Most rural residents and summer residents involved in vegetable growing plant potatoes on their plots. Before planting, it is important to choose not only good and high-quality tubers, but also a productive variety - Rocco potatoes, one of the best varieties. The future harvest will depend on this. What is good about this variety and how to grow the vegetable fruitfully in your garden?
Description of culture
Rocco was bred by Dutch breeders and is popular all over the world. It is grown in Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, China, France and other foreign countries.In Russia, the variety began to be cultivated in 2002; its subspecies are common in Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
The fruits are also in demand among the population, as they are not susceptible to diseases - the pulp is clean, without eyes.
The Rocco potato variety is high-yielding; one bush produces 1.5 kilograms of vegetables, and producers harvest up to 600 centners of high-quality potatoes from one hectare of land in a good year. The fruits are of high quality - the amount of marketable vegetables from the plot is more than 95%.
This is a type of table purpose - used in restaurants to prepare French fries and other popular dishes. The variety is also widely used in home cooking - the fruits make delicious pancakes, dumplings, and purees. The taste of potatoes is sweetish.
It has a light pink skin. The pulp is creamy yellow, the fruit contains up to 16% starch. When cooked, the fruits do not change color.
Due to its high transportability and keeping quality, the variety is successfully exported. It is grown by large farms for sale and production of starch. Ordinary summer residents love the variety for its ease of care and high yields.
Growing Potatoes
To planted potatoes gave a high harvest, it needs to be planted in fertile soil and cared for. Let's look at what exactly needs to be done next.
Preparing the soil for planting
For planting, the soil is prepared in the fall; organic fertilizers are applied to the field before plowing - cow dung, humus, compost. The field is then plowed and left for the winter. The soil for planting is loamy, turf or sandy with the addition of black soil.
In the spring, when the last snow has melted from the fields, the land is again cultivated and hilled. Only after these manipulations are potatoes planted.
Landing
There are several ways to plant potatoes:
- trench planting;
- smooth fit;
- ridge
When planting in trenches, the rotting properties of potatoes, the weather conditions of the region and area are taken into account; if it constantly rains there, then it is better to choose the ridge planting method. With the trench method, tubers are planted between rows and covered with soil from the rows.
Smooth planting implies the absence of rows on the field; it is better to plant together. One digs holes along the marked lines in the rows, and the other lays the tubers. When digging the next hole, the soil from the shovel is poured into the previous hole with potatoes.
Ridge sowing is done by planting in rows formed by hilling. This method is used if a lot of moisture collects in the area from rain or a nearby body of water. To prevent the tubers from rotting from increased moisture, they are raised above ground level.
The distance between tubers is determined depending on the size.
- Between tubers - 30 centimeters.
- Between rows - 70 centimeters.
- Planting depth is 10 centimeters.
The size of the tubers is taken into account - small ones are planted closer to each other and higher. The big ones are next. After sowing, all that remains is to take care of the plants and wait for the harvest.
Potato care
There are features of caring for a potato field, including:
- Weeding.
- Pest treatment.
- Loosening the soil.
- Watering.
If it rains once a week in your region, then this is enough for the tubers to form well. If the weather is dry, the beds will have to be watered at least twice a week.
Weeding is vital for plant growth. If you start the garden, then the roots of the weeds will not allow the tubers to develop.All the nutrients will go to the weeds and a summer of work will be wasted.
Loosening the soil or hilling is carried out 3-4 times per season to shake up the hardened layers of soil above the plantings. In a loose, soft environment, roots and tubers grow better, ultimately producing an excellent harvest.
The Colorado potato beetle is the most dangerous pest for young shoots and during flowering. If the larvae eat the flowers, then the harvest will be poor. Therefore, gardeners fight these beetles and their larvae.
There are many pest control insecticides on the market, but the most popular currently is Regent for the Colorado potato beetle and other pests on the field. When treating bushes with poison, after two weeks the poisonous properties disappear by themselves, so after treatment new potatoes can be dug up only after 2–3 weeks.
There is a traditional manual method of getting rid of insects. But it is convenient when planting small plots of potatoes; if a whole field is planted, it will not be possible to collect all the beetles manually.
With proper care of the bushes, the harvest will delight its owners. But it is important not only to grow potatoes, but also to harvest and preserve them correctly.
Harvest and storage
Collection is carried out in each region at different times. The main indicators of the need to harvest are:
- fallen tops;
- faded and yellowed plant stems;
- size of tubers.
So, in regions with average temperatures, potatoes are dug up in September, in the southern regions they are harvested in October. The main thing is that the potatoes are ripe. You should have time to clean up before the onset of frost. After harvesting, the tubers are dried in the sun or in a room protected from rain.
They sort through, putting aside rotten and low-quality tubers.Fruits with a smooth surface without cuts or signs of rotting are placed in the cellar for storage. It is important not to overwinter tubers that have not dried completely. One low-quality fruit will destroy the entire harvest, so the preparation of vegetables is taken seriously.
Since the description of the variety suggests that it is resistant to many diseases, it will be stored well if you follow the recommendations stated above.
The storage area should be cool and dry. The optimal temperature in winter is from 4 to 6 degrees. If it is colder there, then the vegetables will freeze; if it is warmer, they will begin to sprout and dehydrate. The potatoes will become soft and unusable. To prevent potatoes from being exposed to diseases during storage, they are covered with bags, cardboard or straw.
Review of reviews about the Rocco potato variety
Over the past decades, the variety has become popular among producers and summer residents; it has received numerous reviews from summer residents. Let's look at some of them.
Irina Vladimirovna, a gardener with ten years of experience from Kostroma: “I plant the Rocco variety all the time and always get a good harvest, even on unfertilized soil. Since the plot is large, we fertilize it once every three years with organic matter. We don't use minerals at all. Potatoes grow very well; in the middle of summer there are always new potatoes on the table. The tubers are large, without eyes and diseases. Stores well too. I recommended this variety to all my neighbors, now in the dacha almost all the potato fields bloom lilac.”
Dmitry Ivanovich, a summer resident from Novgorod: “Last year I planted Rocco potatoes for the first time and decided to leave a review.The variety has taken root well on the site, all the bushes came out almost simultaneously, the green mass is powerful, healthy, even the Colorado potato beetles did not manage to spoil it. And the potatoes are tasty and beautiful, the tubers are exactly the same - pink. Both my family and I really liked the variety. I left the seeds for next year, we will grow them again.”
If you follow the growing rules, the Rocco variety will produce a rich harvest of healthy tubers!
