Potato maturation period: how long does it grow from planting to harvest?

Potato is one of the most common vegetables, without which it is difficult to imagine a summer cottage. The ripening period of potatoes depends on many factors. First of all, it is the tuber variety itself, as well as climatic conditions. If the first factor can be influenced, then the second has to be simply put up with. If it's a cold summer, then the harvest may be poor.

After how many days to dig up potatoes?

When planting potatoes, it is important to consider the region of residence. In different areas, the timing from planting to harvesting the same variety may vary due to differences in climate.

Growing season by potato varieties:

• Early potatoes, which ripen approximately 50-61 days after planting the tubers in the soil.
• An early ripe variety ripens 66-85 days after planting in the ground.
• Mid-season variety will ripen 86-95 days after planting.
• Mid-late - from 96 to 115 days, after planting the tubers in the soil.
• The maturity of late potatoes starts from 115 days.

The growing season may vary up or down. Again, this depends on the weather conditions that prevail in the season. It is impossible to influence this.

What determines the rate of tuber maturation?

But, even choosing a variety according to the ripening period of tubers, after planting, one cannot be sure that the crop can be obtained exactly by a specific date. Vegetation is influenced by a large number of factors.

Factors that affect growth rate:

• In which region is the vegetable grown.
• Planted potatoes will grow earlier if tubers are planted in early May.
• Weather conditions.
• Making a large amount of mineral and organic fertilizers.
• The growing season of potatoes is reduced if planted in nutrient-poor soil. On fertile soil, growth does not accelerate, and you can harvest until late autumn.
• Lack of moisture also affects how quickly tubers grow. If the summer turned out to be dry and there was little rain, then the potato harvesting period is reduced.

If the growing season was shortened for the last two reasons, then such potatoes will not be as tasty, and will also be poorly stored.Therefore, if possible, it is advisable to regularly water the potatoes (if there is no rain in summer) and, before planting potatoes in open ground, apply mineral and organic fertilizers to the ground. When the tubers ripen on time, they are tasty and can be stored for more than one month.

How to speed up the ripening of potatoes?

You can try to speed up the ripening of potatoes after the flowering period so that young potatoes do not have to be dug up in late autumn. This will help those summer residents who are delayed with the landing of planting material. You can also try to increase the growth of potatoes if it turned out to be a cold and rainy summer.

What to do if the bushes have grown a lot and it is impossible to delay harvesting?

• The easiest way is to cut the green tops when the planting material has recently begun to sprout and the bushes have not yet begun to bloom.
• To make the potatoes ripen earlier, you can spray the bushes with a solution of copper sulfate 14 days before harvesting. The tool draws moisture from the leaves and the maturity of the tubers comes faster. The leaves begin to turn brown in the same month, curl up and dry out.
• To speed up the ripening of potatoes, if it turned out to be a long and cold summer, you can use magnesium chlorate. For 1 liter of water, you need to take 25 g, dilute chlorate in water and spray the bushes with it. The stages of potato ripening will then be reduced, and after a while it will be possible to dig it out. If the weather is dry, then the potatoes ripen after spraying already on the 6th day.
• To make potatoes ripen earlier than expected, they can be treated with superphosphate. Spray potatoes after flowering. For 1 liter of warm water 25 g of superphosphate. It is better to choose the time for the procedure in the evening.
• Tubers ripen faster if they are germinated before planting in the soil. This is easy to do and takes a little time to germinate.Potatoes are germinated in a well-ventilated area. Straw or hay can be laid out on the floor. During the day the temperature should be no more than +15. At night, for full germination, it must be lowered to +7. Potatoes should germinate in 2-4 weeks. After the first roots began to grow on the tubers, they are watered with a solution of sodium chloride, ammonium nitrate and superphosphate (15:15:55 per 10 liters of water). After two days, the tubers need to be watered. This will promote growth when the potatoes are planted in the soil.
• Wilting is another way to accelerate growth. The potatoes need to be laid out in one layer (it is not necessary to lay them out so that the sun hits the tubers). After a week and a half, eyes should appear on it. Then you can start landing. Dried potatoes are planted in the usual way.

After these procedures, the stages of potato growth will be reduced and then you can safely dig up young potatoes without fear of damaging them in the ground.This issue is especially relevant for those summer residents whose plot is located in a lowland where water accumulates or when the ground contains a lot of peat and potatoes grow slowly.

When to dig up potatoes?

As mentioned earlier, potatoes ripen in different ways. By what signs can you determine that the time has come to dig up the crop?

Main signs of potato ripening:

• The main sign by which you can determine that the potato has ripened is dried tops. In early ripe varieties, this may begin at the end of July. After all the tops of the grown potatoes have dried up, you can start harvesting.
• The second important thing to pay attention to is the weather. It is better to dig potatoes in dry and sunny weather. As a rule, potatoes ripen by the end of August. Therefore, it is better not to delay until autumn and do it before the rains.If the shade of the vegetative organs of plants (leaves, stems) is green, then you should think about artificially accelerating ripening.
• Also ripening depends on sowing. If the potato was planted at the end of May, then it will not be necessary to dig it out until September. This can be determined by the phases of development of the bushes. If the haulm is still green in August, it should be a few weeks before it dries up.

You can dig up a potato crop at a temperature not lower than +17 degrees. Then during storage the potatoes will not turn black and not deteriorate. The most unfavorable time is the morning hours, when frosts have already come. If you dig up potatoes at such a time, they will quickly dry out and cannot be eaten.

After harvesting, it is necessary to collect all the tops and weeds. If this is not done, then on the next goal the plot may become overgrown with weeds and then it will take a long time to remove it from the garden.

During the digging of potatoes, you can immediately select the best and largest tubers for further planting. They need to be left for several days in the sun so that solanine begins to accumulate in the potatoes. The peel should take on a greenish tint. Such tubers will be stored longer and rodents will not spoil them. And next year you can grow a good harvest from them.

If space permits, then before you put the potatoes in the basement, you need to hold them for some time in the sun. In this way, you can kill all pathogens, as well as increase the keeping quality.

Dried potatoes should be scattered in bags, after throwing out spoiled and gnawed tubers. It is advisable to store potatoes away from direct sunlight so that they do not germinate. The room should be well ventilated, the humidity in the cellar should be high. Observing all the rules of planting and storage, you can eat potatoes all year round.

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