Do you want to get a super early and rich potato harvest? Seed propagation is especially recommended for improving the health of planting material and improving the quality of tubers. Sprouting tubers for seedlings results in earlier harvest formation. Read the article about the experience of gardeners in growing potatoes through seedlings: from tubers and from seeds.
Description
Potatoes belong to the tuberous plants of the Solanaceae family. The stem is bare and can reach a height of up to 1 m.
The intermittently unpaired, pinnately dissected leaf has a dark green color.
Flowers come in three types: white, purple and pink. The fruits are poisonous and have a round shape.
The tubers of the plant, which grow at the ends of underground shoots or stolons, are used in cooking.
The fruits and vegetative parts of the plant contain a toxic substance - solanine. Its purpose is to protect the bush from bacterial infection and damage by certain types of insects.
Three types of propagation are used in crop farming:
- parts or whole tubers;
- layering through seedlings;
- seeds.
Potato seedlings
Planting through seed began to be used in recent years, when gardeners gained access to varietal seeds. This method allows you to obtain a clean potato seed fund.
The most common method is using tubers. However, this option may not be available in all regions. If the summer is very hot or, conversely, very cold, then in this case potato seedlings will help to obtain a good harvest. If you plant a vegetable in this way in an arid region, the plant will have time to take root before the moisture evaporates from the soil. And in cold regions, this method will reduce the development time of the plant in open ground.
Growing potatoes through seedlings is also used to obtain an early potato harvest; for example, in this way you can get potatoes in the Moscow region as early as July.
Let's look at how to grow early potatoes through seedlings yourself.
Potato seedlings
Warming up the soil
Potatoes are sensitive to soil temperature. If you plant it in poorly warmed soil, it will not develop until it is “sure” that the conditions for growth are favorable. This explains the fact that often potatoes planted on the 20th of May eventually almost always catch up with those that were sent into the ground a couple of weeks earlier.
If your goal is the earliest possible harvest, be sure to warm the soil before planting. To do this, as soon as the snow melts, cover the beds with polyethylene, spreading it around the garden and pressing it with something heavy so that the film does not fly away. Thus, you will create a kind of greenhouse. The soil will begin to gradually warm up, and an additional bonus will be the absence of a soil crust on it.
Weeds will quickly begin to sprout under the film. Use this to your advantage. After removing the film before planting, lightly loosen the soil, and this will make it easy to destroy young grass shoots.
We will talk about the pros, cons and features of growing potatoes under film here.
- Potatoes under film - how to get a harvest 3 weeks earlier
Growing potatoes under film is a proven way to get a harvest in June.
In this case, additional cover made of non-woven material will not be superfluous. It will allow the crop to grow faster, and if frost returns, it will protect against developmental delays. There are other ways to save potatoes from low temperatures. For example, you can hill up the plantings so that the stems are completely covered with soil. Additionally, you can sketch out mown grass or last year's foliage.
You can learn more about shelter options for potatoes in our article.
- How to get extra-early potatoes - technology for growing under cover
The first potato harvest is already in May? It's real, you just need to know some growing secrets!
Planting seedlings
Dutch potato varieties
To prepare seedlings, you must first prepare the tubers for planting.
Stage 1. Tuber preparation
First you need to buy or select (if you have home-made potatoes) healthy, even, medium-sized tubers with a large number of eyes and put them out for germination. Potatoes are sprouted from mid-March to April.
The tubers are laid out in one layer in a bright, cool room, placed on the floor or in boxes.
If there is not enough light, the sprouts will be thin and very elongated. This is not the best option for planting. The sprouts should be small, green and strong, so that the eye would be difficult to pick off the tuber.
Sprouted tubers
Also, thanks to light, the tuber produces solanine, with the help of which the tuber intended for planting will have good immunity against various diseases and rodents.
Additionally, before planting, potatoes can be treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection.
Important! Green tubers are poisonous and should not be used as food.
Germination is carried out within 20-40 days, depending on the germination conditions and the condition of the tubers.
Stage 2. Preparing seedling pots
First we prepare the soil. To prepare the soil, take 1 bucket of sand and humus or manure for 2 buckets of soil.
To this mixture add 1 liter of ash and 20 g of superphosphate.
You can also use soil consisting of garden soil, peat and sand.
To grow seedlings, we use peat pots measuring 75x75 mm, flower pots, plastic bottles with the neck cut off, or boxes. Next, fill them 2/3 with the prepared earthen mixture.
Peat pots
Stage 3. Planting potatoes in a container
You need to plant a sprouted potato in each pot and sprinkle it with earth, sand or sawdust. You can use not a whole tuber, but a potato eye.
To prepare such seed material, it is necessary to cut the potatoes into cubes 10mm x 10mm x 10mm, which contain 1 eye. The cuttings need to be dried a little before planting.
Then, in the same way as the tubers, the eyes are planted in prepared containers.
If the seedlings need to grow in boxes, the tubers are placed in the ground at a distance of about 3 cm.
After planting, it is advisable to water the tubers with a solution of sodium humate (1 tablespoon per 5 liters of water).
In order for seedlings to develop normally, the humidity must be 80-85%. Therefore, the plantings are covered with plastic film. The film is designed to retain moisture and create a certain microclimate in the pots. It is not removed until the first green leaves appear.
Cover with film
After a few days, the first shoot appears. After the seedlings rise by 2-3 cm, it is time to fertilize. To prepare the fertilizer you need to take 2-3 tbsp. nitroammophoska and dilute in 10 liters of water.
In the first 10 days, it is necessary to maintain the temperature within 18-20°C. To do this, you can install boxes with seedlings in an apartment or in a house under a radiator.
This is necessary for the eyes to wake up and sprouts to appear. Then the temperature is reduced so that the sprout becomes strong and does not have the opportunity to stretch.
If the sprout begins to stretch, then the seedlings need to be taken to a cooler and brighter place.
Stage 4. Planting seedlings in the ground
Around mid-May, the seedling can be planted in the garden. By this time, the planting holes or ditches should be ready, depending on how you prefer to grow potatoes. The distance between holes is 30-45 cm, between rows is 0.5 m.
Landing in the ground
You need to choose an open, illuminated place for the site. If groundwater comes close to the surface, then in this case it is best to plant seedlings on ridges. Potatoes also do not like to grow in acidic soils. If you have just such a site, then in this case, in the fall, the soil needs to be deoxidized by adding lime or dolomite flour. Their quantity is determined by how acidic the soil is.
To grow early potatoes, you need to pour 1 liter of humus or rotted manure into the hole, 2 tbsp. ash, 1 tsp. nitroammofoski and 1 tsp. superphosphate. After applying fertilizers, they need to be mixed with the soil. To grow later potatoes, the amount of fertilizer can be increased slightly. Now you can plant sprouting material in the prepared earthen mixture.
You can plant seedlings in a garden bed when they have grown to a height of approximately 10-15 cm.
The tuber should be covered with soil, approximately 8-10 cm thick, depending on the height of the seedlings. To prevent the planting from being affected by spring frosts, it is protected from above with covering material.
Attention! It is estimated that growing potatoes through seedlings increases yield by 40%.
How to prepare potato seeds: rules for pre-sowing treatment
Before sowing, it is recommended to treat potato seeds at home. Pre-sowing preparation is aimed at improving germination (in simple terms, the seeds will germinate faster, more friendly, the seedlings will be stronger, stronger, healthier).
For maximum efficiency, you can alternately prepare in two ways:
- Hardening (stratification) of seeds. Mini-stratification is carried out by alternating temperatures (cold and warm). It is necessary to wrap the seeds on both sides with a damp cloth, put them in the refrigerator overnight (the temperature should be around 2-4 degrees), then during the day transfer them to a room (where the temperature is 18-22 degrees Celsius), then put them back in the refrigerator at night. This alternation of temperatures must be maintained for 3-4 days.
- Germination. After stratification, it is useful to germinate the seed. To germinate, seeds need to be placed on a cotton cloth, another piece of cloth should be placed on top, moistened generously, the cloth should be wrapped in a bag and tied. Place the seeds in a room with a temperature of about 22-25 degrees Celsius. After about 5-7 days, the potato seeds should germinate, and then they can be sown as seedlings.
As an alternative to the preparation methods described above, you can simply soak the potato seeds in a solution of a growth stimulant (for example, Zircon or some other). This method is suitable if there is no time or desire to wait.
Growing Potatoes
Planting potatoes
In order to increase the yield, you need to hill up the bushes several times (at least three) per season.
An important condition for obtaining a good harvest is timely feeding of plants, so we need to feed our plantings several times during the season. We perform the first feeding before the first hilling. To prepare the working solution, take 0.5 liters of mullein or 1 tsp. urea, dissolve them in 10 liters of water and pour 1 liter under the bush. After two weeks, a second feeding is carried out.
Weeding and watering are also mandatory. Potatoes are watered at least 2 times per season. If the summer is dry, then watering is done more often.
During periods of drought, watering should be plentiful
Sowing potato seeds for seedlings: step-by-step instructions
The following instructions will help you sow potatoes correctly:
- Prepare the soil. The soil requirements are standard: it must be nutritious, loose, and moisture-absorbing. Purchased soil is suitable (that is, universal soil for seedlings of vegetables or flowers). But you can make a soil mixture with your own hands by mixing peat, humus, sand (in a ratio of 3:1:1); instead of peat, you can take garden soil.
- It is advisable to spill the soil with the biofungicide Fitosporin-M a week before planting for disinfection.
- Prepare the planting container. It is convenient to plant the crop in a common box (or container) about 10-13 centimeters high. There should be drainage holes at the bottom of the container to drain excess moisture after watering.
- It is advisable to put a drainage layer on the bottom of the box, which will prevent waterlogging and acidification of the soil. The best option is a 2 cm layer of perlite.
- We directly plant potato seeds for seedlings: Fill the box with soil, leaving a small space between the edges and the soil. Level, lightly compact and moisten the soil generously through a sprayer.
- After absorbing the water, make grooves on the surface of the soil: their depth is 1 cm, the distance between the rows is 6-7 cm.
- Sow the seeds in a furrow at intervals of 4-5 cm from each other.
- Fill the furrows with soil or sand.
- Moisten the soil mixture again through irrigation.
Potato diseases and pests
When growing potatoes using seedlings, plantings can be damaged by various fungal and infectious diseases, as well as insects and microorganisms.
Fungal diseases
Late blight
How many potatoes do you need to plant on 1 acre?
One of the most dangerous diseases is late blight, which affects both potatoes and tomatoes. Belongs to the category of fungal diseases. The symptom is the appearance of brown spots on the leaves. In tubers, the affected areas are denser than the rest and have a brown color.
Favorable conditions for its development:
- high humidity;
- sudden temperature changes.
Spreads through contaminated soil.
Prevention measures:
- you cannot take seed material from infected plants;
- do not allow potatoes to be grown in the same place or after tomatoes;
- do not plant tomatoes and potatoes nearby;
- infected plants should be burned and under no circumstances composted;
- spray with 1% Bordeaux mixture.
Cancer
For information! The symptom is the appearance of small tubercles on the tubers, which gradually increase in size. There is no cure for the disease yet. Affected plants are destroyed. Potatoes cannot be grown in an infected area for 3-4 years.
Potato pests
The Colorado potato beetle is one of the most common pests of potato bushes. Not only the beetles themselves are dangerous to plantings, but also the larvae, which destroy plantings with tremendous speed.
Another dangerous pest is the click beetle and its larva, the wireworm. In an area infested with wireworms, the tubers are riddled with small black holes, which spoils the quantity and appearance of the potatoes.
With the help of seedlings, you can get a quick and high potato harvest even in cold or, conversely, very hot summers.
Which variety to choose: criteria
To grow a crop using seedlings, you should not choose late varieties. They often do not have time to ripen during the season. Best suited:
- early ripening - Zabava, Antonina, Red Scarlett, Udacha, Vega and many others;
- mid-season - Ryabinushka, Amur, Romano, Breeze, Ilyinsky.
Important! If tubers are used for germination, the seed must be carefully checked for suitability.
All tubers should be medium in size. If the root crop is small, germination will take longer. There should be 8-12 eyes on the tuber. If there are fewer of them, this reduces the germination percentage.
Features of the growing season
Potato tubers are modified underground shoots, the number and intensity of growth of which depends on certain factors.
- The basis for productivity is loose, light, nutritious soil. The plant should spend effort on building up the tuber mass, and not on pushing apart dense compacted layers. Restore the soil structure with the help of organic matter, high-moor peat, and rotted manure. Enrich with humus, compost, fertilizers, wood ash.
- The optimal temperature for planting tuber crops is 5–8⁰ C, germination – 15–18⁰ C.
- Traditional potato planting pattern: row spacing – 60–70 cm, row spacing – 25–35 cm, depth – 10–15 cm.
- During the formation of tubers, a low temperature (up to 20⁰ C) and moist soil are needed. If the summer is hot, you need to practice planting as early as possible and artificial irrigation.
- Potato tubers are prone to degeneration, especially in hot weather. Therefore, it is advisable to update them every 3-4 years - change potato varieties, purchase elite planting material, and update it yourself - with seeds and cuttings.
When to plant - determine the optimal timing
The most important question is when to plant potatoes for seedlings, since when sowing early, the seedlings become very elongated, and when sowing late, they do not have time to build up a sufficient mass of tubers in the ground. It was already mentioned above that by the time the seedlings are planted in open ground, they should reach an age of 60–90 days. The optimal time for planting potatoes is determined by one folk sign - leaves should begin to bloom on the birch tree. This will indicate that the earth has warmed up to a sufficient depth. As a rule, this is the first ten days of May.
Potato seed shoots appear approximately on the 10th day after sowing. Accordingly, in order to have ready-made seedlings by May 10–15, it is necessary to sow in early April.
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According to the lunar calendar, there are several favorable days when to sow potato seeds for seedlings:
o March 16-19, 22-23 in central Russia, the Moscow region and southern regions;
o 9-11, 13-15, 18-20 April in Siberia, the Urals and the Far East.
These are approximate sowing dates, which can be adjusted independently, following the above rule. Sowing should be done no earlier than 70 days before the expected date of planting in open ground. Therefore, we determine the optimal deadlines and stick to them.
Country tricks and common mistakes
Some savvy gardeners successfully put their growing secrets into practice:
For example, the method of planting seeds in diapers or diapers has long proven its effectiveness.- To make seedlings more stable, they can be “hardened off” - taken out into fresh air, increasing the time each time.
- If you rid potatoes of buds that have not yet opened, they will not expend extra energy on flowering.
Of course, there are some mistakes:
- When growing seedlings, some gardeners sprinkle the seeds with too much soil. In this case, most of them may simply not rise.
- Seeds should never be soaked in water. Fabric that will be regularly moisturized is quite enough.
- Not everyone takes into account that the germination rate of potato seeds is low; because of this, the number of seedlings may be less than expected.
Growing potatoes requires knowledge of some nuances, which can be studied in the materials of our experts:
- Where and how is it grown in Russia?
- How to draw up a business plan for growing vegetables on an industrial scale?
- What is mulching and what materials are needed?
- Where does the vegetable come from and where is it popular?
In fact, the seed growing method is not at all difficult , albeit troublesome. But the result justifies all the time spent - the resulting variety will be of the highest quality. If you follow all the recommendations and act correctly, the grown potatoes will certainly delight you with an excellent harvest within a year.
Second planting method: variety Krasa
At a distance of 50-60 cm from the first row, I dig the same deep furrow, pour wood ash into it and mix it with dry soil. Then I make a hole in the soil, place the seedling in it, sprinkle it with soil and compact it around the plant. After 25 cm, I plant the next seedling in the same way.
For the second method, I use a special planting cone, which is convenient for making deep holes. I insert it into the ground, then pull it out with a rocking motion, leaving a neat hole in the ground. I pour the earth from the cone nearby, and lower the seedling into the hole and cover it with earth shaken out of the cone.
After planting, I carefully water the seedlings with water containing Fitosporin, trying to pour it not under the plants, but next to them. Once the water has been absorbed, I sprinkle shells on the ground around each seedling and then fill the furrow with dry soil. Landing completed.
I wish you all good luck, good mood and rich harvests.
Growing and caring for plants
Potato seeds are sown in the soil for seedlings in late March - early April. The soil must be fertile and free of pathological microflora. The soil mixture is prepared from 4 parts peat, 2 parts garden soil and 1 part sand, treated with Trichodermin or Fitosporin and mixed thoroughly.
As a rule, low boxes are used for sowing seeds. Small grooves are made in damp soil, no more than 6 mm deep, with a distance of 6–10 cm between them. The seeds are placed at the bottom of the depression every 1–2 cm and covered with earth or sand. It is recommended to cover the box with film or cover it with glass and place it in a warm place. The ideal temperature is 20–25 °C.
It is important to remember: the container for sowing potato seeds must have drainage holes. Stagnation of water can lead to rotting of the plant roots.
It is imperative to provide access to daylight, since if there is a lack of it, the seedlings will become very stretched. If necessary, you can use fluorescent lamps. Watering capricious potato seedlings should be done moderately and preferably through a spray bottle or through a tray, from which the soil itself will absorb moisture.
The first shoots from potato seeds can appear within 1.5–2 weeks after sowing
The first shoots will appear in 1.5–2 weeks. After one or two true leaves appear, the seedlings are planted in individual containers (plastic cups, plastic bags or peat pots). This must be done carefully, because the potato root system is very fragile.
Potato seedlings are plucked after one or two true leaves appear
When picking, it is recommended to fertilize the soil with ammonium nitrate (1 gram of fertilizer per 1 liter of water). This will allow the seedlings to take root better in the new location. Watering is used moderately, with water at room temperature. In this case, moisture should not get on the sprouts.
Some experts advise pricking potato seedlings twice. The first time - in special plastic cassettes with small cells, and the second time - in individual containers of larger volume.
Video: sowing potato seeds for seedlings
At the beginning of May, you can take the pots with seedlings out into the fresh air for several hours, gradually increasing the duration of their stay outside. It is important to ensure that the air temperature does not fall below 10 °C.
Harvesting and storing tubers
Potatoes intended for planting next year should be dug up only after the tops have completely withered and dried out. When harvesting, be careful - do not discard even very small tubers the size of a bean or even a pea. On average, one bush produces about 20 potatoes of different sizes, shapes and colors (by weight this is approximately 0.5 kg).
In the fall, after planting your own mini-tubers, you can reap a bountiful harvest.
The resulting harvest is washed and dried for 4–7 days in a dry, warm barn, garage, or basement. You can also dry it in the sun so that the skin acquires a slight greenish tint and becomes more durable - this will protect the planting material from possible damage by pests during the winter. The potatoes are then sorted by size and placed in a permanent storage area.
Next year, despite the small size of the planting tubers, they will form plants that will yield a harvest 25–30% more than usual. If you don’t just throw them into the ground, but take care of them during the summer, getting 280–350 kg from 100 m² is quite possible, even in not the most favorable climatic conditions. At the same time, mini-tubers for planting weigh several times less than regular sowing potatoes. Accordingly, they take up little space.
Video: the result of planting potatoes from seeds
Advantages and disadvantages of the method
Growing mini-tubers from seeds at home is a procedure that has recently been rapidly gaining popularity among Russian gardeners. Basically, it is attractive because it allows you to significantly save on the purchase of planting material of the “elite” and “super-elite” categories. On average, one seed is 25 times cheaper than a tuber. When using your own planting material for several years, the quality of the potatoes deteriorates significantly and the yield falls. Seed propagation allows you to quickly and inexpensively replace it. The method also has other undoubted advantages:
- Seeds purchased in a store and collected independently are not contaminated with spores of pathogenic fungi, viruses, and bacteria, which inevitably accumulate in the soil where potatoes are grown for several years. Purchased seeds of the newest varieties most often have genetically built-in immunity to most diseases typical for the crop.
- During the growing process, new mini-tubers adapt to the climatic and weather conditions of a given region. Then this beneficial property is transferred to potato bushes. Over the next 5–8 years, planting material can be used without fear that the vagaries of the weather will affect the yield. Statistics show that depending on the region, the number of tubers collected increases by 10–25%.
- Possibility of long-term storage. Collected potato seeds remain viable for 5–7 years, and even up to 10 years. However, it is worth considering that fresh ones (up to two years old) germinate better than old ones.
- Seeds take up very little space. They do not need specific conditions, for example, low temperature and humidity maintained in a cellar or basement.
- When buying tubers in a store, and even more so in the market, it is impossible to guarantee that the potato variety is exactly what it claims to be. In addition, an ordinary gardener is unlikely to be able to distinguish ordinary small tubers from super-elite ones.
Growing potatoes from seeds is a unique opportunity to feel like a breeder
As usual, there are some drawbacks:
- Growing potato seedlings from seeds will require considerable effort from the gardener and strict adherence to recommendations. It is much more demanding to care for than its “relatives” from the Solanaceae family - tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, which many are already accustomed to cultivating on the windowsill.
- Grown seedlings are fragile and small in size. They are easily damaged during transplantation, breaking roots or leaves. Most likely, such a plant will not recover. They also often get sick, so the seedlings will have to be carefully examined regularly and treated with special preparations. Its real scourge is the “black leg”.
- Seedlings grow rather slowly and “suffocate” if the substrate is chosen incorrectly. It should be as loose and light as possible.
- Seedlings stretch out greatly, which makes them quite difficult to transport. The fact is that the seeds need to be planted quite early, in early spring. Until May, the seedlings gain a height of 15–17 cm, but do not have a strong stem, like tomatoes, for example, so the seedlings easily break, become deformed, intertwine with each other, and so on.
- Two-year development cycle. In the first season, it is impossible to obtain a full-fledged harvest from seeds. Over the summer, only mini-tubers will form, which will need to be preserved until next spring.
However, despite all the shortcomings, growing potatoes from seeds is a unique opportunity to feel like a real breeder. The fact is that even seeds purchased in a store, not to mention those collected independently, do not guarantee the stability of varietal characteristics. The bags specifically contain a warning about the genetic heterogeneity of the seeds. You will have to select planting material from the resulting mini-tubers yourself, guided by your own criteria.
When purchasing mini-tubers, a gardener is not always able to distinguish the real elite and super-elite from ordinary small potatoes
It is impossible in principle to obtain the same type of “offspring” - this is an interesting biological feature of potato plants. But in general, such diversity is even a plus, because it allows you to make the best choice in order to get the same tubers next year. You can, focusing on the climatic and weather conditions of a certain region, develop your own unique variety, ideal for growing in a particular area.
