The time of the first and subsequent hillingand protection of tubers from adverse weather conditions. That is why all gardeners who grow crops must know how and when to spud potatoes, as well as be able to use hilling tools. The need for hilling potatoes
Recently, you can hear the opinion that potatoes can be grown without hilling. Of course, the roots of a plant that are directed downward do not require such work, but the stolons on which tubers appear often grow not only downwards, but to the sides and upwards. Such a procedure is necessary for the formation of additional tubers in the loose soil and knoll and improvement of crop yields.
Over time, potatoes grow and come closer to the surface of the earth, indicating the need to harvest. In addition to increasing yields, hilling protects the tubers from the hot sun or possible night frosts, as a result, they do not turn green and do not deteriorate.
Time of the first and subsequent hilling
In order to achieve a good harvest and protect the crop from adverse weather conditions, you need to know when to spud potatoes for the first time, as well as how many times to carry out the procedure in the future. It would be nice to do an earthing up on wet ground after rain or watering. In this case, the stolons, on which the tubers are subsequently formed, will begin to grow even faster. A scoop on too dry ground can greatly harm potato bushes.
There is an opinion that hilling should be carried out two or three times:
- The first procedure should be carried out when potatoes grow by 5-10 centimeters. If night frosts are expected, it is recommended that the bushes be completely covered with earth to protect them from the cold. If the temperature is not expected to decrease, there is no need to cover the young shoots with the ground in order not to slow down their growth.
- The second hilling is desirable to hold during the formation of tubers. This is about 2-3 weeks after the first, before the flowering of the culture.
- The third procedure for the care of potatoes can be done when the bushes grow by about 25 centimeters. It is not necessary to completely fill them, it is enough to cover the base. You can also throw a little land between the branches of bushes, so that they grow wider.
When color appears on a crop, spud or weed the crop should be very careful. During this period, the tubers begin to be tied and can be damaged.
How to spud potatoes by hand: the features of the
process Before you start spuding potatoes, you need to pluck all the weeds in the plot. Grass can not clean up and leave on the ground. When it dries, it will be an excellent protection from the sun's rays. It is best to take care of potatoes not in the middle of a hot day, suffering from thirst, but rather to do it early in the morning or towards evening with a decrease in sun activity. Indeed, in any case, when hilling, you slightly disturb the plant system, and it may wither.
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The basic rules for understanding how to spud potatoes will be described below. For manual hilling potatoes do not need supernatural abilities, it is enough to have a hoe or a hoe and be able to use them. Hoe - the most popular tool used by gardeners to care for plants. It can be trapezoidal, triangular, have sharp or rounded edges.
There are at least two ways to manually pile up potatoes:
- The first method consists in raking up soil to the bush from all sides. Thus, one “bouquet” of stems is obtained.
- According to the second method, the stems need to be moved apart in different directions, and only after that the soil is poured into the middle of the bush.
When hilling, make sure that the mound is wide and high. In this case, the tubers will be spacious, and they will be able to grow more and more.
Caring for potatoes with the help of a manual hiller
The manual hilling is the most affordable and convenient device for the care of this crop. It is possible to buy a manual okuchnik for potatoes in a hardware store, and you can make it yourself. This device is used for treating the soil between the beds. Its design is very simple. It consists of a stalk - a handle and two dumps, on each of which there is a holder, located at an angle of 45 degrees to the ground. For the procedure, it is enough to pull the device forward, holding the handle, and adjust the heaps in the right direction.
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country garden. So, making a potato spade with your own hands is quite simple. For the manufacture of this device will require:
- Hollow tube( length - 90-100 cm, diameter - 1 inch).
- Hollow tube( diameter - inch), designed for the manufacture of traction: the rear and front.
- Millimeter sheet steel to manufacture heaps.
- Blowtorch to heat metal for bending.
- Lanyard.
- Bulgarian to handle joints.
- Welding machine.
To make a potato thistle with your own hands, you need:
- To make a vertical stand, rear and front traction. This stage consists in performing a bend from a 100-centimeter pipe about 30 centimeters of this pipe. Optimally do it with a pipe bender. The process of making the front and rear braces can be better understood if you watch a special video.
- Make a two-tail plow. For the manufacture of dumps will need two concave round plates. These discs must be set at a certain angle and connected using a welding machine.
- Make a trimming knife. This stage is very important in the manufacture of hiller, since it is the knife that takes the main resistance when the plow is dug into the soil. The steel sheet must be cut in the shape of an arrowhead with an acute angle of 45 degrees, after which the tip should be welded to the bottom of the rack and sanded.
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Hilling potatoes with a walking tractor
To date, you can purchase a special walking tractor to facilitate potato maintenance and speed up the hilling process. The advantages of the tiller is its universal use: from loosening the soil to harvesting. The disadvantages of this device include its high cost, as well as the increased likelihood of damage to potato tubers.
In the case of potato processing with the help of a walk-behind tractor, during planting you need to ensure that the distance between the rows is fixed and the same. To do this, it is recommended to use a special marker and with it to draw lines on the beds.
For the hilling of potatoes on the walking tractor, the following devices are installed:
- Two baking powder in front of the device.
- Hiller back, which is designed to fall asleep potato bushes soil.
It is important to note that for the care of large potato plantations, you can use three-row nozzles that will spud three rows of potato bushes at the same time. Each gardener decides for himself how to take care of plants: spend little time and a lot of money on it or vice versa.
In order to improve the efficiency of caring for this garden crop, it is advisable to watch a video on how to spud potatoes, regardless of the hilling method chosen.
Hilling potatoes with a walking tractor - video
