Current crops for potatoes: which ones are better to sow in autumn?

Siderates for potatoes are used to keep a fertile plot from depletion. Not all gardeners have the opportunity to allocate a new "rested" field for cultivation every 3-4 years. Large farms also resort to this technique, as a result, sown areas are used with maximum efficiency.

Properties of plants - green manure

Sideration in agricultural technology is the most important component. Plants enrich the soil with nitrogen and other trace elements, saturate with oxygen. Most often, these are one-year-olds with powerful roots and a dense aerial part. They can be cultural and semi-cultural.All species are rapidly developing and growing green mass, many of them are natural phytoncides.

For potatoes, any of the green manures, except for nightshade, are suitable, as they have the same diseases and pests with it. Ways to use green manure:

1. Full (plowing green mass to a depth of 10 cm).
2. Mowing (grass grown in another field is laid in potato furrows).
3. Return (only the lower root part is used, the greens are taken out of the field).

From fungi and dangerous bacterial diseases of potatoes, the soil will be relieved by planting oilseed radish, colza, white mustard, rapeseed. Legumes serve as a source of nitrogen and potassium, and cereals will improve the structure of the soil. Cruciferous green manure are indispensable helpers in pest control.

Natural fertilizer has valuable qualities:

1. Creates favorable conditions for the development of beneficial microorganisms in the soil.
2. Attracts pollinating insects.
3. Prevents soil erosion.

Efficiency can be compared with the application of manure, not so readily available organic fertilizer. Plants saturate the soil with nitrogen and phosphorus necessary for potatoes. The same effect and humus, which decomposes longer.

Many farms combine or alternate these additions. The result is an environmentally friendly product. Potato manures are planted in autumn after harvest or in early spring.

Sowing spring green manure

Phacelia, white mustard, rapeseed, oats are sown in early spring. The soil should warm up to a depth of 3-5 cm. A good result is the use of a mixture of green manure. Throughout the season, potato bushes will be fed from decaying plant debris.

Spring sowing can be done in two ways:

1. Before planting potatoes. For mustard and phacelia, the earliest planting is possible, immediately after the snow melts, since these plants are not afraid of frost. Before potatoes, the field is dug up, green manure is plowed up.
2. Simultaneously with potatoes in the aisle. A "carpet" of herbs will protect the soil and young shoots from drying out. When green manure and potatoes are equal in height, the beds are spudded, cutting the stalks of green manure.

Pruning can be done in several steps:

1. Leave 5 cm of the aerial part, and the cut top is laid out in the aisles.
2. As soon as the shoots grow back, repeat the procedure.
3. Continue until potato harvest.

Some gardeners practice joint spring planting. On the sides of the potato holes, you can plant low-growing beans. In this case, the bean or bean will not only be a green manure, but also a compacting crop, with which a full-fledged birth is collected at the end of the season. There should be 3 times less beans in the furrow than potatoes.

Nodule bacteria of legumes will enrich the soil with the elements necessary for potatoes, and it, in turn, will protect bean bushes from low temperatures. This type of planting is “confusing” for the Colorado potato beetle, and there are practically no larvae on the leaves. On early potatoes, legumes are sown after the root sprouts hatch.

At one time, calendula can grow in a potato field, a flower is planted between the bushes. The smell of this plant will repel the Colorado potato beetle.

Autumn green manure

It is more rational to plant green manure for potatoes in the fall. Harvested early potatoes provide grass space for green manure. Thus, green manure after potatoes in August protect the site from being filled with weeds. According to many reviews, the best green manure for potatoes are:

• alfalfa;
• bean, peas;
• donnik.

Seeds are scattered over the surface of the soil, focusing on the consumption rates indicated in the packages. Lightly sprinkle or roll with a roller. If the weather is dry, then the seedlings must be watered.

Sowing begins immediately, without waiting for the arrival of cold nights. Before frost, green manure for potatoes should grow back in autumn, otherwise there will be little effect. During the winter, the stems rot under a layer of snow, and in spring, plant residues are plowed into the soil.

If the shoots outgrow, become too voluminous and coarse, then the grass is mowed. Part is laid on the field, the excess is transferred to another place. Here are the best green manure crops to sow in autumn for potatoes: lupins, spring vetch, mustard, any legumes.

Already in August, you can plant winter green manure - rye. The plant is considered a kind of "soil orderly". One of its advantages is the ability to convert phosphorus into a form that is most easily absorbed by potatoes. Rye stalks are plowed in spring when they reach a height of no more than 25 cm After 14 days, the field is already well prepared for potatoes.

Flaws and errors in seeding

Too thick a layer of planted green mass will not decompose in the soil, but will turn sour. Therefore, the height of plants is controlled, plowing is carried out in a timely manner, not allowing the crops to overgrow, and the seeds to ripen and wake up.

Sunflower is not sown as green manure for potatoes. This plant impoverishes the top fertile soil layer, massive sunflower stalks slowly rot. Rye as green manure and wheat attract click beetles (wireworms), so these crops are used only in autumn after potato harvest.

The disadvantages of using green manure include:

1. A clear positive effect does not appear immediately, but may stretch over several seasons.
2. Financial costs for the purchase of seeds and agrotechnical activities.
3. Specific species must be selected for each type of soil and crop.
4. Some of them should not be planted in poor unfertilized soils.

Green manure must alternate, observing the rules of crop rotation. Otherwise, you will get a second monoculture, which will deplete the nutrient resources of the soil.

The expected effect depends on the density of crops. A sparse planting will be useless, and a too thick planting will "clog" the main crops. They strictly observe the terms of planting and harvesting, do not allow coarsening of the green mass.

Correct selection

Which green manure is better to choose for potatoes depends on the type of soil of the site:

1. Compacted soil areas without nutrients are planted with: alfalfa, vetch, rapeseed, mustard, vetch-oat and mustard-bean mixtures.
2. On any soil that needs disinfection: calendula, marigold, oats, phacelia, early ripening ryegrass.
3. On soils with nematode larvae, wireworm: vetch-oat mixtures, rapeseed, nasturtium, oil radish.
4. On dry soils, drought-resistant green manure for potatoes: rapeseed, rapeseed, phacelia.
5. Cruciferous soils will improve the structure of erosive soils.
6. In areas with a close occurrence of primer: lupine and seradella.
7. For poor organics: cruciferous, legumes and cereals.

The most common potato green manure is lupine. After 1.5 months, the tops of the plant can be embedded in the soil. Roots penetrating deep saturate the top layer with important elements for the development of potatoes.

Rye grains are sown after harvesting potatoes in autumn. The grass is suitable for any type of soil, well prevents soil erosion by melt water.

Cold-resistant mustard is sown by experienced gardeners several times a season. Before the flowers appear, the greens have time to mow several times. Mustard is a source of potassium and a remedy for wireworm.

Oats will protect the potato field from weeds. Crops are sown both in spring and autumn.Especially effective are mixtures with vetch or peas with the addition of a small amount of ammonium nitrate. Beans help get rid of weeds. Oil radish is considered the record holder for protecting a potato field from creeping couch grass.

Early ripening peas are very popular among green manure fertilizers. Pea stalks dissolve very quickly in the soil, and the roots actively saturate the earth with nitrogen.

The use of green manure can compete with modern complex fertilizers. With proper management of the process, the result compensates for all financial and labor costs.

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