How to properly sprout potatoes

Potatoes are truly the queen of our gardens. Good yields provide a satisfying winter for both people and domestic animals. This is a tasty, nutritious vegetable that grows in almost any soil under fairly harsh conditions. It is clear that cold or too high temperatures, lack (excess) of moisture, pests will affect the amount of potatoes harvested. Those who want to have a consistently high harvest need to fertilize the soil, water if necessary, and fight the Colorado potato beetle and other enemies of this popular crop.

One of the stages of preparation for planting potatoes is germination. This speeds up the emergence of seedlings and makes it possible to pre-weed out shoots that are too thin and unsuitable. Before this procedure, it will be useful to treat the tubers with boric acid, potassium permanganate and other solutions of useful microelements.

Sprouting potatoes is done in two stages:

• The first one is warm and dark. Place the seed tubers in such conditions that sprouts begin to appear.
• The second is light and cool. This will keep the sprouts short, strong and green.

For germination, you can use boxes (with or without sawdust), as well as plastic bags in which numerous small slits have previously been made for air access. Packages must be transparent. The duration of germination may vary depending on the air temperature and the type of potato. Late ones germinate longer than early ones.

Ready planting material can be disinfected using tansy decoction.