Plant the potatoes upside down. Proper planting of potatoes in the Moscow region Folk methods for determining optimal weather

Potatoes are planted in soil rich in organic fertilizers. Ashes are poured into the holes, wilted grass, compost are laid, and even weeded weeds are laid between the rows.
Mustard, a vetch-oat nutrient mixture are sown between the rows, cut off to prevent it from blooming and left under the potatoes so that there is no open land. Rye and mustard, by the way, will be expelled from the wireworm site. If you sow green manure in the fall, you can not mow them, they themselves will rot and loosen, fertilize the site.
From beetles, it is best to spray potatoes with Fitoverm, a drug that is harmless to humans.

Wake up and fall asleep again

We are looking for the best ways to grow a good crop of tasty potatoes. You can’t plant potatoes early, when the earth has not warmed up, and you can’t plant them late, when the spring moisture is gone.

Tubers before planting are soaked in the Shining preparation, made from cereal bran.
Potatoes must be germinated before planting. But you can not do this in the sun or in the dark. Light and air are needed, cold and heat are dangerous, and it is better to carry out vernalization at a temperature of 18 degrees, for example, on the floor of a loggia. If you are late with vernalization and there is little time left before planting, then by raising the temperature, you can reduce the time. When sprouts and roots appeared, you need to sprinkle the tubers with wet sawdust with a layer of 3-4 centimeters, lower the temperature to 12 degrees to form a developed root system.
Before planting for a week, the potatoes need to be covered again from the light, the tubers should get used to the dark.

Don't dig holes

It is not necessary to plant potatoes deep; on heavy soils, you can place them generally on the surface, covering them with mulch or straw. It is best to bury the potatoes so that their upper part is at ground level. Often you do not need to plant potatoes, the harvest will be smaller, and even smaller. The distance between tubers can reach half a meter. It is impossible to sow two potatoes, as many gardeners do. And you need to plant a cluster of sprouts down. Then the stems will come out wide from the ground, and this increases the yield, because each of them will give its own nest of potatoes. It is necessary to spud potatoes, without pressing one sprout to another, a shovel of earth must be thrown into the center of the bush in order to separate, and not to bring together a “bouquet”. Each "trunk" should receive as much light, heat and moisture as possible. No need to plant in the shade, under apple trees.
It is known that potatoes can be planted in parts, eyes and even sprouts. You can cut potatoes only across and immediately before planting. The cut is dipped in ash and dried.

Other ways to grow potatoes

potato pyramid

According to this method, the earth is not dug up in rows, but a pyramid is formed on each square meter of the garden. A vertical hole is drilled from top to bottom - the potatoes are then watered through it. Potatoes are planted in a spiral. Such a bed is easier to process, weeds almost do not grow, and there is no need to spud. And they say the harvest is four times more than usual! Perhaps worth a try!

hay potatoes

Many gardeners, it turns out, grow potatoes in this way: tubers are laid out in rows on even, moist and warm ground, and then covered with dry hay (you can also use straw, mulch, weeds). The layer should always be about 25 cm (otherwise the potatoes will turn green). No weeding or watering required. Weeds cannot break through, moisture from the soil does not evaporate. In summer, you can carefully rake out the shelter, select larger young tubers for food and cover again. And in the fall to harvest a great harvest!

ADVICE

beans will help

It is good to plant beans with potatoes. On their roots there are small growths that release nitrogen, and it significantly increases the yield of potatoes, and the yield of beans is also good. This is done as follows: a bean is thrown into the hole along with a potato, and they grow together. Then the beans are harvested first, and then the potatoes are dug up. If there is still room in the garden, then cabbage can be planted there, it also gets along well with potatoes.
Beets and carrots grow well on potato plots.

Lunar clues

The harvest may depend on what day the grain is thrown into the ground.

Gardeners-gardeners resort to various tricks to grow a good crop on their site. The rhythms of nature play a significant role in this, in particular, the influence on all living things of the Moon. Even in ancient times, depending on its phase, our ancestors were able to determine favorable and unfavorable days for planting. Let's follow their lead!
* Full moon and new moon are not conducive to a good harvest. On this day, it is better not to engage in agriculture.
* The phase of the waning moon is well suited for planting root crops (potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.) and pruning trees. And on the growing moon, it is better to plant those plants whose fruits ripen above the surface of the earth (tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, greens ...)
* And of course, love the earth. After all, this is the main thing!

The technology of planting potatoes down with sprouts has both supporters and ardent opponents among amateur vegetable growers. The former, using this method, achieved a tangible increase in yield, the latter failed. Let's try to figure out in which cases it is worth using a new agricultural technology, and in which cases it is better to plant potatoes in the old fashioned way, sprouts up.

Description of the alternative methodology

Before planting, the tubers are germinated. But if the potatoes are going to be planted with sprouts down, it is better that their length does not exceed 1–1.5 cm, otherwise the sprouts will break under the weight of the tuber.

The soil in the beds should be very light, carefully loosened. Mulching is welcome. Even if gardeners who successfully use the down-planting method have clay soil in the area, the tubers are sprinkled with a mixture of soil with rotted remains of green manure sown in autumn (phacelia, wiki), chopped straw or sawdust.

Planting depth - 10 cm, distance between rows - 80-90 cm, between plants in a row - 35 cm. It is allowed to form double beds: the distance between rows is 40 cm, between adjacent beds - 100-120 cm.

Since the soil is very light, it is not necessary to use a shovel. It is enough to make grooves 10 cm deep with a flat cutter, and make holes 5-6 cm deep for fertilizers in them with a scoop. Just as with a normal planting, a glass of humus, a little onion peel (from phytophthora and wireworm), a pinch of crushed eggshell, a handful of ash are thrown into each hole. Use of mineral fertilizers is allowed. Then a tuber is placed in each hole with sprouts down and sprinkled with soil mixture.

The sprouts receive more moisture than when planted in the usual way (up). Once in a moist nutrient medium, they begin to develop rapidly, go around the tuber and make their way to the surface. Shoots appear later, but it is less likely that they will be beaten by frost. The underground part of the shoots is longer than if the potatoes were planted upside down. Accordingly, the root system of bushes planted with shoots down is more powerful, more stolons and tubers are formed. Shoots break through at a considerable distance from each other, so each sprout receives a maximum of sun and oxygen.

When planted sprouts down, potato shoots appear later, but the root system of the plant is stronger

When the shoots grow to 15–20 cm, they carry out a fan hilling. The stems are pushed apart, bent to the ground, and mulch or soil mixture is poured into the center of the bush. Only the tops of shoots 5-6 cm long remain above the surface of the bed. The very next day they take a vertical position. Thanks to the fan hilling, the stems do not compete with each other for light and oxygen, and their underground part increases even more. Mulch retains moisture well, so watering is needed only in severe drought. Experienced gardeners claim that with this planting method, the yield is 500–800 kg per hundred square meters.

Downside Planting Disadvantages

The theoretical justification for the benefits of planting potatoes upside down looks logical, but in practice the vegetable grower faces difficulties:

• the strongest shoots grow from the apical buds. When these sprouts are at the bottom, the plant spends too much energy to save them. Everything is in order if the weather is favorable, and the soil is well fertilized and loosened. But in the event of prolonged rains or severe drought, the likelihood of planting death increases;
• the sprout, planted with the top down, must break through the thickness of the earth and the thick "beard" of its own roots. In parallel, dormant buds wake up and also release sprouts. If the tuber is too small, the shoots may not have enough strength. Therefore, for planting potatoes down with sprouts, tubers weighing at least 80–90 grams are used;
• fresh young shoots, hatched from the ground a few weeks later than the rest, attract Colorado beetles more than the tough tops of adult bushes;
• in the southern regions, late-rising potatoes suffer due to the summer heat. Young tubers form and grow worse than when planted in the usual way;
• mulch closely touching the tuber can become a source of infection.

Planting sprouts up is considered a classic

conclusions

When planting potatoes with long sprouts, the use of a potato planter is excluded: the device breaks them. Therefore, both methods are suitable for relatively small areas where potatoes are planted by hand.

For a tuber planted with sprouts down, the main thing is the condition of the soil. If it is heavy, clayey, the potato will not sprout, since the top of the shoot will not be able to break through to the surface. But on a well-fertilized, loosened and mulched bed, potatoes planted upside down also bear fruit well.

To make it easier for the gardener to decide whether to plant potatoes with sprouts down or up, we will compile a comparative table of the features of these two methods.

Method characteristics	Planting shoots up	Planting shoots down
Tuber germination	The beginning of germination - about a month before planting, the length of the sprouts - 1-3 cm, and more	The maximum length of sprouts is 1–1.5 cm
Soil Requirements	Any soil, but on light and fertilized crops are higher	The soil must be light, mulched. On heavy clay soils, 15–30% of tubers do not germinate
Landing pattern	Any	Landings should be sparse, as the bush takes up a lot of space. It is undesirable to allow the closure of rows
Emergence of seedlings	Earlier	10-15 days later
Frost Vulnerability	Higher	Below
Hilling	In any convenient way	Preferably by the fan method
yield	Depends on weather and fertilizers	Subject to all requirements and good weather - above

Planting upwards with sprouts is more natural for potatoes, but if the tops of the shoots are directed downwards, the plant is under stress. To understand whether the method of planting potatoes upside down is suitable for specific climatic conditions and soil type, it is recommended to first experiment on 1-2 beds.

Potato is a root crop that all owners of vegetable gardens and summer cottages plant. The method of cultivation, the time of collection and planting largely depends on the region, so gardeners have many questions in this regard. When planting potatoes in the Moscow region, you need to strictly monitor the temperature, and also know whether it is possible to plant tubers without sprouts, and if they are, do it with long sprouts down or up.

The higher the soil temperature, the faster the seedlings appear.

If you plant potatoes at a soil temperature of 11-12 degrees, then shoots will appear on the 23rd day, 14-15 degrees - on day 17-18 etc.

The buds of potato eyes “wake up” at an air temperature of 5 degrees, but in order to avoid diseases, it is better to wait for the air to warm up to 12-15 degrees.

Folk methods for determining optimal weather

When planting potatoes, the people are guided by the flowering time of apricots and bird cherry. Also pay attention to the appearance of small leaves on the birch. This indicates that the soil and air are well warmed up.

Permissible soil moisture

The need for potato tubers in moisture in different periods of development is different. During the growing season, at the beginning of the formation of tops, the need for moisture is minimal.

After flowering and the appearance of tops, it increases significantly. During boarding soil moisture should not exceed 75%, otherwise the fruits will simply rot.

Planting tubers without sprouts

Before planting potatoes, it is recommended to germinate it in a warm room so that sprouts appear on the tubers. Thanks to this, the root crop bears fruit better. However, not only this parameter affects the quality and quantity of the crop, so there is no clear relationship here.

If the soil is fertile, and the climatic conditions are good, then you can do do without pre-germination.

If the soil for planting is fertile, you can do without preliminary germination.

Is it possible to plant unsprouted potatoes

It is difficult to give an exact answer. If other planting conditions are met, then it will sprout already in the ground, release leaves and give a harvest.

If you plant unsprouted potatoes at the wrong time, do not fertilize the soil, then under such conditions, neither fruits with sprouts nor fruits without them will germinate.

How to plant tubers without sprouts step by step

1. Sort out the potatoes discard all low-quality fruits. For germination, potatoes are kept for 1-2 weeks in a warm room, but if you plan to plant them without sprouts, then this is not necessary. You can start planting immediately after you get it out of the basement or purchased it in a store.
2. Further landing technology is almost no different from the classical one. Since you do not have sprouts, you can put the fruits in the hole by any party. Do not forget that the potatoes need to be fertilized and spud in time. Another important point is regular watering.

Please note that potatoes that are planted without fruits need more time to ripen.

Technology of planting sprouted root crops

Potatoes with eyes begin to be prepared for planting in early spring in the last days of February. The fruits are moved, only selected the strongest and highest quality. If there are sprouts, you need to cut them off.

Spread the potatoes in small boxes in 3-4 layers and transfer to a warm place. It is important that the tubers are well lit by indirect sunlight.

At the time of planting, the tubers have time to turn green. Very small leaves appear on the sprouts.

Landing

Prepared sprouted potatoes are planted at the end of March-beginning of April. The exact time depends on weather conditions.

The day before planting, drop boxes with sprouted potatoes into a solution prepared from 10 liters of water, 1 tsp. copper sulfate and boric acid. The water should turn a dark pink color. Leave the box in the solution for 10-15 minutes. In the same solution, you can process the rest of the boxes. Put the prepared potatoes to dry under a canopy.

The landing itself takes place the next day. Sprouted potatoes are planted in holes, planting depth 16 cm. Between rows it is necessary to maintain the optimal distance in 60 cm.

Care

Immediately after the appearance of the first shoots, make a shallow loosening with a walk-behind tractor. After the bushes grow to 10-15 cm, carry out the second loosening. Be sure to free the soil from the grass. You do not need to throw it away, spread it between the beds.

After the bushes reach a height of 20 cm, make a deep hilling. If there are bushes with signs of disease. Start mass cleaning at the end of July. The leaves are completely dry.

How to plant sprouted potatoes

Traditionally, potatoes are planted sprouts up. It is believed that the sprouts stretch out faster and foliage appears on them. However, a good harvest can be achieved both when planting potatoes with sprouts down, and potatoes with sprouts up. When choosing the right method, there are several important factors to consider.

1. If you plan to plant potatoes early when the earth hasn't warmed up enough yet, then spread the tubers should be sprouts down.
2. If you are used to plant potatoes shallow, then the method of planting sprouts up is suitable for you.

Benefits of planting upside down:

1. Sprouts grow in different directions, do not accumulate and do not "gather" in one heap. Thanks to this they do not interfere with each other and receive sufficient nutrition.
2. The first leaves appear later than when planting sprouts up. This allows them to easily survive the threat of frost.

Flaws:

1. It is impossible to plant tubers deep, because the sprouts already need to "go a long way."
2. The soil for planting must have a sufficient level of moisture. To do this, it is enough to mulch the soil with a layer of grass.

If you are in doubt about which planting method to choose, plant potatoes in experimental beds.

Plant part of the beds with fruits, laying them with sprouts down, and part with fruits, laying them with sprouts up. At the end of the season, you will already know for sure which planting method suits you best.

With long stems

If the potatoes were stored in too warm room, long sprouts appear on it. This is not very good, since the fetus itself spends strength on germination and loses elasticity.

If the length of the shoots more than 10 cm, then the potato is unsuitable for planting. If the sprouts are smaller, then the fruits should be carefully prepared for planting so that they give a rich harvest.

First cut off the longest shoots and leave only those whose length does not exceed 3 cm. In the upper part of the root crop, it is desirable not to break off the sprouts.

If the sprouts are more than 10 cm long, the tubers are unsuitable for planting.

Place the processed tubers in a box, provide them with diffused sunlight. The temperature in the room for storing potatoes should be 13-16 degrees. After 14 days, the tubers will be fully prepared for planting. Irrigate the tubers 1-2 times a day with water so that the sprouts do not wilt. Prepared potatoes are planted according to the classical scheme.

Disembarkation conditions in the Moscow region

Each region has its own climatic features, which must be taken into account when planting potatoes. The Moscow region is a rather cool region, therefore don't rush to land.

Timing

The main condition for good seedlings of potatoes is heated soil. It is appropriate to focus on the appearance of leaves in bird cherry and birch. In the suburbs, this happens at the end of May.

Of great importance for the timing of planting potatoes in the suburbs is soil moisture. In May, the soil moisture is sufficient for planting potatoes, but in June the soil becomes too dry. For this reason, it is not worth delaying the planting of potatoes until the beginning of June.

June 1-5 - the deadline for planting potatoes in the Moscow region

June 1-5- this is the deadline for planting potatoes in the Moscow region. Potato tubers don't do well in very dry soil, so there's a good chance they won't germinate at all.

Depth

If the soil moisture is sufficient, and there is good warm weather outside, then you can plant potato tubers in the Moscow region at a depth 10-15 cm.

Landing with green manure

Positive effect on potato growth nitrogen and phosphorus. These useful substances are found in large quantities in legumes: vetch, peas, sweet clover and alfalfa. You can also use wheat, mustard, colza, etc. before planting. Plants not only enrich the soil, but also protect it from leaching and blowing.

White mustard has another useful property - it repels pests. With the same task perfectly copes with beans. It needs to be planted between rows of potatoes. But after potatoes, you can plant cabbage. In the place where he grew up, she will give a rich and very high-quality harvest.

How to use siderates

Green manure can only be sown in well-prepared soil.

Grown plants need regular watering. They are sown 1.5 months before the onset of cold weather. On a hundred square meters of land you will need from 800 g to 2 kg of green manure seeds.

If it was not possible to sow the plants in the fall, you can do this in early May. Siderates should be cut a couple of weeks before the proposed planting of potatoes. During this time, they should rot and enrich the soil.

Tuberless technology

The technique was called - tubeless. It is not new, but for some reason it is rarely used by gardeners. Breeders used this method when they wanted to quickly propagate a valuable variety.

What they were doing? Separate the sprouts from the potato tuber and planted them in insulated soil. Modern experiments have shown that the quantity and quality of the crop when planting potatoes with sprouts is the same as when planting with tubers.

There are 2 types of sprouts on potato tubers: light and shadow. The first are formed as a result of keeping potatoes in the sun, and the second - as a result of keeping them in the basement.

Most commonly used for reproduction shadow sprouts. They have a very delicate structure, so you can not keep them at high temperatures. They should be planted immediately after separation from the tubers. For planting, it is better to use sprouts 6-8 cm long. Light sprouts are strong, therefore they are highly productive.

Preparation

It starts in 30-45 days before the proposed planting of potatoes. First, seed tubers are selected. It is better to give preference to mid-season varieties.

From the boards make a small box, install it on the southern windowsill. Fill the bottom with sand, put cups filled with a nutrient mixture on top. At the bottom there should also be drainage in the form of sand. It will protect the soil from drying out. Pour the soil in cups with a solution of boric acid or potassium permanganate.

Planting seed tubers

Use the first row of cups (the one closest to the window) to plant the seeds. Make recesses here, plant tubers. Wait for sprouts to appear on them. 6-7 cm. Cut them off and transplant them into cups of the next two rows.

Water the seeds 2-3 times a week. After rooting, transplant them to a permanent place.

Fertilize seedlings obtained from sprouts regularly, as they did not receive the necessary nutrients from the mother tuber.

Spud the potatoes after the first rain. In dry weather, the beds are enough to loosen. Be sure to remove weeds that prevent plants from fully growing. After 2-3 weeks, carry out a second top dressing and spud them again. It is better to plant potatoes in this way after May 10.

Cleaning

As soon as the tops begin to dry out, you can proceed to harvesting. It's about to come after 50-60 days. It is impossible to take time with harvesting potatoes, since the fruits decrease in volume, lose their density and nutrients.

Proper preparation and planting of potatoes is the key to obtaining a quality crop. It is important to take into account the air and soil temperature, soil moisture, planting depth, tuber variety, and the location of the sprouts.

Landing time is largely determined by the climatic features of the region. Pay attention to the details and you will enjoy delicious homemade potatoes.

Potatoes without hilling Sprouts down.

For several years of communication with amateur potato growers in the Omsk club of potato growers, I had to answer many different questions. More often than others, there were questions about landing patterns. What is the best row spacing? How often should tubers be placed in a row? These issues are very important for any crop, including potatoes. They determine the degree of illumination of plants, the intensity of photosynthesis, and hence the yield. But very rarely one could hear the question about the depth of planting potatoes. This is taken for granted. Well, what is there to think? I dug with a shovel, that's the depth. This is what most potato growers do. But planting depth is also important. Properly determined tuber planting depth ensures rapid germination of tubers. Plants develop with a large number of stems and a more powerful root system, which contributes to the accumulation of crops, creates better conditions for caring for plantings and harvesting.
So, how deep should tubers be planted to get the maximum yield? Many studies have been devoted to the issues of the depth of planting potatoes, but there is no consensus on what depth it is more expedient to plant potatoes. Planting depth can be from 5 to 15 cm from the top surface of the tuber to the soil surface. It depends on the timing of planting, moisture availability, soil structure and other factors: -When planting early in unheated soil, the tuber should be closer to the surface, since the surface layer of the soil warms up earlier and the potatoes do not experience a lack of heat here. - In a dry spring and it is impossible to water the plants in the initial period, planting should be as deep as possible, otherwise the plants will develop slowly due to lack of moisture - On light sandy and sandy loamy soils, planting can be deeper than on loamy and clay soils. This is due to the presence of air in the soil - sand and sandy loam, as a rule, are more aerated. - When planted shallow, the potato nest will form close to the soil surface resulting in a large number of green tubers. Shallow planting of tubers makes subsequent hilling of potatoes necessary. - With deep seed tubers, a lot of time is required for sprouts to come to the surface. The faster the potatoes rise, the greater the harvest. The number of plants suffering from rhizoctoniosis is increasing, due to which seedlings are sparse and weakened. Too deep planting can lead to a decrease in yield, the yield of small tubers increases. The tubers often become ugly. Tubers and roots need a lot of air, but at depth it may not be enough. In addition, deep planting complicates the harvesting of potatoes. In any case, you should try to plant the tubers at the same depth to ensure even seedlings. In the future, this will avoid the oppression of some potato plants by others. In the south of the Omsk region, peculiar conditions are developing. A short growing season, spring-summer dryness and high temperatures in July, heavy loams in my area make their own adjustments to the choice of potato planting depth. The lack of spring moisture (the thickness of the snow cover is small) and precipitation in summer require a deeper planting - the topsoil dries quickly. The presence of the July heat (up to 40 degrees) also suggests a deeper planting - when the soil is heated above 28 degrees, the potato stops the filling of tubers. On the other hand, deep planting is not desirable with us: a short growing season requires potatoes to rise early. On heavy loams, potatoes at depth produce a low yield of small and often ugly tubers - the soil is too dense and poorly aerated. For the last 8 years in my garden I have not used plowing and digging the soil. All crops grow in narrow beds with mulched aisles. At first, this only exacerbated the contradictions with the landing depth. The very planting and harvesting of potatoes disturbed the soil structure. Over time, I found a way to plant tubers without digging into the soil more than 5 cm from the bottom surface of the soil - I used straw, hay, foliage, and other organic residues for mulch. He talked about this in his articles. With my planting method, it becomes impossible to hill the bushes, which reduces the potential yield of tubers. After all, stolons appear only on the white part of the stem, closed from light. Additional roots appear only in a moist substrate. The question arose: how to increase the length of the stem under the soil surface without deepening the tubers? And the answer turned out to be very simple. You just need to germinate the tubers to a sprout length of 2-3 cm and plant the seed material down with sprouts. More precisely, I arrange the tuber so that the sprouts are under the tuber, and have maximum contact with the soil - the barrel. Reasons here are simple. The roots do not grow from a tuber, but from sprouts. And since the tubers do not deepen, then you need to make sure that the roots quickly go into the soil. Under the loose layer, rich in organic matter, there is a dense, undigged layer. The density of this layer provides a powerful capillary rise of moisture from the underlying layers. The structure of this layer is not disturbed by the intervention of a shovel and it remains similar to a sponge, with an abundance of pores from the passages of worms and decomposed roots. These air-filled pores provide excellent aeration to the potato roots.

In addition, with such a planting, the length of the etiolated (uncolored) section of the stems greatly increases. Roots and stolons actively grow in this area. There is a kind of hilling effect, without hilling. Fig 2. Moreover, the stolons are located in a loose substrate, which is very important for potatoes. In dense soil, up to 50% of stolons do not form tubers of normal size. In addition, with such a planting, the length of the etiolated (uncolored) section of the stems greatly increases. Roots and stolons actively grow in this area. There is a kind of hilling effect, without hilling. Fig 2. Moreover, the stolons are located in a loose substrate, which is very important for potatoes. In dense soil, up to 50% of stolons do not form tubers of normal size. Another advantage of planting down with shoots is that the bush grows wider than when planting with shoots up. Rounding the uterine tuber, the sprouts diverge to the sides. Some removal of trunks in the bush contributes to better illumination of seedlings, which means better photosynthesis - the development of plants in the initial, very important period. Potatoes respond to such a planting with a high yield.

In the photo, selection from the hybrid population "Bars", the average yield per bush is 3 kg. Maximum - 5, 6 kg. From a hundred -700 kg (17.5 bags) Digging potatoes with such a planting is much easier than with deep planting upside down - the tubers are all under the mulch.

The photo shows tubers with apical dominance. On such tubers, another unexpected effect of planting down with sprouts appeared - active tillering of the sprout. But it doesn't always show up. In my experiments, this happened on 15% of the tubers. Later, I found a way to make all the sprouts bush. You just need to pinch the tip of the sprout. This technique allows you to get a multi-stemmed bush with the development of 1-2 sprouts at the top of the tuber (apical dominance). Moreover, the tubers in such bushes are all large. Compare in photo 3 the uterine tuber and tubers of the crop. I explain this by the lack of competition within the bush. In an ordinary multi-stemmed bush, each stem is a separate plant. And they compete with each other for light and nutrient solutions. As a result, 1-2 large or many small tubers are formed on each stem-plant. On a plant that has grown from a single sprout, but branched underground, the tubers are large. And due to the increased etiolated section of the stems, there are a lot of tubers. Anyone who decides to plant tubers down with sprouts should be prepared for the fact that potatoes will sprout later than from tubers planted upside down. With a no-till planting method, like mine, this is not a problem. It takes a little longer to rise, but it can also be planted earlier - the top layer warms up faster, and I don’t need to deepen it. When planting upward with sprouts, you can increase the same length of the underground part of the stems by hilling. Planting with sprouts down allows you to avoid this time-consuming operation that delays the development of potatoes. If you want to get fresh tubers early, you can also use planting down with sprouts. I also do this successfully. I mix the tubers with sprouts 1-2 cm long down with sprouts in a box and completely fall asleep with DRY sawdust. In a dry substrate, roots do not form, but sprouts change direction of growth and rise to the surface. By the time of landing, they look like in Figure 2? Whenever deciding whether to plant upside down or down when planting potato tubers, remember that the tubers of the crop will form on offshoots - stolons - that emanate from the stem of the plant, i.e. above the mother tuber.
Oleg Telepov, Omsk club of potato growers.

The first way to plant potatoes is early

I want to tell you about my experiments with planting potatoes. I won’t repeat about germination, and I don’t really bother: only when I take out seed potatoes from the underground, pollinate them with ashes - and there are boxes waiting for their planting date.

First of all, I plant potatoes for hay in early May (but this year there was still some snow on the beds, although it was May 7 on the calendar), and the main potatoes closer to June. And it turns out that we eat potatoes under hay three weeks earlier.

Two narrow beds were made for this potato, and I plant it in two rows, because when it grows, it will be convenient to approach it - to rake the hay and "get" large potatoes. Then cover it again with hay, and let the small one grow further: while on one side of the bed I choose the grown potatoes, on the other side the little thing is already growing. There is no need to plant a lot of it under hay, depending on the number of eaters - from 5 to 10 kg.

The advantages of this method of planting potatoes:

• Young potatoes ripen earlier.
• No need to weed at all.
• No need to loosen anything, spud.
• Even if the heat is on, no need to water.

But in the first year, when I planted potatoes in this way (8 years ago), I have it where it sprouted and where it didn’t.

And I made a mistake: it is necessary that the sprouts must touch the ground, because the roots come from the sprouts!

Now I slightly deepen it into the ground, put a little hay over the sprouts so that they “see” where to grow, and along the edges, on the contrary, more hay and cover it with an old covering material (spunbond) - not so much for warmth, but for so that our north wind does not blow the hay all over the garden. Later, it will rain down, and you can remove the shelter.

Method two - fan landing

And I somehow read about the second landing method in a Belarusian magazine, it was called "Potatoes in dippers". It was also a long time ago, but I remember it - well, let's experiment. There it was recommended to divide the bed into 1.2 x 1.2 m squares. I used one small bed 3 m long and made three 1 x 1 m squares.

The principle is this: plant the tuber in the center, as usual, but as the stems grow, add a bucket of fertile soil to the center of the bush so that the sprouts lie like a fan. After about two weeks, we again pour the bucket into the center, and so five times.

In the first year, I was amazed at the result: 42 large tubers and only 2 small ones grew from one potato! In the second year, she did everything the same, but she poured less land, and the harvest turned out to be less - 28 large ones. And now I plant 3-5 pieces in this way, and there have never been less than 25 large potatoes.

Yes, you can’t plant a lot of potatoes in this way - where can you get so much land for bedding? If only there is someone who can bring it. And on large beds, I plant either along the beds, or across them (for the next year), and it turns out, as if I were changing places.

The third method of planting potatoes is double

But I also have my favorite planting method: I make two rows close to each other in a checkerboard pattern, 10-15 cm each, then a gap of 70-80 cm, and again double rows. I spud both rows at once, and such

beautiful rows are obtained - the soul rejoices! I sketched a plan to make it clearer. So try different landing methods, dear friends, and share with everyone!

The photographs show the difference: how potatoes grow under hay (in the foreground), and then - in an ordinary garden bed, in the usual way. This is the end of June, and grandson Danila with the first harvest of greens and radishes.

Note to the gardener: planting potatoes with sprouts down

Some summer residents plant potatoes in this way: supposedly it increases the yield. I think it's only theoretical. When my grandchildren helped me plant potatoes, they threw them into the hole without looking at the sprouts. Shoots appeared, but a third of the holes were empty. I dug them up and saw that the potatoes were planted with sprouts down: they are bent, exhausted, and they sprout two weeks later, and then lag behind in growth, and, accordingly, in the harvest. What happens? The bulk of the stems have already dried up, and the lagging behind only turn green, and beetles begin to eat them intensively, which are then transferred to tomatoes and eggplants.

I constantly germinate early potatoes in the basin, sprinkling them from above and below with earth. On the advice, she sprouted potatoes without soil on a tray (often sprayed with water and covered the roots with a film so that they would not dry out). When transplanting, I noticed that the roots that grew in the ground were twice as long as those that grew on a tray without soil. So I imagined how poor sprouts make their way from under the tuber through the beard of roots, bending in order to finally see the light of God ... Do not believe me? Then just dig up the newly sprouted potatoes, planted sprouts down.