Potato tops as fertilizer – nutritional value

Vegetable growing » Potatoes

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Kira Stoletova

Gardeners do not always manage to get a good potato harvest on their plot. Most often, pests and plant diseases are to blame. However, the reason for a decrease in the amount of potato harvest can also be too high potato tops.

The benefits and harms of potato tops

Reasons for the appearance of high tops

Too tall greens negatively affect potato yields. If potato tops grow up to 1 m high, you can expect small root crops from the bushes in the fall. The reason for such shrinkage of tubers is the plant’s energy spent on green growth.

The height and activity of growth, why the tops of potatoes begin to outstrip the development of root crops, are influenced by a number of factors.

Excess fertilizer

Excessive growth of potato greens is caused by an excess of nitrogen-containing fertilizers in the soil. This causes the top of the potato to grow 1 m in height. In such a situation, the tubers do not develop properly, the root system grows with a noticeable delay. As a result, gardeners harvest small potatoes.

The use of fertilizers such as manure and humus, which are characterized by a high nitrogen content, becomes especially dangerous for the active growth of potato greens.

Large planting material

Potato tubers that are too large can also cause potato green tops to grow. This happens because a large root vegetable obviously contains more nutrients than a small one. Due to such a massive source of useful elements, the tops grow, preventing the root system from developing properly. New root crops begin to form after the final depletion of the planting tuber, but this happens already at the end of the growing season. As a result, the harvest is small.

For planting, it is recommended to choose potatoes no larger than a chicken egg.

Insufficient lighting

One of the reasons why potatoes have high tops is the lack of light. In shady places, plants stretch out, striving for light.

The quality of illumination is also affected by planting bushes too often.

Climatic conditions

Potato tops grow in the warm and rainy season. If it is impossible to influence the weather, gardeners have adapted to trample down the tops after potatoes bloom so that they lie on the bed and do not take nutrients from the root system.

Where to put onion tops. Where to put the tops

WHERE TO PLACE TOMATO AND POTATO TOPS, BECAUSE THEY CANNOT BE PLACED IN COMPOSTSave so as not to lose! Or rather, you can, but with a caveat - nightshade tops do not decompose for a year, or even two, and there is a risk of contamination of the compost with late blight spores. To protect your plantings, you can use compost from tomato and potato tops after at least three seasons - during this time the deadly fungus will die. You understand, sometimes the game is not worth the candle - wait three years for 5 buckets of compost. And in the fall there are a lot of tomato tops - it will soon be cold, the bushes will have to be gotten rid of. And if there are not so many potato tops (they will mostly all turn yellow by the time the harvest is dug up), then there will be a lot of tomato tops. The question is - where to put it? In fact, there are many options. I’ll tell you separately what to do with tomato and potato tops. Tomatoes · Few people know, but good green tomato tops are an excellent antiseptic. It can be placed in the cesspool of a country toilet - and - for a long time get rid of the unpleasant “odors” emanating from the building. · Another principle follows from the same principle - the tops of tomatoes contain salonin, and this is a poison for many pests. Prepare a poisonous tincture and do preventive spraying of bushes and garden trees against pests. Aphids, codling moths, ants, moths, carrot and onion flies, caterpillars - all these “living creatures” cannot withstand poisonous sprays. The decoction is prepared as follows: 4 kg of raw materials are poured with 10 liters of water and boiled for half an hour. After this, the broth is filtered, diluted with water 1:4 and 40 grams of liquid soap are added to the infusion. The most convenient thing is that this infusion can be stored for up to 6 months - it can even be used next year, in the spring. · Tomato tops can be chopped and embedded in the soil for the winter. This should only be done with healthy, disease-free plant stems and leaves. For the future: in the summer, after the pinching procedure, tomato stems can be used to make “mash” - a green fertilizer rich in nitrogen. · Don’t know what to do with tomato tops? Burn her! Yes, yes, ash from tomato tops is no worse than wood ash. And you can store it for as long as you like. Well, every self-respecting gardener knows what to do with such ash. · Tomato tops can be used as mulch and protection against rodents for young fruit trees and shrubs. Mice and other pests do not like the taste and smell of tomato tops. Potatoes · Basically, everything is the same as with tomatoes. Ash from potato greens is no less useful than ash from tomato tops. · Compost. Let me make a reservation once again: yes, you can make compost from potato tops, but you should use the finished product no earlier than three years after putting it in the compost bin. For potato and tomato greens, we allocate a separate storage place, sprinkle the tops with soil and spill each layer with a solution of copper sulfate (2-3 tablespoons per bucket of water) - to disinfect against late blight. The poisonous extract from potato tops is no less effective than from tomato tops leaves. We take healthy (!) potato tops; for 600 grams of fresh tops you will need 5 liters of water. Let it sit for 5 hours and strain. Before spraying, add laundry soap to the solution. The extract from potato tops does not accumulate in the fruits - you can eat the fruits without fear.

Fertilizers to combat tops

If the tops begin to grow, the feeding of the vegetable crop should be adjusted.

Superphosphate

Most often, superphosphate is used to combat potato tops. The application of this fertilizer will not get rid of the grown greenery, but it will activate the development of potato root crops and maintain the quantitative indicators of the harvest.

The addition of superphosphate during the period of active growth of potato tops starts the process of tuberization and ensures the outflow of nutrients from the foliage to the tubers.

To prepare a working solution with superphosphate, 100 g of the main ingredient is required, dissolved in a 10-liter bucket of water. The resulting nutrient liquid is watered over the potato bushes. This amount is enough for 1 hundred square meters of planting area.

As a measure to combat a decrease in potato yield due to excessive growth of potato tops, foliar feeding is often used. Foliar feeding is characterized by higher rates of nutrient absorption, which leads to an acceleration of the tuberization process.

Limiting soil fertilization

Excess fertilizer will cause tops to grow

Nitrogen fertilizers are not applied if the planting areas were fertilized with manure or humus in the fall during harvesting or in the spring before planting.

To prevent the growth of potato greens, fertilizing with nutrients is limited. Among them:

• potassium,
• iron,
• phosphorus,
• magnesium.

Limiting the amount of plant nutrition when growing potatoes is also important because even in the case of large tubers grown with a rich and high potato green part, such a crop, oversaturated with fertilizers, is poorly stored.

Tops in the form of ash

Phosphorus-potassium mineral fertilizer can be prepared from potato tops. To do this, plant residues are burned, and the remaining ash is used to fertilize garden crops throughout the growing season.

When tops are burned, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and many other trace elements are formed instead of organic matter. In terms of speed and efficiency of action, ash from tops is in no way inferior to similar chemical fertilizers.

To burn potato tops, it is convenient to use large metal barrels, the walls of which prevent the ash from being dispersed by the wind. Plant residues are placed in a container and set on fire. Afterwards, the ash is stored in a dry place.

Application of ash:

• Pre-sowing application to the soil. Ash is applied in the fall or spring, combined with digging up the site. Consumption rate - 100-200 g per 1 m2.
• Application into the planting hole. Ash can be added to the holes when transplanting seedlings into the ground. Consumption rate - 1 tbsp. l. to the hole.
• Fertilizing garden crops. For feeding during the growing season, an aqueous infusion of ash is prepared. To do this, dissolve 100 g of ash in 10 liters of water and leave for 2-3 hours. The nutritional infusion is applied as a phosphorus-potassium fertilizer at the roots of plants, focusing on the requirements of the crop.

Ash from potato tops is suitable for almost most garden crops: onions, garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, beets. But it neutralizes the acidity of the soil. Therefore, ash is not used for growing plants that prefer acidic soil.

Removing tops

If it is not possible to determine what exactly is the reason for the active growth of potato greens, the tops are bent. This makes it possible to stop its growth for a period of about 2 weeks and start the tuberization process.

Removal of greenery is carried out in one of 2 ways:

• Mechanical. As a result, the green part of the potato bush remains at least 25 cm high. This is enough to fully absorb chemicals during processing. The mechanical method of tearing off the green part is done using a topper and is not used for low bushes.
• Chemical. It is often used as an addition to the mechanical one a day after the last one. For greater efficiency, chemical treatment is carried out twice. With the first, the upper part of the stem is destroyed, with the second, the effect of the chemicals is consolidated.

Both methods of removing potato greens are carried out 7 days before mowing.

Prevention of fungal diseases

Since it can be very difficult to recognize fungal infections on the leaves of tops, the gardener is required to do everything possible to prevent the spread of diseases of this type. Fungus is not a death sentence; it can be avoided not only with the help of special chemical solutions, but also with timely prevention.

Many diseases of the tops can be overcome by following a number of simple rules when planting tubers

Tips to help combat fungal pathogens include the following:

1. Try to maintain distance between tubers when planting them. The more crowded you are in your garden, the more fruit problems you will end up with. Each vegetable needs its own place that it can manage. For example, if you are going to plant mid-late potatoes in a row, then the distance between the rows should be at least seventy centimeters;

Potatoes will grow healthier if there is enough space between rows

• Do not plant seeds in the same area where late blight symptoms have been noted. The causative agent of this disease can remain in the soil even after removing the affected plant. In addition to potatoes, late blight also affects tomatoes and peppers, the health of which also needs to be monitored in the presence of infected plants;
• Periodically loosen the soil around the tubers. Weeding the soil will promote better air circulation, while stagnant soil will become a fertile place for parasites to breed;


Digging up the soil will help destroy colonies of pests living in the ground

• At the first suspicion of fungal infections, treat the bushes with phytosporin. This drug spreads throughout the vascular system of plants, helping to suppress pathogenic bacteria. Phytosporin is applied to the plant after flowering and, if desired, can be used for preventive purposes.

The spread of fungus in potatoes is difficult to notice the first time, but there is an effective way to identify infected plants. Even before planting, you should germinate the tubers in the cellar in the sun. Fruits that have been infected will very soon begin to rot, which will become their identifying feature.


Rapid rotting of potatoes often indicates that they are affected by fungal diseases.

Mowing the tops

You can increase the yield of a vegetable crop if the potato top has begun to actively grow by mowing it. The event is carried out at the end of the flower development stage. There are many advantages to mowing greenery:

• stimulating the development of tubers,
• improving the quality characteristics of the crop,
• drying out furrows
• lowering the barrier to plant infection by diseases whose pathogens prefer to settle on potatoes,
• increasing the shelf life of the crop,
• simplifying potato harvesting.

It is recommended to mow potato greens 2 weeks before the expected potato harvest. In other cases, it is mowed earlier, but always after the potatoes have sprouted and the flowers have faded, at the end of the flowering stage.

Vegetable diseases

Some diseases can cause yellowing of potatoes. The most common:

• late blight;
• ring rot;
• blackleg;
• verticillium wilt;
• dry spotting;
• mosaic.

Potatoes affected by late blight ripen faster. Initially, the lower leaves of the bush turn yellow, then drying out occurs. In this case, there will be much fewer potato tubers. The disease also affects the size of the tubers.

A distinctive feature of late blight is a fluffy white coating on the underside of the leaf.

Potato leaves affected by ring rot turn yellow, dry out and fall off. Such potatoes will have a rotten ring when cut.

The black leg causes the greatest harm to fruits. It first attacks the tubers, which begin to thread, then the tops turn yellow and dry out.

With verticillium wilt, the lower leaves of the potato turn yellow and dry out. Then the tops die off. This disease is difficult to confuse with others, as it is accompanied by curling of yellowed leaves. Young shoots may also curl and die.

Potato blight

It is easy to recognize a potato disease such as dry spot. Yellow spots appear on the tops, which then become longer and cover more and more of the leaves.

With mosaic, the vegetable tops turn yellow in spots.

Using tops

Many gardeners use cut potato greens for agricultural purposes.

Pest repellent

Extracts from potato greens become an effective means of combating many pests: spider mites, leaf-eating caterpillars, aphids, cabbage whites, and moths.

You can prepare a working liquid against pests in the form of an infusion by breaking off fresh shoots or using dried herbs. The proportions of greens are 0.3-0.4 kg per 10-liter bucket of water. The infusion is kept in a warm place for 4 hours, then up to 50 g of any soap is dissolved in it. The plantings in the garden are irrigated with the working solution in the evening.

Fertilizer

The green part is a valuable source of nutrients from which compost fertilizer is obtained. It is recommended to bury potato greens in a compost heap with pre-treatment of the area with copper sulfate, which creates a protective disinfecting barrier for the development of infections. The resulting fertilizer can be used after 3 years. This period is enough for pathogens of fungal diseases, including late blight, to be destroyed.

Potato greens are often used when mulching raspberry bushes, currants, gooseberries and other berry bushes.

What are the benefits of potato tops for the garden?

Most gardeners throw away potato tops after cutting, while the green mass of potatoes can be used as fertilizer and pest control.

The tops contain a lot of organic matter, which contributes to the formation of humus in the soil. It contains almost all the nutrients that plants need: potassium, phosphorus, calcium and other trace elements. There is especially a lot of manganese and iron in the tops.

The use of potato tops in the garden reduces the need to apply ready-made fertilizers. With the right approach, the savings can be significant.

Potato tops are especially valuable for areas where organic farming is practiced. After all, it is difficult to provide plants with the necessary nutrition and obtain a high yield without the use of chemicals. Therefore, it is wise to use all possible organic fertilizers.

It is better to cut potato tops 10-12 days before harvesting. This prevents tubers from being damaged by late blight and promotes their rapid ripening.