Almost all summer residents very responsibly prepare vegetable seeds before planting on the site. Likewise, potatoes, which often grow from tubers, need a preparatory process before planting. There are a number of simple procedures that will affect the early emergence of potatoes and their productivity, as well as save from some diseases. Let's analyze the preparatory process of potatoes for planting.
Greening tubers
The potato tubers selected for planting, as is customary, are greened after harvest in the fall. To do this, you need to put the potatoes in 2-3 layers in a bright place, but without direct sunlight. After 10 days, corned beef forms in the potatoes - it provides protection against diseases, rodents and various pests, and also heals wounds on the tubers. But, if you haven't done the landscaping in winter, don't worry and just do it in the spring.
Sorting tubers
Experienced gardeners advise to sort the potatoes and discard low-grade and unhealthy tubers. It is better to do this a week before disembarkation. How do you identify potatoes that will not yield a crop? To do this, you need a urea solution: 1.5 kg per 10 liters of water. You need to put potatoes in it. Yielding and good potatoes will settle on the bottom, while sick and immature ones will be on the surface. Then the settled tubers are carefully dried and divided into weight groups (group 1 - 80-100 g, group 2 - 50-80 g, group 3 - 25-50 g).
Why is this separation useful? And you need it for the convenience of planting potatoes on a garden bed, taking into account the size - a certain size for a certain place. Remember that the size of the potato affects the time of its emergence, and in a garden with the same size of potatoes, they will all sprout almost simultaneously. It is also worth noting that bushes with the same length are easier to follow and, accordingly, huddle.
Treatment of tubers with fungicides
Not a small number of pathogens of the following diseases can live on the surface of a potato: scab, late blight, alternaria, rhizoctonia, formosis. To protect against the development of diseases, treatment with a bio-fungicide is allowed.
A week before planting potatoes use Planriz, right before planting Baxis, Alirin or Fitosporin, and Binoram and Agat 25K are used twice: 5 days before planting and directly on the day of disembarkation.
Heating and drying tubers
Shortly before planting potatoes (10-15 days), you need to get them out of the winter storage and place them in a place with a temperature of 18-20 ° C (a greenhouse is suitable), simply sprinkling them. Cover the tubers with rags or foil when the temperature drops. During the crescent, the potatoes will wither, warm up and lose excess moisture. This method perfectly preserves the tubers during planting and increases the germination rate.
Germination of potato tubers
This method will help in obtaining a large harvest of potatoes, from germination to the appearance of real shoots. Owners of floodplain and loamy soil, or one in which there is an excess of peat, cannot do without it at all. For germination, you need to transfer them to a warm and humid place 1 month before planting the tubers. A greenhouse is best suited for this.Weekly, you need to gently turn the potatoes without breaking off the sprouts.
What are the main points during germination? To begin with, this is the maintenance of different temperatures during the day (12-18 ° C) and at night (around 6 ° C). If possible, it should be kept at 20-22 ° С for a week indoors, and the rest of the time should be lowered to 7-8 ° С. This helps a lot of buds to awaken while preventing the sprouts from stretching. The increased humidity of the place where potatoes are stored before planting is also important, the most optimal is 85–95%. Often, in the absence of moisture, it is required to irrigate the potatoes with water.
By the time the potatoes are planted, centimeter sprouts will already appear, and root rudiments on their lower part. This increases the germination rate by about 10-12 days, in contrast to potatoes that have not germinated.
Dusting tubers with ash
Most gardeners love ash for its good effect on the starch content of potatoes, which is why it is a common fertilizer for garden beds. Potatoes soaked in water should be rolled in ash right before planting - this will increase yields and make future whips stronger.
All of the above methods of preparation before sowing potatoes can be used, but not all of them are required. It is enough for you to apply some of them - determine what conditions you have for growing potatoes and the time you can devote to the garden on hot days.
