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The traditional vegetable crop for our strip – potatoes – is grown by most amateur gardeners. Not everyone is satisfied with standard care, high labor costs and often disappointing results. Some experiment with soil or planting to achieve high yields per square meter of soil. Not all research turns out to be successful, but some of them really bring very good results. One such innovation is growing potatoes in boxes.
Method technology
What is new about this method? Planting material is not planted in the soil directly on the site. For a new method of cultivation, some kind of container is used. For the experiment, anything durable made of plastic or wood is suitable. It can be an old barrel, a canister, a roomy box, and so on. The main condition is that we get rid of the bottom of the container, leaving only the side walls, this is done so that moisture does not accumulate in the container, otherwise the potatoes will begin to rot. For the necessary access of air in the walls of the structure, holes are organized.
Everyone knows that potato tubers form on roots that grow rapidly in the ground. To make the root system more branched, potatoes are spud several times during the growing process. It is known from practice that the more land can be screwed up, the root system can come out more widely, and accordingly more tubers will form. The result – you have an excellent harvest under other similar conditions.
Growing potatoes in boxes is based precisely on this feature: to get the most developed root system possible. However, as in any method, it also has its own characteristics – this is the choice of a place to place a structure and the formation of a fertile environment for planting a vegetable.
Ordinary soil on your site will not be suitable for use, even if you regularly enrich and fertilize it, because we do not form a ridge, but a closed space. You will have to prepare the soil yourself. Gardeners who have successfully tested this method are advised to use peat as a base because of its porous structure, excellent moisture absorption, good heating by sunlight, and the ability to retain moisture during a dry period. In peat, plants are less susceptible to various diseases, which is important when setting tubers. To enrich the mixture, we add sand to the peat for better heating of the layer, it will be about 1/4 of the total volume of soil obtained.
Next, add chalk or lime flour: if the peat is wet, then 10 grams will be enough for every 70 kg, if it is dry, we increase the dose to 75-80 g. her ash. It is recommended to roll ash with potatoes for any planting method in order to protect against diseases and pests. On the use of manure in the mixture, the opinions of gardeners are polar: some advise to add it, as when growing other vegetables, others categorically do not advise because of the possible presence of plant pests or their larvae in it. Interestingly, both of them got excellent results, so we leave the addition of this component to your discretion.
To place the box, a place in the sun or in partial shade is better. It is better not to use shaded places, because. potatoes there are successfully affected by phytophthora, which we do not aspire to at all.
Box device
As we have already mentioned, seedlings can be attached to any box without a bottom. But it will be much more efficient to build a special box. Consider the stages of its construction.
We will need trimming not too wide boards and timber. Such building materials are necessarily present in any summer cottage. Materials about a meter long will do. The beam is needed for the stability of the future structure. In principle, you can do without it if you think about how to keep the box with the earth and potatoes from falling apart.
The procedure for arranging a box for landing
We knock together the boards into a frame, where the height is the width of the board. We fill this aviary with prepared soil. We place previously sprouted potatoes in it, evenly placing it around the perimeter, for example, 4 rows of 4 tubers. We sprinkle the seedlings with earth and a small layer of straw. Next, it’s worth watering our new “bed” well. In order for the potatoes to germinate faster, it is recommended to cover the box with a film. Now we are waiting for the shoots to appear. As soon as the height of the plants approaches the edge of the enclosure, it will be time to form a new floor of our structure. According to the old principle, we finish the side in height, carefully fill the shoots with prepared soil, put another layer of straw and water. If it’s already warm enough outside, then you can no longer cover the box, but if you want to get more intensive cultivation, you can cover the structure with agrofiber.
A similar procedure for building up the box will be repeated until you reach the desired height. Usually it is 4-5 tiers. In pursuit of height, try not to overdo it so that you do not end up with a huge stem with a small number of tubers. The final height will be about 50-60 cm, some farmers expel up to 1 meter. The last floor is set about a month before harvest, so if you dig up potatoes in mid-late August, you should add the last boards in mid-July and no longer increase the number of floors in the box.
Try to ensure that the tops develop normally, you do not need to bury it in the ground to the very top.
Growing potatoes in boxes is not allowed to take its course. Our structure needs to be watered and fertilized. We water no more than 2 times a week, fertilize – as in normal cultivation. To do this, you can use manure solution or other top dressing that you usually use.
Advantages of the method
The cultivation of potatoes in boxes that we have considered has a number of undeniable advantages:
- we raise the yield of potatoes to unprecedented heights: some managed to collect almost a bucket from one bush;
- in a similar way, you can grow young potatoes in a fairly short time and use only your vegetable for the table;
- every meter of the summer cottage is used with great benefit, while the sown area is reduced, and the yield becomes higher;
- growing in a limited space saves you from weeding and hilling;
- harvesting is very convenient: just disassemble the box and pour out the contents. All potatoes are clean, not damaged by a shovel or fork. It is easy to pick it up from the ground.
This method will be successful for older gardeners, because the labor costs for it are much less, and in old age, health does not always allow you to achieve the desired result.
Video “Growing potatoes in wooden boxes-boxes”
The video tells and shows how to grow potatoes in boxes: soil preparation, planting material, planting technology.
