Growing potatoes is the main business for thousands of Kuban farmers, tens of thousands of homeowners. Kuban, Krasnodar Region is not the best region for potatoes. In a hot dry summer, this culture does not feel comfortable - record harvests can not be expected here. But no one is going to abandon this culture.
.- Soil, its preparation for planting potatoes
- What types of potatoes are best for planting?
- Sort of Impala
- The Roco variety (Rocco)
- Sort of Romano
- Pick of Picasso
- Fighting pests and diseases of potatoes
- Cultivation of potatoes - what technology to choose
Potatoes for normal development require moderate temperatures, moisture. And high summer temperatures have a depressing effect on the development of tubers. With a heat of 35 degrees, all the processes of tuber development are suspended, the mass does not increase.
↑ to the contents ↑.Soil, its preparation for planting potatoes
The soil of the north-eastern part of the Krasnodar Territory, where my Novokubansky district is located, is low-carbonate leached chernozems of heavy mechanical composition, with a relatively high content of humus and high density.
.Soil is of great importance for the cultivation of potatoes. However, it must be borne in mind that young tubers have a small force for spreading heavy dense soils, such as the chernozems of the Krasnodar Territory. This feature indicates that the soil must be loose all the time. Dense soil impedes the growth of the root system, it develops poorly, deformed, clumsy forms of tubers are formed.
Even if you have a small plot, it is advisable to follow the crop rotation anyway. The best predecessors are legumes, carrots, lettuce, spinach, beets, cabbage, cucumbers, except for solanaceous. And the ideal ones are beans, clover, alfalfa. It would be nice if, of course, you allow the area of your site, in the previous planting of potatoes a year, to sow it with peas or clover. After harvesting the green mass for hay (it will be useful to you even if you do not have any live animals - it can be used as mulch), the site for planting potatoes in the autumn is dug up. This contributes to better accumulation of moisture, the influx of air - in the moist, loose layer of the earth, tubers develop better.
The greatest amount of organic matter for the development of garden plants leaves perennial herbs, for example, alfalfa. The study of the Kuban chernozems by agrarian scientists revealed the positive role of alfalfa in improving the agrophysical properties of the soil and increasing its fertility.
Prepare the soil for planting potatoes from the fall. The first thing to do is make organic fertilizers. The best are repaired cow, horse, and bird droppings. Clean fresh manure is better not to make. Make only the rebel! Overripe cow dung - 4-5 kg per 1 sq. Km. m. Horse - 4-6 kg per 1 square. m. The dose of dry chicken manure kg / m2.
With regular (once in 2-3 years) application of the overgrown manure, heavy soils become in several years loose, structural (small-lumpy), which contributes to better penetration of air, moisture to the roots plants. The fertilizing effect of manure lasts for several years: the more manure is introduced, the longer. Many gardeners warn: with the overripe manure can be brought to the site of such a malicious pest as a bear.
If they were late in autumn to fertilize the soil with organic matter, then the manure can be used for planting. But here there is one obligatory rule: put on the bottom of the excavated hole 150-200 g pereprevshego manure. Be sure to cover it with a thin layer of earth to protect the tubers from burning. If possible, you can add 5-10 g of wood ash (tablespoon) and 10 g of bird litter. Ciderates are an excellent fertilizer for chernozem. First, they enrich the soil with organic and nitrogen, and secondly, the siderates can completely replace the use of manure (3 kg of green mass can replace 1 kg of manure). Overriding, the siderates make the soil more friable. They suppress the growth of weeds. Some ciderates, for example, mustard, discourage the wireworm. And on the site sown with lupine, the Colorado beetle does not hibernate.
To plant potatoes, experienced potato growers are advised to cultivate, fertilized, "ripe" land. Which land can be considered ripe? Squeeze a handful of earth, throw it down from the height of the belt. Ripe earth will crumble when it strikes the ground. If so, you can plant potatoes.
↑ back to content ↑What types of potatoes are best for planting?
In any region of great importance for the cultivation of potatoes have varieties that are divided into early, middle-early, mid-ripening, mid-late and late. Assigning them to one or another kind depends on how many days after planting you can start digging out the tubers:
- early - in 50-65 days;
- medium-early - after 65-80 days;
- mid-ripening - after 80-95 days;
- medium-late - after 95-110 days;
- late - after 110 days or more.
Kuban farmers plant mainly early varieties for sale in late May-June. This - Impala, Zhukovsky early, Luck, Red Scarlet, Dita, Roco, Romano, Picasso, others. In truck farmers, they also proved to be quite good.
.I always plant several varieties, different in terms of maturation. It is difficult to predict what the upcoming spring or summer will be like. That's why you can not put any one. The early planting is just for getting young potatoes. We almost eat it all up young. For storage, it almost does not remain.
I will tell you about those varieties that were cultivated by myself - I have about them, what to tell.
↑ back to content ↑Sort of Impala
For example, I like the Impala very much. Never once did I fail this sort. Every year he will give birth well. I think that it is very suitable for growing in the Kuban. Very early. The bushes are high (up to 70 cm), the flowers are white. You can dig up bushes in 40-45 days after planting. This is a variety of Dutch breeding. Tubers are large, small no. Tubers gain weight quickly. It gives a stable harvest even in dry hot summer. Tubers manage to gain weight before the onset of heat. The tubers are large, beautiful, even, oval, all roughly the same size. The skin is yellow, the flesh is light yellow. The eyes are small. The number of tubers is 7-8, sometimes more. Well boiled. Especially crumbly it you will not name, but at cooking the surface of a potato slightly as though bursts, looks appetizingly. Very tasty it in mashed potatoes, soup, fried form. After cooking, it does not get dark. Impala is resistant to some viruses, to the potato nematode, medium-resistant to late blight of tubers, tops, to scab.
↑ back to content ↑The Roco variety (Rocco)
I consider this cultivar to be successful, for cultivation in the Kuban region only with sufficient rainfall in May or with sufficient watering during tuber formation. A variety of Dutch breeding. Refers to the mid-ripening, so the tuber formation by the terms of it later than, for example, the Impala. Therefore, it will grow well, and the tubers gain weight with sufficient moisture. Undergrowth bushes can be no earlier than 60-65 days, sometimes even later. It is believed that full ripening of this variety reaches in 80-95 days. The tubers of Roco are very beautiful, smooth, small eyes. I vobschem something I plant it only because of the beautiful tubers. 😀The bush is of medium height. The flowers are purple, but I had few flowers. Pulp of cream-colored tuber. The potato is not boiled. Delicious in soups, good fried, with a crispy crust. Roco is resistant to cancer, golden potato cyst-forming nematode, moderately resistant to late blight on tubers, on tops, resistant to wrinkled, banded mosaic.
↑ back to content ↑Sort of Romano
Middle-early variety of Dutch breeding. The maturation period is 65-80 days, but the initial development is slow, so I start it 50 days after planting. Bushes are tall, straight, flowers are red-lilac. The tubers are more rounded than those of Roco. The color of the peel is pink. The color of the pulp is light cream. Sufficiently yielding. My number of tubers in the bush was 7-10 pieces. But not every bush could boast such a yield. There were shrubs with fewer tubers. Delicious. When cooking is moderately boiled. But it's good in soup or fried. The rind of this variety is rather dense. Very much like the whole baked: the skin remains whole with baking, without cracks, and the flesh inside is friable. Good resistance to late blight on tubers, relative - on leaves, medium-resistant to scab, viral diseases, rhizoctonia, relatively resistant to mosaic viruses, cancer.
.Pick of Picasso
A variety of Dutch breeding.A lot of good reviews read, heard from friends about him. I have long wanted to try to grow it. This spring I bought one last package (5 kg). But, as I was with my girlfriend, I had to share. Planted 23 bush (one potato). The harvest pleased. Very fruitful, beautiful variety. Tubers are large, oval. Out of a kilogram of planting material, 2 buckets were dug out (approximately 16-18 kg). The color is unusual - the tuber is yellow with pink spots on the top and around the eyes. Pulp of cream color. They dug up a little for food. Boiled - the taste is excellent, boiling - you can even eat without oil. We decided to leave practically the entire crop for seeds. But, probably, it will not work. I reached into the cellar for potatoes and gasped. Rats made their way there - almost all the tubers lie bitten. Never such was. So deep these pests did not get in earlier. And then... such a rout was done... Semenna also suffered, although I planted it green, but apparently weak ...
Picasso is an excellent variety for the Kuban growing conditions. The taste of boiled potatoes, its friability is a strong argument for it.
.And with rats, I'll figure it out ...
Resistant to potato nematode, fusariose, scab, cancers. Medium-resistant to defeat by late blight, resistant to tuber damage. Somewhere I met information that Picasso gives good harvests and excellent taste when planting after mustard or lupine siderates. This information was not checked.
In the autumn, I usually scatter around the area a crooked or chicken droppings. I throw every year, but less than the norm, about which they write. I buy manure, so I do not have much of it. Planted the potatoes after the pumpkin, in each hole fell 1 tbsp. a spoonful of superphosphate + a handful of wood ash. From abovefell asleep with soil from the compost heap.
↑ back to content ↑Fighting pests and diseases of potatoes
Alas, the cultivation of potatoes can not do without pests and diseases! I tried many ways to fight. It is difficult to say which one is better or worse. Year for a year - it is not necessary. What could have been effective before, can betray later. I will describe my impressions of the use of various drugs.
Against the Colorado potato beetle used the drug "Bancol" several years ago. Not a bad drug. It was enough to spray potato bushes alone. Adults and young specimens of the Colorado beetle died almost immediately. No re-processing was needed. But then, left on the seeds of potatoes, gave the spring a weak threadlike sprouts. Seeds had to be bought. I did not pay attention to this circumstance. Again I processed the field "Bankol" - again I left without seed. Only then did I understand that Bancol was suppressing the reproductive function. I did not use it any more, because I always used my seeds, and it's a pity... - I have such an effect, I mean its ability to deal with the Colorado beetle for one treatment, I have not yet met. The creators of the drug claim that a week after the treatment of crops, "Bankol" is decomposed into components that are finally neutralized by soil bacteria. So, if you do not leave seed tubers - the best drug against the Colorado potato beetle is difficult to find.
I used the money "Commander "Confidor "Tantrack" from the Colorado beetle. What can I say?... Means are effective, but 3-4 treatments are required. And this is already labor-intensive ...
In 2012, I purchased a Prestige etchant to treat seed tubers against a Colorado beetle. I must say that the drug is not cheap - I hesitated for a long time before I decided to buy it. The instruction says that it effectively protects the planting of potatoes from wireworm, Colorado beetle, bear, aphids, viruses, rhizoctonia, scab. Manufacturers of the Prestige disinfectant are advised to treat the tubers in boxes, nets, and then shake them, so that the drug is evenly distributed among the tubers. But my seed tubers have already sprouted, it was not advisable to shake them - the sprouts could be broken off. Processed, sprayed sprouted tubers already in the hole. The drug is bright crimson, when preparing a solution for processing, the color of the solution becomes paler, but I still planted the ruddy potatoes.The protective period from pests - 50 days, and from diseases - 40 days from the date of treatment. After this, the drug decomposes into non-toxic compounds. The instruction warns that potatoes can be eaten after processing not earlier than 50 days after planting. This, of course, is alarming. But a lot of information from different sources convinces that the drug from the seed tuber rises on stalk, reaches the leaves, does not participate in the process of photosynthesis, and therefore can not get into the young tubers.
So, I processed the seed material when planting - and forgot about it. Then I saw that the neighbor at the dacha was cultivating his potatoes from the Colorado beetle - she decided to check her. Imagine my surprise when I saw a lot of dead adult Colorado beetles under bushes!
This effect struck me.
There are always a lot of work in the garden - I found myself many other things. Polola, hills, watered ...
Then came the time of the young potatoes. I counted not 50 days from the day of planting, as the instruction advises, but 60 - just in case. Imagine my surprise when I again saw Colorado beetles of different ages on the bushes. This meant that the action of the drug "Prestige" was over - the potato leaves again became for the beetles, their larvae edible.
Of course, the potatoes had already grown, the tubers were tied up, they were poured - the Colorado beetle did not represent any danger to it, but... the sight was unpleasant. After all, these beetles will go to winter - then spring again. So, by experience, I came to the conclusion that the Prestige etchant does not save the potatoes from the second wave of the beetle. Had already grown shrubs to handle another drug from the Colorado beetle.
↑ back to content ↑Cultivation of potatoes - what technology to choose
I must say that how many truck farmers - so many technologies for growing potatoes. Every year I exchange impressions, observations with other potato lovers. Every time I learn something new, interesting. Someone will tell about the new variety, its negative or positive properties, someone will share the seeds, someone will tell you about the failures, someone will advise you to change the planting time. Each such story is like a coin in my treasury of knowledge.
Whatever sort of planting you choose, it is very useful before planting spraying tubers with a solution of copper sulfate, boron acid, potassium permanganate (, 1 3%) and dusting of tubers with ashes (20 kg / t or 20 g per kilogram of tubers - 2 matchboxes boxes). Wood ash introduced during planting (handful per hole) increases the starchiness of the tubers (friability during cooking) by 1%. Copper sulfate accelerates tuber formation, increases resistance to fungal diseases, boron increases yield, and also starchy tubers, resistance to rhizoctonia, manganese promotes the accumulation of starch and vitamin C .
Usually we plant potatoes in the last decade of March. But, of course, the weather can correct these terms.
This year, a neighbor in the countryside planted 10 holes during the February windows. Who lives in the Kuban, knows that we have such a concept - the February windows. There are very warm days when the air temperature warms up to 20 ° C, and sometimes it is even warmer. The sun is shining brightly, the upper layer of the earth is also warming up quite well. So, my neighbor from the autumn prepared a small piece of land for planting early potatoes. In the autumn, he covered it with a spunbond, and on top with a layer of film. Of course, this piece of land warmed up well on the sunny days of February. After landing, he, when it was warm, cleaned the film, leaving only spunbond. And in the evening I covered it again with a film. In March, when the bushes grew up, he set the arcs. Covered the bushes with a spunbond. And then he even took it away. I planted my potatoes in the last days of March, and at it it already was green with might and main, here and there were buds. These 10 bushes he dug up for food in the first half of April! He does not know the names of the variety, he has been planting for many years, calling him "forty days". Ten seed tubers gave almost a bucket of young potatoes, although the tubers were medium in size, but maybe it depends on the variety. Here, please, I described to you the neighboring technology of potato growing early in the Kuban under cover (spunbond or film).
But not only amateur gardeners grow early potatoes under a spunbond. Many farmers plant early varieties for shelter. Get in April a young potato for sale. I assure you, it is more delicious than imported Turkish.
Consider, the fertile climate of the Krasnodar Territory makes it possible to harvest using various growing technologies. I tried different things: I grew them from the eyes, from the shoots, too, when there was not enough seed; grew in double rows with one crest. Under the cardboard and mulch has not yet tried, but I will definitely try. I think all these technologies are acceptable for the Kuban.
On irrigated fields, you can get potato crops twice a summer. Watch the video: cultivation of potatoes and obtaining a double crop of peasant farm "Arena" of the Gulkevichsky district of the Krasnodar Territory.
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