Planting material for potato

Currently, there are many excellent varieties of potato of different periods of maturation: early, early, mid-ripening, late. Each variety has its own growing characteristics, advantages and distinctive qualities. But in order to preserve the unique properties of root crops and obtain an excellent harvest, a quality planting material is needed.

Seed Fund Preparation

It begins in the fall when harvesting tubers of potatoes. It is important to take care in advance that the prepared parts are cleaned of mechanical impurities and dirt, and the mother tubers are completely removed. The planting material should be free from physical damage and deformed areas, and the tubers must be selected in size - too small or too large for planting do not fit.

Some farms practice cutting large potato tubers into several parts to get more seeds. However, for highly productive crops this method can not be recommended. The risk of contamination of culture with bacterial, fungal and viral diseases is too great. They subsequently lead to significant crop losses - up to 80%.

Chemical treatment from pests

Growing potato planting material will be ineffective without chemical treatment with special preparations. Tubers will not give a big harvest if they are hit by diseases and pests. The most common drugs based on tiabendazole and imidazole.

The planting material of the most susceptible varieties before planting is additionally treated with antifungal agents. Separate attention is required to protect seed potatoes from viral diseases. It is widely practiced pickling tubers with insecticides, which begin to protect young plants already during germination. Etching is also effective against the Colorado potato beetle and the ubiquitous aphid.

Biological preparation

The potato planting material on average grows about 20-40 days after being placed in the soil. The rate of germination and, therefore, the timing of harvesting is affected by both varietal identity (early varieties are faster), and the effect on the tubers of specially introduced biological preparations. They are used to shorten the vegetation period from about two to four weeks.

The principle of biological training is to force tubers to awaken from hibernation and create healthy sprouts. The main objectives of biological seedling preparation are:

• Obtaining the optimal number of germs;
• Acceleration of germination of plants;
• Provision of an earlier harvest with a large tuber size;
• Reducing the risk of attack by pests and virus diseases.

Drain tubers

This procedure is often subjected to seeds and planting material. Distillation allows you to "wake up" tubers and form healthy sprouts. The total duration of the process at a suitable temperature of 8-10 ° C is from one to three weeks. The procedure does not require any special equipment and can be implemented with minimal cost, even in the case of bulky tubers. Distillation is used in all commercial potato growing lines .

The first option is to place the material under diffused light three weeks before the planned planting. It is better to build racks with boxes in advance, to ensure uniform access of light and ventilation. In the case of low ambient air temperatures, it is necessary to protect the tubers from freezing, covering them with a spunbond or straw.

The second option is to limit access to light two weeks before landing. Accommodation on the shelves is similar to how it is done in diffused light, with the only difference that the folded tubers are immediately covered with a thick tarpaulin or a dark film. After the planting material "wakes up" (white dots appear on the surface of the potatoes), you need to remove the tarpaulin and ventilate the room.

The third option is a gradual increase in temperature in the room where the seed fund is stored. This distillation begins three weeks before planting, the temperature gradually rises to 8 ° C. When the length of the sprouts is 1-2 mm (no more than 5 mm), further increase in temperature should be limited. Next, keep the room in a standard storage temperature.

Additional stimulation of growth

In the first ten days of the process, the planting material should be left at a temperature of 8-12 ° C in the dark. After appearance of sprouts 3-5 mm long, it is necessary to start lighting the tubers 8-12 hours a day and raise the temperature to 12-18 ° C, while the relative humidity should be 80-90%. As a source of light, you can use both natural and artificial light or fluorescent lamps. Such a storage regime is held for 20-25 days.

A common mistake that manufacturers of potato planting material allows is the planting from a warm room immediately into the open ground. About a week before planting the tubers should cool at a temperature of 6-8 ° C, which will avoid thermal stress after planting in cold soil in the spring. For cooling, tubers can be placed in containers in special pallets or in transparent plastic bags with ventilation holes.