potatoes in hay is a fairly easy and ergonomic way to get a high-quality and environmentally friendly crop. It does not require constant care, the use of many fertilizers or special growing technologies. Yes, you can use some fertilizer, but no chemicals (dung or ash). And numerous positive reviews about growing potatoes under hay speak of the effectiveness of this method.
Video “How to grow potatoes under hay or straw”
The woman tells and shows how to plant potatoes for hay, how they grow and how the harvest takes place.
