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Yakov Pavlovich
Professor, Head of the Department of Vegetable Growing
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Harvesting of potato fruits is carried out 3-4 months after planting seedlings. However, these are just conditional figures. The harvest period depends on the region of growth, the quality of plant care and the climatic conditions in which the potato developed. In the absence of heavy rains and winds in the summer, harvesting of fruits can be carried out already at the beginning of September.
Preparation
In years with rainy weather, the soil becomes waterlogged and compacted. It lacks oxygen, which leads to metabolic disorders in plants. Such potatoes start to deteriorate on the vine, and the tubers are poorly stored. To eliminate this, it is necessary to drain water from the flooded areas.
Two weeks (at least 10 days) before harvesting potatoes, when a quarter or a third of the leaves of the plants turn yellow, it is recommended to mow the tops, leaving stumps 6-10 cm high. This is done not only to prevent diseases from moving from the aerial part to the tubers ... After such an operation, the process of ripening of the potato peel is accelerated, and as a result, the potato will better endure harvesting and storage. The mowed tops must be dried and burned.
Attention!
Do not dispose of the cut potato tops in the compost! Spores of fungal diseases tend to persist for years.
Determination of tuber maturity by date
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Experienced gardeners recommend keeping a calendar with calculations, according to which it is more convenient to determine the maturity of ripening of tubers.
Remember the date of planting the seed and in the future build on it.
The ripening process is carried out as follows:
- after 2-3 weeks the first shoots appear;
- after another 2-3 weeks, the greenery noticeably grows, the first flowers appear on it.
Accordingly, young potatoes can already be harvested 30-35 days after they are deepened into the ground.
And a mature harvest can be obtained already in the period from 60 to 80 days.
Cleaning
During digging, it is important to protect tubers from mechanical damage: abrasions, cuts and bruises. The dug potatoes should not be exposed to the bright sun (otherwise it may get sunburn), overheat (from this, the core turns black) or overcooled to sub-zero temperatures. It is also impossible to cover freshly dug tubers with tops, since spores of fungal diseases have a chance to gain a foothold on a young, unripe peel.
Tubers must be completely cleared of soil before storing.
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Do not rush to put tubers taken out of the ground in bags or boxes. First, they need to be dried in the furrow for 1-2 hours. This facilitates the separation of soil from tubers and reduces the defeat of the "second bread" by late blight, wet rot and other diseases. If the weather does not allow the potatoes to dry in place, then they are scattered under a canopy or in a well-ventilated barn (right with adhering dirt).
Digging potatoes correctly
The potato yield depends on the variety, weather, agricultural technology; but it also depends on how well the tubers are harvested.Dug out potatoes correctly and on time will keep well.
When to dig?
Experts from the Institute of Potato Growing argue that the ripening time of even the same potato variety in the same region can be different and vary depending on:
- The temperature at which the seed was stored.
- Ways to prepare tubers for planting.
- Weather.
In most cases, the ripening time is determined by the onset of wilting (physiological withering away) of the tops. It may be as early as early August, or perhaps at the beginning of September.
There is an unmistakable way to determine when you can start digging up early potatoes (but not for storage, but for food) - the first strawberries have ripened, which means that in a week you can take a shovel and go to the potato beds.
Nadezhda 1303 FORUMHOUSE user
Early potatoes don't even bloom all the way! But once the first strawberries are ripe (a lighthouse!), Then in a week you can safely dig the first flowering bushes. 12.06. there were already young potatoes for dinner.
Some potato growers believe that since the potato is a root crop, and not a fruit, then talking about the ripening period is meaningless; has grown to its normal size, and you can dig. But if you dig up the potatoes ahead of time, they will be poorly stored. Potatoes are ready for harvest when they stop growing (this is indicated by dying tops), when nutrients accumulate in the tubers, not in the stems, and when they have a sufficiently thick and strong skin for long storage.
In normal weather (average daily temperatures in the range of 15-22 degrees and at least 300 mm of precipitation are considered optimal for potatoes, and mainly during the period of tuberization), according to the Institute of Potato Growing, the crop is ready for harvesting at the following times:
- Early varieties - 60–70 days after planting.
- Medium early - in 70–80 days.
- Mid-season - in 80-100 days.
- Medium and late - after 100–120 days.
If the summer turned out to be "bad", for example, all the way there was a heat of +25 - +30 degrees, and there was no rain, then the tubers practically do not grow, do not increase in size, therefore, if the tops are still green, it makes sense to wait with harvesting, especially if the long-awaited rains started.
Flowering will help determine the timing of harvesting early potato varieties. Flowering is the high point of a plant's life cycle. After that, we count down three weeks, and you can start digging.
In order not to be mistaken, you can dig up a couple of bushes, see in what condition the tubers are, how many of them have separated from the bush, and only then start harvesting the entire crop.
Whether to mow the tops?
The question "to mow - not to mow" is actively discussed in the community of amateur potato growers. There is no definite answer to it. Most agree that it is better not to mow it unnecessarily (if the plant is not infected with late blight, and if the tops have dried themselves by the time the potatoes are dug out). But if it was September, the summer was rainy, and on the field, like grenadiers, there are potato bushes almost the size of a man's height - it is imperative to mow.
Usually mowed a week before harvesting, it is not necessary earlier - the hemp may begin to grow, and the tubers will die. There were cases when people lost a significant part of the harvest due to early mowing.
Vladimir2804FORUMHOUSE user
Cut off if the tops are still strong, and dig up soon. Or, as a neighbor explained to me, in the south they cut off, there the tops are waist-high and higher, it is simply not convenient to dig up potatoes in her presence. And, of course, if the disease.
Greening - not greening?
Green potatoes are more suitable for planting than non-green ones. Seeds are greened either in autumn or spring, a few days before planting. Which is more correct? As we can see, there is no place for dogmas in potato growing; here, again, everyone decides for himself.In general, it is better to green the seeds in the fall to protect the seeds from mice, other pests and some diseases.
NataDobrik FORUMHOUSE User
We dug the greenery like this: we dug it up, and before the frost it lies on the terrace close to the window, then we put it in the cellar. During the winter, there are gnaws, but small, apparently, mice try, but do not eat, it is not tasty.
Vodopad FORUMHOUSE User
Greening is desirable in any case. Better in the fall, for several days, until not only the skin, but the entire tuber in the depths turns green.
There is still such a benefit from greening: while the potatoes are in the sun, unusable tubers are identified even before they are sent for storage.
Hope1303
Immediately after selection, seed potatoes from the best bushes in boxes stand in partial shade (and in the rain) for at least a month. Rot is immediately detected. This method showed a clearly positive result in comparison with spring gardening.
In the spring, such potatoes are taken out of the storage area in advance, and then another plus of autumn greening is visible - the tubers give shorter and thicker shoots that do not break off during planting. They grow together, seedlings are even, and the crop ripens at the same time.
The only minus of autumn greening is that after this procedure, potatoes are suitable only for planting, you cannot eat them.
Sandra71FORUMHOUSE user
We thought: if we suddenly decide to reduce the area for potatoes, then the seed can be eaten, and the green one will have to be thrown away. Therefore, we are not green since autumn.
To wash or not to wash?
If there is no force majeure such as the rains that do not stop for weeks, most amateur potato growers will dig out the potatoes, dry them in the sun and breeze for several hours and send them for storage. Everything. If any soil has stuck to the tuber, it will fall off during this time.
However, there are good reasons for washing. At the same time, it is important not to wash the entire crop in one container - at FORUMHOUSE one beginner potato grower infected all tubers with late blight and was left without potatoes. And it is better to wash in general not in a container, but on a fine mesh.
Professional FORUMHOUSE user
I have made a frame measuring 1x3 meters, from a board of 25x100mm, a frame, like sides, and with a partition across, for rigidity. A galvanized mesh is stretched over the frame with a cell of about a centimeter. I install the frame on the racks, wash it with a spray from the top and bottom, then stir and turn the potatoes and wash them again.
The washed potatoes are dried properly directly on the net or sprinkled indoors and the fan is turned on. The good thing about clean potatoes is that they can be sorted out immediately, since all the flaws are visible. You can hold it for a week to identify tubers sick with late blight.
Read our article on how to grow colored potatoes, watch a video on how to grow potatoes from seeds, ask potato-growing questions to knowledgeable people.
The healing period
The most important factor that determines the preservation of potatoes is its quality. Even the most advanced storage methods will do nothing when applied to battered, damaged or rotten tubers. Therefore, it is necessary to lay mature and intact tubers for storage. Before sending the crop to storage, it must be subjected to the so-called "healing period". To do this, potatoes are kept in a dry, dark place at a temperature of 12-16 ° C for two to three weeks. There the tubers "heal" small wounds (a protective layer is formed on the damaged areas, which allows them to resist infections). However, if the potato is sick with late blight, then during this time it will show itself - the tubers will rot.
Looking for a test word
One of the first spelling rules (after "zhi" - "shi" perhaps), which we were introduced to in Russian lessons in high school, is the spelling rule for vowels at the root of a word. According to him, morphemes in Russian are distinguished by a uniform spelling, which means that the root of a word in all words of the same root should be spelled in the same way.Therefore, it is necessary to find a single-root word in which the "unknown" vowel will be in a strong position, that is, clearly audible.
In Russian, the vowel is heard clearly only under stress. In this case, the difficulty lies in the fact that two words can be considered as test words at once - digging and digging. The second of them must be immediately dismissed, because here we have a special kind of historical alternations, when in the form of an imperfect form the quality of a vowel changes (look - revise (but see), speak - talk (but a proverb) and so on).
Therefore, when in your mind the question "dig or drip?" — remember the verbal noun "digging". It is used quite rarely today, but it still exists. The same rule, no doubt, applies to all forms of this word, so feel free to use it when choosing a letter in the form of the past tense (digging or dripping), future tense (digging or digging), and so on.
What's in the seed?
Caring for the "second bread" of the next year should begin now. The excavated crop of each bush must be left separately in the holes, after which healthy tubers typical for the variety are selected from the most productive nests. Their average weight is 50-60 g. Potatoes with damage, cracks, dents, symptoms of diseases and holes from the wireworm should be discarded.
It is advisable to keep the potatoes laid on the seeds in diffused light (scattered in 1-2 layers on pre-prepared areas, which are placed under awnings or in the shade of trees). This stimulates the accumulation of solanine, a poisonous substance that helps the tubers heal wounds, resist disease and successfully survive until planting. During the aging process (8-9 days), the potatoes should be turned over once or twice. After the tubers turn green, they are harvested and stored.
