Potato growing in the Kuban - the use of potatoes of the second crop. Terms of potato ripening and harvesting

So that the forces and time spent on caring for potatoes are not in vain, the harvest must be harvested on time. Here it is very important to correctly calculate the timing of potato harvesting: tubers dug out too early will deteriorate due to too thin and fragile peel and will not last until spring. Potatoes that have lain in the ground longer than necessary for ripening are likely to begin to rot from the inside. If, before the moment of digging, prolonged rains begin or frosts hit, it will be possible to say goodbye to the grown tubers at all.

Factors affecting the ripening of potatoes:

Sort. According to the ripening time, potato varieties are divided into:

• very early (35–50 days);
• early (50–65 days);
• medium early (65–80 days);
• mid-season (80–95 days);
• medium-late (95–110 days);
• late (110–120 or more days).

When choosing a potato variety, gardeners usually focus on the climatic conditions of their region. If stable frosts in a given area occur earlier than the expected potato ripening period, it simply does not make sense to grow such a variety.

Climatic conditions. In the heat without watering, potatoes ripen faster. If the summer is cool and rainy, the tubers ripen longer, although they may begin to rot.

Soil fertility. In fertile soil, potatoes ripen longer, but grow larger. Therefore, in well-fertilized areas, harvesting begins later. If nitrogen fertilizers were used on the site, it is better to delay digging up the tubers. In order to prevent rot, it is impossible to abuse such fertilizers.

How to choose the right time to harvest potatoes

It is believed that the potato is ripe when 60-70% of the tops have died and withered. However, there are exceptions to this rule: the tops of some varieties turn green until late autumn, despite the fact that the tubers have long ripened. In addition, the tops may fall prematurely due to illness.

In order to accurately determine the timing of potato harvesting, it is necessary to periodically dig out one bush in different places of the site and evaluate the condition of the skin by eye. Young tubers cannot be stored for a long time: they are best eaten.

Potatoes of the most common mid-early and mid-season varieties in Russia ripen approximately 40–45 days after flowering. AT different regions potatoes are dug from mid-August to the end of September.

When deciding when to dig potatoes, you should be guided by the weather forecast: if prolonged rains or frosts are expected, it is better to dig up the tubers a little sooner than then to collect them rotten, with sticky clods of earth.

If the tops have not dried up, then about 2-3 weeks (at least a week) before harvesting the potatoes, they need to be mowed. This is necessary in order for the peel of the tubers to ripen in the ground. In addition, green tops can draw nutrients from potatoes, as a result, the pulp will become less tasty.

It is better to harvest on a dry, clear day, closer to noon, when the air warms up to at least + 10 ° C, otherwise a sharp difference between soil and air temperatures can adversely affect the condition of the tubers. Optimum temperature for digging potatoes - from +10 to +17°C.

When to start digging potatoes in different regions of Russia

Most of the territory of Russia is located in the zone of risky agriculture. Therefore, you need to choose a potato variety very carefully, giving preference to zoned varieties. True, there are varieties and universal. So, according to statistics, almost 70% of the owners of household plots located from the Kuban to Far East, plant potatoes of the early Zhukovsky variety on their plots, which differ high yield and weather resistance. Its only drawback is that the tubers begin to germinate at the slightest increase in temperature in the storage. If the autumn is warm, and the gardener hesitated to harvest, the potatoes may sprout even in the ground.

Harvesting potatoes in central Russia

In the north of central Russia, frosts begin in the third decade of September. Accordingly, it is better to remove the potatoes before mid-September. Although cultivation late varieties in such conditions it is very risky, skilled summer residents are not afraid of difficulties: medium-late varieties Pobeda, Nakra, Altair, Fambo are very popular. Of the early varieties that can be harvested in late August - early September, the owners of household plots prefer Bashkir, Bellarosa, Nora, Rosara.

In the south of central Russia, frosts come later, in early October. The climate here is milder, so you can grow any variety of potato, up to the latest. Of the late ones, the varieties of Belarusian selection are most loved by gardeners - Belorussky 3 and Lasunak, from the middle late ones - Lorch, Mozart, Pobeda, Blueberry.

Harvesting potatoes in the Kuban

The southern regions have their own specifics. Here they pay more attention not to frosts, but to summer heat. From about mid-July, the temperature rises so much that potatoes in the ground stop growing. Therefore, in the South of Russia it is advantageous to plant early and mid-early varieties that ripen until the end of July.

It has been experimentally established that the same Zhukovsky gives high yields only in the first year, then the variety degenerates, losing resistance to heat. But in these climatic conditions, the early varieties Cleopatra and Skoroplodny, as well as medium-early ones, showed themselves perfectly:
Svitanok Kyiv, Cardinal, Raj and Reserve. And Arrow is recognized as the most delicious of the early varieties grown in the Kuban.

Harvesting potatoes in the Crimea

Although the first frosts in the Crimea begin only at the end of October, due to the hot climate here, as in the Kuban, it is more profitable to grow early varieties.
Crimean breeders specially bred the heat-resistant variety Crimean Rose, ideal for local conditions.

If irrigation is organized on the site, then the heat-resistant early varieties Agave, Tiras, Laura, Aroza can give two crops per season in the Crimean conditions: the first is harvested in June, the second - in early October.

Harvesting potatoes in the Urals and Siberia

In the Urals and Siberia, frosts begin in the second decade of September. The peculiarity of the climate is late spring frosts, a possible July drought and heavy rains in August. Therefore, it is least risky to grow early and mid-early varieties that can be harvested in the second or third decade of August. The most common varieties here are Lugovskoy, Udacha (both frost- and drought-resistant), and Redstar.

None of the large agricultural enterprises on Black Sea coast is not now engaged in the cultivation of potatoes, considering it economically unjustified due to acidic heavy clay soil and hot dry summers. The saddest thing. that most private traders also refused to plant potatoes, considering it impossible to get a good harvest. But my many years of experience proves the opposite: even in such conditions, you can harvest “ten yourself”, that is, from one bucket of planted potatoes, get ten buckets of good large tubers. But for this it is necessary to work good technology cultivation, which, in fact, I have been doing in recent years.

As I have already said, our land bakes in the summer and becomes like asphalt. Therefore, the primary task is to "grow" the soil itself, and this is green manure, and the addition of any decomposed organic matter, and the use of chemical fertilizers.

I only dig before winter to a depth of 20 cm. With the help of pegs, I divide the plot into parallel rows every 80 cm and between them I make straight lines on the ground with a shovel. These will be the axes of the trenches. I dig the earth to the width of a shovel to the left and right of them, laying the soil in the shafts (also on both sides).

As a result, it turns out that I dig up 50% of the entire area for planting potatoes. At the same time, each next year the axes of the trenches are shifted by 40 cm in any direction.

I dig with a small sapper shovel, which I cut to the width of the canvas up to 18 cm, leaving all other parameters unchanged. I make my own holder for it. The fact is that my site is located on a mountain slope at an angle of 30 °, so in order to dig the beds from the bottom up, load the back as little as possible, I had to significantly increase the length of the handle. Its diameter is 35 mm, and in diameter I made it not round, but rectangular with rounded corners - it's easier and more convenient to hold it in your hands while working.

Closer to winter, I collect fallen leaves in the forest and lay them in a thick layer on the bottom of the trenches with a continuous cover. By this time, a variety of vegetation appears on the ridges of the earth. I comb it out with a rake to the bottom of the trenches. What remains after that, I remove with a chopper made of thin manganese steel, the working and sides of which are sharply sharpened like a knife. This tool replaces the well-known flat cutter for me.

A very tricky way to plant potatoes

In the spring, before planting potatoes, I scatter leaves, hay, compost, mineral fertilizers (azofoska and superphosphate) and ash into the trenches. After that, I loosen the soil at the bottom of the trenches with a chopper and after 30-40 cm I make shallow holes in which I put seed potato tubers. I roll them with earth taken from the upper rollers to a height of 6-8 cm. It turns out, as it were, a small continuous ridge along the entire length of the trenches. The optimal landing time is from February 23 to March 15. If the land in the garden is dry, I arrange artificial sprinkling of the entire area. seed potatoes for

I buy plantings on the market, and I choose only early varieties that would have enough time and strength to ripen before the start of the summer heat. About a month before planting, I put the tubers in plastic boxes lined with film on the inside and put them in a warm place that is illuminated by the sun. This is necessary for the germination of potatoes. Once every four days I spray it with a solution of a growth regulator mixed with a biological preparation that protects plants from fungal and bacterial diseases.

I plant as whole tubers (the size of egg), and cut tops.

I lower small whole potatoes into the holes, 2 pieces each, and cuts, connecting them together with two wooden toothpicks, one at a time. Before this, I don’t dust the sections themselves with anything, I only let the surfaces harden.

When the tops of the potatoes reach a height of 10 cm, I fertilize the ridges a second time. I do this in the following tricky way: I apply nitrogen fertilizers on one side of the potato rows, and potash fertilizers on the other. And when the tops of the potatoes rise to 20 cm, I rake the soil from the rollers to the bushes, but I do this only either after rain or after good watering. In the final version of hilling, the rows of potatoes are a truncated solid pyramid, and where there were rollers from the dug earth, a groove appears.

Constant deep loosening around growing potatoes keeps weeds from rearing their heads.

After this, I fill the aisles with mowed and sun-dried grass. Tops from carrots, radishes, beets and other garden waste are also placed here. By the way, it is for this mulch that I then produce abundant watering directly from the hose (in the heat - at least two to three times a week). At the same time, I try not to pour over the plant itself, but all water procedures I spend after 18 hours. At this time, there is a decline in the summer daytime heat. By the night upper layer the mulch will dry out a little, and all the water will be absorbed into the aisles.

And one more thing - I don’t cut flowers on potatoes and I consider it a waste of time and effort, although at first I also believed that it helps plants. But then, in practice, I became convinced of the complete fallacy of such an opinion.

Colorado beetle? I don't know this...

Many gardeners strive to plant exactly on lunar calendar. For me, it is more important that the earth not only fluffs up after the winter, but also warms up. True, I do not plant potatoes on forbidden days (full moon, new moon, solar eclipse).

There is no entrance to my site, so I do not have the opportunity to bring peat or manure into the garden. It remains to improve the fertility of the land with green manure (corn, sunflower, oats), which I plant on the vacated ridges immediately after harvesting the potatoes. In late autumn, I cut down these plants with a chopper, grind and sprinkle with earth.

That's like all my ideas. It seems nothing special, but if at least one of the listed stages of work is not completed in a timely manner, then you can not hope for a harvest.

Seeing my potatoes, relatives from the Kuban did not believe that I had grown them in my garden. “Yes, you have never grown such potatoes in Sochi! I bought it at the market, but you are fooling us, ”they said. And only after my wife confirmed my words, the relatives changed their anger to mercy. And then they began to meticulously ask how I did it ...

But readers may have a question: why am I not saying anything about the main enemy - the Colorado potato beetle? It just doesn't exist in my garden. Where this bastard has gone, I don't really know. Perhaps he was frightened by the variety of plants growing on my site.

But with another misfortune - - I fight with the help of several combined fungicides. And I try not to treat the plants with the same preparation twice. I spend the first time spraying when the height of the tops reaches 10 cm, regardless of whether there is phytophthora or not. After 15 days, I start up another drug.

Yes, but before the peasants coped with all diseases without the use of chemistry. And what harvests were filmed! My late mother always planted peas over potatoes, inviting me and my brothers to enjoy its fruits, and at the same time weed or spud the plantings of the second bread. By the way, the pages of Dacha are full of confirmation of the indisputable fact that the same peas, as well as beans and beans, loosen the soil and enrich it with nitrogen.

By the way

According to folk beliefs, potatoes are able to absorb energy - both positive and negative. Therefore, for example, if you sort things out in the kitchen with your household in the “presence” of a potato, it will absorb the enmity in the air and return all the negativity to you a hundredfold when you decide to have dinner with it. Don't believe? And you check...

Have a good harvest in the new season!

GROWING POTATOES IN THE KRASNODAR REGION - LANDING AND CARE. TIPS AND FEEDBACK

POTATO PROTECTION FROM 7 THREATS

If we clearly imagine in advance what the potato wants from us, then there will be much less questions related to why it refuses to fulfill our desires.

The Other Side of Abundance

As soon as I was about to talk about how I grow potatoes, I immediately decided that at the same time I would collect all my knowledge about our second bread. No matter how much you talk about him, it won't be enough. So I wrote these words and realized that it would be best for me to start by listing the reasons for his degeneration. I counted seven of them. If someone counts more, let them share their thoughts, and I will continue.

But first, I'm making a little lyrical introduction. Previously, there were only three colors of potatoes: white, pink and yellow. And now you can find on the market with red pulp, and pink, and orange, and blue, and even purple. All this is the result of the work of breeders who strive to create not just tasty varieties, but, so to speak, with specific specifics. I personally met in the descriptions of the varieties of indications that, for example, one of them is considered dietary, the other is best suited for making chips, and some third is ideal for frying. It would seem that everything is done for the needs of ordinary people, but ...

I was disappointed in varietal potatoes, because they often turn out to be low-yielding and with diseases. And this despite the fact that its seed tubers are not cheap, because they are positioned as the highest quality planting material. As a result, it turns out that the cost of them for the most part does not pay off.

Where is the exit? It seems to me that it is not necessary to chase after all sorts of super-fashionable novelties with some zest, but to acquire potatoes that have been tested by time and more than one generation of gardeners. And this should be done more than once every ten years, hoping that since I have a good variety, then I don’t have to worry about anything else. Necessary! Indeed, the taste qualities of tubers are also influenced by the methods of their preparation for planting, as well as the timing of planting, care, fertilizers used, cleaning and storage.

The points

And here I came close to the list of causes of degeneration. We start counting.

Multiple use for planting the same variety of POTATOES. So much has been said about this, but still there are many summer residents who think that such a requirement is nonsense. Like, our parents did not bother with this and were always with crops. Well, what can I say? If someone does not want to learn from the mistakes of others, let them learn from their own, if you don’t mind the time and effort.

Non-observance of crop rotation. You can not plant potatoes in one place for several years in a row because diseases accumulate in the earth, it is depleted, no matter how much organic matter and fertilizers are applied to it.

Poor care of our second bread. In the first place here, I would put the soil unprepared for its landing. If it is heavy and poor, then even the best potato variety will not be able to please you. So since we are going to grow this crop, then be so kind as to prepare a place for it to live in advance, because such work takes time - you won’t achieve anything in a hurry. Personally, I "re-educated" my heavy earth by gradually and regularly introducing ash, sand, humus and leaf litter into it. And, of course, she actively used the landing of green manure. These plants, of course, can be called a real salvation for gardeners, but we must remember that some of them (for example, white mustard) repel wireworms, while others (I mean cereals), on the contrary, are food for this pest. When choosing green manure, all local features must be taken into account.

To insufficient care for planting potatoes, I also include them insufficient weeding. Many summer residents do not see anything wrong with this either, forgetting that before flowering, the bushes are actively “working” on the development of tubers, and weeds not only take away nutrients contained in the soil, but also give shading.

Too lazy to mess with weeding or not enough strength for it? Then master the advanced methods of growing potatoes: use mulch more actively, plant in ridges, and do hilling.

excess nitrogen in the soil.

From this, potato tops grow tall and powerful, and the tubers are small and with poor keeping quality. If you see that your potatoes suddenly began to fatten, then feed it with superphosphate (100 g per 10 liters of water). So be careful when working with nitrogen fertilizers - they should be equally combined with phosphorus and potash.

Pests.

According to the degree of harmfulness, the palm here belongs to the potato moth (at least for our regions it is a real scourge), then there are the wireworm and the Colorado potato beetle. I protect my crop from moths in two ways: I plant tubers deep and in ridges, and in the spring I process the basement with potatoes with a sulfur checker (after all, this pest lays its eggs in the eyes of tubers). I fight the wireworm with ashes, which I throw a pinch into each planting hole. The thing is that he loves acidic soil, and ash just deoxidizes it. Well, against the Colorado potato beetle, I use fungicide solutions. I know that many gardeners have a negative attitude towards chemistry, but I think that in this case one cannot do without it. The main thing is not to get carried away.

Potato diseases. The worst of them is scab. And all its insidiousness lies in the fact that at first it’s even as if it’s not clear that the potato has fallen ill. Well, some rough spots of light brown color appear on the tubers. So what? Even on potatoes from stores, these are often found. So this is the first sign of the appearance of scab. Strawberries with such “marks” are quite suitable for eating, but not for planting. If nothing is done against it, then these spots will increase in size every year, and the potato will steadily begin to degenerate. You can successfully fight this scourge with folk remedies, about which a lot has already been written in Dacha.

Another serious reason for degeneration is improper storage of the harvested crop.. If the tubers lie in a room where the temperature is kept around 0 °, then they freeze imperceptibly (according to their appearance this is far from always possible to determine), and when germinated, they give weak filamentous sprouts, which then will also barely grow. And if the storage temperature, on the contrary, is too high (exceeds 12 °), then the eyes of the tubers quickly sprout and the sprouts have to be repeatedly cut off. It is clear that such potatoes, tired of the constant "curbing", will not give a good harvest at the right time.

I will especially note that the degree of keeping quality also depends on the timely timing of harvesting. Hurry up and remove the tubers that are still in the growth stage, and it is still warm in the cellars at this time. What happens next is already described above. If you overexpose the potatoes in the beds, the tubers can then rot.

Another gardener (especially a beginner) may even think that it is impossible to do such a lot of things. Maybe! After all, everything that I have listed only looks intimidating on paper. You just need to imagine the whole front in advance necessary work in order to avoid unexpected and unpleasant surprises in the process of growing the second bread, and prepare an action plan to work in the garden slowly and without emergency work. No wonder they say that he who is warned is armed.

GROWING POTATOES IN THE KRASNODAR REGION - INTERESTING TECHNOLOGY: VIDEO

ORDER QUALITY AND CHEAP SEEDS AND OTHER PRODUCTS FOR HOME AND COTTAGE. PRICES CHEAP. CHECKED! JUST SEE FOR YOURSELF AND BE SURPRISED HOW WE HAVE REVIEWS. GO>>>: How to grow potatoes in paired ...

Recently, the impact of climate warming on crop yields has become more and more noticeable. Yields are falling, the keeping quality of the crop is decreasing during storage, many popular varieties of potatoes are degenerating, and yet quite recently they were successfully grown in the Kuban. Droughts are no longer unusual and occur almost every summer. Since climate warming occurs throughout not only Russia but also the planet, these tips for growing potatoes in the country, the site described for the Kuban may be useful to residents of Central Russia already.
By their own biological features potatoes are not some whimsical crop that requires special conditions for its development. On the contrary, it is a very plastic culture.
For example, in middle lane In Russia, in the private sector, even today, potatoes are grown according to a very primitive scheme: planting - hilling - harvesting. Of course, the harvests are not record-breaking, but average and good.
This is explained by the fact that natural conditions This zone is very favorable for the cultivation of potatoes. Here temperate climate, regular and uniform rainfall and light on the mechanical structure of the soil.
The southern zones, on the contrary, are not suitable for growing this valuable plant due to their soil and climatic conditions. food culture. Unfavorable factors such as heat, drought, high solar lighting and heavy in mechanical composition chernozems, sharply inhibit the growth and development of potatoes, which ultimately results in high yields and rapid degeneration, changes in the seed qualities of tubers.
Nevertheless, potatoes were grown in the south and will always be grown. For example, in the Krasnodar Territory alone, more than 100 thousand hectares of arable land are allocated annually for this crop. This is explained by the fact that today potatoes have become the second bread for most families.
In addition, only imported potatoes cannot solve the problem of nutrition in the region. And finally, despite unfavourable conditions, potatoes grown in our region are much superior in taste and nutritional value to potatoes imported from other places. This is eloquently evidenced by the prices in the city markets.
Today, more than 95% of potatoes are grown by private owners, in dachas and household plots, each of which uses its own technology based on personal experience. It is clear that under such conditions it is very difficult to immediately raise the yield of potatoes everywhere.
First of all, when recommending a particular technology, it is necessary to take into account the following facts: first, the summer resident-potato grower does not have modern technology for growing potatoes; secondly, the average wealthy level of potato growers is not so high as to use expensive chemicals.
First of all, you need to choose a suitable place for growing potatoes.
AT southern zones, including the Krasnodar Territory, potato crops should be planted on well-moistened soils - irrigated lands, floodplain areas with low relief, in floodplains of rivers, in fields with high level standing ground water, on the slopes of hills and in the foothills.
What crop rotation to observe when planting potatoes
Re-planting potatoes in their original place is recommended no earlier than three years later.
Therefore, it is also important to choose the optimal crop rotation, which must meet two basic requirements: 1) promote high yields; 2) be cost effective.
For farms growing potatoes, you can use a shortened, three-field crop rotation:
1. winter wheat or spring barley;
2. perennial herbs;
3. potatoes.
Summer residents-potato growers, who have limited areas in their dacha, plot, can use a more economically profitable crop rotation, where the previous crops are table and fodder beets, cabbage, cucumber, carrots, pumpkin (except nightshade).
However, in dachas, many potato growers, due to the limited area, are deprived of the opportunity to use even simple crop rotations and are forced to grow potatoes in the same place year after year.
In the world practice of potato growing, such facts are also known. For example, in Scotland and the mountainous regions of Armenia, potato farmers have been growing potatoes for more than 25 years and collecting average yields.
This basically proves that potatoes can be grown in a monoculture, but undesirable. First, the yield of potatoes in these areas is low. Secondly, the risk of plant infection with such harmful diseases as late blight, rhizoctoniosis, and common scab increases sharply (by 5 times or more).
Sources of infections of these diseases are affected plant residues remaining in the soil after harvesting.

Well, everything is assembled, - Ivan Alekseevich poured vodka into glasses. - Let's drink, for the new car VAZ 2107 I bought, - Zhiguli of white light flaunted in the garage. Everyone wished Ivan Alekseevich, clean asphalt, so that the traffic police did not slow down, and there was always a green light.

One of the women asked: - Listen, Vanya, how did you earn money for a car? You have recently retired, the military does not favor the state with a pension. - Of course minuscule. Here is a garden, a vegetable garden, and two dozen hens help out. - And for what then shishi, you bought a new car?

Ah, Zinochka, for your hard-earned money. My wife and I earned 200 thousand rubles from the garden. - Van, I know that you like to joke. But, but seriously? - A long story, although there is a lot of time until morning.

Willing to listen? - all unanimously agreed. - They planted potatoes and got a high yield, from one bucket, seventeen buckets. - How can you get such a high yield in the Krasnodar Territory.

For three years I have been developing my technology for growing potatoes. I collected a lot of different literature and now my work was not in vain. - Wan, tell me so interestingly, I'll write it down, - said Zinaida.

Well, let's have a drink, smoke, and I'll give you a lecture. The size of a chicken egg, 40-50 gr. Variety Dutch.

Tubers are light yellow, elongated, slightly cone-shaped. Taste is very high. I put the tubers of the seed fund in wooden boxes(at the rate of 10 kg is placed in one box).

I put boxes with seed stock in the shade (under a walnut tree or in an arbor with green grape leaves) so that direct Sun rays for 5-7 days. I put the boxes in the cellar and treat them with wood ash (I pour ash into a nylon stocking and dust the tubers, each box).

Growing potatoes

The cellar should be good hood. During the entire storage of the seed fund, I burn two sulfur tablets every month. This procedure is for fungal diseases. March 25 I take out boxes of seed potatoes from the cellar.

Tubers that have sprouted strongly, break off the sprouts. The fewer times during storage the sprouts break off, the higher the yield (this must be remembered). I remove rotten, shriveled tubers with long thin sprouts.

I put boxes with seed stock in the greenhouse. The temperature in the greenhouse is + 12-14 degrees. After 15 days, the sprouts sprouted (they are called multi-colored hedgehogs, 5-10 mm long and 5-8 mm in diameter).

6. Germination of the root system of tubers. Temperature +12-15 degrees. I sprinkle the tubers with small sawdust.

I pour warm water through the mesh of a small watering can. I sprinkle again with sawdust and water the tubers again. As the sawdust dries, I do moisturizing. After 10 days, the root system of tubers sprouted by 10-15 mm. I put the boxes with potatoes in an unheated room for 5 days.

Nights in April are still cold +5 -10 degrees. Deep plowing of the site in autumn. In spring, the plot before planting is cultivated with harrowing. I prepare the holes manually (with a large chopper).

Hole from hole 25-30 cm. Between rows 60 cm. Organic and mineral fertilizers are applied to each hole.

One teaspoon of ammonium nitrate is scattered in approximately equal proportions into three wells. In each hole I pour the floor liter jar bird humus (bird humus + saltpeter mineral fertilizer, this rule must be observed). Beginning of planting potatoes April 25-28.

I put two tubers in each hole. I plant directly from the box so as not to damage the sprouts and root system. I close the holes with a chopper. On the planted area, I harrow the area with a rake.

The plot turns out to be flat (uniform heating of the soil, this rule is mandatory). After seven days, repeat the harrowing (removal of weeds and access of oxygen to the sprouts). 12-14 days after planting potatoes, I perform the first weeding.

After 12-14 days, I perform the second weeding (mandatory rule). 35 - 40 days after planting, I perform hilling potatoes. I rake the ground up to the bushes high (and many gardeners at this time are only doing the first weeding).

Potato shoots are thick, leaves are large, dark green. On June 10-15, the first yellow leaves(photosynthesis is disturbed, and the intensive growth of tubers decreases). I use Urea or Sodium Carbonate.

For ten liters of water, the drug is diluted according to the instructions for use. I spray the potato leaves with the prepared solution. At this time, other gardeners begin to poison the first broods of the Colorado potato beetle.

On my site, the Colorado potato beetle is not persecuted. Potato bushes are very "strong" and already the first yellow leaves, there is practically no Colorado potato beetle. And if it comes across somewhere, then after treatment with a solution of Urea or Sodium Carbonate, it dies.

I start harvesting potatoes on June 25th. I dig manually, with a shovel (I have not yet earned money on the Farmer walk-behind tractor). From one bush 15-20 potato tubers, approximately 5-6 kg is obtained. I put dug out potatoes in boxes of 20 kg for sale.

Dig and stack the tubers carefully so as not to damage the peel. There are very few small tubers and therefore you have to buy a seed fund. In 10 days we fully sell all marketable potatoes.

On average, the weight of one tuber is 200 - 600 grams. Of course, the giant also grew, one potato weighed 1.8 kg. Of course, there were rains in May and June, there was no drought, which is why the harvest is so high.

We have no problems with sales, there are two markets on the highway, where dealers' cars are parked. Who carry young potatoes to the coast. It is profitable for them, and for me, I handed over in bulk and there are no problems. If there is a desire to trade on the market yourself, then the income will be even greater.

Thank you my friends, relatives for listening to my monologue. Let's have a drink, but something in the throat is dry. - Well, you are Ivan Alekseevich and well done, what kind of work is this?

I don’t see anything complicated, my wife and I worked for 25 days. If you calculate everything: preparatory work 2 days. Landing 5 days.

Harrowing, weeding, hilling potatoes - 8 days. Harvest and sale of the crop 10 days. I planted 20 buckets of seed potatoes, and got a crop of almost three tons. Twenty-five buckets of food were left. Ten buckets of seed fund, we will buy the rest.

Naturally 100 kg waste, cut, damaged. And two and a half tons were sold at a good price of 8.5 rubles per 1 kg. But this is not the limit, many farms in central Russia get a crop from one hundred acres of land up to one ton of potato crops.

Yes, Ivan Alekseevich, you need to write a dissertation. -Thanks for the compliment. When I was young, I dreamed of becoming an agronomist, but it was not my destiny.

I like this job. I like gardening, gardening. I live and enjoy every day. PS.

How to grow a rich potato crop in the garden or in the field

Gone are the days when potatoes were grown in their gardens by the entire population of the country. countryside. Now rarely does anyone plant potatoes in the same volume as before. There are reasons for this.

Potato is a rather labor-intensive and rather risky crop - frosts, heat, diseases nullify the entire hard labour for growing potatoes. Buying ready-grown potatoes is both easier and cheaper. But… In our country, people often do not look for easy ways.

And the quality of potatoes on the market, especially young ones, leaves much to be desired. And it is not known when the potatoes that are sold on the market were last poisoned with chemistry - 20 days ago or 2 days ago. Therefore, many owners of household plots and cottages grow some potatoes for themselves, to get new potatoes.

And in the fall, when the price of potatoes is at its lowest, they buy potatoes for the winter. On their personal plots, they mainly grow potatoes in the usual old grandfather way: they pick up a shovel (motor cultivator) or pitchfork, if the land is too damp, seed potatoes from the market or in seed stores and forward. Planting distance between seed potatoes about 10-15 cm, depending on the size of the seed potatoes.

If the tubers are small, then the distance is smaller. If the tubers are larger, then the distance between the potatoes is larger. The distance between seed potatoes does not depend on the method of planting.

It doesn't matter whether you plant in the hole method (under a shovel, pitchfork), with a manual plow, or use a walk-behind tractor. planting depth- about 10 cm. Distance between rows of potatoes- approximately 60 cm.

More is possible, especially if you plan to use some kind of compactor culture. For example, at home we successfully grew medium-late white cabbage for potatoes. Of course, potatoes were eaten still young.

Planting potatoes too tightly (less than 60 cm) is undesirable. And it is inconvenient to process (loose, hill up), and the yield will be lower. When planting potatoes under a walk-behind tractor, the width of the rows depends on the capture of your attachments to the walk-behind tractor.

Scientific dates for planting potatoes coincide with folk- for our area this is the 3rd decade of March. Well, early April. Those who plant much later, hoping to avoid spring frosts, forget that potatoes love moisture, do not tolerate heat and dry weather.

And we do not have the middle zone of Russia, where it is cooler in May and summer. It makes sense for us that potatoes grow on spring moisture and have time to grow before the onset of summer heat(this is usually July and August). The people, for the most part, do not use seed planting, Dutch, Chinese technology, etc.

It's easier. Those who plant a lot of potatoes for themselves or for sale use walk-behind tractors. With the help of special nozzles, they plant, and spud, and loosen, and dig out. But is everything as simple as it seems? According to the tradition of this site, I give the floor to a specialist.

His recommendations for planting potatoes are valid for both private owners and owners of household plots or farmers. The head and chief specialist of the Rosselkhoztsentr regional department tells how to grow a rich potato crop Anatoly ZINOVETS.

- The conditions for growing potatoes in our region (the northern zone of the Krasnodar Territory) are very unfavorable, - says Anatoly Mikhailovich. “Nevertheless, we all grow and will continue to grow potatoes for ourselves. In order to get a good potato harvest, it is necessary to prepare the soil, seed material, and observe the agricultural technology of growing potatoes.

Seeds of Agrofirm "SeDeK" for the Krasnodar Territory

What else should be used when growing potatoes

– If fertilizers for plowing have not been applied since autumn, is it possible to improve the situation? - It is possible - by introducing nitroammophoska, ash, chicken manure, sand directly into the holes during planting.

Keep in mind that their number should be small, otherwise the potatoes will rot. What is the best way to prepare seed potatoes? - It is necessary to carefully sort out the tubers, to cull with small and thin sprouts, rotten and diseased tubers.

Then treat the tubers in one of the solutions: albite, phytosporin, alirin, planriz. These are biological preparations, they work favorably, but will not provide full protection for tubers and seedlings.

Therefore, it is more reliable to carry out etching with chemicals: Maxim or Prestige. - What agricultural practices should be used when growing potatoes? - This is abundant watering (required during the period of budding and flowering), loosening, weeding, mulching row spacing with straw, treatment against pests - the Colorado potato beetle, potato moth, aphids - with insecticides.

Treatment of potatoes with fungicides

Potato plants during the growing season suffer from a number of diseases - late blight, macrosporiosis, rhizoctonia, phomosis, etc. Diseases drastically reduce the yield and its quality, and lead to premature drying of plants.

Therefore, during the growing season, 3-4 potato treatments with fungicides are required - fitosporin M, abiga-peak, kurzat, thanos, etc. Proportions and doses are indicated in the instructions for the preparations. Timely harvest of potatoes also plays an important role in the preservation of potatoes.

You can not delay the harvesting of potatoes. It is necessary to remove it as early as possible (after ripening). In our unfavorable conditions for recovery planting material very good effect gives summer cultivation of potatoes for seed purposes.

What varieties of potatoes to plant

On the advice of experts, it is preferable to plant early varieties of potatoes Good luck, early Zhukovsky, Red Scarlett. To save seedlings from frost, you need to completely cover them with earth. From medium-early varieties that are well stored, - Romano, Nevsky and Alvara.

The varieties are well written on the website kartofel.org. The experience of recent years has shown that potato plants can withstand air temperatures up to 30 degrees in summer. After this limit, each degree of heat is 10 percent degeneration of the variety. According to long-term observations of Kuban scientists, a lower percentage of degeneracy showed Cleopatra variety.

A little about the economic benefits of growing potatoes for sale

Gone are the days when new potatoes were quite expensive. In the 80s, under the USSR, early young potatoes cost up to 1.5-2 rubles per 1 kg. And at the end of the summer - in the fall, the price dropped to 10-20 kopecks.

Therefore, it was possible to make very good money on young potatoes. Now there is no such big difference. Yes, young early potatoes are a little more expensive, but nothing more. In general, this applies to many crops.

Prices are simply indecently low. Therefore, in our time, in order to make good money on potatoes, it is necessary to take the amount of planting. At the same time, it is simply impossible to do without the use of agricultural machinery (tractor, minitractor, motoblock). If there is a lot of land for planting potatoes, there is equipment, there is an opportunity for irrigation, there is a place for storage, then You can and should make money on potatoes.

For maximum profit, the scheme is- we sell early potatoes, we sell a little (to "support pants") at the end of summer - early autumn (the most low prices for potatoes), put the potatoes in storage, wait for prices to rise again, and sell again. Also in a good price and in demand in the spring seed potatoes.

For example, in our market this spring, high-quality seed potatoes with sprouts are sold at a price of 50 rubles per 1 kg. Not germinated costs about 30 rubles. The profitability of growing potatoes depends entirely on the size of the crop, and on what price you can sell it for.

I hope this material will help you when growing potatoes in your garden, cottage or personal subsidiary plot. Good luck on garden bed and fruitful potatoes!

planting potatoes

Timely planting of potatoes has a very great importance in getting a high yield. It is possible to have a good vernalized planting material, a fertilized and cultivated area, but be late with the planting date and this will sharply reduce the yield.

Planting too early in cold soil usually slows down emergence, causes sprout disease and sparseness. With a belated planting, young plants, developing rapidly, do not have time to form a powerful root system, do not productively use winter moisture reserves, and, falling into dry and hot weather, undergo mass wilt.

The optimal planting time is usually considered to be when the soil temperature at a depth of 10 - 12 cm reaches 7 - 8 °C. In the conditions of the Krasnodar Territory, where the soil warms up very quickly, the best results are given early dates landing.

As a rule, it is necessary to start planting potatoes simultaneously with the mass sowing of spiked crops (second, third decade of March). Experiments carried out at the Krasnodar vegetable and potato breeding station have established that the best planting dates in the Kuban zone are March 15-25.

Planting potatoes should be carried out as soon as possible (5 - 6 days). In experiments with the Lorkh variety at the Krasnodar Vegetable and Potato Breeding Station in 1948, a crop was obtained from the planting date on March 20, 141.3 centners per hectare, and from planting on April 6, 121 centners per hectare.

Similar data were obtained with other varieties. It is necessary to plant potatoes in loose soil, that is, so that there is a loose layer of earth above and below the tubers. This condition must be remembered and observed.

Potatoes are planted under a hiller, a KP-2 potato planter, or under a shovel (on small areas). It is not recommended to plant under a plow in the conditions of the steppe and central zones of the Krasnodar Territory, since in this case lumps are formed and the soil dries out.

When planting under the hiller, the field is marked for the required row spacing. Following the traces of the marker, furrows are cut with a hiller and planting is carried out on the same day, with immediate sealing of the furrows. The row spacing is usually taken as 70 cm.

Such a row spacing provides mechanization for potato care and harvesting. You can also plant 60 cm between rows, but such a row spacing excludes machine care and cleaning. The distance between the tubers (in a row) is given: for medium and late varieties 30 - 35 cm, for early 25 - 30 cm.

The depth of planting potatoes depends on the properties of the soil. On light soils (chernozems and sandy loams), tubers must be planted at 12 - 14 cm, and on heavy and clay soils at 10 - 12 cm. The planting rate per hectare is determined by the size of the planting material and planting density.

When planting tubers weighing 60 - 80 g, with a feeding area of ​​70 cmx30 cm; 70 cmx35 cm planting rate ranges from 24 centners per hectare to 35.6 centners per hectare. In order to better imagine the change in the rate of planting potatoes, depending on the size of seed tubers and feeding areas, we present the table: (see table).

Changing the potato planting rate depending on the size of seed tubers and feeding areas The site is managed by the uCoz system

Potatoes in the Kuban - My experience

Sapper shovel for a garden trench None of the large agricultural enterprises on the Black Sea coast is now engaged in the cultivation of potatoes, considering it economically unjustified due to acidic heavy clay soil and hot dry summers. The saddest thing. that most private traders also refused to plant potatoes, considering it impossible to get a good harvest.

But my many years of experience proves the opposite: even in such conditions, you can harvest “ten yourself”, that is, from one bucket of planted potatoes, get ten buckets of good large tubers. But for this it is necessary to work out a good cultivation technology, which, in fact, I have been doing in recent years. As I already said, our land bakes in the summer and becomes like asphalt.

Therefore, the primary task is to “cultivate” the soil itself, and this is green manure, and the addition of any decomposed organic matter, and the use of chemical fertilizers. I only dig before winter to a depth of 20 cm. with a shovel I make straight lines on the ground.

These will be the axes of the trenches. I dig the earth to the width of a shovel to the left and right of them, laying the soil in the shafts (also on both sides). As a result, it turns out that I dig up 50% of the entire area for planting potatoes.

At the same time, each next year the axes of the trenches shift by 40 cm in any direction. I dig with a small sapper shovel, which I cut to the width of the canvas up to 18 cm, leaving all other parameters unchanged. I make my own holder for it.

The fact is that my site is located on a mountain slope at an angle of 30 °, so in order to dig the beds from the bottom up, load the back as little as possible, I had to significantly increase the length of the handle. Its diameter is 35 mm, and in diameter I made it not round, but rectangular with rounded corners - it’s easier and more convenient to hold it in my hands while I work. Closer to winter, I collect fallen leaves in the forest and lay them in a thick layer on the bottom of the trenches with a continuous cover.

By this time, a variety of vegetation appears on the ridges of the earth. I comb it out with a rake to the bottom of the trenches. What remains after that, I remove with a chopper made of thin manganese steel, the working and sides of which are sharply sharpened like a knife.

This tool replaces the well-known flat cutter for me.

A very tricky way to plant potatoes

In the spring, before planting potatoes, I scatter leaves, hay, compost, mineral fertilizers (azofoska and superphosphate) and ash into the trenches. After that, I loosen the soil at the bottom of the trenches with a chopper and after 30-40 cm I make shallow holes in which I put seed potato tubers.

I roll them with earth taken from the upper rollers to a height of 6-8 cm. It turns out, as it were, a small continuous ridge along the entire length of the trenches. The optimal landing time is from February 23 to March 15.

If the land in the garden is dry, I arrange artificial sprinkling of the entire area. I buy seed potatoes for planting in the market, and I choose only early varieties that would have enough time and strength to ripen before the start of the summer heat.

About a month before planting, I put the tubers in plastic boxes lined with film on the inside and put them in a warm place that is illuminated by the sun. This is necessary for the germination of potatoes.

Once every four days I spray it with a solution of a growth regulator mixed with a biological preparation that protects plants from fungal and bacterial diseases. I plant both whole tubers (the size of a chicken egg) and cut tops. slices, connecting them together with two wooden toothpicks, one at a time. Before that, I don’t dust the slices themselves with anything, I only let the surfaces harden.

I do this in the following tricky way: I apply nitrogen fertilizers on one side of the potato rows, and potash fertilizers on the other. And when the tops of the potatoes rise to 20 cm, I rake the soil from the rollers to the bushes, but I do this only either after rain or after good watering.

In the final version of the hilling, the rows of potatoes are a truncated solid pyramid, and where there were rollers from the dug earth, a groove appears. Constant deep loosening around the growing potatoes does not allow the weeds to raise their heads. Tops from carrots, radishes, beets and other garden waste are also placed here.

By the way, it is for this mulch that I then make abundant watering directly from the hose (in the heat - at least two to three times a week). At the same time, I try not to pour water on the plant itself, and I carry out all water procedures after 18 hours. At this time, there is a decline in the summer daytime heat.

By nightfall, the top layer of mulch will dry out a little, and all the water will be absorbed into the aisles. And yet - I don’t pick flowers on potatoes and consider this a waste of time and effort, although at first I also believed that it helps plants. But then, in practice, I became convinced of the complete fallacy of such an opinion. Colorado potato beetle?

I don’t know this ... Many gardeners strive to plant exactly according to the lunar calendar. For me, it is more important that the earth not only fluffs up after the winter, but also warms up.

True, I do not plant potatoes on forbidden days (full moon, new moon, solar eclipse). There is no entrance to my site, so I do not have the opportunity to bring peat or manure into the garden. It remains to improve the fertility of the land with green manure (corn, sunflower, oats), which I plant on the vacated ridges immediately after harvesting the potatoes.

In late autumn, I cut down these plants with a chopper, grind them and sprinkle them with earth. That seems to be all my ideas. It seems nothing special, but if at least one of the listed stages of work is not completed in a timely manner, then you can not hope for a harvest. When they saw my potatoes, relatives from the Kuban did not believe that I had grown it in my garden. “Yes, you have never grown such potatoes in Sochi!

I bought it at the market, but you are fooling us, ”they said. And only after my wife confirmed my words, the relatives changed their anger to mercy.

And then they began to meticulously ask how I did it ... But readers may have a question: why am I not saying anything about the main enemy - the Colorado potato beetle? It just doesn't exist in my garden. Where this bastard has gone, I don't really know.

Perhaps he was frightened by the variety of plants growing on my site. But with another misfortune - late blight - I fight with the help of several combined fungicides. And I try not to treat the plants with the same preparation twice.

I spend the first time spraying when the height of the tops reaches 10 cm, regardless of whether there is phytophthora or not. After 15 days, I use another drug. Yes, but before, the peasants coped with all diseases without the use of chemistry. And what harvests were filmed!

My late mother always planted peas over potatoes, inviting me and my brothers to enjoy its fruits, and at the same time weed or spud the plantings of the second bread. By the way, the pages of Dacha are full of confirmation of the indisputable fact that the same peas, as well as beans and beans, loosen the soil and enrich it with nitrogen. According to popular beliefs, potatoes are able to absorb energy - both positive and negative.

Therefore, for example, if you sort things out in the kitchen with your household in the “presence” of a potato, it will absorb the enmity in the air and return all the negativity to you a hundredfold when you decide to have dinner with it. Don't believe? And you check ... Good harvests for everyone in the new season!

According to its biological characteristics, potatoes are not some whimsical crop that requires special conditions for its development. On the contrary, it is a very plastic culture.

For example, in central Russia in the private sector, even today, potatoes are grown according to a very primitive scheme: planting - hilling - harvesting. Of course, the harvests are not record-breaking, but average and good.

This is explained by the fact that the natural conditions of this zone are very favorable for the cultivation of potatoes. It has a temperate climate, regular and even rainfall, and light soils.

The southern zones, on the contrary, are not suitable for growing this valuable food crop due to their soil and climatic conditions. Such unfavorable factors as heat, drought, high solar illumination and heavy chernozems sharply inhibit the growth and development of potatoes, which ultimately results in low yields and rapid degeneration, changes in the seed qualities of tubers.

Nevertheless, potatoes were grown in the south and will always be grown. For example, in the Krasnodar Territory alone, more than 100 thousand hectares of arable land are allocated annually for this crop. This is explained by the fact that today potatoes have become the second bread for most families.

In addition, only imported potatoes cannot solve the problem of nutrition in the region. And finally, despite the unfavorable conditions, potatoes grown in our region are far superior in taste and nutritional value to potatoes imported from other places. This is eloquently evidenced by the prices in the city markets.

If potatoes need to be grown in the southern zones, then the question arises: how should they be grown, what technology should be used? Unfortunately, there are almost no serious developments or literature on this issue.

Today, more than 95% of potatoes are grown by private owners, in dachas and summer cottages, each of which uses its own technology based on personal experience. It is clear that under such conditions it is very difficult to immediately raise the yield of potatoes everywhere.

First of all, when recommending this or that technology, the following facts must be taken into account: first, the gardener-potato grower does not have modern equipment for growing potatoes, and, unfortunately, the main tools of labor still remain a hoe and a shovel, in rare cases a walk-behind tractor; secondly, the average wealthy level of potato growers is not so high as to use expensive chemicals.

It is for such a wide mass of potato growers that the technology of growing potatoes tested for six years in local conditions is directed.

First of all, you need to choose a suitable place for growing potatoes.

In the southern zones, including the Krasnodar Territory, potato crops should be planted on well-moistened soils - irrigated lands, floodplain areas with low relief, in floodplains, in fields with a high level of standing groundwater, on hillsides and in foothill areas.

What crop rotation to observe when planting potatoes

Re-planting potatoes in their original place is recommended no earlier than three years later.

Therefore, it is also important to choose the optimal crop rotation, which must meet two basic requirements: 1) promote high yields; 2) be cost effective.

For farms growing potatoes, you can use a shortened, three-field crop rotation:

1. winter wheat or spring barley;
2. perennial herbs;
3. potato.

Summer residents-potato growers, who have limited areas in their dacha, plot, can use a more economically profitable crop rotation, where the previous crops are table and fodder beets, cucumber, carrots, pumpkin (except nightshade).

In the world practice of potato growing, such facts are also known. For example, in Scotland and the mountainous regions of Armenia, potato farmers have been growing potatoes for more than 25 years and collecting average yields.

This basically proves that potatoes can be grown in a monoculture, but undesirable. First, the yield of potatoes in these areas is low. Secondly, the risk of plant infection with such harmful diseases as late blight, rhizoctoniosis, and common scab increases sharply (by 5 times or more).

Sources of infections of these diseases are affected plant residues remaining in the soil after harvesting.

Preparing for planting potatoes and fertilizing the site

To obtain high and stable potato yields, soil preparation should be started already in the fall.

The first thing to do is to apply organic fertilizers to the selected area. The best of them are rotted cow dung at doses of 500-1000 kilograms per hundred square meters or various peat-dung or other composts.

Overripe chicken manure is also a valuable organic fertilizer, but it

it is necessary to introduce into the soil in smaller doses - 100-150 kilograms per hundred square meters.

If there is not enough organic matter for its autumn introduction into the soil in bulk, then it can be applied at much lower doses in the spring period into the furrows when planting seeds.

Application organic fertilizers into the soil, on the one hand, it increases the yield of varieties by at least 40%. On the other hand, under their influence, the soil becomes more structural: its water, air and thermal regimes improve. The soil is significantly loosened, the access of air oxygen is facilitated and moisture is retained longer.

All this ultimately significantly improves the conditions for growth and development of plants and contributes to obtaining high yields.

Green manure crops (spring rapeseed, oilseed radish, mustard, etc.) can serve as another source of organic fertilizer. In late autumn, when these crops are harvested, their green mass is plowed up for fertilizer.

In the fall, after applying organic fertilizers to the soil, it is deep plowing - to a depth of 27 - 30 centimeters. Less deep plowing has a negative impact on crop yields.

Planting potatoes in the area

In the Kuban, they start planting potatoes, as a rule, in the second or third decade of March. Therefore, in advance, 30-40 days before planting, towards the end of January, the seed material must already be prepared for planting.

First, it is necessary to sort and discard bad-looking and diseased tubers (subsequently, in the process of germination, tubers that form filamentous sprouts are also removed).

It is best to use tubers with a diameter of 5-6 centimeters for planting purposes, forming powerful green sprouts. But also with success in quality seed material you can use larger tubers. First, they are cut lengthwise with a sharp knife and dipped in dry cement with fresh cuts. After 2-3 days, a dense cement shell is formed, which successfully protects the tubers from disease damage.

In late January - early February, the seed material is poured into boxes in 3-4 layers and placed in the light for germination in a warm room at a temperature of 15 - 20 degrees. Under these conditions, closer to the planting period, thick green sprouts 1-1.5 centimeters long with root rudiments are formed. When they get into the prepared soil, they quickly germinate and give friendly shoots.

This simple technique - planting with germinated tubers - has two significant advantages. Firstly, the germination period is reduced by at least 14 days, and they turn out to be friendly. Secondly, the method of germinating tubers prevents them from sprouting and forming children when they enter damp and cold soil in the spring.

Determining the optimal timing of planting seed material - essential condition on which the final harvest largely depends. As a rule, spring in the Kuban is unfriendly. Often warm, fine days, which are sometimes established from mid-February, then naturally give way to the arrival of cold weather in March, and sometimes frosts.

Therefore, if applied early landings(from mid-February to early March), that is, the risk of subsequently falling under the cold, which then sharply negatively affects the development of plants.

When using late plantings, there is another risk - the passage of critical stages of tuberization, which are responsible for productivity, in critical conditions of heat and drought.

According to our long-term observations, for the plain zone of the Kuban optimal timing planting seeds are periods from March 15 to March 20, and for mountainous and foothill areas, the end of March - the beginning of April.

How to fertilize the soil for potatoes

Before you start planting, you must carefully prepare the ground.

First, as soon as it ripens, it is necessary to add mineral (nitrogen, potash and phosphorus) fertilizers to it.

The best form of nitrogen fertilizer for potatoes is ammonium sulfate, and of potash - potassium sulfate and potassium magnesia (kalimag).

Ammonium nitrate is produced in granulated form and contains up to 34% nitrogen. The optimal dose of application to the soil is 1-2 kilograms per hundred square meters (100 m2).

From nitrogen fertilizers, urea (urea) in doses of 1.0-1.5 kg per hundred square meters also shows a good effect, especially with vegetative growth and development of plants.

Potassium sulfate (potassium sulfate) contains up to 46% of the active substance. Due to the absence of chlorine in it, it is the best potash fertilizer for potatoes. The application rate is 2.0-4.0 kilograms per hundred square meters.

As potash fertilizers, wood ash can also be successfully used at a rate of 30-60 kilograms per hundred square meters.

From phosphorus fertilizers, the best data are obtained when using double superphosphate in doses of 5-10 kilograms per hundred square meters.

A good effect in improving the growth and development of potatoes is shown by the use of a complex mineral fertilizer - nitroammofoska. It contains all three main nutrients - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, necessary for growth and development. The content of each element is 17%. The application rate is 3.0-4.0 kilograms per hundred square meters.

Mineral fertilizers for potatoes are applied to the soil by spreading or directly into holes or furrows before planting tubers.

After applying mineral fertilizers on the day of planting, the already ripened soil is loosened to a depth of 16 centimeters using a hand hoe or a mechanical cutter. Then furrows are cut to a depth of 14 cm. The distance between them is 60 centimeters.

After that, germinated tubers are placed one at a time in the furrows at a distance of 30-33 centimeters and covered with loose soil so that a small ridge (5-6 centimeters) is formed. More dense plantings are not recommended, as this naturally leads to an increase in the share of small tubers in the total yield, while the share of large, marketable tubers decreases.

Caring for potatoes in the field

According to the old, widespread technology, potato growers usually start active tillage only when shoots appear, that is, on average, 25-30 days after planting. This method has a number of significant drawbacks.

First, during long period while shoots appear, the soil under the influence of its own weight and rains settles and is strongly compacted. This has a sharp negative effect on both air and water regimes.

Secondly, the methods of weed control are complicated.

It has been empirically established that in our region, even on well-cultivated soils in the arable layer per 1 m 2, there are about 80 thousand viable seeds of various weeds. And if they are not timely destroyed in the early stages of development, then in the end they can drastically reduce the yield of varieties.

For example, when 15 to 26 weeds germinate per 1 m 2, the yield of potato tubers decreases by 17.4 centners per hectare, from 27 to 37 - by 29.4, and from 48 to 53 - by 50.6 centners per hectare.

most effective fight weeds can be fought when they are at the stage of "white threads". Therefore, already in the pre-emergence period, it is necessary to actively cultivate the soil.

Immediately after planting, every 7-10 days, with a hoe or cultivator

loosen the soil and at the same time increase the ridges. After 3-4 such successive operations, at the time of emergence of seedlings, a ridge up to 20-22 centimeters high is already formed.

Deep planting of tubers, followed by the formation of high ridges, has a number of valuable advantages. First, the water and oxygen regimes in the soil are significantly improved. Secondly, there is a massive destruction of weeds at the stage of "white thread".

And finally, a significant layer of loose soil above the bushes effectively protects the tubers from the negative effects of high temperatures on hot July and August days.

As a screen to protect plantings from the harmful effects of high summer temperatures and strong sunlight, you can also use corn plantings in a potato field in the range of 3-4 meters.

After the emergence of seedlings, at least 2 more times it is necessary to carry out mechanical loosening of the soil. And the last operation - hilling - is carried out just before the tops are closed.

Thus, the fundamental differences between the new technology and the old are:

1. Deep planting of seed material.

2. Formation of high (up to 22 centimeters) ridges from loose soil above the bushes.

3. Regular, every 7-10 days, mechanical loosening and hilling of the soil in the period from planting seeds to the stage of closing the tops.

Many potato growers, trying to simplify the potato care technology, form high ridges immediately after planting. This cannot be done. In early spring, when temperatures are still low, a high layer of earth will prevent the passage of heat to the tubers. As a result, the period of emergence of seedlings can be greatly delayed.

How to properly water potatoes on a plot in an arid region

Potato is a moisture-loving crop. Moisture deficiency in the soil during critical periods of tuberization can reduce the yield of varieties by 2-3 times or more. Therefore, in hot dry seasons, especially during the period of budding and flowering, when there is an acute shortage of moisture, at least two waterings must be carried out. The best way- sprinkling. But in its absence, watering can be done along the furrows.

Potato diseases

Due to the vegetative mode of propagation (by tubers and parts of stems), potatoes are among the crops that are heavily affected by diseases. Tubers are the main sources of infection.

Potatoes are affected by various pathogens - fungi, bacteria, viruses, ziroids and mycoplasmas. These pathogens, accumulating in tubers, are the main sources of plant disease in subsequent generations.

Of the fungal diseases of potatoes for the Krasnodar Territory, late blight is the most dangerous. For the intensive development of this disease, frequent rains, together with cold weather, are favorable. Under these conditions, late blight can destroy all plantings in a matter of days.

The disease manifests itself as dark gray spots on all parts of the potato plant, with the exception of the roots. The first spots are formed more often on the lower and middle leaves, but can also occur on the top. Feature late blight spot - its location at the end of the leaf lobe and edging with white bloom, which is clearly visible in the early morning by dew.

From the affected leaves, the infection is washed off by rainwater, penetrates to the tubers and infects them. Dark hard spots appear on the surface of the tubers, they spread into the tissues with brown uneven streaks.

Bordeaux liquid - how to cook

For spraying tops against late blight, the most effective and affordable drug is Bordeaux liquid (a mixture of copper sulphate with lime). It is prepared before consumption: 100 grams of copper sulfate are dissolved in 10 liters of water and 120 grams of slaked lime are added.

For the prevention of late blight in potatoes, drugs such as Ditan M-45 (12-16 g), Carbatsin (24-32 g), Arceride (25-30 g) and Ridomil MC (25 g) can also be successfully used. These fungicides are dissolved in 10 liters of water and sprayed with 1 hundred square meters of potato plantings.

How to deal with the main potato pest - the Colorado potato beetle

Of the pests, the Colorado potato beetle is the most dangerous for potatoes. It overwinters in the soil at a depth of 20-30 cm. The emergence of beetles from the wintering grounds in our zone begins as early as mid-May. However, under monoculture conditions, when potatoes are grown in the same place for many years, insects can appear on the soil surface very early, as early as the end of March.

The exit of beetles, as a rule, is very stretched - up to three months. 5-17 days depending on weather conditions beetle larvae appear, which after a short time go to pupate in the soil. After 6-15 days, the pupae turn into adult beetles.

Thus, a new generation of the Colorado potato beetle is born after 35-40 days and immediately begins to reproduce.

In central Russia, due to weather conditions, the Colorado potato beetle, as a rule, has time to go through only one (rarely two) generations, while in the conditions of the Krasnodar Territory with the early arrival of spring and an extended period of warm days, this dangerous pest capable of producing up to three, four, or even five generations.

This explains the fact that in our zone the fight against the Colorado potato beetle is much more complicated, and instead of one treatment with insecticides, they have to be carried out three to four times.

According to our research, today the most effective drugs for the destruction of Colorado potato beetles are bankol and regent.

Of course, these insecticides are relatively expensive, but at the same time they are highly effective. In our work for full protection planting potatoes from the Colorado potato beetle, we used a double treatment with an interval of 25-30 days.

Harvesting potatoes - when and how?

The last agricultural technique is harvesting. It needs to be done in a short timeframe.

Many potato growers of the region postpone harvesting until September, believing that the crop ripens before this period. This is a deeply erroneous opinion.

The potato harvest in the conditions of the Krasnodar Territory is completely ready for harvesting already in late July - early August, when the tops begin to die intensively. If you do not clean up in a timely and fast manner, then under the influence of hot, dry August days, the tubers are sintered.

As a result, on the one hand, their food and seed qualities are sharply reduced, and on the other hand, they begin to germinate intensively very early. Such tubers are very difficult to store in winter period. At least 2-3 times it is necessary to break off the sprouts, which significantly worsens the seed quality of the tubers.

Therefore, potato harvesting in the southern regions must be approached very seriously, carried out in strictly optimal terms.

Harvesting should be started immediately, as soon as up to 70% of the tops on the plants die. This period begins in our conditions in late July - early August. First of all, by mowing it is necessary to remove all the tops. At this time, young tubers are covered with an easily peeled off skin, and they cannot yet be harvested.

After removal (cutting) of potato tops during short term(7-10 days) form a braided peel, which protects them well from mechanical damage. At this time, it is believed that the crop is ripe and can be harvested.

Potatoes are harvested by hand. The tubers are packed in boxes and placed for 25-30 days in a cool shaded place (preferably with drafts) under sheds for them to undergo a treatment period. At the end of this period, an additional cork layer is formed on the tubers, successfully protecting them from various diseases and mechanical damage.

Another bulkhead is carried out, diseased tubers are removed, and in this form the crop is ready for long-term winter storage.

How to properly store potatoes

For most potato varieties optimal conditions storage are considered temperature regime within 3-5 degrees and relative humidity of 85-95%.

Based on this, in our southern zones with mild winters and the absence of severe frosts, it is not recommended to store potatoes in deep and warm cellars. As a rule, the temperature regime that is set in these facilities is much higher than the required optimum, and the tubers begin to germinate very early.

The easiest and most reliable way is to store potatoes in boxes under sheds or in other unfinished structures without windows and doors, where it is easier to create the optimal temperature regime for long-term storage.

In this case, the boxes, both from the sides and from above, are covered with straw bales 25-30 centimeters thick. For ventilation purposes, small (15×15 cm) “windows” are left between the bales, which are temporarily closed on very cold and frosty days. When warmer days come, they open.

Under our conditions, ground piles can also be successfully used for storing potatoes. To do this, they select an elevated place, on which potatoes up to 1.5 meters high are poured onto a wooden slatted bed and also wrapped in straw bales.

Ventilation in such piles is carried out through a ridge and a ventilation channel measuring 25 × 30 centimeters, laid in the middle at the base of the pile.

The ventilation channel is covered with gratings of boards with gaps between the planks of 2-3 centimeters so that the air flow from the groove passes freely through the embankment.

Also, for the passage of outside air, the ends of the ventilation duct are brought out 50-70 centimeters beyond the edges of the embankment. On cold, frosty days, they may be partially covered.

And the last thing: to protect the collars from getting wet, they are covered with plastic wrap from top to bottom at an angle.

When constructing any other structures for storing potatoes, two basic rules must be followed: the temperature in the storage facilities should not exceed 5-6 degrees Celsius; they must be constantly or regularly ventilated.

Subscribe to updates in our groups.