For a novice gardener, the presence of potato beds on almost every neighbor’s plot gives the illusion that growing a crop is a task that any beginner can do. However, such a misconception persists until the time comes when you need to dig up the potatoes and, in fact, take stock of all the efforts expended.
The experience of experienced owners of personal plots shows that even compliance with all the rules agricultural technology in the process of growing potatoes, does not exclude crop loss only due to non-compliance with crop harvesting deadlines and improper preparation for this final stage of all manipulations.
Factors influencing potato ripening
Manuals on agricultural technology indicate average data on the timing of digging up potatoes, corresponding to the climatic characteristics of central Russia - this is approximately from August 17–20 to September 10–15. However, these deadlines must be adhered to, taking into account a fairly large number of additional factors that can significantly advance the period of potato readiness for digging in one direction or another.
The ripening time of potatoes depends on the following conditions:
- features of the development of a specifically selected potato variety - you need to find out the details of planting dates and the period when you need to dig potatoes from the seed seller;
- time when the seed material was planted in the ground - than earlier seed potatoes was lowered into the holes, the earlier it was to dig;
- the degree of care, the presence or absence of fertilizing - applying fertilizers in excess of the norm entails a violent increase in the green mass of the tops to the detriment of the harvest, but the complete absence of fertilizing will have a negative impact on the harvest, because then there will be almost nothing to dig;
- the qualitative composition of the soil under potatoes - the poorer the soil, the faster the tubers will be ready for digging, but the poorer the harvest will be;
- the amount of moisture maintained in the soil - in overdried soil, the tubers will ripen a week and a half earlier than expected, but will be small and sparse.
It is important to remember that even the simultaneous planting of several potato varieties with similar ripening dates does not mean that harvesting will occur at the same time.
Signs of potato ripening
There is nothing wrong with digging up a few kilograms of potatoes for dinner a few days before they reach full maturity - there are lovers of just such a very young and slightly unripe root vegetable. Another thing is to dig up potatoes for future storage. Here it is important to determine specifically “that day”, which by all indications will indicate the optimal maturity of the culture.
Signs of potato ripening apply to all crop varieties:
- Appearance of green mass (tops) of potatoes. You can take a closer look at the condition of the deciduous part of the bush starting from 65 days from the emergence of shoots - during this period the tops show the first signs of wilting. On the 85th–95th day, when the tops turn yellow, the collection can already be planned.
- Type of potatoes. To assess this factor, you need to dig up 2-3 potato bushes at different ends of the bed and remove a couple of root crops from each plant. It’s easy to determine the condition of the tuber - you need to forcefully rub the potato with your finger and if the peel does not reach behind your finger, then it’s time to dig the crop.
- Characteristics of the soil surface around the bushes. Since ripe potatoes will burst the soil around the root system, the soil under the bush will be cracked and raised into a mound.
To understand whether it is already possible to dig potatoes, you should resort to other tricks. You need to drop a little alcohol solution of iodine onto the cut of the tuber - it should turn pale purple. Another sure sign that a crop is ready for harvest is to dig up one bush and, holding it by the tops with one hand, tear off the seedlings of the lowest tubers from the root system with the other. In potatoes that have reached maturity, they will be removed without effort.
Weather forecast and harvest
Potatoes ripen most quickly during the period of intense summer heat, and if rare watering is added to the factor of prolonged heat, the harvest date generally shifts to the first ten days of August. When weather forecasts indicate the approach of prolonged rains, it is better to speed up the ripening of potatoes in any of the available ways and have time to dig up the root crops before streams of water fall on the ground.
The most favorable conditions for digging potatoes occur when the air temperature is no lower than 13 and no higher than 18 0C, and the weather is sunny. Thus, harvesting potatoes smoothly transitions into timely drying of tubers.
How does the variety affect the ripening period?
It is very important to choose the right potato variety for planting, focusing not so much on the promised yield, but on the degree of adaptation of the variety to the specific climatic and weather conditions of the region. It is known that all crop varieties are divided into 5 categories:
- An early ripening species, allowing harvesting already 60 days from the date of planting.
- A mid-early species, ripening in about 70 days.
- A mid-season variety that allows you to dig potatoes 90 days after planting.
- Medium late species, ripening in 100 days.
- A late-ripening species, ready for harvest after 100 days from planting.
It is clear that in central Russia, it is unwise to select varieties belonging to the last two ripening categories - they are more suitable for the southern region. Also, for our compatriots in a temperate climate zone, it is irrational to opt for super-early potato varieties - the tubers simply will not have time to gain enough solar heat and will be poor in vitamin composition.
Tuber harvesting methods
The easiest option to harvest potatoes is to use special equipment - a walk-behind tractor, however, not everyone can afford such equipment, and it is applicable mainly to large plots, and not several beds within a personal plot. At ordinary dachas, tubers are collected manually, using a fork or a bayonet shovel.
When using any mechanical method, you must come to terms with a certain percentage of “rejects” in advance - damaged potatoes, the most whole of which must be immediately processed, and heavily cut ones must be thrown into a compost pit to rot. The least amount of waste is produced when potatoes are dug on light soils. In this case, the root system is completely removed from the ground with one push on a fork or shovel and does not require repeated immersion of a sharp tool into the ground.
Rules for operating the walk-behind tractor
If the entire garden devoted to cultivation occupies 1–3 acres, buy a unit with a capacity of more than 3 liters. s., irrational. Digging potatoes with such a device is not difficult - you need to immerse the pointed element of the mechanism into the ground and move after the device, holding it on the line of the bed.
Should be in advance, even before potato planting, decide on the method of harvesting a good harvest, since for manual digging of tubers the distance between the rows of bushes does not matter, but for the movement of a walk-behind tractor, it must be at least one and a half lengths of the apparatus. In any case, the distance between the rows should not be less than 45 cm, and the depth of the lower tubers is allowed by 20-25 cm.
Digging potatoes using a walk-behind tractor average power, takes several times less time spent solely on manual labor. When working on the plot together (the second person follows the mechanism and picks potatoes from the ground), it takes, on average, 10 minutes per one hundred square meters of garden.
Digging by hand
It is best to dig potatoes by hand with a pitchfork, but if the soil is not too viscous and heavy, a bayonet shovel will also do a good job, although it is strictly not recommended to break clods of earth in which the root crops are hidden. The digging technique is extremely simple:
- at a distance of 15–20 cm from the bush, the tool is at an angle of 300 sinks into the soil, then presses on the shoulder of the shovel or fork and slightly lifts the lump above the soil level;
- after this, the bush should be firmly grabbed by the tops and pulled up until it is completely removed from the ground;
- If the tops are overdried and break easily, or the soil is too tight and does not let go of the rhizome strewn with tubers, you need to carefully dig up the bush on the other side and turn out the lump of earth along with the root crops.
In good dry weather, it is necessary to immediately sort the potatoes into tubers that are suitable for food and seeds that are too small to be used as food. To do this, you need to spread two squares of polyethylene near the bed and dump large root crops on one of them, and small ones on the other. Potatoes cut or damaged by insects are placed in a separate bucket.
Why do you need to dig up potatoes on time?
There are enough reasons to strictly adhere to the timing of planting and harvesting, and it’s not just about the excellent taste of well-ripened potatoes.Continuing to grow plants after the onset of the rainy season in order to “bring” the tubers to a larger size, the gardener risks losing the entire harvest, because at temperatures above 10 0With the incessant rains, the withering tops of the potato bush turn green again, and the root crops begin to sprout.
Another danger of leaving potatoes in the soil lies in early autumn frosts. One or two frosty nights that cover the ground with frost reduce the possibility of storing the crop in winter by 70%. Such tubers, after being removed from the soil, quickly begin to rot, and when cooked they give an unpleasant sweetish taste.
Nothing good will come from postponing the harvest to a period earlier than the required potato grade.
Unripe tubers have an inferior taste and a watery pulp structure. The content of vitamins and microelements in them is much lower than in a mature crop, which significantly reduces the nutritional value of the product. In addition, unripe root vegetables have a peel that is too thin and easily damaged, so potatoes dug up without taking into account signs of ripeness cannot be stored and are only suitable for consumption in the first week or two after digging.
