How to plant potatoes correctly and how to cut them for planting

Potato - This is the most common root vegetable, which is grown in almost every garden. It often happens that proper planting, soil selection and the correct planting process play an important role in obtaining the final result.

Content:

• How to choose potato seeds
• How to prepare the soil for planting
• Preparation of planting material
• How to plant potatoes correctly?
• How to cut potatoes for planting

How to choose potato seeds

To get a good harvest, first of all, you need to choose the right seeds. Potato seeds should be harvested during harvesting. The best period for selecting seed potatoes is autumn. Potatoes for planting should be chosen from those bushes that gave the best harvest. The size of tubers for seed potatoes should be about five centimeters. Experienced gardeners claim that the larger the tubers, the better the harvest.

In addition to regular seed potatoes, you can also plant sprouted eyes or cut potatoes. Once cut potatoes are dried in the sun and dusted with ash, they can produce a very good harvest. To achieve these results, planting should occur in damp and warm weather. Prolonged rains and cold will lead to rotting of cut potatoes.

If seed If you are going to buy potatoes, you need to know how to choose them.There are several categories of potatoes that are grown both in nurseries and in gardens. Garden crops include tubers of the first, second and third reproduction.

How to prepare the soil for planting

First of all, to plant potatoes you need to choose fertile soil. The darker it is, the more fertile it is. The thickness of the fertile layer should be 30 cm. In the process of plowing the soil, it is very important to plow it exactly to this depth, without touching the podzol. It is better to plow the land in the fall, while simultaneously fertilizing the soil with organic compounds. As for mineral fertilizers, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, which are very difficult to wash out by rain, can be used to replenish the soil.

In the spring season, the ground needs to be harrowed and loosened. When the soil matures, nitrogen is added to it. fertilizers. After all the preparatory work has been carried out, the entire area must be leveled using a rake.

Preparation of planting material

Preparing potatoes for planting primarily involves germinating the tubers. This is done in several ways:

1. Germination in light at a temperature of 12-14 degrees. The germination period using this method is 25 days.
2. Germination of tubers in a humid environment. This could be peat, sawdust, sand or manure.

For potatoes to germinate well, they need to be laid out in one row in a well-lit place. It is advisable that the room in which potatoes are germinated has good ventilation. Germination can also be done in plastic bags. Initially, you need to make small holes in these bags. Next, they fit tubers and placed in a well-lit room.

To prevent damage to the sprouts, you need to ensure that the tubers are not exposed to direct sunlight. As for germinating potatoes in a humid environment, in this case, a lit room is not required for storage. Thus, the tubers are stacked in several layers, separated from each other by some wet material. This can be aerated peat, humus, or sawdust.

Video about how potatoes are planted abroad:

When the top layer dries a little, it is sprayed with water. This ensures the growth of strong shoots and small roots. Sprouts grown in this way take root very quickly and grow well. In order to obtain an early potato harvest, you can use sprouting tubers with fertilizing. Initially, the sprouts germinate in the light.

After the first shoots form, they are placed in a box with a peat-lined bottom. The top layer of potatoes is covered with sawdust and watered clean water. The box should be stored in a room where the temperature does not exceed 18 degrees. When small roots appear, the tubers need to be fertilized with superphosphates, potassium and nitrate. You can also use wood ash.

During the process of sprouting potatoes, they are often affected by scab and rizcotinia. To prevent the development of these diseases, it is necessary to etch the tubers with formaldehyde. First of all, they should be immersed in a 40% formalin solution and simmered for two hours. It is advisable to do dressing before starting to sprout potatoes.

How to plant potatoes correctly?

When the planting material is completely ready, you can proceed directly to the planting itself. You need to start planting when the leaves on the birch trees have already begun to bloom.In this case, the depth of soil heating should be 9 degrees. Potatoes should be planted to a depth of ten centimeters, with the beds located from north to south.

The main thing is that the holes are not located close to each other, otherwise late blight may occur. Also, densely planted potatoes cannot be properly hilled. The most optimal distance between the holes is 90cm.

This indentation ensures not only good hilling, but also strong green tops. When planting, you need to remember that the larger the seed potatoes, the less frequent the planting. Regardless of the chosen planting scheme, the depth of the tubers should in any case be the same. You also need to remember that you don’t need to grow the same variety more than four years. Periodically, all planting material must be updated.

How to cut potatoes for planting

Seed potatoes need to be cut in order to increase the yield. Each of the cut halves brings a harvest of 87%. To plant, potatoes need to be cut lengthwise; this ensures preservation of whole tubers. In order to increase productivity, two halves of potatoes are planted in one hole at once. Also, cutting of planting material is often done due to its lack.

Cut tubers increase their growth faster. It is always very important to remember that it is better not to cut some varieties, as they can dramatically reduce the yield. For such varieties you need to use other propagation methods. These groups of potatoes include Baritone, Courage, Lileya, Jubilee, etc. Today, experienced gardeners do not recommend cutting potatoes when planting.After all, if a diseased tuber comes under cutting, then with the help of a knife the disease will spread to all the planting material.

Therefore, if you had to cut potatoes, then the knife that will be used for cutting must be periodically disinfected. Cutting potatoes should be done in the spring just before landing. You can also make small cuts on the potatoes in the fall, and simply break them in the spring. The weight of potatoes for cutting must be at least 70g.