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No-till Technology For Growing Early Potatoes
No-till Technology For Growing Early Potatoes

Video: No-till Technology For Growing Early Potatoes

Video: No-till Technology For Growing Early Potatoes
Video: No-Till Potatoes, Episode One: Planting 2024, March
Anonim

If you want a young potato …

growing potatoes
growing potatoes

Growing early potatoes is profitable. In mid-to-late July, young potatoes in Omsk cost 1400-2500 rubles per bag. With a plow-free cultivation technology, there is no need to wait until the land can be plowed for planting. This means that the factor that delays planting is soil warming. When planting in cold ground, there is a risk of damage to the sprouts by rhizoctonia. In addition, seedlings will have to wait a long time.

There are various ways to warm up the soil for planting early potatoes. The most effective of these is to cover the soil with clear plastic wrap. But if it is planned to plant 2-3 acres of early potatoes, then buying a film will cost a pretty penny. It is worth considering that today there are a lot of hunters for someone else's good, which means that you can lose the film. At this time, there are very few gardeners in the summer cottages, and therefore the thieves win.

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I do it differently:

To speed up the melting of snow, I scatter coal dust. You need a little of it. The spring sun heats black dust better, and the snow melts much faster. On my site, all the beds are slightly raised. Already this technique allows the ridges to warm up faster. While there is still snow on the paths, on the ridges the 5-7 cm layer has already melted.

Another technique that I use is the slope to the south. It is a well-known fact that on the southern slopes everything rises faster. My site does not have a natural slope to the south, so it is artificially created. This is done simply. With a flat cutter he loosened the upper layer of the ridge, and then pulled the soil to the northern part of the ridge with a rake (the ridges are located from north to south). The slope turns out to be almost unnoticeable, but it must be borne in mind that, as proven by science and practice, a slope to the south of only 1 degree is equivalent to moving the site 100 km south. By doing this every year, we gradually increase the slope.

We do not make the surface of the ridge even, but we form it with low waves. The south side of the wave has a slope to the south, which intensifies heating. Due to the fact that the waves are not high, the northern slope of the wave does not give a shadow. It is important that there is no mulch in the garden. A loose layer of organic matter on the surface of the earth works like a thermos, preventing the soil from warming up.

While the ground is warming up, we are preparing the planting material. We lay the disinfected and greened tubers since autumn for light germination. I suggested one of the variants of this operation in my article "Seed potatoes as an interior item" ("Flora Price" # 10, 2007). For 10-14 days, we lay the tubers for wet germination. I will not dwell in detail, this technique has already been written a lot in periodicals. It is important that wet germination takes place at a temperature close to the temperature of the soil at the time of planting. The seed tubers adapt, and after planting, the potatoes grow quickly without stress.

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growing potatoes
growing potatoes

When choosing the timing of planting, you need to monitor the temperature of the soil. At a temperature of 5 … 7 ° C, you can already start planting. It also has its own peculiarities. Loosen the top 5-7 cm layer with a flat cutter. Place the seed tubers so that the top of the tuber is approximately level with the surface of the ridge. Then we rake a mound 5-7 cm high above the tuber (see Fig. 1). And we make the mound compact. So we leave it until shoots appear. The loose top layer of the ridge and the non-dug soil under this layer provide the necessary moisture, which makes it possible to do without watering. In the hillocks the temperature is higher than in the ridge, which favors earlier emergence.

With the emergence of seedlings, you can slightly huddle them. But you should not be zealous with this technique, otherwise we will get the harvest later. If the weather is dry, we mulch the surface of the ridges, including the surface of the mounds in which the tubers are located (see Fig. 2). Now mulch no longer interferes - the earth has warmed up, but it helps to preserve moisture. We put "bottle heat stabilizers" on the ridges - plastic bottles filled with water.

Bottles heat up during the day and give off heat at night, leveling out temperature fluctuations. Then we cover the ridges with non-woven material. According to my observations, agrotex 40 (or other material with the same density) is optimal here. It is convenient to press the non-woven with the same plastic bottles filled with water. We do not use arcs, the plants themselves raise the thin material. It is only necessary to leave an allowance for the material, given that the stems will gain growth.

After the end of the period of possible frost, remove the non-woven and add mulch. It is better that its layer is 15-20 cm. At this time, the potatoes are already beginning to bloom. Now the hills play a slightly different role. They make cleaning easier. This is what happens. Stolons in loose soil are mostly short, and growing tubers protrude from the mounds.

growing potatoes
growing potatoes

If you do not use a thick layer of mulch, then they are easily landscaped. This technique allows you to follow the development of tubers, and when tubers of a commercial size appear, you can gradually select them without digging out the bush. The rest of the tubers of the bush continue to grow. I have to admit that the mounds do not allow finding 100% of all large tubers. Some stolons are taken into the soil along the paths of the worms, and the tubers are formed below the loose layer.

Such tubers can sometimes be found from cracks in the soil. If the soil of the ridge is loose, then everything is even easier. We deepen one finger in several places around the bush. If we find a tuber, then carefully turn it out, trying not to damage the roots. After the large tubers are selected, we return the mulch to its place.

Here varietal characteristics should be taken into account. For example, the varieties Alena, Latona form an early harvest quite amicably. Therefore, it is worth removing the commercial tubers once. Then, dig up the entire bush. In other varieties, for example, Zhukovsky early, tubers can be removed several times, their tuberization is extended. You just need to observe the varieties that you have. I think that the technology for obtaining early potatoes can and should be improved. Potatoes are a culture of great opportunity! One of the members of the Omsk club of potato growers grows young potatoes through seedlings. Harvests in late June. On the market at this time, early potatoes cost 100 rubles per kilogram. So, as they say, "the skin is worth the candle."

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