Potato sprouting before planting: effective methods and recommendations

Nowadays, few people in the summer cottages and vegetable gardens grow vegetables, and fruit trees have replaced ornamental ones.In supermarkets and markets products can be bought at any time of the year. But there were still lovers to grow crops from seeds and tubers in their plot. They are proud of the result, worrying about every sprout.

In this article we will talk about how to get a good harvest of potatoes and what you need to do. Let's start with the preparation of planting material and learn how to germinate potatoes.

At the germination stage, potatoes can be easily rejected. You will see damaged or weak planting material. Preparing potatoes in the spring makes it possible to plant only healthy seedlings. Such potatoes quickly and guaranteed sprout, there will be no “bald patches” in rows, the bushes will be strong, and the harvest will be full.

Preparing planting material begins a little more than a month before planting - about 40 days. Dates in each region of our country are different, they also depend on whether spring is expected early or late.

Select the potatoes for planting need more in the fall. It should be smooth, without damage, its size should be the size of a large chicken egg. If it is larger, it will have to be cut in the spring, but so that sprouts remain on each part. Small potatoes do not have enough food to give a full harvest. Large tubers awaken for a long time, as a result of which small small potatoes grow. In the spring, the prepared material is sifted, discarding rotten tubers and with long thin shoots (they will break when moved).

After the tubers have been sorted, they must be rinsed well to get rid of the dangerous and harmful bacteria that may have survived in the ground. After that, they must be treated with potassium permanganate, boric acid, or purchased special agent for processing and feeding potatoes. Then the roots are dried and heated for several days indoors at a temperature of 21-25 degrees. At that stage, we will see which tubers do not germinate, and we will also remove them.

The next stage of the preparation of planting potatoes is germination. There are several ways to grow potatoes for planting.

In the light, germinate potatoes simply and quickly. To do this, put the planting material in transparent plastic bags with holes or wooden, plastic or cardboard boxes. You can use three-liter jars, the neck of which is closed with small plastic bags with pre-made small holes in them. We transfer them to the room lit by sunlight. It is desirable that the temperature in it was +20, and after a week we reduce it to +15 degrees. If the potatoes get direct sunlight, it is better to slightly shade them with a cloth or paper.

Before planting, for 2 days, planting material is hardened, reducing the temperature in the room to +10 degrees, and is closed from light, which increases the rate of subsequent germination in the ground several times.

In the dark, preparing potatoes for planting is even easier. True, it germinates more slowly, sprouts will be thin. It is important to ensure that sprouts do not overgrow. For this it is necessary to reduce the temperature of the room and moisten the air and tubers. The term of sprouting potatoes in this way is about 20 days.

It is possible to germinate planting material in a film even in an apartment. You can use for this the usual transparent plastic bags, only more durable, or bags with handles. Do not forget to make holes in them for ventilation. In each, you can put 10-15 potatoes. Packages are tied up and hung in a lighted place, avoiding too bright sun. Do not forget in 2 or 3 days to turn the packages for an even impact on the roots. This creates a greenhouse effect and planting material quickly germinate.

In this way, it is difficult to sprout a lot of potatoes, it takes a lot of packages and places to hang them. It is necessary to transport tubers to the place of landing in packages carefully, without breaking sprouts. Another disadvantage of the method is that it will be possible to sort them only immediately before disembarking.

In boxes, it is more difficult to germinate potatoes using top dressing. But this method gives better quality tubers for planting, they become stronger and germinate faster.

For this method you can use both boxes and baskets. The bottom is covered with cellophane, and a small layer of peat, humus, sawdust or straw is put on top. You can mix them with humus. From above we put in one row the tubers of potatoes, then again the litter, on top of the potatoes, and so several layers. Put as many layers as the depth of the container allows. Each row of litter with tubers shed water. If you water them after laying, the layers may become unevenly moisturized.

The temperature in the room where the planting material will be prepared should be constantly in the range of +15 to +17 degrees. After a week sprouts will appear. If humus has not been added to the boxes (baskets), then pour them not only with water, but with fertilizer. As a feed for 10 liters of water, use 10 g of saltpeter, potassium chloride, and 50 g of superphosphate. Who prefers not to use mineral fertilizers, use wood ash: a glass for 10 liters of water and a few drops of copper and boron. After two days feeding must be repeated.

If everything is done correctly, then after one week, planting material can be planted. With this method of germination in tubers will not only sprouts, but also the roots. Using this method of sprouting, it will be necessary in the fall to turn green tubers before putting it into storage, which will have a better effect on their storage. This method will help protect the tubers even from mice.

In the garden can be carried out germination, if there is no room for this. We just need to wait for the snow to melt and the temperature outside will be no lower than +10 degrees. We also put a dry bed of peat, sawdust, straw, humus or a mixture of them on the ground, put one on top, you can have two layers of dry potatoes. Everything is covered with cellophane (it will save the tubers from frost at night) in order to get the effect of a greenhouse. With this method, the germination of tubers will be from 14 to 21 days, depending on air temperature.

In pots you can germinate potatoes in an apartment, if you plan to plant it a little. For this week, the tubers are kept in a box with wet sawdust. Then laid out in pots (preferably clay) with fertilized soil. Keep the soil moist and use mineral or gum fertilizer when watering. If the air temperature outside the window is more than +10 degrees, for the night take the pots to the balcony for hardening.

Potato seedlings are planted in the heated land, when late frosts are not expected.

You can germinate potatoes and in bottles. In plastic containers with a volume of 1.5, 2 liters, a narrow neck is removed and holes are made in the bottom. Pour the soil in the prepared container with the added mineral fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphate and potash) put one tuber, fill it and pour it well. Bottles are placed on the windowsill, where the temperature should be in the range of 15-17 degrees. Do not forget to moisten the soil.

In a heated greenhouse, it is very easy to prepare potato tubers for planting by germination. Spread the tubers on a non-occupied garden bed or other level place in one layer. Due to the lighting, the same temperature and humidity conditions, strong shoots will appear in 10, maximum 12 days. Turn tubers periodically for even germination.

The method of drying and warming is used with a lack of time to use other methods. It allows you to awaken the eyes of the tubers.To do this, they are laid out in one row on the floor in a fairly dry room for 1-2 weeks.

To further accelerate the germination process, use the method of heating. Tubers laid out in small boxes or nets and set them in a dry place. The air temperature is gradually increased to 30 degrees.

There is another effective method of germination, however, it is rather laborious, so not everyone has enough patience to carry it out. In each tuber we do it carefully, so as not to hurt the eyes, an incision. Potatoes prepared in this way are laid in boxes, shifted with sawdust or straw.

This method allows not only to save planting material, but also to accelerate the germination, as when cutting a tuber produces a stress hormone. Because of this hormone, the process of tissue regeneration is accelerated and the roots are formed faster. Before planting, potatoes can be divided into existing sections by existing cuts. This method allows to increase the yield by more than 30%.

The seedling method is perhaps the most effective, allowing to get an early harvest. Cooked potatoes are planted in pots, bags or boxes filled with soil or humus, transfer them to a greenhouse or greenhouse. After emergence of shoots we land in an open ground.

The combined method combines the method of germination in the light and in the ground. First, potatoes are kept in a bright place until small sprouts form from 2 to 3 weeks. Then placed in a container with a moist soil tubers layers. Next you need to moisten the layers as in the "in boxes" method. This method of germination will take up to 40 days.

Using a non-germinated planting material, you risk getting a defective crop, infecting the land. When planting potatoes without sprouts, you do not know whether it will ascend. It will be a shame to spend time and effort and get a half-empty bed as a result. It is better to spend the time to germinate the tubers by any of the above methods, choosing an option that is acceptable to you, and in the end rejoice in the resulting harvest.

Potatoes that have not risen for a month will not rise. This is due to:

• insufficient quality potatoes were used during planting (during germination, this could have been avoided);
• the wrong grade is used or it is not suitable for your region;
• infected, weakened by disease tubers;
• the saplings were attacked by a bear, which could have been avoided by treating the tubers before planting with a special tool or the ground two weeks before planting.

Before planting the land, it is desirable to process the complex mineral fertilizer. With a small amount of planting material, it must be placed for several hours in fertilizer and dried before planting.

If there is a lot of planting material, it is easier to spray with fertilizer once a week during the entire germination period. To improve germination and increase yield, a growth stimulator treatment should be carried out one day before planting.

Mulching of beds with planted potatoes will help to preserve moisture in the soil and avoid loosening.

Soaking the planting material in a solution of garlic, twisted in a meat grinder and diluted in water at the rate of 1 kg per 10 liters of ordinary water for 0.5 days is effective. Having processed the tubers in such a solution, you will increase by 1.5 times the yield.

Combine methods during germination. The combination of methods "in the light" and in the ground allows you to grow crops 2 weeks earlier.

When planting potatoes in the ground, consider the climatic conditions and the soil. Potatoes are planted on the “crest” in Siberia and in wet areas, while small recesses are made in them, immediately fertilizing. During the period of growth produce hilling, the powder of the earth to the bush.

With a lack of moisture on peat and sandy soil, they use the method of planting in trenches, digging a moat 10 cm deep and applying fertilizer immediately. After landing, the pits are covered with earth and mulch the bed.

The method of planting potatoes under the straw saves time and effort. Planting material is laid on the nekopannaya earth, covered with straw with a layer from 40 to 50 cm. The method can be improved: peat is laid on the ground, and better humus, sprinkled with fertilizer, and the tubers are laid out at the right distance. Only then they are covered with straw. So that it is not blown away by the wind, they cover it with boards on top. We do not need such a bed, we don’t have to loosen it, occasionally we just need to water it if you have a dry climatic zone. Harvesting is a pleasure: it is enough to scoop up the straw and get clean tubers.

For information on how to select and germinate potato tubers, see the next video.