Growing potatoes in Belarus - in the old manner but with a crop!

Shovel or plow?

In Belarus, not everything offered by readers is acceptable: the sun is not always enough, and varietal and seed material is different for us, and black soil is very rare, and in 2015 everything dried up ...

So there are enough differences. That's just a pity that not all authors of letters indicate in which area they live. In such cases, the possibility of applying the experience set forth in the article is not always clear.

Recently, a lot of articles on the cultivation of second bread have been published. But, no matter how numerous the "potato" articles, in the vast majority they are associated with growing it under straw and other mulch. Yes, someone gets decent harvests. And I'm thinking, where will I get so much straw? Where will I store it? Do not have to deal with the invasion of mice?

After all, my site is adjacent to the forest. And on what this incalculable amount of straw to bring to the country? In general, I do not turn to straw. I have been growing potatoes for more than 20 years and during that time I have met various articles about this culture. Someone successfully grows it in barrels.

someone in bulk circles, someone in the hills. In general, summer residents work wonders.

In my practice, I began to plant potatoes under the plow. But the results did not please me, I began to plant under a shovel. I dug holes, and my wife laid tubers in them - like everyone else does. The result is better than landing under a plow. But still I wanted a better outcome. It was then that I came across an article by a Dutch potato grower. Much of it suits me, and this is what I took from it for myself.

• Potatoes need the most loose, air-permeable soil.
• Bury the tubers in the ground is not necessary.
• Fertilizers should be applied only in rows, under potatoes. And this is the main point!

For several seasons I based on this basis my method of growing potatoes, which for all, even the most difficult recent years, I never failed. And has not failed for more than ten years.

---

See also: Planting potatoes and growing them from A to Z - ways and preparation of seeds

---

Arrangement of tubers

As for varieties.

There were times when I planted three to four and even five to six different potatoes from the mouths. Over time, I realized that only two would be enough: early (for early summer and summer consumption) and medium early (for autumn and winter consumption). Then I was lucky that I chose Impala (a very early variety with large tubers) and Sante (a medium early variety, it is well stored, and most importantly - the most delicious potato, tastier which I never met before or after). Every four years I updated the planting material, buying exactly the same varieties at the seed station of the agricultural institute.

However, over time, the potato plant has moved to new varieties, and to buy seed Sante and Impala became impossible. Of the new varieties I chose and use now the early Uladar and mid-term Breeze. As before, I update the planting stock every four years. I necessarily select for the planting a tuber the size of no less than a large chicken egg. You can also use larger ones, but smaller ones are not worth it.

It is important that all varieties of potatoes that I plant are zoned and suitable for my land. Also in four years I change the place of planting of potatoes: I transfer it to the place where there were beds of other vegetables, and transfer vegetables to the place of potatoes. Do it often is not possible.

Planting potatoes in Belarus - when and how

If you take care of her, the potato will not let you down. I plant it on a sunny, uneven plot of the garden, it takes me 1,3 hundred parts. Rows are coming from north to south. The Dutchman in his article recommended the distance between the rows of 80, see.

But in my conditions this does not work, and I do the rows after 75 cm. Previously, in the spring before planting, I loosen the earth - only superficially, with the help of a small country harrow. So that it loosens deeper, when harrowing, I put a piece of concrete block about 30 × 30 cm in size on it. You can immerse the harrow even deeper - the effect of harrowing will then increase, but to drag such a harrow is painfully difficult, even the heart starts to walk with a walker. For this reason, I limited the load size of the harrow to the indicated size.

After harrowing I produce the marking of rows through 75, see. Normally, I do this during the period from 20 to 26 April, choosing a favorable day for rooting.

I must check the temperature of the earth: it must be at least 10 °. If you plant tubers of sprouted potatoes in the cold ground, they can ascend 7-10 days later than usual and even later. And the harvest will drop noticeably.

I pull a string over the future row. Straight through the string with a hand, sprinkle my hand with hum (one handful at 30 cm), superphosphate (a handful on 1-1,2 m), carbamide (a handful on 1,5-1,7 m) and wood ash (a handful on 0,8-1,0).

I warn summer residents: the spring top dressing of potatoes with chloride potassium markedly increases the yield, but when cooking such potatoes become grayish: the color of the pulp is affected by chlorine.

After feeding, arrange the sprouted potatoes. It is we who place the bent kidneys strictly up. We use only germinated potatoes. We take out tubers for germination from the basement in late February - early March. It is impossible to pinpoint the start date of germination, since the temperature in the basement with seed potatoes varies depending on the outdoor temperature. Of course, the temperature there is always positive, but ranges from 1-8 °.

And we sprout potatoes in the apartment in flat vegetable boxes, which we take in the market. The boxes are all the same size, so it’s convenient to put them on top of each other in a column - so they take up less space in the apartment. Once every 4-6 days, I review all the seed material and spray it from the spray bottle with a weak fertilizer solution with the addition of copper sulfate (1/4 tsp. To 5 l of water). I’ll clarify right away: when placing seed potatoes in the boxes of tubers, I put growth buds necessarily up.

В Ideally, the potatoes for planting should have sprouts in 3-8 mm. When planting, the distance between the tubers in rows is 27 cm. To maintain this distance, use a cut-out marker stick.

Why did I choose this distance? With large gaps between the tubers, their sizes increase, but the overall yield decreases; at smaller - the crop does not increase, but the tubers are harvested smaller, it is advisable to use such intervals when growing seed potatoes. A distance of 27 cm is optimal, so I grow quite large potatoes and almost no small ones.

We arrange the tubers according to the previously stretched string, pressing them into the ground for 1-2 cm, no more! Press into the ground only to ensure that the potatoes do not lie on their side when hilling. Of course, we place them sprouts up.

After all along the row the potatoes are arranged, we remove the twine, and I pick up the hoe for hilling. I hasten with the expectation that the potatoes are covered with earth on 5-8 cm. So I plant potatoes in all rows. For germination in April, there is always enough spring moisture in the earth, and there is no need for watering.

Due to the fact that the germinated potatoes are all the same, with the kidneys up, the seedlings appear together in almost 3-5 days. If, when planting, the potato lies on its side or, worse, sprouts down, then the emergence of seedlings can last 10-15 days. On my 7-10th day, potatoes stand in close rows (photo1).

Fighting the Colorado Beetle

When the tops grow by 8-10 cm (but no more than 15 cm!), I spend the evening a simple preventive treatment against phytophthora. I divorce in 10 l water 2 g copper sulfate and abundantly spray potato sprouts from the spray. All treatments I recommend to summer residents to carry out only with the help of an atomizer. In Belarus, the Center for Potato Research conducted a comparative analysis of the processing of the tops with a broom and spray.

Result: when processing with a broom, the efficiency ranges from 15 to 30% of the level of treatment with an atomizer. Make a conclusion for yourself, colleagues, summer residents, whether it is worthwhile to conduct inefficient treatment with a broom. Pulverizer, of course, is worth the money, but without it in the garden and in the garden can not do.

After a day or two after treatment with copper sulfate, I spend my humming. Although in this article the Dutchman recommended three hills, I simplified this process and spend only one, using all the land in the inter-rows. I dip the hoe, covering almost completely the shoots of potatoes. It grows very fast at this time, rows through 10-15 days are already all with friendly shoots (photo 2).

As you can see in the photo, in the aisles I do not have weeds: I do not multiply them when using grass in the form of mulch. After all, whether you want it or not, the grass that is used for mulch is not homogeneous. There are different kinds in it, among which one only grows, others stand with seed buds, the third blossom, and there are also such specimens in this herbage and those that already stand with the seeds. These seeds will give you weeds for the next year, and maybe even in a few years. After all, there are weeds, the seeds of which retain the germination capacity of 10-15 years or more.

In general, I am sure that the fashion for grass mulch will inevitably pass, when the vegetable gardens will turn into thickets of weeds.

How did the fashion for the mass use of barrels instead of beds. And after all, how this "barrel" dacha production was praised yet 10-12 years ago!

---

Reference by topic:  Potato varieties for any condition (photo and description)

---

Ahead of the phytophthora

It was a retreat regarding my attitude to mulch. And now I’ll return to the story of how I grow our bulb (I think everyone knows that “bulb” is “potato” in Belarusian).

My attitude to chemical treatment. From phytophthora I process potatoes two times. About the first I have already written above (this treatment with a weak solution of copper sulfate). The second I spend a systemic or systemic-contact drug. It is these drugs, not contact or any folk. The second treatment I spend when the potato starts to bloom. These two treatments do not save potatoes for the entire period of vegetation from the disease, most importantly, that he managed to form large tubers, with enough starch.

When late blight falls on the potato rows, it is time to cut the tops and prepare for digging: after all, the varieties are early and medium early. Usually I dig potatoes from August 22 to 27 - at this time we still do not begin autumn rains.

Yes, I forgot to notice that I apply drugs from phytophthora in strict accordance with the instructions and do not use expired funds.

Now about the Colorado potato beetle. The first time I heard about him when I was in school - about 58-60 years ago, a biology teacher told. She warned that, having discovered the Colorado potato beetle, it was necessary to put it in a matchbox and bring it to school - for each bug they promised some big bonus. Well, very big at the time! The whole school was looking for these bugs, but did not find a single one.

But this is from the past of the Colorado beetle and the Skidel secondary school, and when a quarter of a century ago I began to work in the villa business, I had to fight with the bug right away, and I fought like everyone else, as advised in the press, i.e. collected it manually. Since the beetle was many, it had to be done every two to three days, or even every day.

But once flashed "the moment of truth." I calculated how much effort this season takes to fight this pest, and I realized that it was a waste of valuable time. No, the method must be changed. And I changed. Since then, I have been collecting the Colorado potato beetle only on eggplants in a greenhouse, where several pieces penetrate them over the season. And I follow the potatoes, waiting for the red larvae of this gluttonous beetle to appear on the leaves. Then, without delay, I process from the spray gun a systemic (again I emphasize: systemic!) Insecticide, dissolving it according to the instructions. That's all my fight with the bug.

Since there are about 40 days left before harvesting, the drugs used by me completely disintegrate. Health from such chemistry does not suffer.

You probably noticed that I do not water the potatoes, I feed, I do not pick flowers, and potato harvests quite suit me. My wife Galina Ivanovna in photo 3 shows a piece of our crop. The potato she demonstrates is surprisingly clean, as if washed. But the fact is that during the whole season only two small rains fell - each of them wet the ground by only 15-20 mm! Apparently, only morning dew saved the potatoes. Here he was at digging and was surprisingly clean.

But the flowers from potatoes I still broke 15 years ago. It is good that the article of the scientist-potato grower was caught, in which he explained that the removal of potato flowers does not lead to a significant, noticeable increase in the yield. Since then, I do not spend time on flowers, there are other summer cottages.

How much to keep the potatoes in the sun before storing?

After digging the potatoes, I start to prepare it for storage. Three sunny days dry in the sun (just in the sun) tubers scattered on the tarpaulin, then in the evening I clean them in bags until the morning.

For three sunny days potatoes are not covered with greens, but it is for three. Then the potatoes are transported to the garage, where it is stored in loose bags for two weeks. After that, all the potatoes are poured out and, without mixing the variety, we finally sort out, separating the seed material. During these two weeks, all sick potatoes are manifested, usually up to 10 pieces. Further potatoes are stored in large boxes in the basement under the garage. As a result of such preparation and storage, rarely two or three rotten potatoes fall in the winter.

As you can see, my way of growing potatoes differs in many respects from those that were published earlier. There are not many methods, repeated fertilizing, trouble with the self-production of seed in a long period.

Attentive reader will notice in the photo 1 and 2 in the right upper corner "riotous" potato bushes. It's through the seedlings that I grow a supernormal variety. If such a method interests readers, I'm ready to share them.

© Author: Vasily Ivanovich VATAMANENKO. from. Shchuchim Grodno region.

ORDER QUALITY AND CHEAP SEEDS AND OTHER PRODUCTS FOR HOME AND COTTAGE. PRICES ARE BOTTLE. CHECKED! JUST LOOK FOR YOURSELF AND BE AMAZED. THERE ARE REVIEWS. GO >>>

Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"

---

Subscribe to updates in our groups and share.

Let's be friends!