For Russians, potatoes have become the second bread for a long time. Without this culture, our table is incomplete. To ensure friendly seedlings and in the future a rich harvest of tubers, you need to take care of the planting material. Consider several options for how to germinate potatoes faster, what methods of processing tubers are used, as well as the requirements for the room where they are stored.
Tubers for planting
If you examine the tuber, you can see eyes on its smooth surface. From them, sprouts appear. Potatoes are carefully selected and specially prepared before planting. Before getting acquainted with the options for processing planting material, we will talk a little about the most popular varieties of this crop. There are types that are suitable for frying, for making mashed potatoes and chips. There are large varieties, such as potatoes Impala, Giant and others. According to the ripening period, early, mid-early, mid-season, late.
Sampling and calibration
After the harvest, it is necessarytake care to select the highest quality tubers for seeds. They should be sorted by weight, size. For planting, you need to choose tubers, the size of which does not exceed the size of a chicken egg. Try to avoid specimens that are affected by pests, show signs of disease, or are injured during digging. Thus, it is necessary to select potatoes for planting, devoid of any defects. Otherwise, it will not be stored. Before planting, the tubers need one more careful review. At the same time, those that have signs of frostbite, spoiled by pests, suffocated during storage, affected by rot, and ugly are rejected. Only he althy tubers can increase the yield by up to thirty-six percent and reduce the time from planting to digging potatoes by ten to fourteen days.
Room
To store potatoes after harvest, prepare a dry and cool place. The temperature should be maintained no higher than 4 degrees. Previously, it can be treated with chemicals that prevent the development of mold and bacteria. As a rule, planting material is collected in wooden boxes and placed in cellars, stacked. The room is equipped with fluorescent lamps.
Conditions for germinating tubers
Experienced gardeners, gardeners or farmers involved in the cultivation of this crop can tell you how to germinate potatoes correctly. First of all, after a longstorage in a cool place, the seed must be moved to another room where there is diffused sunlight and the temperature is higher. If you didn’t have wooden boxes for storing them, you can replace them with other containers. For example, plastic bags. In them, it is imperative to make holes with a diameter of 1.2-1.5 cm for the tubers to breathe. Each bag should contain four to five kilograms of potatoes. A similar method is suitable for tubers on which sprouts have not yet hatched. They appear after 25-30 days. Before germinating potatoes for planting, the tubers must "wake up". Suitable sprouts that have reached 2-3 centimeters. If both strong and weak shoots develop on one tuber, then it is better to remove the filamentous shoots or completely reject such a tuber. It will not provide a high yield. To make potatoes germinate faster, you can create a shock temperature for them. It can range from 18 to 20 degrees Celsius. In the rest of the period, it is reduced to 10-14 degrees. If germination takes place in conditions close to home, then room temperature will help delay the process of emergence of sprouts. They will appear only after 35-40 days.
Cutting tubers
It is recommended to cut the potatoes into pieces before planting. This is most often used for large tubers. If the potato weighs from 160 to 200 grams, then it is enough to cut it into four parts. On each of the pieces (weighing 40 grams) there must be one or two eyes. This operation canspend a week before planting or a month and a half. During cutting, the knife must be sterilized in a solution of lysol or ash. A protective film is formed at the cut site. This approach helps to solve several problems at once. The mother tuber, which serves to develop a new plant, rots faster, more stems appear, resulting in a larger yield.
Greening
Exposure to tubers with light is the most effective way to germinate potatoes for planting and ensure a high yield in the future. The seed material is poured into boxes in one layer and exposed to the street, under a canopy. From above they need to be covered with a film that will ensure the safety of moisture and heat. So they are kept for two weeks. Under the influence of the scattered rays of the sun, many sprouts appear, which reach from three to five millimeters. Chlorophyll begins to accumulate in the tubers, they turn green. This process helps to strengthen the root system and foliage development of the future plant. The sprouts appear with many small leaves and are strongly rooted. They do not break off when landing.
Processing tubers with drugs
Since it is necessary to germinate potatoes before planting to increase productivity, you should not ignore the process of processing planting material with special fertilizers and compounds. The method of soaking tubers in a solution of superphosphate and ammonium nitrate is very effective. They take four kilograms per hundred liters of water,mixed. Then the tubers are lowered into the resulting solution and left for three hours. Such treatment contributes to the emergence of sprouts, the early development of the plant, the formation of powerful bushes and increased yields. Before planting, the tubers are soaked for one hour. Seed material that germinates in the light is sprayed with the same solution 1-2 days before planting. After that, it is recommended to cover it with a film. If the boxes are in an open place, then it can be black to protect from the sun. The preparation PP "Fitop-Flora-S" is also used. Understanding how to germinate potatoes with it is quite simple. Before planting on the site, you need to dig a recess. Lay a film in it and sprinkle potatoes. Then it needs to be sprayed with fertilizer, covered with a film on top and left for an hour and a half. This treatment helps to strengthen the immune system of tubers. You can increase the soaking time of the seed before sprouts appear.
Germination in sawdust
Another effective way to germinate potatoes for planting is to use wet sawdust. They can be replaced with peat, humus or chopped moss. Wet substrate is poured into wooden boxes. Its thickness should not be more than five centimeters. Seed material is placed on top of it. At the same time, the tubers are placed close to each other, with eyes pointing upwards. Then the potatoes are covered with another layer of substrate. Finally, mineral fertilizers must be applied. To prepare the solution, you will need ten liters of water, 60 grams of superphosphate, 20 grams of potassium chloride, 30 grams of ammonium nitrate. This method allows you to germinate tubers within 15-20 days. In the room where the seed material is stored, the temperature should be maintained from + 15 to + 20 ° C. After two weeks, a good root system will develop. Here is another effective method on how to germinate potatoes for planting: it is recommended to make cuts on the tubers. They will stimulate the emergence of sprouts. They are performed in two ways. An incision is made either across the tuber, while leaving a small jumper of 1 centimeter, or along the ring to a depth of 1.5 centimeters. This method allows you to redistribute the beneficial substances that enter the eyes. The result of such an operation will be the appearance of a large number of sprouts. Moreover, they are evenly distributed throughout the tuber.
