To Make Potatoes Ugly Delicious

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The time for planting early potatoes is approaching. And we, of course, expect to get not only a rich harvest, but also a tasty, nutritious and healthy product. Unfortunately, we do not always get the qualities we are counting on. But you really want the potatoes to be crumbly, fragrant! But it is within our power to influence this. What conditions must be observed so that the tuber does not become watery?

Optimal soil composition

In many ways, the quality of potatoes depends on the variety. But what is also important is the soil on which the planting is performed. Such indicators as the starch and solanine content in the tuber also depend on this.

Best of all, the harvest is successful on fertile sandy loam soils and light loams. These are optimal conditions for harvesting an enviable crop with high taste and presentation. But what to do if the land on the personal plot is heavy, or vice versa - too loose, sandy? You can correct the situation by processing the soil:

• on heavy clay soils add about 0.1 cubic meters. clean coarse sand and no more than 10 kg of organic fertilizers per 1 square meter;

• on sandy ones, about 0.03 cubic meters are applied. clay soddy soil with 5 kg of fertilizers per 1 sq. m.

The composition of organic fertilizers greatly affects the taste. Fecal matter, even at low concentrations, has a negative effect on taste. Ash insertion, on the other hand, has a positive effect.

Minerals and trace elements

The content of microelements and mineral fertilizers in the soil is of great importance. Have you noticed how the tubers darken differently on the cuts? The more acute the lack of potassium in the soil, the faster this process, the potato itself becomes tasteless, non-crumbly. This is compounded by the excess nitrogen in the soil, which, among other things, delays the accumulation of starch. Such tubers do not have a sufficient powdery consistency, do not knead into a crumbly mass, and the mashed potatoes look sticky, soapy.

Place for potatoes

It is very important what place on your personal plot you allocated for growing potatoes. It is highly undesirable to use for these purposes a place shaded on the southern and eastern sides by plantations, a house, and outbuildings.

If you are planning to get an early harvest, the best place to plant would be:

• plot on the southern slope;

• place protected from northern winds;

• beds that are cleared of snow early.

It is good if peas, pumpkin, cucumber, strawberries and raspberries grew on the site before. It is not recommended to plant potatoes after tomato. If tomatoes were infected with late blight, the disease will affect potatoes the next year.

Planting depth and weather conditions

Planting density is important for ripening dates and potato varieties. Early species are planted thickened, and late-ripening varieties - less often. With a long ripening period, the plants shade each other, which leads to early leaf lodging.

The composition of the soil is also taken into account when determining the optimal immersion depth of the tuber:

• on light soils, it is about 12-15 cm;

• on medium loams, the depth is about 8-10 cm;

• on heavy loams, tubers are placed at a depth of no more than 6-7 cm.

It is important to consider the weather forecast for the upcoming season. In dry spring, on sandy soils, the tuber should be placed deeper, and in the cold rainy season - closer to the soil surface. Until the tubers begin to form, the abundance of moisture does not affect the taste of the future harvest. But when potatoes are already ripening in the soil, excess moisture leads to wateriness and impairs the taste.