Preparations for planting potatoes begin immediately after harvesting the potato. Planting material must be carefully sorted, removing tubers from it with signs of scab, traces of shovels and harrows, spoiled by pests.
It is advisable to place the selected potatoes in a place open to light. It must be done so that it is convenient to periodically turn it over for planting tubers. Green spots on potatoes indicate the formation of the alkaloid solanine in them. It is thanks to him that the plant will have a powerful supply of strength for wintering, a kind of immunity. And rodents will not eat a tasteless product.
When laying potatoes for planting in the storehouse, it is recommended to sprinkle it with wood ash sifted through a sieve or sieve. Ash prevents mold and rot during storage.
Good advice
The optimal weight for planting material is 50-80 grams. If you want to increase the number of potatoes that will please with their productivity, taste, size of tubers (over 100 g), but it is not enough for planting, do not despair. Such large tubers can be cut into 2-3 parts, then, sprinkled with ash, let them lie in a dry place until a crust is thick as cardboard. Store such material until disembarkation should be done separately.
Organic fertilizers used for planting potatoes
In villages and villages where cattle are kept, the issue of manure is solved easily and simply. It is transported from stalls to potato fields in the fall, but it is not yet ready for addition to the soil. After all, animals grazed on eating grass with seeds, during the warm season, pests laid their eggs, and gluttonous larvae had already appeared. To prevent all this from falling onto the field, manure in the form of stacks is distributed over the area of the upcoming planting of potatoes. During the winter, it rots with all its “residents”, and in the spring it can be brought into the soil.
If there is enough manure, then the fertilizer is scattered with a pitchfork on the surface of the field, and then it is plowed or dug up. If not enough, then fertilizer is applied for potatoes when planting in a hole (pointwise), sprinkled with ash or peat. A mixture in equal parts is also good: manure, earth, ash. It is believed that this is the best fertilizer for potatoes when planting, but manure should not be abused either. It will be enough to apply it to the soil once every 2-3 years.
Do not forget about other organic fertilizers: bird droppings, humus, ash. A good substitute is fertilizer when planting potatoes from peat and peat compost. They are prepared according to one principle: manure or feces are added to the pile, peat is added there, three times the amount of mass therein, and mixed. After two to three weeks, the fertilizer is ready, and it can be applied to the soil at the rate of 5-6 centners per one hundredth.
Mineral fertilizers
As experience shows, the most effective is the use of organic fertilizers in combination with mineral ones. Every experienced gardener knows that potash-phosphorus fertilizing is necessary, as well as the spring introduction of nitrogenous fertilizers into the soil.
Consider what fertilizers for potatoes when planting are needed. The timing and proportions of soil application are indicated on the packages:
- ammonium sulfate ;
- nitroammophosk;
- superphosphate;
- potassium sulfate;
- ammonium nitrate;
- potassium sulfate.
Particular attention should be paid to complex fertilizer when planting potatoes - “Giant”. It is available in the form of soft granules and is readily soluble in water. If you make a solution of 50 grams of granules in a 12-liter bucket of water, then the potatoes poured by it will simultaneously receive the necessary rich composition: nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and potassium. Gardeners note a qualitative and quantitative change in the crop after the application of "Giant" and believe that this is the best fertilizer for potatoes when planting.
Necessary feeding
We should not forget that there is such fertilizer when planting potatoes as chicken droppings. The bucket is bred 1:20 with water, infused for 2-3 days, mixed and introduced into the aisles of planted plants.
A good fertilizer for potatoes when planting in a hole is a solution of ash, which is applied directly under the root of the plant. It is not difficult to do it: pour a liter can of ash on a 12-liter bucket and fill it with water. In the morning, mixing the composition, you can do top dressing. It is ash that gives the potato flavor and friability.
The purpose of fertilizing plants is not only a high yield, but also its quality. Harvesting can only be successful with balanced and timely top dressing. For each hilling, do not be lazy to add mineral fertilizers to the aisles, for the first - magnesium sulfate, for the following - potassium salts and superphosphate.
Minerals are often scattered over the site immediately after emergence. Then the earth is loosened, deepening the flakes of fertilizer. This contributes to a more active, friendly germination.
Crop care
Potatoes are perhaps the most respected and beloved culture. Almost every farm grows it.
It is important to pay increased attention to it during the growth of potatoes and carry out the following procedures: hilling and cultivation, weeding and watering, fighting with earth mice, collecting and destroying the Colorado potato beetle. The appearance of the plant will always tell you about the problems of its growth: twisted, drying leaves, flowers that have fallen prematurely, and yellowed tops. Each owner should know what caused the disease and how to treat the plant.
It is very good if you manage to water potatoes 3-4 times during the summer. Especially the plant loves loosening, which provides air access to the root system. At the same time, weeds are destroyed. If they are not removed in a timely manner, they will not only “crush” the potatoes, but will also settle their inhabitants, such as wireworms, in them. It is he who is so mottled with tuber that he doesn’t even have a small piece to clean. Or maybug larvae. They practically settle in tubers, as in houses, leaving “horns to their legs” from them.
If you follow all the recommendations given in our article, you will be able to not only save the crop, but also significantly increase it.
Summary
The use of combined fertilizers requires experience, skills and knowledge. Try not to abuse them. For starters, try using only helpers such as wood ash, wood humus and food compost. This fertilizer has been proven for centuries when planting potatoes. And one should not forget about soil saturation due to crop rotation. It is not necessary to be an agronomist to know which minerals are needed for which crop.