"Antoshka, Antoshka, let's dig potatoes! "The words of this children's song known to all. But in order to drip potatoes, it is first necessary to grow. In our country, the potato has always been one of the staple foods. No wonder the people called the "second bread". Therefore, it is grown all who have the opportunity, and, of course, the desire. It should be noted that the yield of essential vegetable crops in gardens and backyards is very low.

But the potential for the best varieties of potatoes up to 700 quintals per hectare, and even more. The reason is that the earth loves skillful and meticulous care. Pawn high yield of potatoes - is the use of elite varieties of good and competent agricultural machinery. How to grow potatoes, to get a great harvest? What are the different methods of cultivation? This is what we discuss in this article.

The most competent and experienced growers spend on potato growing much less time, but at the same time get a great harvest it is much better than in most other farmers. The choice of varieties, planting potatoes, hilling - each grower has his tricks and secrets of how to grow a good crop of potatoes.

The soil for potatoes

For potato growing need loose, fertile, slightly acidic soil. Soil preparation is usually begin in the fall. Earth must be cleaned of weeds - dandelion, couch grass, thistle and destroy it from pests - medvedok, beetle, wireworms, May beetle and their larvae, the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. Then dig up the ground to a depth of bayonet spade. When plowing, it is plowed to a depth of 25-30cm. Prior to this, it is desirable to make the land of fertilizer - per square meter mixed a bucket of rotted manure or compost, thirty grams of superphosphate, fifteen grams of potash and phosphate fertilizers.

Nitrogen fertilizers are left until spring, because they are very easy to dissolve. If the garden sour and heavy soil, which can be determined by weeds growing there - Sorrel, horsetail, plantain, in the ground in autumn, a further 300-500g lime or ash per square meter. To break clods and level the ground to dig up is not necessary, because the big clods better retain snow. Therefore, it will accumulate more moisture, and left in the ground pests die.

Preparation of seed potatoes

Many gardeners ask how to grow potatoes from seed. The best material for planting potatoes are tubers from the summer crop planting or two, but you can use the usual tubers obtained with single spring planting. At a dilution of potato tubers, before the harvest should be noted the best bushes. After that you choose the correct form of healthy tubers. If the harvest in the bush will be at least one patient the fruit, then the rest of the wells, and the tubers better not to leave the gate.

Selected tubers should be well dried and then stand on the ambient light within a half to two weeks for landscaping. For this purpose, the potatoes wakes up in one or two layers, turning occasionally it. When all the flesh from the surface to the middle of the tuber will have a greenish color, landscaping, you can check out. These tubers stored until the spring without going over. It should be remembered that these tubers can not have any himself, nor be eaten by cattle, because they contain SOLONIN - a poisonous substance.

If you want to get an early crop of potatoes, then it should be prepared well before sowing. For three or four weeks before planting the tubers should be placed in a warm room light for germination. Potatoes can be germinated in boxes with wet sawdust that are put into a room with a temperature of 12-14 ° C. During this period, the sprouts begin to form and develop the root system.

You can couch potatoes in plastic bags in which you need to cut holes for air circulation. The bags hung in a bright warm room at a low altitude. In this position, all the tubers are covered evenly, so there is no need to shift them. This prevents germs from calving.

Growing seedlings and of potatoes

After the tubers germinated, one can begin to grow seedlings. They do it in boxes or paper bags of dense, filled with soil. Seedlings should be kept to the emergence in a cool dark room, where the air temperature 10-12 ° C. When the seedlings have emerged, the seedlings should be moved to a brighter place, and planted it in the ground can be as early as mid-April. If you suddenly hit freezing, the plant spud land or harbor film. This method can get the potatoes in late May.

To make it easier for the potatoes to look, mark out the land before planting potatoes or put on the cord. The distance between rows should be 60 cm, and between the bushes potatoes - 30 cm. Potatoes are planted at a depth of 6-10 cm when the soil warms up not less than 5 ° C. Before the first loosening or even during planting into the soil to apply nitrogen fertilizer.

There is the practice of growing early potatoes from tubers with long shoots. For this them for 30-40 days germinated at 12-14 ° C, in a dark room, dampening water them periodically until long germs. For growing tubers taken with a lot of germs weight 70-100g. These tubers are planted, sprouts and pulling prisypaya their land, thereby obtained mnogostebelchaty bush. Each stem underground tubers are formed. This method allows planting seed saving twice, and this increases the yield in half to two times. This method of growing potatoes used for good irrigation.

You can accelerate the emergence of seedlings, black film covering the planted areas. The film is removed after emergence. It can and leave, but in order to grow the sprouts out, it is necessary to make cross-shaped incisions on each bush. Such a method is very easy care for potatoes, because under the film lasts longer soil moisture and weed growth.

Caring for potatoes

Caring for potatoes must begin almost immediately after landing .  Many gardeners often make a mistake when delaying care until the first shoots .  The fact is that in the soil sprouting tubers constantly need to access the air flow which can be achieved only loosening .  Moreover, many of the weeds out of the ground long before the potato sprouts .  These weeds are growing rapidly, consuming a lot of nutrients and moisture, which they take in cultivated plants .  Thus, they inhibit the potatoes, which in turn affects the amount of his harvest .  It is therefore important to clean and weed the young shoots of weeds that are killed at the slightest damage to the teeth of the rake or harrow .  With the same deep-rooted weeds much more difficult to fight .  It should also loosen the soil after watering and rain, as the surface of the earth appears hard crust that violates the normal air circulation, thus greatly delaying the germination of potatoes .

When the seedlings appear full, you need to loosen the soil, removing weeds around the same time every bush, and not only between the rows. On solid and dense soil loosening to do deeper. If there are leaves in the ground, they should be lifted by hand. With the threat of frost is necessary to create a smokescreen sprouting potatoes. To do this, on the leeward side of the edge of the garden laid out a heap of weeds and dry twigs and set fire to them with a sharp decrease in temperature. If the trash is very dry, then for the formation of large amount of smoke it must be sprinkled on top of the ground. Before frosts seedlings, especially at night, you can also fill the earth. After the freeze will, the soil is spread with a rake.

Fertilizing potatoes

Potatoes feed the bird droppings, diluted in water. For this bird droppings diluted in a large container with water naploennoy half the rate of 80-100g per square meter. After a few days, this solution starts to wander, and upon termination of the fermentation it is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. This solution was poured over the ground around the plants at the rate of 1, 5-2 liters a bush. It is necessary to carefully monitor that the solution did not get to the leaves, otherwise they will burn.

Potatoes can feed and liquid manure. It should be borne in mind that the need to feed something one - or bird droppings or manure. The excess in this case does not play into the hands of the potatoes. After fertilizing the soil it is necessary to hill or loosen.

To obtain high yields of potatoes should be regularly watered soil, because in the heat and drought increase in the bushes suspended and dropping out after rains cause the ugliness of tubers and their proliferation. Potatoes watered evening rate of not less than two to three liters per bush. Watering should be done 3 to 4 times a week. Very important is watering during flowering and tuber formation. The next day, after watering is necessary to loosen the ground with hand hoes.

Grooming potatoes, need to avoid damage to the leaves, as this reduces the yield. Gardeners who are not fluent in the growth characteristics of the potato, fear too much of the potato bush. And for good reason. Strong healthy greens, on the contrary, favorable and provides a high yield of tubers. Fall harvest occurs when there is a lack of light or a nitrogen in the soil. To remedy these shortcomings, it is necessary to feed the plant abundantly sulfate or potassium chloride and superphosphate, which contribute to the formation of the tuber. It should also be borne in mind that planting potatoes do not place in heavily shaded areas.

Hilling potatoes

Once the tops rose by 15-20 cm, should begin hilling plants. It tops hoes scoops the earth so that the bush was formed around a small hillock, which will close the lower part of the stem to the leaves. Before hilling potatoes to feed useful organic or mineral fertilizers. They should scatter between rows five inches from the stems. When these fertilizers hilling buried under a bush.

At each plant is taken out of the calculation of fertilizers: superphosphate - 5-6 g, sulfate or potassium chloride - 3-4 g of ammonium nitrate - 2-3 g If the fertilizer is applied, the liquid feeding, the middle row spacing dripped shallow grooves, which contribute solution. A bucket of water take two tablespoons of potash and nitrogen fertilizers and four tablespoons of phosphorus. At each plant is taken 1, 5-2 liters of the solution.

Pest and disease of potato

Ogorodnikov in the growing of potatoes necessary to carry out the necessary measures to protect against pests and disease prevention. Cause great harm to potato viral diseases. To combat this scourge should be planted only healthy seeds. And you can grow them on the site.

To do this, after the harvest of early crops need to destroy all diseased plants that have been identified during the growing season. The greatest danger is posed by fungal diseases. Therefore, prevention is necessary to carry out one or two spray - at the beginning of flowering, and then at the beginning of the emergence of a bud. For potato tubers should be monitored during storage, as in a couple of weeks of field cleaning may be problems.

The greatest danger to the potato is potato beetle. He, and its larvae are very voracious. They cause leaf damage significantly affect the crop. To control the Colorado potato beetle plant treated with biological or chemical agents.

There are other ways to fight. The leaves of potato and soil around the bush need to be checked regularly. Zhukov, egg and larvae sbiraetsya in a bowl, which is kerosene or brine. Timely weeding, hoeing and hilling also help in the fight against Colorado potato beetle.

Cleaning and storage of potatoes

With the right preparation of the tubers and correct care of the soil, and shoots a good crop of potatoes is provided to you. Summer planting harvested in early autumn. Tubers of her best kept, and only begin to germinate in April. Note that the potato tuber is a living organism, in which physiological processes going on and after cleaning. Remove them to be careful: you can not throw, you should carefully placed in bags or boxes. Caution is needed, and in transit. Storage temperature is gradually reduced, bringing it to 1-3 ° C.

At sub-zero temperatures the potato can be lost, so it is unacceptable. At zero temperature, the starch in potato tubers is converted into sugar, causing the tubers become sweet. But this process is reversible, and the potato flavor is restored a few days if kept at room temperature. Store potatoes in a dark storage facilities with a relative humidity of 80-90%: basements, cellars, underground. The dry weight of the tuber storage is lost. Unacceptable and high humidity. Therefore, the room should be well ventilated. Potatoes can be stored and in temporary storage - trenches, pits, piles. They also stored potatoes well.