In the spring, all summer residents rush to their beds to stock up with various vegetables. And how to grow potatoes for those who have a very small plot?
In the world, the enthusiasm for various non-traditional methods of growing plants, including potatoes, is growing. One of them is planting potatoes in bags or barrels. It is convenient for summer residents who have a very small area or poor soil on it.
Potato growing conditions
Do not forget that potatoes are a subtropical plant, and for normal development and fruiting, they need:
- Shine.
- Heat.
- Aeration (providing air access) of the roots.
Vertical cultivation method
How to grow potatoes in bags? How should this method work? The tops are growing, and everyone is filling it with earth. It lengthens, and processes of stolons are formed on a white stem, on which tubers will subsequently be tied. As a result, there will be more of them, and if they manage to grow, then the yield from one bush will be much higher than in the garden.
But the cultivation of a long stem takes a month and a half. Will potatoes grow? And will the bush want to “stretch” all the formed tubers to the size we need? After all, each plant has its own load threshold.
Without providing good drainage, how to grow potatoes in bags? Plants will rot and disappear. The opinion that woven plastic bags pass water well is debatable. Therefore, before you fill the ground in them, you need to check this. If water does not pass or does it very slowly, you need to make holes in the bag to drain it.
Bags
You can take special bags for potatoes, write them out over the Internet for 20 euros. Testimonials indicate that some do. But most of the experimenters fit any woven bags left on the farm from sugar or flour.
Now on sale are special Chinese bags, similar to backpacks. They are interesting in that they have a Velcro-sided window on the side, through which the crop is poured in autumn. The price of one is about a thousand rubles.
Large checkered bags can be used. Their advantage is the presence of pens. With their help, the "garden" can, if necessary, be moved from one place to another. But the main advantage, of course, is the price, which for bags is much lower.
Old buckets, barrels and boxes are also used.
Varieties
There is no unequivocal opinion about which varieties can be grown in this way. Some gardeners offer early ones, but in the list below there is Slavyanka potato, but you can’t name it early.
In bags offer to grow these varieties:
- Bellarose;
- Shante;
- Svitanok;
- Slav;
- Reliable;
- Povevin.
Departure Dates
The landing time is selected so that it is warm outside. Planting potatoes in bags is carried out at the end of April. Some gardeners tried to do this in February, but the lack of sufficient light prevented a harvest.
If you plant potatoes in mid-March, then young potatoes can be tasted by Easter.
Soil composition:
- humus;
- sand;
- clay (to retain water);
- black earth;
- ash;
- sawdust.
Land should be taken in areas not infected with late blight. Do not use soil from the territory on which potatoes or tomatoes grew.
Ways to plant potatoes in bags
- First in a row, a few more are added gradually.
- Immediately fill the entire bag.
- In a bag laid horizontally.
Growing potatoes in vertical bags
The edge of the bag is wrapped out to make it convenient to work. At the bottom of the bag, earth mixed with rotted manure is covered with a layer of at least 10-15 cm. Then sprouted potatoes are laid and covered with a layer of earth. You can place two levels of tubers or processes. But they need to be staggered so that the upper plants do not interfere with the lower ones.
Set the bag in a sunny place. Having fallen asleep the top layer, watered. Some gardeners advise choosing a slightly darkened place to set the bags so that the earth does not dry out so quickly and the potatoes do not bake in the sun. But how will this affect the crop? Indeed, in the semi-shaded places of a normal garden, the crop is very different from the sunny area, and not for the better.
Gradually, the sprouts will begin to appear above the ground. Then you need to fill them with an earthen mixture. At the same time, the edges of the bag are constantly raised until it is filled by two-thirds. Then they just water and feed.
One way to grow potatoes in bags involves hilling not with earth, but with straw or hay. But the gardeners who cultivated it in this way did not like the result. Productivity was much lower than when grown in the traditional way or in straw in the garden.
Harvesting, pour all the contents from the bag. Harvest potatoes. The remaining land is attributed to the garden. The bag is dried and hidden until next year.
Harvest Dates
Growing potatoes in barrels and bags allows you to taste young potatoes sixty days after planting. By this time it should grow the size of a fist. Having gathered some potatoes, they sprinkle earth instead.
Productivity
Adherents of the method claim that from a single tuber by the fall you can get a bucket of potatoes. But reviews say that almost no one succeeds. Only some gardeners report that there was more yield from the bag than in the garden.
Benefits
- The bag takes up little space.
- No need to dig anything.
- Potatoes are not affected by the Colorado potato beetle.
- Water does not stagnate in the bag.
- No need to weed, spud and fight weeds.
disadvantages
Constantly monitor soil moisture. And it dries very quickly. Installing drip irrigation will help solve this problem.
The soil in the bag gets off, and its aeration is disturbed. To improve it, they propose, before growing the potatoes in bags, to lay in it a spiral rubber hose with holes cut through it, located at a distance of 20 cm from each other. The length of the slots is 2-3 cm. The distance between the turns of the spiral is 10 cm. The end located inside is closed and the other is led up. Through it, air will enter the bag and exit through the holes inward, to the roots. But he himself will not be able to do this. After all, a layer of earth will press on the hose, the holes will clog. To fill this system with air, you need to pump air with a pump once a week for 10-15 minutes. And also to this hose you can connect a water pump and thus carry out watering. This will make it possible to successfully grow potatoes in bags.
The reviews of many gardeners who have tried this method indicate that they failed to harvest. Perhaps they had a violation of technology.
Some gardeners do not believe in the possibility of obtaining a decent harvest in this way and argue their conclusions.
EM technology
In a similar way, potatoes are grown using EM technology. But as a container, they take not a bag, but a barrel. What is the difference between a barrel and a bag? She can cut the bottom. This will enable earthworms to get inside and do their work there - to improve soil quality. You can use the bag, but the bottom needs to be cut off and the edges firmly fixed. Then there will be no problems with drainage.
The use of EM technology allows you to supply the soil with a set of microorganisms he needs. Before growing potatoes in bags, prepare EM-compost. In the barrel when planting it is stacked, mixing with the ground. Top dressing during the cultivation process is carried out with the same diluted EM compost, connecting 5 parts of it with one part of water.
It should be noted that when growing potatoes according to this technique, one must not allow sprouts to appear on the surface. As soon as they come to this border, you need to immediately fill up a new layer of soil. Otherwise, the greened sprouts will not be engaged in strengthening the root system, but will grow up, releasing leaves and buds.
In order not to constantly monitor this process, you can immediately plant three layers of potatoes and cover them with earth. Then you will need to follow only the top. And the bottom will not grow soon.
Hole landing
Growing potatoes "wisely" is possible in another way. But here the bag is filled with earth immediately and tied. It is mounted horizontally, and cruciform holes are cut through the top with a knife, into which potato tubers are pushed. Then set in a sunny place, watered and fed.
The advantages of this method:
- No need to weed, spud.
- Tubers will grow earlier, because the sun will heat the roots over a larger area.
Growing potatoes on the balcony
Growing potatoes in this way on the balcony, you should not count on special success, since there is little light.
But still, some gardeners manage to achieve good results. But they do not act on the principle of "planted and forgotten", but use various drugs and tools.
The tubers are kept in the sun until green, treated with potassium humate. Germinate using the substrate "Living Earth".
It is convenient to grow potatoes on the balcony in a special bowl with a removable top. Its design consists of two pots. The inner side has holes. The cost of a pot in Germany is 10 euros.
The Germans place three to five potatoes in one such pot, fill it with a substrate, and periodically water it. When it comes time to eat young potatoes, take out the inner pot from the outside, tear off the right amount of potatoes, and put the rest back.
It is better to grow middle and late varieties, because they have a longer growing season and you can take the potatoes from the bush longer.