Potato care: how to care for a good harvest

In order for the potato harvest to please with the quantity and quality, it is not enough to plant it in the ground. Potatoes need regular care, in addition to hilling, they need watering, weeding, pest control and other measures that guarantee a 100% yield that will be long and well stored.

Potato care rules

Planting is not the most labor-intensive procedure in the potato growing scheme.

Physical effort will be needed during:

• weeding;
• hilling;
• loosening;
• cleaning.

Quality and sharp tools greatly facilitate routine physical work. There are many potato care products. There are hand tools and mechanized equipment. For a good harvest, balanced fertilizers and timely watering are needed. Top dressing and irrigation should be carried out based on the recommendations that the manufacturer gives in the description of the variety.

Watering potatoes

In regions where it rains with enviable regularity, the soil is always moist and potatoes do not need to be watered. But not all vegetable growers are lucky. In many regions of the Russian Federation, rains are rare in summer, so watering is needed.

Need them during flowering. When potato bushes bloom, they begin to form tubers and the lack of moisture in the soil reduces their number. There are varieties of potatoes bred for dry regions, but most require moisture.

In the south, potato fields are watered once a week, in the northern latitudes it is enough to irrigate once every 2 weeks.

Approximate potato watering scheme:

• 3 weeks have passed since planting, the tops have grown by 10 cm - time for the first watering;
• buds have appeared - it's time to water the potatoes a second time;
• root crops began to grow actively, which means you need to water the potatoes for the third time.

How to water?

Several irrigation systems have been developed and put into practice, each vegetable grower chooses the most practical and efficient for himself:

• sprinkling;
• in furrows;
• using a drip irrigation system.

The most common and cheapest method of watering is sprinkling. Watering is carried out manually with a watering can or hose.

The method has disadvantages:

• irrational use of water;
• moisture on leaves and stems, which can stimulate the development of late blight;
• Decreased effectiveness of insecticides due to washing off during watering.

Irrigation in the furrow, leaves the tops dry, moisture goes directly to the root of the plant.

Important disadvantages of the method:

• water consumption is not justified large;
• the top layer of soil is compressed, which reduces the amount of oxygen supplied to the tubers.

Drip irrigation system

The drip irrigation system deserves special attention, its popularity is growing.It is effective to use when growing any kind of vegetables and ornamental crops in the garden. With the right irrigation scheme, high-quality equipment, each plant receives moisture directly under the root, water is consumed exactly as much as the plant needs at this stage of development.

Pros of the method:

• reducing water consumption;
• potatoes get sick less often;
• reducing the volume of physical labor;
• you can add fertilizers in the required concentration to the water for irrigation;
• no need to loosen the row spacing, as crusting does not occur with drip irrigation.

Loosening

Tubers develop only in loose soil. The first loosening procedure is carried out after the appearance of the first shoots and is repeated until the leaves are closed. The soil is loosened both in the aisles and around the bushes.

Loosening depth 3 cm, the frequency depends on the structure of the soil. Loose, light soils require several treatments per season. Clay and loamy soils need to be loosened after each rain (watering).

Potato harrowing

Harrowing is also loosening, only it is carried out using special mechanisms.

Harrowing is carried out when growing potatoes on an industrial scale.

The procedure is carried out several times during the season. In addition to loosening the soil, weeds are removed during harrowing.

Weeding potatoes

Potatoes without weeding will be overgrown with weeds and there will be no good harvest. Weeds are removed by hand, pulling them out of the bushes. Most of the weeds are destroyed during loosening, hilling, harrowing.

Potato hilling

This is one of the highlights of potato care. Without hilling, there will be no full-fledged formation of tubers. Raking the ground to the potato stems, they improve the access of oxygen to the roots, create conditions for the formation of tubers from stolons. There are several ways of hilling.

Classic Hilling

During the classic hilling on potato rows, the earth is raked up from both sides. The tops of each bush are sprinkled with earth. A groove (furrow) is formed between the rows, into which water is then let in for irrigation.

Fan Hilling

With the help of fan hilling increase the yield of potatoes. The earth is raked in the center of the bush, while pushing the tops and improving its illumination. Some summer residents prefer not to fill the bushes with soil, but lay dry grass or straw in the center. It has been proven that this method of hilling increases the yield by 2 times.

High hilling of potatoes

This type of hilling makes sense to use when growing late varieties of potatoes. Due to the high ridges, the number of tubers in the nest and their size increase. For early and ultra-early varieties, this method is unacceptable; they need to be hilled low.

Food for potatoes

When planting potatoes in the hole, you can add a special mineral fertilizer for potatoes; there are a lot of them on sale now.

Almost all fertilizers are produced in the form of granules that contain the necessary set of nutrients.

The granules must be mixed with the ground, after which the tuber should be placed in the hole with the sprouts up. If there is wood ash, then you can pour it directly on the potato or a handful or 1-2 tablespoons.

When potatoes are planted in the same field for many years, the land is depleted, so organic (humus, compost) and mineral fertilizers are required every year. Sow green manure in autumn Sow green manure in autumn - vetch, rye.

Don't forget to feed in the summer. You can follow the standard scheme:

• feed with ammonium nitrate when the tops grow to 10-15 cm;
• when the first inflorescences appear on the bushes, feed a second time, use an infusion of ash (a glass in a bucket of water) and add potassium sulfate (1 tbsp.);
• with the active formation of tubers, pour each bush with a solution of slurry with the addition of 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate.

Care for growing potatoes

We have considered all the activities that potatoes need during growth. In July, the bushes close up, so they no longer need to be hilled. Caring for potatoes at this time is easier.It is necessary to ensure that pests or signs of late blight do not appear on the bushes, follow the watering and fertilizing scheme.

Potato Growth Regulators

You can increase the yield of potatoes with the help of growth regulators. Agronomists recommend using:

• Epin-Extra.
• Zircon.
• Siliplant.

Protection from pests and diseases

The most dangerous potato pest is the Colorado potato beetle and its larvae. With a moderate number of pests, they are harvested by hand, and the bushes are treated with infusions of wormwood or celandine. In case of severe infection, insecticides are used to treat late and mid-late varieties. Early maturing varieties are not treated with chemicals.

Potato diseases (late blight, rot) are treated with biological products:

• Guapsine.
• Agate-25K.
• Immunocytophyte.

Description of potato care methods will help to grow a good potato crop.

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