Every self-respecting gardener considers the goal of his work to be increasing the harvest. Efforts to care for the beds are aimed at impressive results and the question of particular concern is: what potato yield can be obtained from 1 hectare.
Potatoes are a root vegetable that everyone has heard of, but not everyone has heard of. It’s hard to imagine a Russian family’s lunch, as well as dinner and sometimes breakfast, without tasty and nutritious potato dishes.The average potato yield in Belarus and Russia is 25 tons per hectare, but even a novice gardener understands that this is not enough! If you care for the beds correctly and meet the conditions necessary to increase the yield, then its indicator can reach 45 tons or even two potato harvests per season.
So how many tubers can you collect, what to do, and how to grow a good potato crop?
What factors influence potato yield?
There are reasons that determine how to increase the yield of potatoes harvested per hectare. It is important to observe a number of necessary conditions for growing crops in a country garden or personal plot. First of all, you only need high-quality planting material.
Also among the fundamental factors are:
- whether the tubers were properly prepared for planting;
- how thoroughly the technical requirements for the process were followed;
- when they were placed in the ground;
- region and weather conditions in which the development of potato tubers occurred.
To reap excellent harvests, the quality of the soil in which they are planted is also important; and regularity of irrigation; and whether the site chosen for the future harvest is fertile; and whether planting standards were fully complied with.
The effectiveness of preventive measures to combat pests and diseases is the last compelling argument that influences the high or low yield of potatoes from 1 hectare or from 1 hectare of land.
Of course, the gardener also needs to take into account the frequency of planting: if only potatoes appear in the same bed year after year, then how can one expect the best yield from it? If you want to delay the degeneration of culture (and this is absolutely necessary), it is imperative to alternate plots.
Ways to increase potato yields
If a clear goal is set - to achieve a certain yield per hundred square meters or hectare, then a number of conditions must be met:
- It is necessary to pay attention to the variety: potatoes that produce good yields in one place, for example, regions in Belarus, may not at all meet the conditions of another. Therefore, you need to choose exactly the variety that was bred for specific environmental conditions. For example, a variety with an average yield of 40 tons per hectare in the middle zone will not produce even 10 tons in the south, since it is not resistant to dry growing conditions.
- To prevent the variety from degenerating, you do not need to grow it in the same place from year to year. You can change not only the planting location, but also the planting material, switching to some other variety. Experienced gardeners know that the most potatoes can be harvested if the soil is loose. It must allow both air and water to pass through: if the planting material is placed in clay soil, then, regardless of the quality, you should not expect a decent harvest - hopes will still be in vain. The best choice is suspended soil mixtures; they are ideal for this crop. Such soil ensures the circulation of oxygen; before planting, it must be fertilized in large quantities with organic fertilizers.
Good soil fertilization is another key to success and obtaining a potato harvest per hundred square meters. Despite the fact that this seems to be a self-evident point, it must be mentioned. You can feed the soil with bird droppings, humus, as well as compost - fertilizers of organic origin, and their mineral analogues.
Increasing yields using technological methods
When caring for potatoes, an integrated approach to this matter is important.Mandatory stages of caring for this crop must be involved - it is weeded and hilled, the gardener fights pests. In this case, you can rightfully expect that the harvest will be rich and the quality of the tubers will be high.
In addition, you can achieve a good harvest in 2018 with the help of a few small tricks that will only be useful.
Gülich method
The way to increase the potato yield is to divide the garden plot into squares, the edge of which is one meter. A large amount of humus is added to each plot, and a potato tuber is placed in the center: it must be large.
When sprouts appear, the center of the bush is covered with earth so that the shoots then grow at an angle. This procedure is repeated several times, the result is a bush that grows as if in tiers.
If you provide sufficient watering, the potato harvest from one bush will yield up to 15 kilograms!
Mitlider's method
Tubers grown in this way increase the availability of high yields. The idea is simple: the tubers are planted in rows so that there is a distance of half a meter between them. The distance between the rows is a meter. An earthen rampart is made around the beds, which retains moisture.
If plant potatoes correctly, then it will need frequent watering, as well as hilling and even fertilizing. Proper care will yield a harvest of up to 50 tons per hectare, while it is no longer necessary to devote a large area to the crop.
Maintenance time is also reduced - mainly pest control.
Dutch technology
It is particularly popular due to its effectiveness.This method makes it possible to obtain up to two kilograms of high-quality tubers from a bush.
And for this you need:
- Carefully calibrate the planting material. All potatoes that go to the garden should have approximately five centimeters in diameter, and I also spray them with special preparations.
- After processing, the tubers are planted in bulk rows (height - a quarter of a meter), row spacing should be at least 65 centimeters.
- During the season, the beds should be watered at least three times, and the soil must be loosened regularly.
- Ten days before harvesting is planned, you need to completely cut off the tops. In this way, the plant will ensure maximum growth: it will no longer spend resources on the green part and will use them in tubers.
Tips from seasoned gardeners
One of the simple ways to grow good potatoes in the country, which can be called “old-fashioned”, is to remove the flower stalks from the tops during the flowering period. Thus, the plant will again switch some of its vital forces to the formation of tubers, instead of uselessly sending them to flowers. This way you can increase the yield regardless of the place of cultivation and the chosen variety.
Experienced gardeners also advise disinfecting planting material: treating them with an aerosol method: spraying or soaking them in a nutrient-disinfecting solution. In any case, it won’t hurt to add boric acid there, which will stimulate growth.
Improves and increases home potato yields and a stimulating cut, which is made across half of the tuber: you do not need to cut all the way. Thanks to this, all the eyes will go into the tubers, and not just those located at the top of the potato.
Finally, through observations it was found that if potato furrows are placed in an area from north to south, then a large crop yield is guaranteed.
There is also one little trick that is suitable for updating the variety - propagation by sprouts. Such a harvest will not be large right away, but the second harvest next year will certainly please you, because the seed material will be fresh.
In fact, there are not so few ways to get a good potato harvest, both in Russia and Belarus. To find “yours,” it’s best to try each one—this sampling method will allow you to choose the optimal growing method for a particular gardener. There is no consensus on what is correct: you can combine several methods, but the combination must be competent.
And one more little trick: this root vegetable, like other plants, sensitively captures the gardener’s mood. The soul and care put into it will pay off with a pleasing harvest for the eye and the basement.
