Everyone who independently grows potatoes, strives to ensure that the occupation is at least more profitable than buying ready-made potatoes for the winter. And that the potato harvest was high, and the expenditure of effort and time for summer care for it was minimized, experienced gardeners-gardeners necessarily conduct potato processing before planting.
Methods of processing potatoes
When you have selected the potatoes for planting, the first stage of seed potato processing is made before planting - its gardening. Directly before the spring planting it is necessary to germinate potatoes. Additionally, it is possible to treat the tubers from pests and place them in a solution to stimulate growth.
About all stages in order:
- Landscaping of potato tubers . It helps to reduce the evaporation of moisture from the planting material, which is highly desirable during the spring water shortage in the soil during planting. In the first periods of potato growth, the mother tuber plays the role of insurance water supply, because the root system of the plant is not yet sufficiently developed to independently extract enough water. Landscaping is as follows: for 2-2.5 weeks you lay out the potatoes selected for planting in regular rows in a box, put it in the sun on the street, covering it with film. After a while, sprouts will appear on the tubers, which will not break off when planted. This method allows you to increase the yield by an average of 15%.
- Cultivation of potatoes . It can be produced simultaneously with its landscaping. Awakening of the kidneys and their subsequent stretching occurs at a temperature of 18-20ºС in the daytime and 10-12ºС at night. Every 7-10 days, the potatoes must be turned and tilled in a box for their better lighting. Also in the process it is necessary to cull sick and weak potatoes, which, when germinated and landscaped, will be clearly visible.
- Disinfection , that is, processing potatoes before planting from diseases and pests. To prevent disease, potatoes can be treated with potassium permanganate solution before planting. To do this, the box with already sprouted potatoes should be lowered into the solution of potassium permanganate (it is convenient to do this in a large trough) and hold there for 40 minutes. The solution is prepared from the calculation of 1 g of potassium permanganate per water bucket. After such a "bathing", the potatoes should immediately be powdered with wood ash, which will help saturate the potatoes with potassium, which keeps the moisture well, not allowing the plant to wither. To protect potatoes from pests before planting, use such insecticidal products for processing as "Maxim", "Prestige", "Cruiser". They protect the tubers from soil pests, as well as from the Colorado beetle. The chosen preparation or a combination thereof must be dissolved in a proportion of 100 g per 5-6 liters of water and treated with a manual sprayer.
- Processing of potatoes before planting growth stimulants . The most popular growth stimulator for potatoes is Potate. One ampoule, dissolved in a liter of water, is enough to treat 50-60 potatoes. Also, to further increase the potential yield of potatoes
It is often used for its processing with trace elements, such as zinc, boron, manganese and molybdenum, which are found in the complex fertilizer Mikom. Preconditioning treatment of tubers with this drug is carried out in accordance with the recommendations on the package.
If you do not want to use ready-made preparations to stimulate and protect potatoes, you can prepare the mixture yourself. To do this, mix one teaspoon of boric acid, copper sulfate and manganese and dissolve in 10 liters of water. In such a mixture it is necessary to soak the tubers for 15 minutes, then powder with wood ash and proceed to planting.