It’s not for nothing that potatoes are called second bread: this vegetable is used for preparing first and second courses, salads and baked goods. It appeared in Russia thanks to Peter I and has been grown in almost all regions for several centuries. He believes that there are no difficulties or secrets in how to grow potatoes, however, agronomists regularly offer gardeners newer and more advanced technologies for their production. By applying innovative techniques in practice and remembering grandfather’s recommendations, you can grow excellent harvest large and surprisingly tasty potatoes.
There are certain rules for potato agricultural technology that apply regardless of the method of growing it. Compliance with these rules increases guarantees of an excellent harvest:
Seed material is selected during the autumn harvest. They take seed tubers only from the strongest bushes, immediately sorting them by size. Medium potatoes are ideal for planting. Seed potatoes are not removed from the field; they are left in the sun until they turn green.
In the fall, the area is prepared for future potato plantings. It must be fertilized so that by spring the fertilizer has already rotted and started working.
Before planting, the nodules are germinated in a cool, bright place. To speed up germination, peat or sawdust is used to sprinkle the tubers. When the tuber has sprouted about 1 cm, it can be planted in open ground.
Potatoes treated with a 1% solution before planting resist diseases well. boric acid. Root vegetables are soaked in this solution for 20 minutes.
Potatoes are planted in soil sufficiently warmed by the sun. Usually this is the end of April - beginning of May. The distance between the rows is left taking into account the fact that you will have to hill up several times. There should be about 30 - 40 cm between the holes. Traditionally, a handful of stove ash is poured into each hole as a mineral supplement.
Lack of feeding, as well as its excess, can be detrimental to the plant.
Before the potatoes sprout, it is good to loosen the soil superficially. Usually a rake is used for this. This makes it possible to achieve earlier seedlings and destroy weeds before they come into force.
Hilling is recommended to be done twice. There is no need to be afraid to pour soil during this operation. Many even completely cover young shoots, protecting them from spring temperature changes. The first hilling is carried out when the green shoots reach 15 cm in height. This procedure is repeated a second time just before the bush blooms.
growing potatoes in small forms of farming
(“PLANTED-DIGED”)
Head of the department of investment, financial and material resources in the agro-industrial complex of the State Scientific Institution VNIOPTUSKH of the Russian Agricultural Academy, Doctor of Economics. n.,
Introduction
IN Russian Federation about 90% of potatoes are grown in small forms of agricultural production (16 million families living in rural areas and 21 million urban families, owners and users of garden and summer cottage plots).
As a rule, in these categories of farms, manual labor predominates in potato production. To be fair, we note that in rural areas ( household plots) permanent residents on their plots use machinery most often when plowing, sometimes when harrowing and cutting ridges. However, other basic agricultural operations - planting, weeding, fertilizing, treating crops against pests and harvesting potatoes - are carried out manually.
As practice shows, despite the fact that potatoes are grown everywhere in our country and around the world, where for the vast majority of the population they are the “second bread”, very little has changed in the technology of their cultivation for rural residents.
Research by many experts confirms that the main contingent of rural residents and summer residents of our country are elderly people, for whom weeding and hilling potatoes are considered the most complex and labor-intensive operations when growing this type of product. For this reason, the area under potato cultivation on small plots of dacha and vegetable garden owners, as well as rural residents, is decreasing. In this regard, the question arises: how to reduce the labor intensity of these operations and make life easier for rural residents and city dwellers - owners of gardening gardens and plots?
For this purpose, these methodological and practical recommendations for growing organic potatoes on an innovative basis according to the scheme: PLANTED-DIGED.
Fundamental features of the proposed technology for growing potatoes on an innovative basis;
Preparing potato tubers for planting;
Tilling and preparing the soil for planting;
Preparation and application organic fertilizers(manure, compost, ash);
Potato planting technology on an innovative basis;
Monitoring (tracking) of the process of growing potatoes according to the proposed
scheme: PLANTED-DIGED;
Harvesting - digging potatoes.
1. Fundamental features of the proposed technology for growing potatoes on an innovative basis
This technology for growing potatoes is offered for rural residents and city dwellers - owners of garden plots, where, as a rule, all operations are performed manually, that is, it is most suitable for small plots where either there is no agricultural machinery, or there is no economic reason for its application. The fundamental difference between this innovative technology and the traditional one widely used in practice is that:
Potato tubers are vernalized, that is, they are germinated in the sun or light in
for 7-10 days until buds and small green leaves appear on them;
When planting, potato tubers are first covered with humus, and then
spud up as much as possible big amount land. It’s easier to hill potatoes during
planting, rather than doing it later after the potato crops have sprung and flowered,
since by this period the earth hardens and the negative influence of weeds increases
vegetation to sprout. Hilling up during planting reduces labor costs
3-4 times;
When planting, potato tubers find themselves in a favorable environment, and along with them
vernalization accelerates the growth and development of seedlings compared to weeds;
Increasing the planting density of tubers ensures potato seedlings
the opportunity to more actively fight for one’s survival compared to the trash
vegetation and accelerates the growth rate of potato seedlings.
All these technological operations are fundamentally important in their entirety, since, compared to traditional technologies, they increase the biological control of potato seedlings against weeds and sharply reduce (or completely eliminate) labor costs for weeding and hilling potato crops. At the same time, to obtain the greatest effect in the practical use of the recommended technology, the preparation of the soil and tubers for planting is also extremely important.
2. Preparing potato tubers for planting.
In order to effective use moisture accumulated in the soil, and accelerating the growth rate of plants - potato seedlings - it is recommended to vernalize the tubers before planting. This operation should be carried out at home as follows. Potato tubers (preferably purchased from a seed farm) are scattered in a fine layer in shallow boxes, moistened once or twice a day by spraying and kept in daytime in the light, and best of all in the sun. At night, potato tubers should either be covered with cellophane film or brought into a warm room, protected from night frosts. So the tubers are germinated (vernalized) for 7-10 days, until greenish sprouts appear on them. The same should be done by city residents, owners of summer cottages and garden plots on balconies and loggias.
Long-term observations allow us to state that this operation accelerates the growth and development of plants, increases the resistance of potato seedlings to possible spring frosts, as well as pests and diseases, increases the potential ability of potatoes to fight biologically for their survival with weeds and the Colorado potato beetle.
3. Tilling and preparing the soil for planting.
It is best to start preparing a plot of land allocated for potatoes in the fall, that is, it needs to be plowed before winter (for rural permanent residents) or dug up (for owners of summer cottages and urban plots). In the spring, well before sowing, the soil should be re-harrowed and, if necessary, plowed or dug up again so that the soil is soft before planting and the area is leveled. The area for potatoes must be prepared in the optimal time. Each natural and climatic zone has its own optimal timing. Almost every rural resident or owner of a summer cottage in Russia knows when is the best time to plant potatoes.
Based on our many years of observations, we strongly recommend not to force the timing of planting potatoes. On the contrary, it is best to prepare the soil, then, when it is sufficiently warmed by the sun, plant the sprouted potato tubers.
4. Preparation and application of organic fertilizers (manure, compost, ash)
In order to grow environmentally friendly potatoes, when planting, we strongly recommend adding only organic fertilizers - manure or compost - along with the tubers, which must be prepared in advance. As for the ash, it is better to feed the potato seedlings with it before they begin to flower, and it is best to apply the ash before the rain begins.
Manure and compost should be rotted and free of lumps. To do this, they must remain undercover for at least two, and preferably three, years. It is strictly forbidden to add fresh manure or compost to the soil.
According to many years of observations and according to our calculations, for a summer resident or villager to grow 100-120 kg of organic potatoes, it is necessary to add from 30 to 60 kg of pure humus during the planting period along with the tubers.
IN winter period rural residents should accumulate ash and store it closed in a dry place, then in spring or early summer they feed potato seedlings with it (if there is no ash, you can do without it).
When preparing and applying organic fertilizers to personal plots rural residents, where potatoes are grown at a relatively large areas than with summer residents, a different approach is needed. When performing this agronomic operation, it is necessary to use agricultural machinery as much as possible, including small mechanization, and live traction force, in order to minimize heavy manual labor. At the same time, it is advisable to apply organic fertilizers (manure or compost) in the fall and in as large volumes as possible so as not to perform this labor-intensive agronomic operation more often than once every two to three years.
5. Potato planting technology on an innovative basis
Planting potatoes using the proposed technology is extremely important, since it is fundamentally different from traditional methods of planting tubers in small areas. Therefore, in order to better understand the process of planting tubers, we will consider in more detail and show his on specific example. Let us assume that the allocated area has rectangular shape with a width of 15 m and a length of 20 m, that is, it is equal to 3 acres, or 300 m2.
The area is prepared and leveled. The soil is increasingly warmed by the sun's rays. Potato planting time is approaching. For example, according to experts, optimal time Potato planting in the Southern Federal District is considered to be from April 5 to 25, and in the Central Federal District - from May 7 to 17. Despite these calendar dates recommended by experts, when planting potatoes, every representative of small forms of agricultural production - a rural resident or a summer resident - should be clear about the main thing: before planting, the soil must be heated and warm, and the tubers must be ready for planting.
The planting technology begins with the fact that in the area we have designated along the long side (Fig. 1), twine is pulled using two pegs. Exactly along the twine, the tubers are stuck into the soil by hand half or 3/4 of the way. That is, we plant tubers on the surface of soft and cultivated soil so that the rows of planted potatoes are visible. We recommend leaving distances between rows of about 90 cm. However, there may be other options, for example, less (70-75, 75-80 cm) or more (90-95, 95-100 cm). The spacing between rows most depends on how fertile the soil is on your site, or on how much organic fertilizer will be applied to the soil.
6. Monitoring (tracking) of the potato growing process on an innovative basis.
So, you have planted potatoes on your plot using the recommended technology, after which all you can do is wait. After about 7-8 days, if it has rained on your site and a soil “crust” has formed over the planted potatoes along the ridge, it should be destroyed - loosened with a rake. So, for example, on 2 beds of a summer cottage, where I have been growing 100-120 kg of potatoes for myself for many years, this operation takes me no more than 5-7 minutes.
The technology for performing this operation is as follows: the soil crust is removed with a rake and the upper, harder layer of soil is loosened along the ridge. Tillage should be carried out from the bottom up (Fig. 4), which in addition to the main functions (retaining moisture in the soil, improving air exchange, activating the growth of seedlings) restores the level of the ridge, that is, that part returns to its original place fertile soil, which was washed away by the rains down into the aisles.
Thus, on at this stage the main part ends technological process growing potatoes according to the scheme: PLANTED-DIGED. Now all that remains is to wait for the seedlings to appear and enjoy how they will grow and develop day after day.
Another important aspect from the practice of growing potatoes using recommended technology. So, I plant sprouted tubers on summer cottage(Moscow region, Stupinsky district) almost at the same time as the neighbors. But, as a rule, my shoots appear earlier and the potatoes also begin to bloom earlier by about 7-8 days. By this time, the Colorado potato beetle appears - the main pest of the nightshade group of agricultural crops, and, first of all, potatoes. From long-term observations, it was revealed that the Colorado potato beetle rushes to neighboring areas where seedlings appeared later and where the leaves are younger and juicier. The owners of these areas are forced to fight with all available means against this pest, using chemicals protection. As for me, I'm using real technology growing potatoes in last years I didn’t notice the Colorado potato beetle in my area. That's why I don't need to fight him.
7. Harvesting - digging potatoes.
Harvesting your plot is the final and most important agronomic operation. Any rural worker own experience I have been convinced more than once that digging potatoes is much easier and simpler when the bush is isolated on the ridge, and the potatoes themselves are closer to the surface of the soil. With our technology, the tubers are located at the top, therefore, harvesting is much easier. Moreover, if the tops are still strong, and the early potatoes are ready for use, then you can dig them without a shovel or fork by pulling the tops.
Another important segment of potato production that we have not yet focused our attention on. From many years of experience in potato production using this technology, it has been revealed that we grow a product of higher quality both in content and in form - appearance, that is, tuberization is carried out in a soft favorable environment, so the tubers are smooth and without deep eyes, which is extremely important when peeling potatoes. As a rule, smooth potato tubers are easier to peel, and most importantly, the yield increases pure product by 10-15% compared to potatoes with deeper pits and eyes on the tubers.
Conclusion.
Thus, you have become acquainted with a new technology for growing potatoes and now you are faced with a dilemma: to take the innovation into account or not; plant potatoes on the plot either new or traditional technology. Rural residents of our country, as well as summer residents, are great workers. However, when people have a big seniority and certain experience, it is usually more difficult for them to perceive any innovations. Therefore, to be convincing, we recommend planting potato tubers in parallel - 2-3 rows using the new method, and the rest using the accepted traditional technology.
After planting, it is recommended to observe the process of growth and development of seedlings, and record for yourself the labor costs for the same agronomic operations. Then you should compare the yield of products - potatoes per unit area or from 1 row, compare appearance tubers and the depth of their eyes when in different ways growing. It would not be amiss to check which potatoes are peeled faster, easier and which tubers have the highest yield of pure mass of the finished product. And after that, it will become clear to everyone what technology needs to be taken as the basis for growing potatoes.
State scientific institution All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Organization of Production, Labor and Management in Agriculture of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GNU VNIOPTUSH)
Professor Kibirov Alikhan Yakovlevich
e- mail: *****@***ru
Potatoes are one of the popular vegetable crops among gardeners, but not everyone can boast of a rich harvest and large root crops. This is often due to inappropriate weather conditions, poorly chosen planting material or the result of the action of numerous pests. It may be worth abandoning the traditional approach and trying new potato growing technologies to improve yields while reducing labor costs.
The basic principle of the new potato planting technologies below is to increase the distance between the bushes so that they receive more sunlight and sufficient space for development.
Important! Regardless of the method chosen, potatoes should be removed from the cellar approximately a month before planting and left in a warm room for germination.
Author this method, American doctor-vegetable grower Mittlider, suggests planting tubers in narrow ridges up to 50 cm wide and leaving passages 75-100 cm wide between them. Earthen rollers are formed along the edges of each ridge, which save water and effectively fight weeds., and along the inner perimeter Two rows of holes are marked in a checkerboard pattern. There should be a distance of 30 cm between the holes.
When the site is located on a slope, it is recommended to use long boxes filled with soil for planting tubers. The new technology for planting potatoes according to Mittlider does not provide for hilling, but requires feeding the bushes three times a day and regular watering.
Planting potatoes using this new technology involves the formation of a multi-tiered potato bush by repeatedly adding soil. To do this you should:
Provided regular watering and sufficient fertilizer supply, each bush can produce up to 16 kg of harvest.
The peculiarity of this option is to plant potato tubers at a distance of 30 cm from each other in ridges, and leave 70-75 cm gaps between them. In addition, several rules should be strictly followed:
Using the new Dutch approach to growing potatoes allows you to get up to 2 kg of yield per bush.
For many gardeners, the issue of not only increasing the yield, but also rational use territory and reducing time spent on planting and maintenance. For such cases, you can try planting potatoes using new technology in straw and even in barrels or bags. Moreover, you don’t have to waste time on hilling.
With this technology, the tubers are not buried in the ground, but laid out on its surface, slightly deeper into the ground, and covered with straw with a layer thickness of 20 cm on top. As the potatoes ripen and the straw rots, new layers are laid. Straw provides plants with everything they need for proper growth:
As a result, mature tubers lie on the soil surface under a layer of straw. To collect them, just lift a layer of straw. And unripe tubers can be left to ripen on the bushes.
On a note! Tubers grown in straw do not need to be dug up, which eliminates the possibility of them being damaged during harvesting. In addition, they are always distinguished by a clean and even surface.
This method is suitable for those who do not have a large area of land. Suitable for planting potatoes:
Small holes should be made in the selected container to saturate the soil with oxygen and drain excess water. At the bottom, make a “pillow” 10 cm thick from compost mixed with soil in a 1:1 ratio. Sprouted tubers are placed on top of it (in a checkerboard pattern or in a circle) and covered with the same layer of compost-earth mixture. When the seedlings grow 2-3 cm, layers of soil are repeatedly added until the total depth of the layer reaches approximately 1 m. If you regularly feed and water the bushes, you can get more than 1 bucket of harvest from one container. And to collect it, you just need to turn the container over.
New technologies for planting potatoes are very different from each other, so everyone will decide for themselves which option to choose in order to get the desired harvest.
Potatoes are an undemanding plant that produces consistent yields of quality tubers. But with improper planting and ignorance of care features, the yield decreases sharply. IN Lately The Dutch method of growing potatoes has become very popular. Table varieties are mainly planted for this purpose. This method creates optimal conditions for the root system of the plant, and as a result, intensive formation of tubers occurs compared to the usual method. Mostly it is used in farms, but this is a universal technology, and for this reason it can be successfully used in ordinary garden beds.
Briefly speaking, the basic principle of the Dutch method of growing potatoes is to abandon holes and beds altogether; instead, they make long furrows into which the prepared tubers are planted.
TO positive aspects growing potatoes Dutch technology relate following points:
These advantages make it possible to collect approximately 1.5-2 kg of potatoes from each bush. But keep in mind that such a result will only happen if you follow all the recommendations, which complement each other and do not work independently.
The bulk of Dutch varieties are mid-early and mid-ripening, they develop quickly and form a harvest early. Late varieties are less commonly planted using this method.
The peculiarity of Dutch potato varieties is their regular shape, small eyes, and attractive appearance of the tubers. However, the tops of Dutch varieties are often affected by late blight; for this reason, plants require fungicide treatments (drugs against diseases) during growth. Most of these varieties resist scab and other potato infections well.
Growing tubers using Dutch technology begins with choosing a location and preparing the soil on the site. The bed should be located on a level place, without the slightest slope. You should not choose a place in the lowlands where melt and rainwater. It is necessary that the sun illuminates the potato bushes all day. It is important that the area with potatoes is not located where the wind often blows, quickly drying out the beds. The soil must be permeable, contain a lot of air, light and fertile.
Important! It is good to place potato beds where cereals, beans or peas previously grew.
You need to prepare the soil for potatoes in advance, mark the beds and dig up the ground. Preparations begin in autumn, dig up the area to a depth of about 25 cm, add organic matter (mullein) and add 500-1000 grams. superphosphate and 200-500 gr. potassium sulfate per hundred square meters.
With the onset of spring, the area is fed with 500 grams of urea. per hundred square meters and treated with a cultivator or, in dacha conditions, loosened with a pitchfork to a depth of about 15 cm. This allows you to maintain air chambers in the deep layers of the soil, through which air will circulate and water will flow to the roots.
To plant using the Dutch technology, you need to choose intact potatoes with a diameter of 3-5 cm and a weight of about 50-60 g; there is no point in using smaller tubers - the shoots will grow too weak. Make sure each tuber has at least 5 eyes. 
A month before planting in the soil, you need to germinate the potatoes. It is germinated for a month in a dark place at a temperature of +16–18 degrees, scattered in one layer on newspapers or fabric spread on the floor.
According to the Dutch method, tubers are planted when they have sprouts 5-8 mm long, of which there should be at least 5 pieces. Those shoots that are longer than 1-2 cm will simply break off during mechanical planting, but for the manual (country) option they are quite suitable.
Attention! Planting sprouted tubers is a 100% guarantee of germination.
For planting, it is better to choose elite Dutch varieties, preferably the first, at least the second reproduction (“elite” and “super-elite”), because they resist diseases well, they have tubers correct form, and the plants are highly productive. Growing several varieties of different early ripening makes it possible to extend the productive period and enjoy fresh potatoes for several months.
Important! Tubers for planting should be purchased in specialized stores or nurseries, and not at agricultural fairs, and especially not from hand, otherwise such savings will certainly come back to bite.
The most popular varieties of Dutch potatoes in Russia are:
Thanks to the main advantage of Dutch varieties - good yield, from 1 hundred square meters (100 sq. meters) you can harvest from 200 to 400 kg of high-quality tubers.
In our climate, it is necessary to choose the right timing for planting potatoes, including using the Dutch method.
You can’t rush too much, otherwise the seedlings will suffer from frost.
Tubers are planted only when the soil warms up to at least +8-10 degrees.
By the way, you can navigate and to time-tested folk signs - dandelions and bird cherry trees have begun to bloom, leaves are blooming on birch trees.
Another way to check is to take a handful of soil in your hand, squeeze it lightly and drop it on the ground. If it crumbles and does not remain in the form of a lump, the soil is ready.
This can help you choose the optimal date for planting potato tubers. Moon calendar.
Favorable days according to the lunar calendar for planting potatoes in 2019 are:
But you should also take into account the periods of the new moon and full moon, since when sowing at this time the seedlings will turn out weak and elongated. Therefore, there are days when planting potatoes is carried out absolutely not possible:
According to lunar calendar from the magazine “1000 tips for a summer resident.”
The Dutch method involves planting tubers immediately after completing site preparation. Delay will lead to drying out of the land and loss of positive qualities. Work can begin immediately after the soil warms up, dries slightly and stops sticking to the shovel.
A person who encounters this method for the first time will immediately think that a lot of space is being wasted in vain, since for 1 sq. There are only 6-8 tubers per meter. But the prudent Dutch calculated everything - spreading plants with strong roots grow, and you can get a better harvest than with the usual technology.
Dutch technology will provide the tuber with:
It is necessary to choose an area with a deep arable layer, because the tubers must be immersed to a depth of 10-15 cm. When the first seedlings appear, they are sprinkled with soil on top. When the sprouts appear again, the procedure is repeated. As a result, the potato planting depth is the same as when the usual way landings.
Potatoes planted using the Dutch method must have sufficient nutritional area. That's why between the rows leave approximately free space 70-75 cm (preferably 80 cm), A bushes place in the ranks at a distance of the order 25-30 cm (preferably 35 cm).
What gives long distance between plants:
Fertilizers are poured into the holes so that the tuber is located under them. Good humus or rotted manure is used as fertilizer during sowing. If you don't have manure, you can use a little dry chicken manure(over 1 year old). The ideal feeding for potatoes is crushed egg shells and wood ash. eggshell you need to sprinkle about a handful, and you need to take about 50-100 grams of wood ash. for each hole. If you add a little onion peel, it will save the potatoes from wireworms.
The tubers are placed in the holes with their sprouts facing up and after that they are covered with 4-6 cm of soil. After a week, the first sprouts of weeds should appear. They must be destroyed immediately before they have time to take root.
After the emergence of seedlings (and this usually happens after 2-3 weeks), the plantings are hilled up so as to raise ridge height up to 8-12 cm and width up to 30-35 cm, and before that all weeds are removed. After 4 weeks, the soil near the seedlings is carefully weeded and then soil is raked from the row spacing so that the ridges are already raised to height approximately 23-30 cm, and at the base there should be ridges width near 70-75 cm.
Further weeding and hilling using Dutch technology is not expected. As for removing weeds between rows, using Dutch technology they use herbicides. Such drugs include: “Titus”, “Zellek Super”, “Centurion”, “Lazurit” and others.
Water plot needed no more than 3 times. The first time you need to moisten the area before flowering, again - 10 days after flowering, the last time - after the end of flowering, at this time the tubers begin to grow.
By the way! If you fully follow the Dutch growing technology, it assumes the presence of a drip irrigation system.
On potato plantations, preventive treatment with pest control agents is necessary. Real danger For most varieties of Dutch potatoes it is late blight. To combat pathogenic fungi, it is advisable to use only insecticides or preparations of biological origin. Naturally, we will also have to confront Colorado potato beetle and wireworm. It is recommended to carry out treatment against these pests strictly before the bushes bloom.
You need to prepare for harvesting the tubers; to do this, you need to remove the tops from the potato bushes 10-15 days before harvest, leaving only bare “stumps” about 5-7 cm high. Then the tubers are kept in the soil for another 10-15 days until they ripen, and a strong skin will not form on the tubers. Potato tubers are then less damaged during harvesting, and such potatoes will be stored better.
Potatoes that will be used for food or for sale are harvested in late August - early September, and seed potatoes much earlier - in late July - early August.
Attention! On large plantations, the tops are not mowed, but a desiccation method is used, this allows the green mass to be dried using special compounds to simplify subsequent harvesting.
Thus, planting potatoes using the Dutch method is common in most European countries and is widely used on our farms. You just need to strictly adhere to the rules of planting and care, and a rich harvest is guaranteed.
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Which are grown on personal plots are potatoes. The traditional technology of its cultivation is characterized by a significant investment of time and labor resources, which makes many owners of summer cottages and gardens sometimes refuse to cultivate it. However, there are a number of other ways by which you can get no less, and in most cases even bigger harvest, and there will be much less labor on the part of humans.
So, one of the highly effective ways to grow this crop is to plant potatoes under straw. Despite the fact that many people are skeptical about this method, in practice this method gives quite a productive result, delighting its followers with stable and good harvest. In order to understand the secret of success, you should talk about the very principle of growing potatoes and what micro- and macroelements are needed for this.
Potatoes are an interesting root crop, the peculiarity of which is the growth of tubers around the seed root. For the successful development of potato crops, sufficient quantities of nutrients, of which the main ones are potassium and phosphorus. In addition, soil aeration plays an important role, since thanks to the penetration of air into the soil, the crop develops strong and strong. under the straw provides the necessary microclimate, since as a result of the gradual decomposition of the straw, potassium fertilizers are released, and the excellent air exchange under the straw favors the establishment large quantity new tubers. At the same time, straw acts as an excellent mulch that protects the soil in hot weather. summer days from overheating, and after rain it also retains moisture on the soil surface, preventing it from weathering and evaporating.
By the way, planting potatoes under straw is by no means a new way of growing root crops, since this technique was widely used by the peasants of our country back in the 19th century. However, during the period of the spread of Michurin’s teachings in the USSR, this method was undeservedly forgotten, and people began to grow potatoes in the way that we see today. The only difficulty with straw is the need to stock up on a large amount of straw, since normal development tubers, its layer should be at least 10 cm.
Adherents of traditional potato cultivation technology also do not stand still in their development, but are gradually mastering new methods that greatly facilitate the cultivation of this crop, even using conventional methods. Thus, the popularity of such a method as planting potatoes under a walk-behind tractor is gradually increasing, thanks to which a person’s work is greatly facilitated. With the help of a motor-cultivator of even medium power, on which a special cutter is installed, you can plant yourself without spending much effort. Today, you can buy not only petrol cultivators, but also quite powerful walk-behind tractors, with which you can even plant a potato field of 1 hectare. Thus, you can see that planting potatoes under straw on such a large area is impossible due to a lack of covering material. However, planting potatoes with a walk-behind tractor on 1 hectare is quite possible and fully justifies itself both in terms of productivity and in terms of rational use of time.
Thus, to summarize, it should be concluded that if the planting area for growing potatoes exceeds 20 acres, then it is best to use a motor cultivator. If a person is engaged in growing potatoes on his summer cottage, ranging in size from 4 to 8 acres, then straw is the most the right way, in which you can provide yourself and your family with a good harvest.
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