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Undoubtedly, everyone wants to get an excellent harvest of potatoes. Therefore, care should be taken to prepare high-quality planting material.
Details
If you follow the rules, you will avoid possible mistakes and have a good harvest next year.
What should be done?
Selection of bushes
Even during flowering, you should inspect your area and understand which bushes are the most lush and healthiest. You should not rely on your own memory, so such bushes should be marked.
It is believed that if you take seedlings from healthy bushes, you will be able to get a suitable harvest in the future.
Timely removal of tops
Experienced summer residents know about this technique, although practically no one uses it. There is a simple trick: 2 weeks before harvesting, you need to remove the tops. Thanks to this, the skin of the potato in the soil will become coarse.
This technique can be used even for those bushes that were not intended for planting. Because the thick skin increases the shelf life and creates additional protection for potatoes.
Neat harvesting
When digging potatoes, most summer residents are in a hurry and use various tricks that simplify this process. If a bayonet shovel is used, there is a high probability that a small part of the bromance will be lost.
To avoid this, it is better to use a pitchfork to dig up potatoes. Of course, if the soil is dry, it is more difficult to work with them.
Selection of planting material
Do not choose large potatoes for future planting. The belief that a good harvest will appear from large fruits is false. First of all, you should inspect the tubers and make sure that they are not damaged by pests or various diseases.
There can be about 8 potatoes in one dug bush. It is delayed until three for landing. The size of the planting material should be like a chicken egg. It is unacceptable to put aside large or too small potatoes for planting.
Green planting material
The main mistake of summer residents is that they immediately select planting material and send it for long-term storage. It is necessary to spread the potatoes selected for planting in a bright and ventilated room, avoiding direct sunlight.
Potatoes should lie for 7-10 days, occasionally turning them over. During this time, the necessary amount of solanine is formed. And this substance protects potatoes from various diseases and pests. Also, solanine tightens small wounds, which can provoke rotting.
Treatment with chemical preparations
To strengthen immunity, they are treated with various fungicides.
You can use industrial means, one of the most popular is "Maxim". You can also make a weak solution of copper sulfate, add 10 g to 2 liters of water. After processing, potatoes must be dried.
Correct storage conditions in the cellar
There are several conditions for storing potatoes in a cellar:
- The comfortable temperature should be +3 degrees.
- Ventilation is necessary.
- Humidity is not higher than 75%.
- Planting material should be stored in a small mound.
- Once a month, you should conduct an audit, getting rid of potatoes that have started to rot or their appearance is simply confusing.
- If premature sprouts appear, they are carefully cut. It is unacceptable to break off sprouts.
It is easy to follow the listed recommendations, and they are key to ensuring a good potato harvest.
