Well, where without it - without boiled, fried, baked. imagine our modern life without this vegetable plant - it is simply not possible. He is everywhere. In fashionable restaurants and student fast foods, at festive feasts and daily dinners, in factory canteens and at picnics. You can cook anything from it - from banal side dishes to delicious gourmet dishes. And who would have thought that a vegetable that occupies most of our gardens actually entered our habitual life not long ago - only some 200 years ago.

What do fast food and haute cuisine have in common?

(Illustration source: avto-polis.kiev.ua)

Surely you have already wondered about which vegetable plant we are so entertaining trying to tell you. We open the mysterious curtain and, to the solemn sounds of fanfare, we present you our next vegetable guest. Learned? Well, of course, this is nothing but an ordinary potato! Although, to be honest, you can’t call him ordinary. And there are certain reasons for this.

History of the potato

Let's start with the fact that even 200-250 years ago, in Russia, potatoes were never even heard of. And even if they heard, it was only the faces close to the royal court of Peter I. Romanov was known as a very exalted autocrat, loving all sorts of overseas marvels. With his lightest hand, not only the latest technologies for those times appeared in Russia, but also many exotic plants, never seen before. In the 17th century, the tsar brought to his fiefdom a whole "basket" of strange plants that he had seen during his many travels "through Europe". Among them were strange, brown tubers that tasted raw - absolutely disgusting. But - the palace girls, by order of the monarch, had to plant those same tubers in the Russian land and take care of them, like a small child. After a couple of months, the overseas grass blossomed small flowers, in appearance very stucco (beautiful). miniature exotic flowers court ladies liked it so much that they even began to decorate their elegant hairstyles with them. But - here's the problem. After flowering, that overseas grass gave fruits, green, round, like a small apple. The yard girl, impudent, not very friendly with her mind, tasted an emerald apple - and soon died of an unidentified ailment. The doctors thought, leafed through the old books and decided that she was poisoned in any way. Yes, and they ordered strictly to the poisonous bush and not to come close, and to transplant it into the greenhouse out of harm's way.

For a long time, potatoes were considered an ornamental, poisonous plant.

(Illustration source: vashe-plodorodie.ru)

The tsar-father got angry. What are you doing here, they say, heresy. In the Dutch lands, from which I sent you nodules, both their barons and French viscounts use that vegetable for food and do not suffer from mortal ailments. Yes, and they praise - they say, yummy! And you, foolish uncouth, in the kitchens of European do not understand! Do not serve green apples, but peel the tubers and cook until cooked!

Like this, to put it literary language, one can describe the first attempt to "introduce" potatoes into the vast garden expanses of our homeland. Although, to tell the truth, the idea of ​​Peter I suffered a complete fiasco - the villagers categorically refused to cultivate overseas vegetables in their gardens, preferring more traditional turnips and rye. Mass cultivation of potatoes in Russia began only in late XIX century, at the behest of Nicholas I. Since then, potatoes have been one of the main strategic products of our country.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) - tuberous herbaceous plant Solanaceae family. The homeland of this vegetable is South America, where it was successfully grown by local Indian tribes. Potatoes came to Europe thanks to Columbus. It should be noted that not only Russia at first could not figure out how to use it in food. Similar incidents happened in Spain and France. However, in these states, as, indeed, in Russia, potatoes still managed to win a place of honor among the most used food products.

Plant overseas, never seen before

(Illustration source: www.da-club.ru)

Pundits are still arguing about the usefulness of potatoes. And only one thing does not lend itself to any criticism - a large yield and high rate satiety. Just a few potatoes can satisfy even the most severe hunger. However, potatoes still contain a number of beneficial vitamins and trace elements that can provide the body with vital substances.

Potatoes are widely used in cooking due to their taste. Most of the dishes familiar to us are prepared from it - from ordinary mashed potatoes, to amazing gratins, from french fries, to magnificent pies, from dumplings, to sweet pastries. Well, for soups, potatoes have become simply an indispensable ingredient. Potatoes are not particularly demanding for care, but are kept fresh when relevant conditions- long enough, up to 6-7 months. In general, everything speaks only in his favor. So, let's not waste our time in vain, but rather let's study all the intricacies of potato growing.

Haute "potato" cuisine

(Illustration source: patelnya.com.ua)

Autumn

We begin preparations for the future cultivation of potatoes in the fall, in the second half of September. The fact is that the best fertilizer for potatoes is cow dung, and when fresh, it is very harmful to the plant. Manure needs to lie in the ground all winter so that in the spring it can give our potatoes all the necessary nutrients. As a rule, manure is applied to the soil immediately before digging it. The bed must be dug to a fairly impressive depth - up to 30-40 cm.

Best for growing potatoes sunny areas gardens in which they previously grew cereal crops. Growing potatoes in the same place is strongly discouraged.

We leave the prepared plot of the garden for the winter and wait for spring, simultaneously deciding on the choice of potato variety.

Potato varieties

Most high yielding varieties potatoes suitable for growing in our latitudes: Impala, Rosara, Nevsky, Sineglazka, Condor, Lugovskoy, Povin, Slavyanka and Cosmos. All of them differ in the color of the shell, taste, size and shape of the tubers. In addition, at different varieties potatoes can be different time maturation. We will be engaged in the cultivation of medium and late-ripening potatoes, which are best suited for a long winter storage.

Varieties of potatoes - a huge variety

(Illustration source: dacha-olgino.narod.ru)

Spring

Well, we have decided on the variety. Now - we begin the preparation of planting material. Potatoes reproduce by tubers. Tubers are used as planting material. small sizes. A few days (3-5) before planting, potatoes must be thoroughly sorted and dried for outdoors. If the potato "eyes" (axillary buds" provocatively look at you with white sprouts, you can partially remove them, leaving a couple of sprouted buds. It is recommended to cut too large potatoes into several parts, each of which should contain at least 1 eye.

We will plant potatoes according to a long-established tradition, in early May. By the way, this tradition is not so associated with moderate warm temperature air, necessary for teaching seedlings, how many with multiple days off, falling precisely on the first May week.

Before direct planting, it is not recommended to dig the garden. On the soil settled after the winter, we make the marking of future rows or holes. Row spacing - 60, 70 cm. According to the intended marking, we make separate holes (20-30 cm from each other), or rows. The depth of both holes and rows should be from 15 to 20 cm. If you plant potatoes in rows, the distance between tubers of 20-30 cm must be strictly observed. We put a potato at each landing site, with the eye to the top, squeezing it a little into the ground. We cover the potatoes with a 2-centimeter layer of soil and set off to wait for the first shoots.

potato eyes

(Illustration source: www.art-pen.ru)

Soon the potatoes will sprout - 7-14 days after planting. Dark green, wrinkled leaves of a round shape will appear on the surface of the soil, from which a rather lush bush will soon grow. The first work that awaits you at this stage is the systematic loosening of the topsoil and active weed control, the most dangerous of which is creeping couch grass. Long, unusually malicious shoots of this weed literally pierce potato tubers through and through, and a highly developed root system takes away all useful substances from the soil.

Watering a potato bed, in principle, is not recommended - the plant itself is able to provide itself with the necessary amount of moisture. As for top dressing, then it's up to you. If you want to grow an environmentally friendly product - add mineral fertilizers not worth it. Moreover, from their excess, your future harvest will eventually begin to darken from the inside. If the environmental friendliness of potatoes is not important for you, after the appearance of 4-5 leaves, sprinkle each potato bush large quantity dry nitrophoska.

Summer

So, day after day, and summer has come. June is the time of active leaf formation and the beginning of the formation of miniature tubers on the root system of potatoes. It's time to make the first hilling. Gently cover the lower part of the bushes with a small layer of earth, simultaneously forming even rows on the bed. Hilling is necessary to activate the formation of tubers and for their subsequent protection from sunlight (under the influence of the sun, potato tubers turn green and turn greenish, it is strictly forbidden to use green potatoes for food). For this process, you can use a regular garden hoe or a special plow.

First hilling

(Illustration source: sadochek-ogorodik.ru)

If you go out to the garden in the morning, admire the potato patch - your soul rejoices. Even late May frosts spared our nightshade miracle. Ouch! But what is it? What kind of strange, ugly red creatures are crawling on potato leaves, nibbling them to the very stem? Meet yours main enemy, Colorado beetle.

The Colorado potato beetle is an extremely harmful leaf beetle that attacks potato beds and destroys plants almost completely. Although, in fact, the main pest of potatoes is not the beetle itself, but its larvae - red, ugly, with black dots. As soon as you notice these creatures on your potato plantation - immediately start a fierce war with them!

You have only two options: eco-friendly, and not so much. In the first case, we arm ourselves with a bucket and a broom. We slowly pass along the potato rows, shaking off all the uninvited invaders from the plants directly into the bucket, inspecting the underside of the leaves along the way and destroying the bright yellow colorado eggs. Naturally, you will not collect all the insects at once. This procedure will have to be carried out in several stages with an interval of 2-3 days. And do not try to let the poor bugs out in the far wasteland! Without any scruples of conscience, crush this red-striped evil with the soles of rubber boots!

The second method is simpler, but involves the use chemicals. Get the appropriate product, dilute it in the required amount of water, strictly following the instructions, and spray the “explosive mixture” over the potato bed with a spray gun, without missing a single bush, not a single potato twig. Fortunately, modern facilities against Colorado potato beetles are quite effective and minimally harmful to human health.

The Colorado potato beetle is the main enemy of potatoes

(Illustration source: tomsk-novosti.ru)

At the end of June, the potato begins its flowering period. Beautiful flowers will appear on the plants, the color of which depends on the variety - from white to dark purple. We continue to loosen the soil, fight weeds and produce the second, last hilling.

The flowering period of potatoes takes a long time, until the end of July. After flowering, the same “apples” are formed on the bushes, which are very dangerous for humans. They contain a very strong poison solanine, which can even cause a coma.

From the second half of July, we practically stop tillage and weed control. Now they are not afraid of our potatoes. If you can't wait to feast on the newly baked potato crop, you are welcome. By that time, the potatoes will already grow tubers, referred to as "young". Until they have a dense peel and can be cooked from them delicious dish, having cleaned from a thin film, boiled in boiling water, stewed in butter and sour cream and generously sprinkled with chopped dill. Digging up a whole potato bush for this is not worth it. Put on work gloves on your hands, carefully rake the ground around the bush, feel for the potatoes and gently tear them off the roots. Having collected required amount young potatoes, do not forget to carefully dig in the roots with earth - they will still have time to grow more than one tuber.

Potato fruits are very poisonous

(Illustration source: www.legom.info)

And autumn again

In fact, potatoes will be ready to harvest from the end of August. And according to tradition, we will dig it in the first weeks of September. Unfortunately, a person cannot fully control the yield of potatoes, since it largely depends on weather conditions. Too dry or too rainy summers significantly reduce the yield of potatoes. But - you can’t argue with the ode. Moreover, experienced gardeners unanimously repeat - potatoes will give birth in a year! Be that as it may, no one is immune from this. In any case, the minimum (1:3) yield is able to provide the amount of potatoes that you have enough for the whole winter.

The last 2-3 weeks before harvesting potatoes are especially important. It is at this time that the compaction of the upper layer of the potato takes place, the quality of which determines the period of subsequent storage. From mid-August, in medium and late-ripening varieties of potatoes, the ground parts begin to dry out. To simplify and speed up the formation of a dense peel, 2 weeks before harvesting (late August, early September), it is necessary to mow dried tops. This can be done with a regular scythe, sickle or trimmer. We remove the beveled tops from the garden, dry them, and in the future we burn them and use the ash as an organic fertilizer for the beds.

First taste

(Illustration source: www.vitbichi.by)

Choose a warm, windy day for harvesting potatoes. If during the last few days there have been heavy rains, it is better to wait for sunny weather. In any case, you will have to dry the “wet” potatoes in the barn for more than one day.

Potatoes can be dug with a shovel, a two-pronged hoe, or a special plow. We collect potatoes in buckets or baskets and transfer them to a dry, well-ventilated room, preferably with a roof. In it, our potatoes will lie down for two or three days, during which it must be systematically transferred from one side to the other (to dry well). If you managed to harvest a wet crop, drying can take up to a whole week.

When digging potatoes, they can be sorted on the spot, separately stacking larger tubers for culinary use, medium ones for planting material for next year. Small potatoes are usually used for animal feed. If sorting in the garden is not included in your plans, you will have time to sort out the potatoes later, after drying.

Harvesting

(Illustration source: domovod.blogspot.com)

Dried potatoes must be sorted, sorted (if not already done) and transported to a direct place for winter storage. Potatoes are stored in dry, ventilated cellars, scattered in a specially designated place. The main condition is that the potatoes should not come into contact with the ground. Usually, under the potato set wooden decking with small gaps, or they lay it in several layers in wooden boxes. The old-fashioned way: storing potatoes in a "kopts" - a hole specially dug on the street, lined with straw and dry foliage, with a mandatory air vent. Potatoes are carefully poured to the bottom of the pit, insulated with layers of straw, alternating with layers of earth. In this form, potatoes can be stored for up to 8 months. The main thing is to comply with certain temperature regime and humidity index. If the temperature and humidity are too high, the potatoes will either sprout or rot, and very coldy- will nullify your entire crop.

Pozdnyakova L. G.

The potato culture has interesting feature: for procreation, 2 mechanisms are simultaneously involved - reproduction by seeds and tubers. Set berries with a large number of seeds are of no value to an ordinary summer resident. Moreover, they consider them poisonous and try to avoid contact with them.

Traditionally, the vegetative method is used to grow potato crops: the tubers are planted in whole or in parts. Approximately 1 month after the emergence of seedlings, the most important period in the development of the plant begins - flowering.

With favorable weather conditions The first shoots appear about 1 week after planting in the ground. From this moment, the intensive growth of the bush begins: its above-ground and underground parts. About a month later, the potato bush throws out inflorescences:

• early ripe varieties - after 27-36 days;
• late ripening - 46-48 days.

The formation of tubers on underground stems (stolons) begins much earlier. By the time the flowers appear, some reach the size chicken egg, the rest are not larger than a pea. Their growth requires a huge amount of nutrient juices, the bush has to distribute its energy between the growing underground tubers and the above-ground inflorescence with the resulting seeds.

A parallel process occurs: seeds develop in berries at the top of the potato bush and underground modified stems, which we call tubers. Logic dictates: if you remove one of these "consumers" of the energy of the bush (berry brush), increased outflow nutrients will give a significant increase in the underground crop.

Scientists agronomists conducted numerous studies and came to the conclusion:

Whether or not potato flowers are needed - the experience of agronomists

For the formation of underground tubers, flowers are not needed at all, why not remove them at the bud stage. To further clarify the issue, an experiment was carried out:

1. The potato plot was divided into 2 parts.
2. In plot No. 1, all flowers were removed at the stage of bud formation.
3. The yield of potato tubers collected from plot no. 1 was 30% higher than from the control plot no. 2, where the flowers were not removed and berries with seeds were set.

A very simple way to increase the yield of potatoes is actually not so unambiguously good.

The degeneration of a variety is manifested in the degradation of varietal characteristics - yield, tuber size, palatability etc. Exclusively vegetative way reproduction leads to an avalanche-like accumulation of genetic problems, which can be avoided in natural conditions re-pollination helps.

How to pick potato flowers - simple rules

Removing flowers from a potato bush is carried out with extreme caution in order to minimize harm to the plant. This simple operation is carried out either at the very beginning of the appearance of the flower brush, or after the formation of the ovary. After flowering, the set berries are cut off with a sharp knife or scissors.

Attention: it is not recommended to cut blossoming flowers. This weakens the immunity of plants. Flowers cut from potatoes at the wrong time can provoke an unexpected outbreak of a viral or fungal infection.

Nearly 100% potatoes household plots grown to produce tubers for food for themselves and animals. Most summer residents try to update more often planting material, buy seed potatoes in stores from breeding stations and just in the market.

You can save a lot of money (and even earn money) if you try to grow seed microtubers: it is useful to use the berries that have started on potato bushes. To do this, it is quite enough to leave a few bushes with flowers, wait for the berries to ripen and cut them into seeds.

Potato bushes grown through seedlings from seeds are distinguished by high yields for at least 4-5 years, resistance to diseases and weather conditions. Such planting material is classified as "super elite"

To increase the yield of tubers on the main area of ​​​​the potato bed, it is advisable to remove the buds even before flowering begins. With a simple method of agricultural technology, a yield increase of up to 30% is obtained.

From the video you can find out why it is definitely necessary to pick flowers from potatoes.

Potato flowering and agricultural rules

Compliance with the agricultural technology of growing potatoes guarantees success even for an inexperienced summer resident. Special attention potato beds should be given during the flowering period.

It is important to remember that simultaneously with the buds in the underground part of the bush, stolons are formed, on which the tubers are poured. The soil should be loose so as not to create obstacles for stolons.

That is why during flowering it is impossible to loosen and hill up - so as not to damage the root processes.

What needs to be done before flowering begins?

Even before the appearance of buds, in order to obtain a good harvest, it is necessary to prepare loose, moisture-rich soil, carry out high-quality watering, loosening row spacing and hilling potato bushes.

Hilling potatoes during flowering leads to a significant decrease in yield.

Adherents of the classical methods of growing potatoes are skeptical of everything unusual. Why remove the flowers on the bushes if fertilizers, watering and weeding guarantee a high yield.

No one denies the age-old experience of agriculture. To verify the effectiveness of the method, it is enough to conduct an experiment on own site: remove flowers and compare yields.

Compliance with the rules of agricultural technology, combined with a deep understanding of biological processes, will provide a solid yield increase of up to 30%.

Potatoes were once brought to Europe from South America, Europeans tried to eat its green fruits growing on bushes. This had sometimes very tragic consequences.

The point is that in potato fruits, like other solanaceous, contained poisonous alkaloid - solanine. Therefore, be careful that children do not accidentally take them into their mouths.

A toxic substance is also formed in potato tubers if they are in the light, especially in the sun. Such potatoes are not suitable for food, but only for seeds or compost.

But from potato fruits you can get it excellent seeds. Potatoes degenerate and yield less yield if last year's tubers are used as seeds from year to year. Revive any potato variety You can do it on your own, using ripened fruits for this.

potato seeds, obtained from the fruit, released, washed, dried like tomato seeds, and stored in a paper bag in a cool place. In late February - early March, potato seeds are sown for seedlings, and in May they are transplanted into open ground. Caring for potato seedlings is the same as for tomato seedlings. Potato seedlings will produce excellent seed potatoes with the quality and yield of the original elite variety, which is used for planting the next year. To always have excellent harvest potatoes, such an operation should be done every three to four years.

How to kill two birds with one stone - reduce leaf growth and increase yield

A method that was used over a hundred years ago!

It often happens that, despite good care and a significant growth of tops, the tubers of potatoes are nevertheless small.

The reason for this phenomenon is that strong leaves use too many nutrients to the detriment of the tubers, especially the so-called potato seed balls, while they do not bring any benefit at all.

To eliminate this phenomenon, many authoritative owners have developed the following purely practical method. This very simple method consists in the fact that after the flowering of potatoes, after one or two weeks, the tops are broken.

To clarify how this technique is applicable from a practical point of view, the following experiment is given. In 1909, on the 2nd square. sazhens were planted two equal squares of potatoes.

On the first site, 10 days after flowering, the tops were crushed by hand breaking, and the second was left under ordinary culture for control.

In autumn, over 30 pounds of beautiful, uniform and large potatoes, from the second, control, less than 27 pounds, and much more small than large.

Thus, from breaking the stems, in addition to fineness, we get another increase of 3 pounds per 1 square. sazhen, which for a tithe will be 2400 x 3 = 7200, that is, 180 pounds of excess crop.

(“Khutorskoe khozyaystvo” 1913, No. 1)

haulm cutting

The best time to do this work is budding period. You should not be late with cutting the tops. If this work is done during the flowering period, then the growth of young stems slows down and the yield of tubers decreases.
When pruning, stems are left 15-20 cm high in late varieties and 10 cm in early ones.

In all years of testing, the potato yield was higher by 16-21% in those areas grown with pruning.

Simultaneously with checking how the seed qualities of potatoes are improving, the effect of cutting tops on the crop in the year of planting was studied. And in this case, the annual collection of tubers was 19-34% more than the usual method.

"Potatoes and Vegetables" (1957, No. 4)

Potato Hilling Tricks

Probably even those who have never planted it know that potatoes should be spudded. But how to do it right? It turns out that there are some little tricks here, writes Marina, Nekrasovskoye.

When to start hilling?

There are various answers to this question in the literature. The guideline in all recommendations is the height of the shoots, but the numbers are different: from 14 to 20 cm.

I myself prefer to start hilling as early as possible. At the same time, I focus, however, not on centimeters, but on the signals of a completely irrational "device" - intuition :)) Over time, probably, every gardener has such a flair: you just look at the plants and understand what they need right now.

In fact, early hilling replaces both weeding and the recommended loosening of the soil. In our unstable climate, it also serves to protect seedlings from recurrent frosts. Potatoes are traditionally planted in early May. And in the second half of the month - just in time for the emergence of shoots - colds usually come. The sprouts covered with a layer of soil calmly endure even a short-term drop in temperature just below zero (it happens sometimes ...)

I have noticed more than once: after hilling, potatoes seem to accelerate growth. If the weather is also favorable, the bushes grow and grow stronger literally before our eyes. Therefore, I am never too lazy to once again walk with a hoe along the rows, loosening the earth and leaning it against the ridges.

How many times to spud?

Classic - 2 hilling: the second is carried out 2-3 weeks after the first, before the potatoes bloom. But if you start this event early enough, two times is not enough. In this matter, I prefer to focus not on abstract "norms", but on the needs of real plants.

If the grown bushes fall apart, or the nest is not formed along the ridge, but grows across, in breadth, and tubers begin to peep out of the ground, turning green in the light, it is necessary to spud, no matter what they say.

I happened to spud potatoes 3 and 4 times per season. Someone will say that it is too laborious ... I don’t know, weeding is much more tiring for me. And then I walked across the field with a chopper - and the earth is loose, and there are no weeds, and the potato bushes are vigorous and beautiful, even)) And then they thank me for an excellent harvest.

What is the preferred time for hilling?

At the time of hilling potatoes, you can often see gardeners with hoes in the fields in the middle of a hot summer day. And this is not good for health, and the plant is not good. Hilling, we still disturb him, we touch the shoots, it happens inadvertently to disturb the underground part. In the heat, all this becomes critical, and plants can wilt. Therefore, in hot weather, potatoes should be spudded in the morning or in the evening, when the activity of the sun decreases.

It is best to do hilling after rain. The benefit is twofold. Firstly, moist soil does not crumble from the ridge. Secondly, adding moisture-saturated soil to the base of the stems, we stimulate the formation of additional stolons (underground shoots on which potato tubers form) - and this is an increase in yield.

But that's in theory)) In practice, it also happens that it's time to spud, but there is still no rain and no. Naturally, we will not postpone an important matter in anticipation of a favorable weather forecast, but if the soil is completely dry, we will water it before hilling.

Is hilling always applied?

Inventive gardeners and inquisitive minds of scientists are looking everywhere alternative solutions, and hilling potatoes is no exception. Firstly, we came up with landing methods that make this procedure superfluous (for example, landing under a black nonwoven fabric). Secondly, we proved experimentally that unwinding "works" no worse.

What is the point? Hilling potatoes, we solve several problems at once: we loosen the soil; we create its additional volume in which tubers are formed; we push the plant to form stolons in the lower (covered with soil) part of the stems; we improve the lighting of plants, collecting them "in a pile" and not allowing them to obscure each other; getting rid of weeds. But it turns out that the same problems can be solved in exactly the opposite way.

unwinding- This is a method in which the growing tops, instead of being lifted up, are spread on the ground. The soil (options: grass, straw, other materials) is poured on top, leaving only the tops of the shoots on the surface.

As they grow, everything repeats. In this way, my friends grew potatoes under the grass (for lack of straw) - they were satisfied with the result. True, more space will be required than with the traditional method of growing.

fan-shaped unwinding, or "Zamiatkin's method".

In the fall, we immediately put all the plant debris from the garden into the beds, and spill it with one of the organic disinfectants: “Shine”, “Fitosporin”, “Vostok”, “Baikal”. The distance between the beds is approximately 1.2 meters, as the tops grow huge, almost human height.

If such beds were not prepared in the fall, then they can be made in the spring from the contents of the compost heap.

To begin with, to compare, only a few tubers are planted in this way.

After the tubers are laid out in the garden, the potatoes are covered 15 centimeters with organic waste. After the potato tops grow by 15 centimeters, the branches move apart and are again covered with organic matter from the compost heap from above.

Only the very tops remain on the surface. Already on the second day, the sprouts rise up. At the same time, organic matter can be added during the entire period of potato growth.

Collecting such potatoes is also easy and pleasant. Since it is not in the ground, the tubers remain clean, they are not afraid of the wireworm and the Colorado potato beetle. A large number of organic fertilizers, and as a result good harvest large potatoes.

Siderats can also be planted between the rows of potatoes planted using the Zamyatkin method: phacelia, vetch with oats, mustard, Shrovetide radish, which will then be used for mulch.

When it's time to dig potatoes, why tubers are clumsy and why growths appear on potato tops, says our permanent expert candidate of agricultural. Sci. Tatyana ORLOVA , Associate Professor of the Department of Horticulture and Plant Protection of the VolGAU .

WHEN IT'S TIME TO DIG POTATOES

When to dig potatoes, so as not to rush and not be late? Last year they planted for the first time, lay for a couple of months, then immediately began to deteriorate all at once. I would like the potatoes to be well stored in the winter.

Alice.

The keeping quality of potatoes depends on the timing of its ripening and storage conditions. Well stored varieties of medium and late ripening. Early varieties are also well preserved if a constant temperature of + 2 ° ... + 4 ° С and a humidity of about 50 - 60% are maintained in the vegetable store. This is optimal conditions for storage.

Dig up potatoes when the tops have turned yellow and have fallen. Start harvesting earlier - potatoes will not store well. And with belated harvesting, diseases (phytophthora) accumulate, so that the tubers also do not lie well.

WHY THE TUMBERS ARE HORRIBLE

- They dug up potatoes - the tubers are some kind of clumsy, poorly developed, and even covered with tubercles. What is the reason?

Sergey.

Potatoes love light, well-cut soil; on heavy soil, the tubers are often clumsy. Perhaps the land on the site is prone to swimming. dug up since autumn, to spring planting potatoes, it is already strongly compacted. Such areas are best dug up in the spring.

Dark brown ulcers on tubers, resembling dried lumps of earth, are scab, or rhizoctoniosis. The reason for its occurrence is perennial plantings potato by potato. The infection persists in the soil, but infected seed tubers are the most dangerous.

The most effective way to combat rhizoctoniosis is to use healthy planting material. Wetting seed potatoes with 0.5 - 1.5% solutions also gives a good result. boric acid and storms.

In addition, to suppress the infection, mineral fertilizers are also applied before planting, which acidify the soil. For this one hundred square meters plot take 1.5 kilograms of ammonium sulfate, 2 kilograms of superphosphate and 2.5 - 3 kilograms of potassium magnesia.

ON POTATO HOLES - GROWS

Outgrowths have formed on the potato tops, like bluish little eggplants, from which leaves grow. What is it and why?

Igor.

Sometimes in potatoes, under certain weather conditions and agricultural technology, in addition to underground organs on the stem, air stolons are formed - something like potatoes, but with a high content of solanine, which is formed in potatoes in the light and makes it green, bitter and inedible.

We are waiting for your questions!

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