Potatoes common information

Potato refers to solanaceous cultures. His birthplace is Argentina and Peru.

The origin of potatoes from hot countries determines its requirements for growth conditions: it is thermophilic, light-loving, relatively drought-resistant.

What does potatoes like? Rich in organic, moisture- and air-permeable, warm soil, although it can grow on relatively dense and poor soils. He prefers weakly acidic or neutral soils( pH 5-6), but he tolerates and sour, the yield is naturally reduced. The potato field should be illuminated all day long by the sun, otherwise potatoes will grow a large tops, but will not give a good harvest of tubers.

Potatoes are responsive to mineral top dressing. He needs higher doses of potassium, but he also needs nitrogen. The total take-out for the season of basic nutrients( agronorm N + R + K) per square meter of planting is 47 grams, and the balance( balance) between the main nutrients N: P: K has 43: 14: 43.

What potatoesdoes not love? He does not like fresh manure, excessive nitrogen doses( nitrogenous soils potato develops scab), excessive calcium content in the soil( sick with scab, so it is recommended to de-acidize the potato field from autumn), fertilizers containing chlorine, shading, excess moisture in the soil,cooling, thickening plantations, in which lighting falls. In addition, the thickening of plantings causes an early disease of phytophthora.

Basics of potato farming technology selection of variety

Early potato varieties are ready for harvesting 60-70 days after sprouting, so they manage to ripen before the appearance of phytophthora. They are less productive, and since they have less starch( about 10%), they are less tasty, quickly boiled.

Isora - a variety resistant to cancer, has good taste, yield, lack - deep eyes and irregular shape of the tuber.

Pushkinets - nematode-resistant, highly productive variety of good taste, lack - quickly accumulates a viral infection, that is, it can not be grown for a long time from its planting material. Prefers sandy soils.

Borodyansky pink - has beautiful, oblong, pink tubers, yielding, tasty.

Spring - has oval, beautiful tubers. A yielding, tasty variety is less affected by a viral infection, as it is obtained by interspecies hybridization, therefore, one can use its planting material for a long time( there is Spring white with white flesh, yellow - with yellow flesh because of the increased content of carotene, there is Spring early - the earliestgrade, when grown through seedlings yield yields at the end of June).

Skylark - a new variety, little affected by scab, cancer, viral infection, phytophthora;very tasty, with a high content of starch( 18-22%), yielding. It has oval large tubers with small eyes, a netlike melon, skin and white flesh.

Bullfinch - new variety, resistant to phytophthora and viruses, medium-large, delicious( starch content about 16%), has beautiful tubers with pinkish small eyes, white flesh.

Luck is a new variety that is resistant to cancer and phytophthora, it is affected by viruses;exceptionally tasty, with a large( 19%) starch content, has beautiful, oval, white tubers with white flesh.

Also good is Zhukovsky's early variety, Prigogine.

Among the varieties of foreign breeding deserve attention:

• Dutch Anosta( nematode-resistant, tubers with white flesh), Desiree and Diamant( both have tubers with yellow flesh), Latona( one of the earliest, has tubers with white flesh), Lady Rosettahigh-yielding, nematode-resistant), Ostara( resistant to viral infection, delicious, yielding, with white flesh), Prior( early-yielding crop, lacking - rapidly accumulating a viral infection, so productivity declines over the years);

• German Adretta( one of the most delicious varieties, infects little viruses, but is badly damaged by rot, so it's poorly stored), Planta( early ripe variety, has white oval tubers with yellow flesh, nematode-resistant), Rock( delicious variety, weakly affected by viruses,but tubers often crack);

• Polish high-yielding variety Lotus with beautiful, large, oval tubers;

• Swedish variety of Rosamund( has oblong pink tubers with white flesh).

Middle-early varieties are ready for harvesting in 70-80 days. The starch content in them is higher than in the early varieties( up to 15%), so they are less boiled during cooking and more tasty. As a rule, medium-term varieties are more resistant to virus infection, and therefore they can be grown for a long time from their planting material, but they can get under the phytophthora, so it is necessary to select more resistant varieties.

Nevsky - highly productive, resistant to cancer and to a viral infection variety, gives large oval tubers with pink eyes. The disadvantage is early germination and poor appearance of second sprouts after breaking out of the first. When stored in an apartment, that is, at high temperatures, bypassing the stage of germination, you can immediately give small nodules to the mother tuber.

Blue-eyed is a small-yielding, but exceptionally tasty variety. The tubers are bluish, with blue eyes, with white, friable pulp. It is affected by rusty spotting( the flesh in the cut has "rusty", brown spots).

Christmas - a nematode-resistant variety, little affected by viruses, cancer and phytophthora. Tubers oval, yellowish, with a shiny skin, beautiful, good taste.

Detskoselsky is a relative of the well-known antique grade Northern Rose. Plastic, reliable in all weather conditions, gives a stable harvest, slowly accumulates a viral infection, so you can use your planting material for a long time. Tubers large, beautiful, pink, elongated.

Elizabeth - gives a yellowish, sometimes irregular shape, a tuber of medium taste, late infects phytophthora.

Oredezhsky - the variety is little affected by viral infection and phytophthora, tubers have a yellowish color.

Wizard - a new high-yielding grade, resistant to scab, cancer, late infested with phytophthora. Gives large tasty tubers. The disadvantage is the unevenness of the tubers. Along with the large in the nest, there are medium and small tubers.

A fairy tale - a new variety, has round-oval white tubers with pink spots, excellent taste, resistant to phytophthora.

The rainbow is a new crop variety, little affected by phytophthora, gives red delicious tubers.

Nice also the Riddle of Peter, Naiad( 22% starch), Nikita.

Timo, Sante( slowly accumulates a viral infection, a nematode-resistant, high-yielding variety, unfortunately, a mediocre taste), from the varieties of foreign breeding, have got us, Romano( has satisfactory taste qualities, high productivity, excellent shelf life, including in the apartment, buthe rapidly accumulates a viral infection, therefore every 3 to 4 years it is necessary to update or improve his planting material), Impala( resistant to viral infection, gives a tuber with white skin and yellow flesh), Cardinal( givesbeautiful red tubers with yellowish flesh, nematode-resistant), Condor( gives beautiful red tubers, a variety of fruit, unfortunately, is affected by phytophthora).

Medium-ripening varieties mature within 80-90 days after emergence. All of them fall under the phytophthora, therefore it is necessary to plant varieties resistant to this disease( it is necessary to know that there are absolutely no varieties resistant to phytophthora).They are distinguished by a high( above 15%) content of starch.

Lugovskaya is a viable variety, resistant to cancer and viral infection, to phytophthora;continues to accumulate a crop even in September. In a dry year, it tastes better than in a wet one. Gives beautiful rounded tubers with a yellowish skin. When stored, the tubers are often affected by silvery scab and become unattractive, however, this does not affect the quality of the tubers.

Petersburg - a promising new variety, high-yielding, slightly affected by phytophthora.

Gatchinsky - an old, reliable, fruitful variety, unfortunately, has not leveled by the size of the tubers, is little affected by viruses, gives white rounded tubers of medium taste.

Resource - a new variety, late affects phytophthora;very fruitful and delicious, gives white large tubers.

The shaman is a new crop that is resistant to phytophthora. Gives beautiful oblong tubers of blue-red color, excellent taste. Thanks to a dense peel is well kept in the apartment.

Of the varieties of foreign breeding are worthy of attention:

• Danish Olevi variety - nematode-resistant, exceptionally tasty( due to high starch content), very yielding;

• Dutch Symphony - delicious, yields beautiful red tubers with yellow flesh;

• German Granola - nematode-resistant, slightly affected by phytophthora;perfectly stored in the apartment because of a long period of rest and dense skin, which prevents the loss of moisture from the tubers. Granola comes off late, but at the same time it overtakes other varieties during growth, gives round, tasty tubers with a mesh pale skin and yellowish flesh;

• a new Ukrainian variety Svitanok Kiev - quite a yield, good taste;perfectly kept in the apartment;because of the long period of dormancy and dense peel of the tubers do not fade until late spring.

The late and late varieties in the conditions of the Northwest do not have time to mature, and in the southern regions they get to a temperature too high for the potato and stop growing and developing, so they should not get carried away. In areas of risky farming, it is recommended to plant early varieties of potatoes, as they leave from under the phytophthora. Of the early and mid-ripening people, one must choose more resistant to phytophthora.

Traditionally, tubers, regardless of the color of the peel, have white flesh in the varieties of Russian breeding, the USA and England. Dutch and German varieties, as a rule, have a yellow flesh with a high content of carotene, respectively, more useful and more tasty.

Improvement of planting material

To improve your planting material, it is necessary to grow it from sprouts. Prepare in early March planting material, after the greenery, put it in moist peat or sawdust and put in a warm place( 20-25 degrees).Potatoes will quickly grow. Once the sprout reaches 5-7 cm in length, it must be broken from the tuber and rooted in a container with soil, by cutting two thirds into the soil. Immediately put in a bright place. Look after the seedlings of tomatoes and plant them in the garden when the threat of nocturnal frosts passes( or earlier), a double shelter of lutrasil stretched over arcs.

Each plant will give only two or three, but large, tubers. This will be a healthy planting stock for the coming year. Right from the autumn it should be washed, held in hot water, manganese solution, processed with "Fitosporin", dried and put in five-liter glass jars. Banks tie a piece of cloth( but not a film) and put up to spring on the windowsills to light. From time to time, banks should be turned different sides to the light. In the spring, before planting, the tubers will have to be cut along by 2-3 parts a couple of days before planting. No further processing is necessary.

You can improve the planting material by growing it from seeds. To do this, remove the ripened berries of potatoes, when they begin to bore, remove seeds from them and dry them. In late March, plant them on seedlings, like tomatoes. Seedlings raspekirovat, care for, like behind the seedlings of tomatoes. Landed in early May under a double shelter in the garden or after the end of night frosts in the open ground.

In the middle of summer dig up a small, the size of beans, potatoes and store it in the cellar or the bottom compartment of the refrigerator until next spring. Such small potatoes are best grown through seedlings, then it will give a good planting material for the next year.

Now there are seeds of hybrid potatoes from the seeds of which potatoes are grown in the same way, but they do not get small nodules, but quite a good yield of tubers of medium size in just one summer. True, these tubers can not serve as planting material for future years, since, like all hybrids, they do not inherit parental properties and do not give seeds. They are meant for eating.

Rapid propagation of a new variety

You can propagate a new variety in the same way, as well as improve, that is, through sprouts. Only it is necessary to give each sprout grow up to 10-12 cm and divide it into 3 parts. Then, each part grows in a separate container, drowning when planted in the soil for a third of the length of the sprout.

Each tuber has 8-12 eyes, and each eye has three buds. When you break the sprout from the first awakened kidney, the second of the same

will follow. After it breaks out, the third kidney will awaken. And so each of the 10 eyes will give 3 sprouts in turn. Each sprout you divide by three, which means you can get 90 bush seedlings from each tuber. Usually every plant grown from a small sprout gives only one large tuber.

Soil preparation for planting

The potato field in autumn is recommended to be dug to the depth of the incomplete bayonet bayonet in order to dig deeper into pests and weed seeds. Then they can not get to the surface. In spring, the soil should not be dig, but only to loosen the pitchfork. If the soil is heavily compacted over the winter, then make a shallow digging for half a stump of the shovel.

Potatoes begin to germinate only when the soil warms up in the tuber zone to 12-15 degrees, so in regions with a colder climate, particularly in the Northwest, potatoes should not be planted deep( deeper than half a shovel of the shovel).Then the potatoes will be in the upper, warmed, layer of soil and quickly move into growth.

With a deep landing( on the spade bayonet), the temperature in the root zone is only 7-8 degrees. The root system will not develop, and on the mother tubers will begin to grow small nodules.

Preparation of tubers

For planting it is necessary to take a tuber the size of a chicken egg. They will require about 400 pieces per hundred square meters. If we take smaller tubers, then of them few stems will grow and the yield will be small. In this case, 2-3 tubers should be placed in each well. If you take too large potatoes, then because of the large reserve of nutrients in it, the aerial part will develop faster than the roots. When the supply of food in the mother tuber is over, the root system will not correspond to the aboveground part of the plants. Development will stop until the root system grows up and the balance between the aboveground and underground parts of plants is restored. That is, a large tuber slows the growth and development of plants. Therefore, large tubers must be cut before planting, but not across, and along, so that on both halves there is approximately the same number of ocelli( there are many of them in the upper part of the tuber, and a little in the lower part).To cut off the tubers should be cut 2-3 days before planting, otherwise the fresh cut into the tuber from the soil will easily penetrate the infection.

About a month before planting the tubers should be warmed, filling them with hot( 42-45 degrees) water. Once the water has cooled down, add a solution of potassium permanganate in a bright pink color and hold the tubers in it for 15 minutes. Then drain the water, rinse the tubers with cold water and dry. After this, we must put the tubers in the light, in a cool place, so that they become cemented - they form a venom of solanine, which will protect potatoes after planting from many pests, including mice. After 20 days, the tubers must be moved to a dark and warm place for germination.

It is not recommended to plant unprocessed potatoes in areas with cool summers, as the soils are cold in these regions. They warm up in the spring for a long time, and the potatoes lie in the soil as in a vault, not germinating until the soil in the tuber zone warms up to 12-15 degrees. Preliminary germination of tubers accelerates maturation of potatoes for 2 weeks.

To prevent the growing stem from picking up the nutrients from the tuber, do not forget to break out the sprouting sprouts prematurely. And it should be done as early as possible, while the sprout is small. Usually, with an interval of 10-15 days, the next kidney from the same eye is awakened to growth. However, there are such varieties, for example, Nevsky, whose second sprout from the eye appears late( more than a month).Therefore, one should not break off the sprouts shortly before planting. His tubers generally can not ascend after breaking the sprouts, they will immediately begin to form small potatoes directly on the mother tuber.