When to dig potatoes after flowering: the right harvesting time

For a novice gardener, the presence of potato beds in almost every neighbor's plot gives the illusion that growing a crop is a task subject to any beginner. However, this delusion persists until the time comes when you need to dig potatoes and, in fact, sum up all the efforts expended.

The experience of experienced homeowners shows that even compliance with all the rules of agricultural technology in the process of growing potatoes does not exclude crop loss only due to non-compliance with the terms of harvesting the crop and improper preparation for this final stage of all manipulations.

Factors affecting potato ripening

In manuals on agricultural technology, averaged data on the timing of digging potatoes are indicated, corresponding to the climatic features of central Russia - this is approximately from August 17-20 to September 10-15. However, you need to adhere to these terms with an eye to a sufficiently large number of additional factors that can significantly move the period of potato readiness for digging in one direction or another.

The timing of potato ripening depends on the following conditions:

• features of the development of a particular variety of potatoes - you need to find out the details of the planting dates and the period when you need to dig potatoes from the seller of seed material;
• the time when the seed was planted in the ground - the earlier the seed potatoes were lowered into the holes, the sooner it should be dug;
• the degree of care, the presence or absence of fertilizing - the application of fertilizers in excess of the norm entails a violent increase in the green mass of tops to the detriment of the crop, but the complete absence of fertilizing will affect the crop negatively, because then there will be almost nothing to dig;
• the qualitative composition of the soil under potatoes - the poorer the land, the faster the tubers will be ready for digging, but the poorer the harvest will be;
• the amount of moisture maintained in the soil - in overdried land, the tubers will ripen a week and a half ahead of schedule, but will be small and rare.

It is important to remember that even the simultaneous planting of several potato varieties of similar maturity does not mean that the harvest will take place at the same time.

Signs of ripening potatoes

It's okay to dig up a few pounds of potatoes for dinner a few days before they reach full maturity - there are lovers of just such a very young and slightly unripe root crop.Another thing is to dig potatoes for promising storage. It is important here to define specifically “that day”, which by all indications will indicate the optimal maturity of the culture.

Signs of potato ripening apply to all crop varieties:

• Appearance of the green mass (tops) of potatoes. You can look closely at the state of the deciduous part of the bush starting from 65 days from the emergence of shoots - during this period, the tops show the first signs of wilting. On the 85-95th day, when the tops turn yellow, the collection can already be planned.
• Kind of potatoes. To assess this factor, you need to dig up 2-3 potato bushes at different ends of the beds and remove a couple of root crops from each plant. Determining the condition of the tuber is simple - you need to rub the potato with your finger and if the peel does not reach for your finger, then it's time to dig the culture.
• Characterization of the soil surface around the bushes. Since the ripe potatoes will burst the soil around the root system, the ground under the bush will be cracked and raised with a mound.

To understand if you can already dig potatoes, you should resort to other tricks. It is necessary to drop a little alcohol solution of iodine on the cut of the tuber - it should turn pale purple. Another sure sign of the readiness of the crop for harvesting is to dig out one bush and, holding it by the tops with one hand, tear off the harvest of the lowest tubers from the root system with the other. Potatoes that have reached maturity will peel off effortlessly.

Weather forecast and harvesting

Potatoes ripen most quickly during the period of strong summer heat, and if rare waterings are added to the long-term heat factor, the harvest time generally shifts to the first decade of August. When the weather forecasts indicate the approach of prolonged rains, it is better to accelerate the ripening of potatoes by any of the available methods and have time to dig out the roots before the water flows to the ground.

The most favorable conditions for digging potatoes come when the air temperature is not lower than 13 and not higher than 18 ^{C, and the weather is sunny. Thus, harvesting potatoes smoothly turns into timely drying of tubers.}

How does the variety affect the ripening period?

It is very important to choose the right potato variety for planting, focusing not so much on the promised yield, but on the degree of adaptation of the variety to the specific climatic and weather conditions of the region. It is known to divide all varieties of culture into 5 categories:

• Early ripe species, allowing you to harvest already on the 60th day from the date of planting.
• Medium-early species, ripening at about 70 days.
• Mid-ripening species that allows you to dig potatoes for 90 days from planting.
• Mid-late species, ripening for 100 days.
• Late-ripening species, ready for harvest after 100 days from planting.

It is clear that in central Russia, it is unreasonable to select varieties belonging to the last two categories of ripening - they are more suitable for the southern region. It is also irrational for our compatriots of the temperate climate zone to opt for super-early varieties of potatoes - the tubers simply do not have time to gain enough solar heat and will be poor in vitamin composition.

Tuber harvesting methods

The easiest way to collect potatoes is to use a special technique - a walk-behind tractor, however, not everyone can afford such equipment, and it is mainly applicable to large plots, and not several beds within a personal plot. In ordinary dachas, tubers are harvested manually, using a pitchfork or a bayonet shovel.

Using any mechanical method, you should come to terms with a certain percentage of "rejection" - damaged potatoes, of which the most intact ones should be immediately processed, and heavily cut ones should be thrown into a compost pit for rotting. The least waste is obtained when potatoes are harvested on light soils. At the same time, the root system is completely removed from the ground with one push on a fork or a shovel and does not require repeated immersion of a sharp tool into the ground.

Rules for operating a walk-behind tractor

If the entire garden devoted to cultivation occupies 1-3 acres, buy a unit with a capacity of more than 3 liters. s., irrational. Digging potatoes with such a device is not difficult - you need to immerse the pointed element of the mechanism in the ground and move after the device, holding it on the bed line.

You should decide in advance, even before planting potatoes, on the method of harvesting a good harvest, since for manual digging of tubers the distance between the rows of bushes does not matter, but for the movement of a walk-behind tractor, it should be at least one and a half body of the device. In any case, the distance between the rows should not be less than 45 cm, and the depth of the lower tubers is allowed by 20-25 cm.

Digging potatoes with a medium power walk-behind tractor takes several times less time spent exclusively on manual labor. When working on the site together (the second person follows the mechanism and picks potatoes from the ground), it takes, on average, 10 minutes per one hundred square meters of the garden.

Digging by hand

Digging potatoes by hand is best with a pitchfork, but if the soil is not too viscous and heavy, a bayonet shovel will also do a good job, however, it is categorically not recommended to break the clods of earth in which the root crops hide. The digging technique is extremely simple:

• at a distance of 15-20 cm from the bush, the tool at an angle of 30 ^{is immersed in the soil, followed by pressure on the concessions of a shovel or pitchfork and slightly lifting the clod above the soil level;}
• after that, the bush should be firmly grasped by the tops and pulled up until it is completely removed from the ground;
• if the tops are too dry and break easily or the ground is too tight and does not let go of the rhizome dotted with tubers, you need to carefully dig the bush on the other side and turn out the clod of earth along with the root crops.

In good dry weather, it is necessary to immediately sort the potatoes into tubers suitable for food and seed - too small to be used for food. To do this, you need to spread two squares of polyethylene near the beds and dump large root crops on one of them, and small ones on the other. Potatoes cut or damaged by insects are removed in a separate bucket.

Why do you need to dig up potatoes on time?

There are plenty of reasons to stick to planting and harvesting dates, and it's not just about the great taste of well-ripened potatoes. By continuing to grow plants after the onset of the rainy season in order to “bring” the tubers to a larger size, the gardener risks losing the entire crop, because at temperatures above 10 ^{С and incessant rains, fading, it was the bush turns green again, and the roots begin to sprout.}

Another danger of overexposure of potatoes in the soil lies in early autumn frosts. One or two frosty nights, which covered the ground with hoarfrost, reduce the possibility of crop preservation in winter by 70%. Such tubers, after being removed from the soil, quickly begin to rot, and when cooked, they give an unpleasant sweetish aftertaste.

Nothing good leads to the postponement of the harvest to a period earlier than it should be according to the potato grade.

Unripe tubers have inferior taste, watery pulp structure. The content of vitamins and microelements in them is much lower than in a mature culture, which significantly reduces the nutritional value of the product. In addition, unripe root crops have skins that are too thin and easily damaged, so potatoes dug up without regard for signs of maturity cannot be stored and are only suitable for consumption in the first week or two after digging.

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