Growing potatoes from seeds at home: planting and care agricultural techniques

Let's make a reservation right away, it is not easy to grow potatoes from seeds, the technology is quite complicated, and whether it is worth spending time on it - let everyone decide on their own after reading this article.

The specifics of growing potatoes from seeds: advantages and disadvantages

In short, the main pros growing potatoes from seeds can be defined as follows:

• high yield and quality of future tubers;
• significant savings in money;
• ease of storage;
• high resistance of tubers-sets to diseases and pests.

With long-term cultivation of potatoes from the same tubers, gradually their quality and quantity will necessarily begin to decrease due to the degeneration of the variety. Therefore, if you want to grow elite potatoes, you must first go through the stage of growing them from seeds.

What are the main advantages of growing potatoes from seeds is that the future tubers will be exactly healthy and strong, with strong immunity and good adaptability to difficult weather conditions for growing in different climatic zones.

What are the savings? Less cost: collecting seeds does not cost money, buying them will also be cheaper than buying tubers.

Storing seeds is not as difficult as storing tubers as no cellar is needed.

Another positive feature is the fact that potato seeds cannot actually be infected with any disease, that is, small potatoes grown through seedlings for future planting will definitely not be infected with any viral or fungal diseases, having immunity from late blight.

As for the disadvantages of this growing method, in short they are as follows:

• 2-year growing period (1 year - "tubers-sets", 2 years - large and tasty tubers);

Note! It is impossible to grow a full-fledged potato from seeds in one season.

• a high degree of tenderness of seedlings and their initial development;
• low immunity.

Growing potato seedlings is a really laborious and energy-consuming action, for which not everyone has enough nerves. Seedlings require constant enhancement of their immunity through regular treatment with special preparations of biological origin. Seedlings need a very reverent and careful attitude. The method of watering and picking deserves special attention.

If you do everything correctly, observing the basics of cultivation agricultural technology, then you will definitely succeed.

Where to get or how to get potato seeds yourself

As always, there are 2 ways to get seed: buying it in a garden store or picking it yourself from a potato bush.

How to collect potato seeds from a bush?

The collection of potato seeds for subsequent planting for seedlings is carried out in the following order:

1. Around the end of summer in August, you need to collect the largest berries from the tops of a potato bush (they are somewhat remotely reminiscent of green tomatoes). Usually formed during wet weather. It is in them that our seed is located.
2. Now you need to wrap the green berries in a bag made of fabric such as gauze (or in it itself), and put in a warm and bright place for further ripening. You can, for example, hang it on a string on a window or put it directly on a windowsill.
3. When the berries become soft, in other words, slightly wilted, they must be carefully crushed, and then the seeds must be selected.
4. Now they need to be well washed in warm water, dried and poured into a bag.
5. Remove the seeds to a dry and warm place until the time when they are planted for seedlings.

Considerthat such seeds are stored for about 2-3 years, moreover, their germination is very low, so they need to be prepared in large enough quantities.

Video: how to collect and prepare potato seeds for planting seedlings

Preparation and treatment of potato seeds before planting seedlings or in open ground

Before sowing potato seeds for seedlings or in the ground, they must be properly processed, or rather, prepared for planting.

Experienced gardeners recommend carrying out the process of hardening seeds, more precisely, their stratification and soaking (germination).

The essence hardening seeds in the fact that the previously soaked planting material is subjected to sharp temperature jumps.So, at night, containers with seeds are placed in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator, where the temperature is kept in the region of 1-3 degrees. And during the day they stand in room conditions, where the air temperature jumps in the range of 18-22 degrees. This procedure is repeated for 3 days.

Recommended soak seeds in clean and cool (about 20 degrees) water for 1 week.

Note! Do not immerse potato seeds in water without first placing them in a damp and dense cloth (such as a cotton pad). So they simply die.

Such processing by hardening and soaking the planting material contributes to an increase in germination, and hence the yield of potato plantings, because with its help, it is possible to select the most viable specimens and prepare them for open ground conditions.

Soaked potato seeds, in theory, should hatch as early as 5-6 days, while sowing them for seedlings or in open ground can already be 9-11 days.

Technology of growing potatoes from seeds through seedlings

There are 2 ways to grow potatoes from seed: through seedlings at home and direct planting in open ground (non-seedling method). And in fact, and in another case, you must first prepare the seeds for sowing.

When to plant potato seeds: timeline in 2021

As for the timing, potatoes are planted with seeds for seedlings usually in the second half of March and until mid-April, but it is possible already from the end of February. If you plant at this particular time, then the seedlings will just be ready for the optimal planting time on the garden bed, that is, by May.

According to the lunar calendar in 2021

Choosing the best date for sowing a crop can help you Moon calendar.

Auspicious days according to the lunar calendar for sowing potato seeds in 2021 are:

• in February - 14-16, 18-20, 28, 29;
• in March - 8-12, 16-19, 26-29;
• in April - 9-11, 13-15, 20-22, 24-30;
• in May - 2-6, 9, 10-12.

But you should also take into account the days of the New Moon and Full Moon, since when sowing at this time, the seedlings will turn out to be weak and elongated, as well as the period when the Moon is in Aquarius, because it is a barren and dry sign -in italics. Therefore there are unfavorable dayswhen sowing potato seeds absolutely not, in 2021 it is:

• in February -10-11, 27;
• in March -9-10, 13, 28;
• in April -5-6, 12, 27;
• in May -2-4, 11, 26, 30-31;
• in June -10, 24, 26-27.

Preparation of containers and soil

For sowing seeds, as a rule, low containers or boxes with a height of at least 10 cm are used.

It's worth remembering! The planting container for sowing potato seeds must have drainage holes. If the water is forced, it can cause rotting of the root system of the vegetable.

The soil is required extremely fertile. Like all the years, we buy it in the store or do it ourselves.

To prepare a soil mixture for growing potato seedlings, you will need: peat (garden or forest land), humus, sand.

All this is mixed, and then necessarily the soil is disinfected in one of the ways.

Staged sowing

Step-by-step instructions for sowing potatoes for seedlings:

1. In wet soil, you need to make mini-grooves 1-1.5 cm deep, rows should be made at a distance of 7-9 cm from each other.
2. Spread the seeds every 2-3 cm and sprinkle with earth or sand (the best option).
3. Now you need to moisten the soil with a spray bottle and cover the plantings with a lid or plastic wrap.
4. Place the landing container in a well-lit and warm place with the air temperature fluctuating around 21-24 degrees.

Particularly resourceful and savvy gardeners constantly come up with their own unusual ways of sowing potato seeds for seedlings, which have long proven their effectiveness and reliability. The most popular among them is planting potato seeds in a diaper and in a diaper.

Video: planting potato seeds using a diaper

Video: growing potatoes from seeds - sowing seedlings in a diaper

When growing in a diaper, the seedlings will need to be 2 times, so to speak, to "spud" the seedlings.

Video: the first hilling of potato seeds

Video: second hilling

Further care of seedlings

Potato seeds germinate quickly enough, the first friendly shoots should appear within 10-14 days. After their appearance, you need to spend nitrogen feeding (eg, urea or ammonium nitrate). Dissolve 10-15 grams of the product in 1 bucket of water and carefully water the crops.

Like any seedling, potato crops need a long daylight hours (at least 12 hours), therefore, be sure to supplement the seedlings with fluorescent lamps at the beginning of growth or purchase (if you have not already done this) special phytolamps. And then you will have healthy seedlings, not thin and elongated ones.

It's important to know! Young potato seedlings are very vulnerable and moody. At the beginning of growth, water it from a spray bottle, but not from a watering can, while moisture should not get on the sprouts. You can also use drip tray watering.

Every day you need to check the potato seedlings for moisture, because it must not be allowed to dry out. But remember, if you fill the plant, then the potato seedlings will definitely get sick. black leg and perish.

Picking

When the potato seedlings have 1-2 true leaves, they need to be transplanted into individual containers (plastic cups, plastic bags or peat pots). The pick, as always, should be done slowly and carefully. Remember, the roots of potatoes are very tender and fragile.

In order for the seedlings to successfully root in a new container, it is recommended to fertilize it with ammonium nitrate after picking, at the rate of 10 grams of the product per 1 bucket of water.

Video: picking potato seedlings

As soon as May comes and the air temperature stops dropping below 9-11 degrees, you can begin to harden the seedlings, taking them outside and gradually increasing the duration of their stay in the fresh air.

Planting seedlings in open ground

Interesting! Some seasoned summer residents believe that the right signal for planting seedlings is the beginning of friendly and rapid shoots of potatoes, which were planted with tubers.

In accordance with the climatic and weather conditions of the growing region, potato seedlings can be transferred outdoors from mid to late May. As we previously found out, potato seedlings are very vulnerable and capricious, and accordingly they will not be able to withstand the highly probable return frosts, which can occur unexpectedly in late April or early May.

By the way! If you decide to plant potato seedlings in a greenhouse, then temperature drops are no longer afraid of it.

The holes for transplanting potato seedlings into open ground should be about 10-11 cm deep.It will be very good if you first pour 250-350 grams of high-quality humus into each of them. After you plant the seedlings, sprinkle them with a small layer of earth and moisten them with a spray bottle.

Video: planting potatoes grown from seeds in a diaper in open ground

Further care of potato seedlings in the garden (in the open field)

Somewhere 10-14 days later, as well as during the period of active budding, potatoes need hilling.

Do not forget to also carry out regular weeding from weeds and take measures to protect the plantings from the appearance of the Colorado potato beetle.

When the tops are completely yellow and dry (as a rule, this happens in late August - early September), you can dig out the potatoes.

Planting potato seeds directly in open ground

It is possible to sow potato seeds directly into open ground starting from the last month of spring - May. First you need to prepare the soil: make rows at a distance of 50-60 cm and pour some water into them. After the water is completely absorbed, you can sow seeds every 20-30 centimeters. The depth is 5-10 mm.

Until the seeds germinate and the first shoots of planting appear, it is better to cover with a special covering material, spandond. If the nights are cold enough in your area, and the temperature is consistently high during the day, then cover only at night.

Now crops require regular watering, loosening and weeding from weeds.

Important! To prevent potato bushes from wasting their precious energy on useless flowering, try to remove the buds before they bloom.

When to harvest potatoes and what to do with them

The crop can be harvested in September.

You should understand that you will be able to get only tiny nodules out of the ground, their weight will hardly exceed 10-50 grams. But that's not the point. The bottom line is that the potatoes obtained in this way, as a rule, are not eaten by anyone, since the purpose of such sowing was to obtain a healthy and resistant to many diseases and pests of super elite planting material for the next 5 years.

Thus, planting potato seeds for seedlings, their subsequent cultivation in the open field is your application for a bright future for your potato beds. Having grown in this way small "tubers-sets", you will solve the problem of a decrease in yield and a drop in the taste of potatoes for a long time. Yes, it will be difficult, but the reward is more than worthy.

Video: how to grow potatoes from seeds