It is difficult to harvest a rich potato harvest if the plot area is small and there is no time to care for the vegetable. Vegetable growers are offering new methods of planting a popular crop - growing potatoes under straw. You can replace straw with hay and still get healthy, high-quality tubers in large quantities in the fall. Moreover, you need little space to plant vegetables.
Advantages of the method
Instead of the traditional method, potatoes are grown under hay, straw, in bags and pots.But preference is given to growing potatoes under straw or hay, since this method:
- Eco-friendly. After all, there are no chemicals in straw; it is a pure natural material.
- Simple. Planting seed tubers is easy, the vegetable does not require difficult care, and potatoes are dug up without effort or strain.
- Helps potato growth. Thanks to a layer of straw or hay, moisture around the developing nodules is retained longer. And plant pests cannot get inside the mulch layer.
- Easy to care for and harvest potatoes. In the fall, you won’t have to dig up the tubers by planting them in the back. It is enough to rake a pile of straw or hay to get the potatoes under the straw. And there is no need to loosen vegetable plantings or hill up them throughout the season.
- Gives a high yield of tubers. It’s easy to get a whole bucket of selected potatoes from a bush. And when growing varietal potatoes and more buckets are collected from one plant.
But in order for the growing method to be successful, you must have knowledge of how to plant seed correctly and in what time frame.
How to grow potatoes under straw or hay?
There are several ways to grow potato tubers under a layer of straw or dry grass.
The classic version is used most often. They begin to prepare for planting vegetables in the fall, immediately after harvesting. The area for vegetable crops is dug up and cleared of plant residues and debris. It is important to get rid of weedy perennial grasses that can crush potatoes with their powerful rhizomes.
It is better to choose a virgin plot for potatoes or one where rye, oats, and mustard grew. Mustard roots left and rotted in the ground will fertilize the soil well and prevent the top layer of soil from weathering. Especially in the second half of summer to the site Green manure is planted under potatoes: mustard, oats to mow them in the fall. In the spring, all that remains is to dig up the fertilized area and that’s it.
Potato tubers prepared in advance for planting. One month in advance, the root crops are placed in boxes for vernalization. Place the container with seed material in rooms where the air temperature will reach no more than fifteen degrees Celsius and not fall below ten.
The wet vernalization method is also used for two weeks. Wet sawdust or humus is added to the boxes with fruits, pouring them over the tubers. Moisten the environment around the potatoes not with pure water, but with the addition of superphosphate (thirty grams) and potassium salt (twenty grams). Fertilizers are dissolved in a bucket of water.
Tubers with sprouts are kept in the light until they turn green. The optimal length of sprouts is three to five centimeters. If they grow larger, they will have to be broken off to the required length before planting.
Many people wonder whether it is better to use hay or straw. Experienced potato growers choose dry straw material. It will provide reliable protection for seed tubers and provide them with nutrition. Hay is also used in potato growing, but freshly cut grass is not suitable for growing vegetables. You can use the same straw for several years in a row by placing it in a dry and ventilated room for storage for the winter.
How to plant potatoes under hay or straw step by step
Planting potatoes under straw begins, as usual, in May. Specific dates depend on weather and climate. We plant no later than May 15, otherwise the tubers will not have time to reach the optimal mass and quality during the growing season.
Step-by-step landing goes like this:
- Water the cleaned bed, moistening the soil well.
- Tubers with sprouts are laid out in rows on the surface. The sprouts look up.The distance between tubers should be thirty to forty centimeters. The rows are spaced further apart - seventy centimeters.
- A glass of wood ash is poured around the tubers.
- All that remains is to place a layer of twenty to thirty centimeters of hay or straw on the planted potatoes.
Some gardeners use straw as mulch. Bury the seed material as in the traditional method, placing two tubers in each hole. Sprinkle with a thin layer of earth, and lay straw or hay on top of the field. Potatoes under the straw will feel protected from pests. It will have enough moisture and nutrition throughout the growing season.
If there is not enough dry grass to cover the entire garden, then the potatoes are placed in ridges under the hay. Each ridge will be twenty centimeters wide and ten centimeters high. This is one of the methods when, even after heavy rains, the tubers will not appear on the surface and will not turn green.
Growing in cardboard and straw
Potatoes can be placed not only under natural material, but also under cardboard. To do this, take boxes and place them in the selected area, overlapping each other. At a distance of twenty to thirty centimeters, cuts are made in the cardboard. Then the sprouted tubers are placed in the holes with the sprouts facing up. A layer of straw or dry grass is poured on top. Potatoes under hay and cardboard will be reliably protected from the Colorado potato beetle. And the weeds will not be able to get through to the light and will die.
Potato yield increases when using this method. It will be realistic to get a bucket of healthy tubers from a bush in the fall.
The peculiarity of the methods is that care for the vegetable is minimal.You just need to add natural material where the tubers are slightly exposed.
Harvesting potatoes, storing tubers
When potatoes are grown using such an unconventional method, picking the tubers is a pleasure.
A layer of straw is raked with a rake, and clean tubers are placed in bags or buckets. If the root vegetables are wet, they are laid out under a tent. You cannot keep potatoes in the light for a long time, otherwise they will turn green.
To use potato tubers for food until spring, they must be stored correctly:
- The room for potatoes should be dark, with constant ventilation.
- The air temperature in the cellar or basement is controlled. Its stable indicator is three to five degrees above zero. Increasing it will lead to sagging fruits and the appearance of sprouts. At low temperatures, the potatoes will freeze and their taste will deteriorate.
- The storage floor is covered with sand, which absorbs moisture well. It is not recommended to cover it with linoleum or slate. These materials help moisture accumulate in the room. Hence the appearance and growth of fungus and mold, which can spread to the tubers.
- Potatoes are poured into wooden boxes. Plastic containers are also suitable. It is important that the containers have holes for ventilation of root crops. Boxes made of iron mesh can save the potato harvest from rodents.
- Beets or apples are stored together with potatoes. Beets will prevent moisture from accumulating, apples will prevent tubers from sprouting.
It is not difficult to place potatoes under straw and grow them; it is more difficult to preserve the crop and provide yourself and your family with “second bread” for the winter.
Gardeners' opinions on the method of growing potatoes
Not everyone decides to experiment while growing vegetables.It is difficult to move away from tradition, but reviews of this method and its high yields lead to the fact that it has found its fans. Planting potatoes for hay is chosen by those who do not have the opportunity to engage in the labor-intensive process of caring for the plant.
Hilling and weeding are especially difficult for older summer residents. By placing seed tubers under dry stems of straw or grass, you can forget about gardening chores until harvest. The mass of tubers collected in the fall, their cleanliness, and healthy appearance are also striking. And you won’t have to work hard to dig up potatoes. It is convenient to collect tubers from under the straw. You just need to properly store the vegetable and enjoy the fruits of your labors during the winter.
