The subtleties of growing potatoes in bags
Experienced summer residents use more than one technology to get early potatoes. In harsh climates, on sandy or marshy soils, it is difficult to achieve a large harvest. In this case, growing bagged potatoes can help. This rather new and original method has many advantages, since it does not require much effort and cost.
It is perfect for city dwellers or summer residents who do not have enough space on their personal plot for all the necessary crops. The trench or square-nest method of growing potatoes takes up a lot of land, so they often refuse to plant a favorite vegetable in favor of tomatoes, cucumbers or strawberries.
What you need to grow
The technology is simple, and everyone can master it. In the spring, seed potatoes are not planted in the garden bed, but in special bags. These can be purchased plastic containers that open at the bottom. It is convenient to get ripe crops from the wide openings. Or ordinary bags of sugar, which are sure to be found in every home.
Planting will be successful if the tubers are provided with favorable conditions:
- loose and nutritious soil;
- regular abundant watering;
- good lighting.
First of all, you need to find a place for a kind of garden. It should be located on the sunny side and so that it is convenient to care for it. Some gardeners place bags along garden paths, fences or walls. But care must be taken that the plants do not fall under the water flowing down from the roof after rain.
City dwellers can easily place containers with vegetables on an open loggia, placing them on wooden boards. The main thing is to provide lighting and a good drainage of water that will leak from the bag after watering. If moisture starts to stagnate in the soil, the potatoes can rot and deteriorate.
How to plant potatoes correctly
Planting occurs in spring when the weather is warm. In temperate climates, this is the beginning of May.
- Take a bag, fold back its edges and fill a quarter of the container with moistened nutrient soil, half mixed with rotted manure.
- Add 250 g of wood ash, 1 tsp each. urea, superphosphate, thoroughly mix fertilizers with the ground.
- Place 1 sprouted tuber, pretreated with ash. Such care increases the amount of the future harvest by 15-20 percent. Instead of a whole vegetable, you can use large-eyed potato slices.
- Cover the planting material with a 15 cm layer of loose soil and place the bag in the prepared place.
To increase the yield, it is recommended to moisten it with a special solution before planting potatoes. Measure out 3 grams of manganese, copper sulfate and boric acid. Dissolve the ingredients in a liter of water and use.
Timid shoots appear in 2 weeks. When they have sprouted enough and formed into 15-centimeter shoots, they need to be sprinkled with soil to the first leaves. Such hilling stimulates the formation of new roots, on which young tubers will subsequently be tied.
In the process of growing potatoes, hilling must be carried out several times. At the end, the bag should be more than half full of earth.
Care secrets
After planting is complete, the potatoes sprouted and took root, the main care is timely watering. Produce it with settled water at room temperature as the soil dries out.
Advice
Do not forget that the moisture in the bags evaporates from the ground much faster than in the open field, so you need to water the potatoes more abundantly and more often. This is especially important during the period of active flowering of the vegetable, because it is then that the first tubers are formed.
Try to completely soak the entire layer of soil and make sure that there is sufficient air in the bag. Constantly turn away the edges and, if it is too dense, make small holes on the sides and bottom.
The next day after moistening, loosen the soil with a spatula or just with your hands, gently kneading the clods of earth. This is necessary for the proper supply of oxygen to the tubers.
Top dressing
Growing potatoes in bags quickly depletes the soil, therefore, in order to ensure a large harvest, a kind of bed needs to be fed.
You will immediately notice when the plant runs out of nutrients.
- Thinned sprouts with small leaves are a sign of a lack of nitrogen.
- The pale green foliage curling around the edges requires phosphorus.
- The narrow shape of the leaves, the pallor of their color indicates a lack of potassium.
The sprouted sprouts need organic matter. Chicken droppings or dung can be used.
- You will need to take a half-liter can of fertilizer and dilute it in 8 liters of water.
- Insist a week and pour a liter of liquid under each potato bush.
Important!
Be sure to moisten the potatoes in the bag the day before feeding, since fertilizers cannot be applied to dry soil.
After the first hilling, dissolve 100 g of wood ash in a bucket of water and water the plants, spreading the liquid over several bushes.
When buds begin to appear, potash feeding is needed. The following composition is recommended:
- 1 tbsp. l. potassium sulfate;
- 3 tbsp. l. wood ash;
- 10 liters of water.
Fertilizer is used by pouring a liter of solution under one bush.
During flowering, it is useful to re-feed the plant with chicken droppings.
Harvesting and the best potato varieties
The tops dry up and bend to the ground in early August. This means that the potatoes are ripe and ready for harvest. When using special planting bags, simply unfasten the valve and harvest the crop from the spilled soil.
Turn ordinary bags over and shake out the soil. Remove the potatoes and spread them out in the sun to dry slightly. After that, it can be lowered into the basement for storage or immediately used for cooking.
The technology allows to significantly increase the yield. For each vegetable planted, gardeners receive a bucket of selected, clean, pest-free potatoes.
Early varieties are most suitable for growing.
- Belaroza. Its young tubers can be tasted 45 days after planting, and after 2 months, large pink boiling potatoes are fully ripe.
- "Svitanok Kiev". When cooked, it becomes crumbly and melts in the mouth. He is patient with drought and other unfavorable growing conditions.
- Milena. Potatoes are undemanding to care and give a large yield.
You can also use mid-season varieties such as "Slavyanka", "Sante", "Sineglazka".
Technology pros
One has only to master such cultivation, and you will immediately appreciate its advantages. You don't need to spend a lot of time and effort on regular weeding. Weed grass will not actively grow in bags, and you do not need to systematically fight with it. You do not need to huddle the garden. You just need to add soil to potatoes in a bag, and this can be done in a few minutes.
The main plus is that a vegetable planted in this way is not susceptible to diseases and pests. It is not attacked by the Colorado potato beetle, it does not spoil the wireworm or late blight. If water stagnation is not allowed, tubers will be insured against rot and any fungal diseases.
And most importantly, the crop does not need to be dug out, having spent several hours on hard work.
It is useful to scatter the soil in which the potatoes grew in the garden as mulch, and clean the bags and put them in the pantry until next year.
Cons of technology
It can be difficult to prepare for landing. Most often, people living in the city are faced with a lack of nutrient soil. For one bag, soil and rotted manure can be bought at the store, but when you need to fill 10 containers, it is too expensive, but the result is worth it.
The second disadvantage is constant humidity control. It is necessary to carefully monitor the soil, to prevent drying out and stagnant water.
In any case, the technology has fewer disadvantages than advantages. If you want to try a new way, don't hesitate. It is within the power of both a resident of a big city and an experienced farmer to plant potatoes. Providing the plant with easy care, you can achieve an excellent harvest of excellent potatoes.
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