Early varieties of potatoes are distinguished by their short growing season, which is 40-50 days. Early potatoes begin their active growth as soon as the ground temperature reaches 10 ° C. And after flowering, the crop is ready for harvest.

It should be borne in mind that young tubers have a very delicate and thin skin and are completely unsuitable for long-term storage.

The best varieties

The necessary conditions

For planting early potatoes and subsequent care for them, you will need the following tools and materials:

• shovels;
• rake;
• hoe;
• sticks;
• twine and rope for marking;
• polyethylene film;
• agrofibre.

Preparatory work before planting early potatoes on the site should begin in the fall.

1. To begin with, the soil must be carefully dug up 20-25 cm deep.
2. After that, enter . Many gardeners prefer to use fresh manure, which will overwinter and give the earth all the nutrients.
3. In mid-March, early potato tubers selected for sowing should be germinated. To do this, they are placed in wooden boxes in a warm room with a temperature of +20 to 25°C.

   Planting can begin after the appearance of the first shoots on the tubers. As a rule, this happens a month after the start of germination.

How to grow?

Early potatoes are grown in two ways: under plastic wrap and agrofiber. The cultivation methods are very similar to each other and differ only in some nuances. Consider step by step the main technologies of cultivation.

Read about how to grow potatoes from seeds, and you will learn about new, non-traditional ways of planting potatoes in your garden.

Under agrofibre

Under the film

The step-by-step scheme for preparing beds and planting potatoes is the same as described above with agrofibre. There are only small nuances.

1. The plastic film will protect the planted tubers from cold snaps or sudden frosts. But it should also not be pulled too tight, so that the germinating potato seedlings do not break.
2. Until the potato rises, it does not need ventilation. But the sprouts need fresh air, which cannot penetrate under the dense plastic film. Therefore, the shelter must be periodically removed to ventilate the seedlings. And when the young bushes grow up to 10-15 cm in height, it will be necessary to make small holes in the film for ventilation.

The first loosening must be done with a hoe or iron rake to a depth of only 2-3 cm. It is necessary to carry out this procedure after each watering, this will help the seedlings to receive required amount oxygen and therefore develop faster. Also loosening destroys weeds.

But loosening should be carried out with great care so as not to damage the sprouts and not accidentally pull the tubers out of the ground.

Hilling

When the young plants are strong enough and their height reaches 15-18 cm, deeper loosening and hilling of the beds can begin. With the help of a hoe, you need to pull the ground from all sides to each potato bush to make a small mound.

remember, that in hot and dry weather, loosening and potatoes should not be carried out because the soil will lose a lot of moisture and dry out. In such weather, you can only slightly loosen the beds between rows to a depth of no more than 5-6 cm.

But after a good rain, hilling should be carried out regularly so that the soil does not stagnate and breathe.

Watering

Watering early potatoes is necessary in the evening. If you water by hand, then 1 watering can should be enough for 2-3 bushes.

Temperature

For proper tuber development, the average temperature should be 18-22°C. At lower temperatures, tuberization slows down, and at higher temperatures, development may stop altogether.

top dressing

Feeding young early potatoes should begin during its growing season. To accelerate the growth and development of tops, half a teaspoon of urea and 200 grams of humus are poured under each potato bush.

The main top dressing consists of potassium nitrate (30 g) or potassium magnesia (50 g). Fertilizers are dissolved in water in a 10-liter bucket. 1 bush accounts for 1 liter of solution.

We talked about how to properly grow potatoes so that you have a good, rich harvest, as well as new technologies for obtaining a large root crop.

Useful video

Watch a video on how to grow early potatoes:

Conclusion

The first harvest of early potatoes can be obtained in April. You need to collect young potatoes after the end of flowering, after the lower leaves begin to turn yellow on the bushes. After harvesting the first crop, the beds are lightly hilled and watered.

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Everyone has tried at least once a potato dish. This vegetable is perfectly stored in the cellar for a year, keeping its taste qualities. However, potatoes that have just been dug out of the ground are considered the most delicious and healthy. That is why early varieties of culture are so valued.

All varieties of culture can be divided into two main types: domestic and imported. It may happen that imported potatoes will give a less rich harvest than domestic ones.

early potatoes

Culture can also be classified according to the timing of maturation. Maturation is considered a period of time from the first sprouts to the moment of harvest.

The early ones alone have several divisions:

• ultra-early 45-55 days;
• early ripening 50-60 days;
• mid-early 60-85 days.

Grows well in the south early and ultra early potatoes that ripen before the onset of heat.

Also, a vegetable can be classified according to the purpose of cultivation:

• table - used for cooking;
• technical - starch and alcohol are produced from it;
• fodder - used to feed livestock;
• universal - something between technical and stern.

Any early variety can be classified according to its intended use. Early potatoes are good for eating in summer.

Ultra early

Ultra early (super early) disease resistant, gives a good harvest and has a short growing season.

Need to plant early late April-early May as soon as the soil warms up to a temperature of 8-10 degrees. To keep the potatoes for a long time, you should wait until the peel becomes thicker.

Ultra-early matures in an average of 50 days. This potato variety is a real find for amateur farmers. The tubers contain many nutrients, are smooth, tasty and have a good presentation for sale.

The most popular ultra-early: "Riviera", "", "Timo".

Early maturing

Early ripening can begin to dig already after 40-45 days. Especially popular variety -. The tubers are large, even, elongated, and the flesh is creamy.

The only thing is that early ripening varieties have a small percentage of starch; during cooking, they remain hard. Preparation for planting begins in early April, a month before planting in open soil. In early May, tubers with sprouts can already be planted in the soil.

The advantage of early ripening is that it is not susceptible to infection by fungus and disease.

The fruit has a beautiful appearance and has amazing taste properties. In the period of frost, wintering is well tolerated. In one season, you can have time to get 2 crops.

mid-early

Mid-early table appointments are intended for food and animal feed.

The fruits are ripening on day 60. Potatoes of this classification are well resistant to many infections, except late blight. Suitable for sale due to aesthetic appearance. Has excellent taste.

Which variety is considered the earliest

Varieties of "forty days" are ultra-early and give the first harvest already after 40 days. after germination.

These include the following: "Bullfinch", "", "Luck", "Zhukovsky early", "Timo", "Charoit", "Meteor", "", "".

For different geographical locations

Potatoes grown in central Russia are tastier than in the south.

The right climate, rich soils contribute to a rich harvest. Planting early ripening makes it possible to get the first harvest in early July. Early ones appear already 50-60 days after planting.

For middle lane Suitable for Russia: "Friendly", "Ural early", "Luck", "Sosnovsky", "Belarusian", "Slavyanka", "Vyatka".

For the Moscow region must be resistant to diseases, unpretentious to climate change. It is recommended to plant: "Spring", "Zhukovsky", "Timo", "", "Lugovskoy".

For Northwest regions you need to plant varieties that are most adapted to soil and climatic conditions: Amorosa, Zhukovsky early, Impala, Karatop, Latona, Prigozhiy 2, Fresco, Adretta, Christmas, "", "Aurora", "".

Description of potato varieties

Consider the most popular:

Name	Description
Alyona	The ripening period is 50-60 days. The first shoots can be obtained after 45 days. It has a high yield, the color of the skin is red, the color of the pulp is cream. It is preferable for cultivation in the West Siberian regions.
Ariel	The ripening period is 50-70 days. The first shoots after 45 days. You can get 2 crops per year. The peel is light yellow, the flesh is creamy.
Timo	The first root crops can be obtained in 45-50 days. The variety is suitable for growing on soils of different types. Fully matures in 70 days. The peel is light, the flesh is creamy.
Karatop	You can harvest the first crop for 50 days. Vegetative period up to 65 days. It is famous for its good yield, disease resistance. The peel of the potato is light, the flesh is yellow.
Bellarosa	The first fruits appear after 45 days. Vegetative period - 50-60. The flesh is yellow, the peel is light pink, rough to the touch.
lark	Young potatoes can be dug up already for 40 days. The skin has a bright yellow tint, the flesh is pale lemon.
	Belongs to the super-early variety. Full maturity is reached in 65-75 days. Harvest can be obtained in 45 days. The peel is yellowish, the pulp too.
	The peel is pink, the flesh is creamy lemon. The average germination is 80 days.
	Suitable for planting in the North-Western, Siberian regions. The first fruits can be harvested after 55-60 days. The skin is pinkish-lemon, the flesh is white.
Lileya	Belarusian potatoes have a high yield. The peel is a muted lemon shade, the flesh is light yellow. A young vegetable can be tasted after 50 days.
Red Scarlet	The skin is bright red, the flesh is creamy yellowish. Gives fruit in 45-55 days.
Luck	The peel is yellow, the pulp is the same. The first harvest is obtained on the 45th day. The entire vegetative period is 65 days.
Uladar	A young crop can be obtained on the 45th day, the entire growing season is 75 days. Several fruitings per season are possible.
Bullfinch	The peel is pinkish in color, the fleshy part is cream. Ripening occurs at 45-55 days.
Charoite	The full growing season is 80-90 days. The first harvest can be obtained on the 60th day. The peel is yellow, with the same pulp.
Veneta	Unique German variety. The peel is smooth, dark brown or yellow. The fleshy part is tender, light brown. Ripening occurs 50-55 days after germination.
Meteor	Gets along well in the Siberian regions. The peel is yellow, the flesh is also bright yellow. Landing is carried out in late April-early May. Ripening of the first fruits occurs after 45 days.
	It takes 60-80 days for the tubers to ripen, the first fruits are obtained on the 50th day. The peel is yellow, the flesh is creamy.
Riviera	Get fruits as early as 35 days after germination. The peel of the potato is yellow, the flesh too.
Rosara	An early ripe German variety gives the first shoots already on the 50th day. The skin is red, the flesh is yellow, the tubers are well stored for a long time.

Foreign selection

Among the most popular imported: "Bellarosa", "Red Scarlet", "Romano", "Impala", "Ariel", "Veneta".

How to grow early potatoes by June? To get early potatoes in late May - early June, you can plant a dozen tubers for seedlings right now.

How to grow early potatoes by June: step-by-step growing instructions and ultra-early varieties

In early March, tubers are laid for germination, they can be laid out on trays to lie down for a week and dry.

Then lay the potatoes in a layer of 1-2 tubers in boxes and germinate further, not forgetting to turn them over once a week.

After a month, transfer the tubers to a layer of humus, sawdust or just earth 5 cm.

Spray the litter with a solution of copper sulfate (3%) and mineral fertilizers (1 tsp per 1 liter of water). Potatoes will taste better then!

You rarely lay out the tubers so that 3-4 cm remain between them. Only then the sprouts will be large and at the same time they will not be confused with each other.

Sprinkle the tubers on top with earth or humus with a layer of 2-3 cm.

In early May, you plant sprouted potatoes in ridges, which you do 2-3 days before, so that the earth in them has time to warm up.

The height of the comb is 20-25 cm, the distance between the centers is up to 70 cm.

Since potatoes love light, planting them under trees is highly discouraged. From the shade, the development of bushes slows down, the percentage of damage by late blight increases. Neighborhood with sea buckthorn should also be avoided.

Seedlings appear already on the 4-5th day, and by the end of May, the potatoes are already turning green with might and main.

You can protect it from frost by covering it with straw or mowed grass.

Do not forget about watering, especially during the growth of the tops.

A in June dig up the first bushes potatoes , choosing the most sprawling.

Advice to summer residents: to combat the wireworm, stock up on potash salt before planting potatoes. Put this fertilizer when planting in each hole (a pinch) along with the sprouted tuber. By harvest, all potatoes are clean, without a single hole from the wireworm.

Early maturing potato varieties

From ultra-early potato varieties can advise:

• "Timo", both tasty and storable,
• "Ariel" both high-yielding and resistant to browning after heat treatment,
• "Riviera", as a large high-yielding with a presentation.

Video: Early potatoes by June

Spring day feeds the year. Gardeners, like no one else, know the power of this statement. And many of them are already actively preparing for the new season. Someone is already engaged in the vernalization of potatoes. It's certainly a good and necessary thing. To get early potatoes in late May - early June, you can plant a dozen tubers for seedlings right now. Our today's guest, Associate Professor of the Department of Horticulture of the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences Anna Gordeeva, will tell us how to do it correctly.

Each of us, summer residents, dreams of getting a harvest early, whether it be berries, fruits or vegetables.

This is especially true for potatoes. How nice, for example, at the end of June, to put hot young potatoes on the table in front of the household or guests, seasoned with sour cream or fragrant vegetable oil.

It's just a fairy tale!

But for this fairy tale to come true, you need to work a little.

Early potatoes are a valuable root crop, because they contain 3 times more vitamins than regular potatoes.

To enjoy the rich harvest of a vegetable, you need to know its features and preferences.

So what do you need to know in order for early potatoes to grow well?

The most important thing is not to make a mistake with the selection of a suitable variety.

Choosing the best variety

Early ripe potatoes are popular with modern gardeners.

Young potatoes are so tasty, so beckoning with aroma! Let's choose the most suitable variety!

All early ripening varieties are divided into the following types:

Ultra early. Ripening occurs after 35-60 days.

Common and proven species in our gardens include the following:

• Zhukovsky. Fruits are pinkish, round-oval, with snow-white pulp. The mass varies in 120-150 g, starch content is 11-12%. Zhukovsky has good storage performance and disease resistance.
• Riviera. This type of early potato is super-early and ripens for 35-40 days. The plant itself is characterized by low growth and purple-burgundy flowers. Root crops are oval with a yellow skin and a light ocher core. Starch content varies between 12-16%. The Riviera is not prone to ailments, but is afraid of late blight.
• Timo. A low shrub with pretty bluish-purple flowers. Yellow-skinned nodules vary in size (weight 70-120 g). When cooked, they do not boil soft and have a pleasant pale yellow flesh. High level starch - 13.5-14%. But this variety is susceptible to scab and requires neutral soils, it is also afraid of the cold.
• Karatop. Medium sized plant with white flowers. Karatop tubers are oval with yellow skin and pale yellowish flesh. The mass varies in 60-110 g, starch 11-15%. Karatop is distinguished by friendly germination and maturation of tubers.
• belarosa. The plant is tall with purple-purple flowers. Nodules are round-oval, smooth with pinkish tender skin and yellowish flesh. Their weight is limited to 120-200 g, the content of starchy substances is 12.5-16%. Belaroza is cast with excellent commercial quality and large fruits. Early potatoes of this species are resistant to diseases.

early ripe. Ready to eat in 60-70 days.

• scarlett. These are table potatoes with long, semi-oval roots covered with a reddish skin. The pulp is white with 12-14% starch. Fruit weight is about 100 g. Scarlett is famous for its unpretentiousness and excellent yield.
• Impala. The table variety is considered one of the most favorite among gardeners. It is a tall plant with white flowers. Oval root crops have a yellow peel and core. On average, their weight is 110-130 g, starchy compounds are about 13%. The Impala has wonderful taste. Potatoes are unpretentious, resistant to diseases. It is famous for the rapid weight gain of root crops.
• Rosara. The plant is upright of medium height. Nodules of early potatoes are oblong with crimson skin and a yellowish core. Their weight is about 120 g, starch content is 13-16%. This species has excellent taste. It is high yielding and disease resistant.
• Detskoselsky. The plant is medium in height with abundant, but short flowering. The variety produces nodules of a flat-oval shape, rather large (90-120 g) with snow-white pulp and light pink skin. Starch content 12-17%.
• Amnost. A variety of medium height with moderate flowering with white flowers. Nodules are round, light yellowish. Starch content 12-14%. The variety is productive, unpretentious and disease resistant.

mid-early. They ripen from 70 days from the moment they appear on the beds.

The most common early varieties of potatoes are:

• Romano. The bush is tall and upright. Nodules of early potatoes are closer to an oval-elongated shape, with pink skin and creamy flesh. They are medium-sized (up to 80 g), about 11% starch. Romano is distinguished by durability, health and keeping quality. It can be grown in any soil.
• Amorosa. The variety has a high yield and excellent taste. Nodules of Amorosa are oval and longish with burgundy skin and yellow core. The species has a high starch content: 16-19%. This potato especially loves moisture.
• Marfon. Table potatoes stand out with beautiful even nodules that do not boil soft when cooked. Root crops are oval, with a yellowish skin and core. They contain about 12% starch. Marfona is resistant to elevated temperatures and diseases, but is easily infected by the potato nematode.
• White Night. A table view of an early potato with a bush of medium height and white flowers. The nodules are rounded, they are distinguished by a white color and excellent taste indicators. Starch content varies in the region of 11-17%.

Over breeding the best views early maturing potatoes the best breeders of Russia, Belarus, Holland, Germany, the Netherlands, and France work.

There are a lot of early potato varieties, gardeners choose the most successful by trial and error.

Try it and you will choose the most successful variety for your garden.

Tuber processing - a quick start to harvest

After our nodules are germinated and ready for planting, they must be processed.

To do this, root crops are “bathed” in a solution of mineral fertilizers and growth biostimulants.

What are we doing? In water (10 l), we dilute superphosphate (1.5 matchboxes in volume) and potassium sulfate (the amount placed in one box).

An excellent effect is given by the treatment of nodules with growth activators:

• succinic acid (or succinic acid): solution at a concentration of 0.005%;
• EPIN: ½ ampoule per 200 ml of water, the proportion is given for processing 100 kg of nodules, the procedure is best done 20-24 hours before planting;
• SILK: one tablet per 2.5-3 liters of water, SILK treatment is carried out twice (before germination and 20 hours before planting).

The main advantage of germinated tubers for planting early potatoes is that such a root crop can be planted without waiting for the soil to warm up.

When planting ordinary varieties, it is required that the earth warms up to + 7-8⁰С to a depth of 10-12 cm.

Advice. Do not overexpose the tubers in wet conditions, this provokes the interweaving of sprouted young roots. Such nodules can be damaged during planting and give a poor harvest.

What to do if gardeners are busy people and they did not have enough time to germinate potatoes?

7-10 days before planting, keep the tubers of plants in a lighted place (with a temperature regime of + 15⁰С).

Root crops will thoroughly warm up, which will accelerate their growth and development.

It is very useful to treat root crops with wood ash before planting day (a glass of organic matter per 15-20 kg of tubers).

This will strengthen the immune system of the potato and speed up its germination in the ground.

Add wood ash to each hole where root crops are planted (one handful).

Such a substance enhances the starchyness of tubers by 1.5-2%.

And in order to make the root crop of early potatoes more resistant to infections, before planting, treat the nodules with solutions of potassium permanganate, copper sulfate and boric acid (concentration 0.01-0.03%).

Seedlings - a guarantee of harvest

What do we need from potatoes? Of course, a rich harvest. This can be achieved by growing an early root crop in seedlings.

To get the desired seedlings, you should select the strongest and healthiest germinated tubers and plant them in shallow containers for 20-22 days (take dimensions of 40x50 cm and a height of 10-12 cm).

Advice. Growing early potatoes for seedlings can be successfully carried out in a variety of peat-cellulose pots, paper cups, even in bags of cream / milk.

More detailed instructions:

• We fill the container for seedlings with a peat-humus mixture with a layer of 8-10 cm.
• Sprouted nodules (choose small root crops) are spread up with sprouts with a distance of 2.5-3 cm from each other.
• From above, the tubers are sprinkled with the same earth with a layer of 4-5 cm.
• Future seedlings of early potatoes are watered with a solution of sodium humate (25 ml of the substance per 5 l of water). Water thoroughly, we need all the soil to be saturated with this solution.

We expose the container with planted nodules to a lighted place (but not under direct sunlight).

Now we will have to wait 2.5-3 weeks before the sprouts appear. During this time, our seedlings should be fertilized.

As soon as the young sprouts grow by 2-3 cm, we carry out top dressing.

In water (10 l) we dilute nitrophoska or nitroammofoska (2 tbsp). Mix the mass and water the seedlings.

After 2.5-3 weeks (the sprouts should already grow by 7-10 cm), we water the soil and carefully select the nodules together with the soil.

We plant them in prepared holes with a distance of 20-25 cm, we make row spacings of half a meter.

Potato seedlings are buried in the soil in such a way that 1/3 of the potato tops remain above the soil surface.

Early potatoes, we ask for beds

For growing early potatoes, it is better to choose a plot in the garden that dries quickly in the spring.

As a rule, this is the end of April-beginning of May.

Advice. To get an early potato harvest as soon as possible, you can plant it under warm shelters (frame or frameless). Then the garden owners will see the first harvest at the end of May (in the south) and in mid-June (in the western regions).

If the potato tubers are too large, they are cut, but without damaging the sprouts.

In order for the planting of early potatoes to be successful, make sure that each individual piece of potato has 2-3 sprouts.

The nodules should be cut a couple of days before planting (otherwise the cut will cork).

During the cutting process, discard even the slightest sign of infection.

Advice. After cutting each root crop, sanitize the knife by dipping it for a few seconds in a solution of potassium permanganate.

How to plant. The root crop is planted using the ordinary method (60x30 cm).

If your site is highly fertile (or when planting small nodules), the planting can be thickened up to 22-25 cm.

Sprouted roots of early potatoes are placed in the soil 5-6 cm deep, covered with earth or peat with a layer of 3-3.5 cm.

Upon completion of the procedure, the upper layer of the earth should be loosened in order to prevent the formation of a hard earthen crust.

Now it remains to wait 4-5 days to admire the first young sprouts.

How to care for potatoes

Caring for potato plantings comes down to the following simple procedures:

loosening. Regular loosening of the soil between plantings protects the root crop from arrogant weeds, saves precious moisture in the soil and maintains the earth in a loose, "light" state.

The first loosening is carried out after 5-6 days after landing. The rest - depending on the condition of the soil, weather and the presence of weeds.

Hilling. This is a great way to protect young sprouts from sudden frosts.

Seedlings are sprinkled with soil or peat crumbs by 4-5 cm.

After the end of spring frosts, loosening in the aisles with simultaneous harrowing is also carried out without fail.

Advice. If your early potatoes are still affected by frost, feed them with nitrogen fertilizers..

You can also use the "smoke screen" method.

Near the plantings of early potatoes, a pile of straw is laid and set on fire just before sunrise (at this time the lowest temperature is observed).

Preliminary capital watering of the entire area also gives a good effect.

You can also protect young potatoes from freezing with the help of a covering material by planting root crops under spunbond, agrofiber or plastic film.

But keep in mind the fact that in a favorable microclimate that will create a coating, weeds will also grow with pleasure.

After the establishment of stable warm weather, the landings are removed from the landings.

But you may not be in a hurry, especially if dark-colored agrofibre is used.

Under it, potatoes quickly give a bountiful harvest. The darkened agrofibre can be left until harvest.

If spunbond is used as a coating (it is usually light in color), hilling is carried out when the plant reaches 15-20 cm in height.

Hilling seedlings is better after watering or rain.

Watering. When the beginning of the summer period turned out to be hot, planting potatoes must be moistened.

Watering is carried out once a week. In total, it turns out 4-5 times before the first flowers appear.

Simultaneously with watering, root crops are fertilized.

top dressing. At the beginning of the growing season, before the onset of the flowering period, early potatoes need a lot of nitrogen and phosphorus (at this time, the active formation of the root and leaf system takes place).

The need for nitrogen and phosphorus decreases as soon as the potato begins to acquire flowers. During this period, our pet needs potassium, it will help improve crop performance.

Advice. For better digestibility, the potassium supplement is dissolved in water (take potassium sulphate in a bucket of water with a volume from matchboxes). It is better to apply such a fertilizer under potato bushes of 1.5-2 liters. The ideal time is after the rain and when our potatoes are in bud.

When the root crop grows by 10-12 cm, liquid top dressing can be carried out.

In a bucket of water, dilute nitrogen, potash fertilizers (30 g each) and phosphorus (60 g).

Such top dressing usually falls under the first hilling. When carrying out the procedure, try not to get the liquid solution on the greens of the plant.

Bird droppings are the most valuable type of feeding for potato plantations!

This type of organic matter is famous for its high concentration of the most useful compounds for potatoes.

When adding litter to the ground, special chemical processes, which give rise to the rapid development of beneficial microorganisms that protect the roots of early potatoes from fungal infections.

But bird droppings cannot be used fresh! It should be diluted with water in a ratio of 1x15, and then infused for 4-5 days in a warm place.

Fertilizer is used at the rate of a liter for each potato bush.

When fertilizing plants, adhere to the following useful tips from experienced gardeners:

• Do not get carried away and do not overdo it with nitrogen supplements. Nitrogen is necessary for potatoes during the growing season. But if you increase the concentration of the substance, then all the forces of the plant will be thrown into growing green tops, but not into the formation of strong tubers.
• If little humus or stale manure is prepared for fertilizer, these additives are allowed to be applied when planting potatoes, adding to the pits. 170-200 g of organics mixed with ash (20 g) are placed at the bottom. If bird droppings are used instead of manure, it is placed in the amount of 10-12 g per well.
• Manure is a "long-playing" food. Its beneficial effect in the earth lasts up to 2-3 years. Therefore, if no other organic matter was introduced during planting, manure can be used by adding it under the bush. To make fertilizer, dilute the mullein with water in a ratio of 1x10 and add superphosphate to it (a tablespoon per 10 liters of mullein).
• You can do without adding dressings. To do this, planting early potatoes is sown with green manure seeds (oats, mustard, vetch and others).

When all the wishes are fulfilled, the early potatoes will rise in an even, beautiful “rug”.

When the time for the first hilling approaches, carefully cut off the surface layer of such a carpet with a chopper, leaving the roots under the soil.

These roots will overheat and give excellent food to potato roots, and the soil will be given the necessary friability.

We harvest

Harvesting of the early root crop begins 10-12 weeks after the planting of germinated nodules.

But the first (trial digging) can be done in 7-8 weeks.

Before a responsible event, all the tops of plants are mowed and burned. Such an event will facilitate the collection of tubers and help to destroy possible pests.

But this is not entirely true. What needs to be done to store an early harvest?

• If the year turned out to be damp, the tops of early potato varieties may remain green. This means that photosynthesis continues. In theory, new tubers are formed. But even green tops before harvesting (for 7-10 days) must be mowed. In this case, the nodules will be covered with a strong tissue that will help them survive.
• With belated harvesting, ripened tubers open their lenticels (respiratory organs) while still in the ground. Through these pores, pathogenic microorganisms easily penetrate into the root crop, which leads to a loss of more than 50% of the crop during storage.
• All varieties of potatoes (and early ones too) have a dormant period. It lasts 1-4 months. This varietal feature affects the keeping quality of the root crop. That is, early varieties of potatoes with a long dormant period can be stored longer than mid-ripening varieties, in which this period is short in terms of time.

Important. Early potatoes should not be stored in storage immediately after harvest. At this time, root crops are still undergoing complex biochemical reactions and changes. These processes are accompanied by the release of moisture.

Immediately after harvesting, ware potatoes are placed in canvas bags or wooden boxes and left in ventilated darkened rooms.

And it is better to leave the seed in diffused light for a couple of weeks. Then the tubers are sorted out, the sick are rejected and stored for storage.

In place of the harvested potatoes, you can plant seedlings of kohlrabi or Chinese cabbage.

Or sow these areas with early ripening vegetables: dill, head or leaf types of lettuce, turnips, radishes. The garden should not be empty.

See you soon, dear readers! Have a rich harvest!

Potato is our second bread. This common truth needs no proof. Despite urbanization, many urban residents in the spring rush out of the city to the cherished acres. The call of the earth cannot be eradicated by any experience of city life. And nothing will overshadow the pleasure of eating young crumbly potatoes in nature, grown and nurtured with your own hands. But for this it is not enough just to take the tubers and bury them in the soil. You need to know when and how to do it better, so that you can also get a harvest as soon as possible.

Let's start with the fact that potatoes come from warm countries, and therefore they need to be planted in well-warmed soil. weather in last years completely unpredictable and presents us with regular surprises at any time of the year, including spring. Therefore, the surest way to determine the readiness of the soil is the appearance of young leaves on birch trees, and it is advisable to wait until they reach a size of at least 2 cm.

To get an earlier harvest, potato tubers must be prepared in advance to wake their dormant buds. This should be done about a month before the planned planting date. If the tubers were purchased by you somewhere, they must be washed from the remnants of the old soil and must be disinfected by holding for 20-30 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate, boric acid or some kind of fungicide. After that, the dried tubers are laid out in a bright place with an air temperature of 18 ... 20 ° C and kept for about 10 days. This stimulates the awakening of not only the main, but also additional buds, from which multi-stemmed potato bushes will subsequently grow.

Then, for germination, the tubers are transferred to a cooler room with a temperature of 10 ... 12 ° C, so that the sprouts are thick and hardened, not too stretched. A glazed balcony or veranda is a suitable place. The tubers are laid out in one layer in boxes, boxes, even just on paper and left until planting. Over time, the rudiments of leaves and roots appear on the sprouts. In principle, this is already enough to get an early harvest. But there is another nuance that will further accelerate the receipt of the first harvest.

To do this, the tubers need not only to germinate, but also to allow a good root system to develop. Personally, having tried a simple germination of potatoes, I have been using this method for many years. 15-20 days before planting, I lay out the tubers in boxes and boxes in a bright place under a canopy, powder with wood ash on top and fall asleep a little with loose soil, but you can also use peat and even just sawdust. At the same time, you can lay them out not in one layer, but in two or three, which allows you to save space without losing efficiency, so to speak. Now the main thing is to regularly moisten the tubers with warm water, avoiding strong waterlogging or drying of the substrate. During this time, excellent roots and sprouts with leaves appear on the tubers, in other words, real potato seedlings with long dense roots. This technique helps to get the first potato harvest two to three weeks earlier than with a normal planting.

It is preferable to plant potatoes in a bright sunny area, orienting the rows from north to south. The distance between the rows is left about 70 cm (do not worry, it only seems to be too much at first glance), between the tubers - 35-40 cm, the embedment depth - 8-10 cm. When planting, I always add about a tablespoon of wood ash and mix thoroughly with the soil. After that, I make a recess in which I carefully plant the sprouted potato tuber. In dry weather, the hole must be spilled with warm water (at least 1 liter) in order to create an initial supply of moisture to enhance plant growth.

During return spring frosts, the ridges with early potatoes are covered with spunbond, burlap, or simply cover the seedlings with soil using a chopper. By the way, the latter method is even more preferable: after that, the sprouts in the ridges are better warmed up by the sun and grow even more actively. When friendly small shoots of weeds appear, the aisles are loosened with a rake. Usually two or three such loosenings are enough to destroy most of the weeds on early stage development. Further planting care comes down to hilling, fertilizing and watering if the weather is dry. Before hilling, complex mineral fertilizers for potatoes can be scattered in the aisles, which are mixed with the ground during this operation. Wide row spacing allows you to create wide and high ridges in which the formation of tubers is much more comfortable. Such powerful combs retain moisture and heat better, and are not washed away by rains. Often, one high hilling for the whole season is enough, except for protective hilling - from frost.

For early potatoes, early varieties that form tubers in 55-65 days are best suited. In the first half of summer, phytophthora usually does not yet appear, and the opportunity to get a healthy crop increases. The Colorado potato beetle can be controlled by collecting eggs and adults if the planting area is small, or by using suitable chemicals.

I wish you all a good harvest of delicious potatoes!