Preparing potatoes for planting

Potatoes are usually propagated from tubers. Often, simple summer residents simply use old potato tubers that have slightly sprouted for planting. This is a mistake, since a lot of labor and effort will be spent on raising the harvest, and the result will very likely be pitiful. In addition, there is a high probability that such planting material will infect the area for planting potatoes with unpleasant and difficult to get rid of diseases.

Preparing potatoes for planting will take some time and effort, but will also bring a good harvest. To plant, you need to purchase tubers from specialized stores or nurseries. Such tubers are free from dangerous pests, diseases and viruses; they are of course more expensive, but they give a good harvest for about five years.

Preparing potatoes for planting is as follows:

1. In order for the harvest to be high and early, the tubers need to be sprouted in the light. In order for the tubers to germinate safely, they must be placed in a room with natural, diffused lighting about forty days before planting.

2. Before placing the tubers, you need to sort them out and select only the best ones; the selected tubers can be soaked in water for an hour (necessary to replenish the liquid that the potatoes lose during storage). All sprouts that are already on the potatoes must be removed.

3. The tubers are laid out in a maximum of two layers on a surface (table, window sill, etc.).

4. In order for the sprouts to creep upward, the tubers must be laid out on the side to which the potatoes were attached to the mother plant.

5. After the sprouts hatch, you need to leave about 4 of the tallest sprouts and break off the rest.

6. Before planting, potato sprouts should be no more than three centimeters and have a green, not white, color.

7. For the first fifteen days, the tubers should be kept at 18-22 degrees. When the sprouts grow by 0.5 cm, the temperature is reduced to ten degrees so that the tubers do not dry out.