For ordinary customers, potatoes are a vegetable that should always be in the store, because it is very easy to grow it. However, not everything is so simple. First you need to sprout potatoes. The beginning of the process is early spring. At this moment, many ask the question: how do they sprout potatoes? Preparation begins a month before planting in the ground.

Historical reference

The potato appeared in the Russian Empire thanks to Peter I. The first Russian emperor brought it from Holland with the firm conviction that it would become very popular with us. However, the sovereign himself was not up to botany, and the peasants and ordinary people did not really want to be engaged in the cultivation of new items. And the German name "craft teuff" was translated into Russian as "devil's power", which did not add to the popularity of the overseas vegetable in an Orthodox country.

During the reign of Nicholas I, there was a great famine in the country due to crop failure. Therefore, it was decided to issue an order to plant potatoes in all parts of the large country. Common people resisted, “potato riots” broke out, which were ruthlessly extinguished. Sometimes those who refused to plant potatoes were sent to hard labor. As a result, the root crop was tasted in Russia, and how many people he saved from starvation, it is not just that it is now called "the second bread". Today potatoes are grown even in Siberia, including in greenhouses.

Potatoes

Selection of root crops for seeds

Preparing the greenhouse in spring for planting tomatoes

The main goal of any gardener is a reward for his work in the form of a rich and high-quality harvest that he can be proud of. In potato cultivation, everything begins in the fall, after the harvest. Experienced summer residents notice the most lush bushes, with a lot of bright tops. When dug up, the fruits of these bushes are folded into separate boxes. With the help of them, selection is made: the removal of the bushes least susceptible to diseases and pests.

In the spring, if the seed is selected in the fall, it must be prepared for planting. When to pull out boxes of potatoes from the basement, how to sprout prepared potatoes, each gardener determines for himself, depending on the home region. The process should start by re-grading the tubers. Usually this procedure is carried out where the potatoes have wintered: a basement, an underground or a garage. During storage, tubers can acquire properties that will interfere with obtaining a good harvest. In this case, they get rid of them if:

  • Root crops less than 30 g;
  • The appearance of a rotten or musty odor;
  • The presence of any plaque that is visually noticeable is traces of pathogenic bacteria.

If there are cut tubers untouched by any diseases in the seed, they are left. They have shown their vitality.

Cut potato tubers for planting

Further, the roots are sorted by weight and size:

  • From 30 to 50 g - small;
  • From 50 to 80 g - medium;
  • From 80 and above - large.

The weight here is approximate, because weighing each potato is a long and tedious task. The size of the fruit is immediately visible, with a certain skill, any gardener is able to divide the seed material harvested in the fall into three piles. The division into three standard sizes must be done.Without this, in the process of growth, weaker shoots will be clogged with stronger ones. Subject to improved selection or an increase in the number of root crops of a rare variety, mixing potatoes of small and medium sizes is allowed.

If a summer resident has several copies of a rare variety, he tries to increase their number from year to year. In this case, these potatoes are stored separately, they are supervised separately, and all the material is used for planting, including very small specimens.

Preliminary preparation objectives

The main goal of preparing seeds for the sowing period is to obtain a richer and more delicious harvest. Untreated tubers placed in soil will not germinate earlier than 20 days. If you carry out preliminary processing according to all the rules of agronomists, then the process will significantly accelerate.

Harvest

Fertilizers for potatoes when planting in a hole in spring

The rules are quite simple and unpretentious:

  • Spreading out into the light;
  • Treatment with moist stimulants for better growth;
  • Wilting.

Preliminary actions with potatoes harvested for seeds:

  • Get the potatoes out of the winter storage area, sort out carefully;
  • Cleaning the sorted material from the ground - to destroy living bacteria;
  • Placing potatoes in a special disinfection solution for a quarter of an hour.
  • Drying root crops in a dry, dark place;
  • Placing the dried material in a room with a temperature of about 25 ° C.

Thus, the preliminary preparation of the potatoes is carried out before planting. Now you can start processing. There are several ways to do this.

Important! The recipe for the preparation of a disinfectant solution: for every 10 liters of water add 10 g of boric acid in powder.

How to germinate potatoes? There are two main methods for germinating potatoes before planting.

Sprouting potatoes with light

Sprouting potatoes in sawdust

This method requires the presence of light in the room. Bright and constant light is not required for potato germination. Without lighting in rooms, even with sufficient humidity and acceptable temperature, sprouts will actively grow, but they will be weak, thin and long. The root crop itself will become soft and lifeless, because all the strength from him will be sucked out by these useless processes.

For such purposes, any room with access to indirect sunlight and a constant temperature around 15 ° C is suitable. Indirect sunlight allows thick, dark growth. They will be firmly attached to the potato and will not break off when planted in the ground. This lighting is best obtained when the seed is placed in wooden boxes with ventilation holes. To avoid direct sunlight, the boxes are covered with white cloth or newsprint.

Sprouted potatoes

A poorly lit room with natural light is artificially lit. To do this, turn on the electric light every day for 9 hours (the illusion of daylight hours is created). How fast do potatoes germinate? The germination period of potatoes depends on the ambient temperature:

  • 12 ° С - germination will take 40 days;
  • 8 ° C - germination can be delayed up to 60 days;
  • 18 ° С - germination will occur in 30 days;
  • 20 ° C - critical temperature: the shoots will be unviable, and the tuber will dry out.

To accelerate the germination of potato tubers, the following steps are taken:

  • Spray the potatoes with a nutrient solution. This solution is prepared by mixing 10 liters of water and 2 g of manganese. Spray with a spray bottle on a glass bottle. A week later, a new ash-based solution is made. 100 g of wood ash is dissolved in 4 liters of water. Then filter and spray;
  • Ambient temperature control. In the first 10 days, the temperature is kept around 18 ° C. Then it is necessary to lower the temperature to 14 ° C and maintain it for another 20 days. By this time, the sprouts reach 2 cm;
  • A couple of days before planting potatoes in the soil, cover it with a dark opaque cloth, and lower the temperature to 12 ° C. This is a hardening process.

On a note. All experienced gardeners process tubers before planting, because this allows you to get a rich and tasty harvest.

Use of a wet substance

This method is less labor-intensive, but the results are very good. In contrast to the previous method, darkness is used here. A mixture of sawdust and peat is used as the soil. To begin with, polyethylene is placed in the box, seed is placed on top. Polyethylene does not have to be solid. Excess moisture will be removed through the slots. The main goal is to create a moist environment for the tubers. Sprinkle the potatoes on top with a sawdust-peat mixture with the addition of humus.

For good germination, the following conditions are required:

  • The ambient temperature should be between 12-25 ° C;
  • Good ventilation;
  • Sufficient humidity.

It is required to moisten the earth layer to its fullest with the correct nutrient solution: 2 g of copper sulfate are diluted in 1 liter of water. Potato tubers are placed at a distance of 1 cm from each other and sprinkled with soil mixture to a height of 3 cm. Next, the next layer of seeds is laid and again sprinkled with earth by 3 cm. This procedure is repeated until the container is completely filled.

In the case of floor placement of seed material (in piles), it is recommended to make no more than 3 layers of potato tubers. It is also good to add humus between layers. It will maintain a constant temperature regime. This "cake" should be kept moist at all times. This is achieved by spraying the following mixture: 10 liters of water, 30 g of potassium salts and 60 g of superphosphate.

Floor placement of seed potatoes

In addition, many gardeners combine methods of germinating potato tubers.

Diseases and pests of potatoes

The plant can be affected by more than 20 types of viruses, 6 types of bacteria, more than 120 - insect pests, 68 - worms and about 40 types of fungi. Here are some of them:

  • Brown rotThe main reason is a lot of rain and heat; damages the bush itself and potato tubers;
  • Black scab, the main reason is contaminated seed; affects bush and potato tubers;
  • Alternaria, the main reason is plant remains of the last season; damages bush and potato tubers;
  • Colorado beetle - the most famous pest, destroys the leaves of a potato bush, until it is full;
  • Potato nematode - a pest that feeds on the root system and potato tubers;
  • Ring rot, the main reason is the degeneration of the planting material; damages mainly potato tubers.

Preparing potatoes for planting in the spring, when to get tubers for germination, are the main issues that need to be resolved in the first step to obtaining a rich potato harvest. Everything is individual and depends on the region, but the basic rules of agricultural technology are the same for everyone.