To get a bumper harvest of large potato tubers, you need to provide them with high-quality nutrition, as potatoes require more nutrients than many other crops. This is due to the fact that a significant portion of nutrients are expended in the formation of dry matter, including starch.
An interesting fact! Did you know that you can determine the starch content of potatoes by how they are cooked? If potatoes boil easily, it means that they are low in starch. If it is hard it means that there is a lot of dry matter in its tubers.
How to properly fertilize potatoes to obtain large tubers?
Conditions for growth
For a good harvest, it is important to know not only the diet, but also the preferences of the potatoes. This crop prefers cool weather and sufficient humidity.
Soil
Potatoes grow well in loose, breathable soil. If oxygen is not supplied to the tubers due to compacted soil, whitish growths can form on them, through which pathogens penetrate. In addition, in hard soils, tubers can deform and lose their commercial qualities.
Important! Heavily compacted soil can cut potato production in half. Humidity requirements. Excess or lack of soil moisture has a negative impact on yields. Excessive humidity is harmful to potatoes: the plant can suffer from fungal and bacterial diseases, and the roots and tubers suffer from a lack of oxygen.
The lack of humidity is also harmful, since without the right humidity the potatoes will not be able to give a good harvest, because 80% of the tubers are composed of water.
Light
Potatoes don’t grow well in the shade. In shady areas, the stems will elongate and the plant will quickly turn yellow. Therefore, potatoes are always planted in open and sunny areas.
Now let’s discuss the nutrition needed to improve stolons growth and the formation of large tubers.
Surface fertilizer
The main source of nutrients in potatoes is organic matter. It is applied directly to the hole when planting or added to the soil when plowing. Organic matter includes green manure, peat, humus and compost.
Organic soil is enriched with nitrogen, which contributes to the formation of strong crowns. A powerful green mass is important for tubers after flowering, when the potato directs all its energy to its growth.
To increase the yield of potatoes, mineral fertilizers are also used 2-3 times per season: before sprouting, during flowering, and 10 days after. “Borogum-M” is one of the effective means for this stage.
Preparation of the solution.
Dilute 1 tablespoon. l “Borogum-M” in 10 l of water for spraying. Perform the treatment in dry weather. This solution is enough for 30 square meters.
Self-feeding
Mix 20 g of superphosphate, 10 g of potassium salt and 2 g of copper sulphate in 10 litres of water to protect against late blight.
Therefore, for a bumper potato harvest, it is important to provide the plant with the necessary conditions and apply fertilizers in a timely manner.
