Gardening without the hassle of growing potatoes. Growing Potatoes Under Straw: An Effective and Easy Planting Method. How to plant potatoes under mulch

Planting potatoes under straw or hay.

Potatoes are one of the most important products in our diet. We spend a lot of effort on planting, caring for and harvesting potatoes. First, we dig up the ground, weed and hill up during the summer, and in the fall we devote all our efforts to harvesting. How to avoid this? Plant potatoes under straw (hay)! So that in the summer you don’t have to hill up or weed, and in the fall you reap a rich harvest. Planting potatoes under straw guarantees a hassle-free vegetable garden.

It is better to plant potatoes for food a few days after the full moon. It’s better to check the fit by and by. We sow the “roots” that grow downward (in this case, potatoes) on the waning moon. On the new moon, a few days before and after it, we don’t sow anything at all, because it doesn’t grow.

Using this method you will save a large number of your time and effort, increase potato yields and reduce their exposure to various diseases and external threats.

Planting potatoes under straw or hay

Plays an important role in growing potatoes. Make sure that the tubers for planting are healthy and sprouted.

How to plant potatoes under straw or hay and how to care for them? If you decide to plant potatoes using this method, then you will no longer have to dig up the entire plot of land for planting. To do this we do the following:

There is no need to dig up the soil before planting. Let's loosen upper layer using a Fokin flat cutter.
Row method. Use a flat cutter to loosen grooves 4-5 cm deep. The distance between the grooves is about 70 cm. Place the tubers in the grooves at a distance of 40 cm from each other.
Checkerboard. We place the tubers on the surface of the soil in a checkerboard pattern. We loosen a place under each tuber and slightly deepen it into the soil.
We crush all the tubers with nutritious humus or compost with the addition of ash. We scatter a 20 cm layer of straw over the entire area on top of the planted potatoes. If there is no straw, hay (ordinary dried grass) will do.

As the potato shoots grow, you need to add straw (hay). During the season it is necessary to accumulate a layer of 40 to 70 cm and this must be done gradually so that the soil is constantly warmed by the sun. It is necessary to ensure that the potato tubers are not exposed to the sun, otherwise they will turn green and will not be suitable for consumption. All care for potato plantings during the summer is adding straw. The method of “Planting potatoes under straw or hay” has many advantages:

Straw is good remedy potato fertilizers;
Straw is an excellent mulch, protects the soil from drying out, there is no need to water the plantings;
Straw does not allow weeds to break through, they die, no weeding work is required.
Straw protects against late frosts;
Straw helps protect potatoes from late blight, wireworms, and less of the Colorado potato beetle;
Straw increases soil fertility.

Harvesting will require much less effort than the usual way growing potatoes. All you need to do is rake the straw (hay) and pick the potato tubers out of the ground with your hands or using a pitchfork. The soil under the straw is loose and does not stick to the tubers, the vegetables remain clean.

Sometimes, to try new potatoes, you don’t need to completely dig up the bush, just lift the straw, select large fruits and put the straw back on the bush. The small tubers that remain on the bush continue to grow.

In the fall, when the potato tops turn yellow and dry, we begin harvesting. With this method of planting potatoes under straw, we plant the tubers in early May, and by autumn we get good harvest. If you do not have the opportunity to constantly monitor potato plantings, then this method is simply irreplaceable for you. Cover your vegetable plantings at the beginning of spring with a larger layer of straw (hay) and you will no longer need to hill up and weed it. This method will save your time and effort.

Otherwise, you can’t say that planting potatoes under straw (hay) is “Gardening without hassle.” Good luck and good harvests!

(Visited 353 times, 1 visits today)

It is quite difficult to grow ordinary potatoes in the ground and, as it turns out, not quickly. In the fall, you need to fertilize the soil, dig it up in the fall and spring, level it, make holes for planting, bury them, water them, after watering, loosen the soil to avoid the appearance of crusts, while the potatoes are ripening, you need to hill them up several times, and as soon as the stems of the plant are dry, produce digging. So today grow potatoes.

In the 19th century, farmers in our regions grew potatoes under straw and other materials for shelter. This method is too simple and shows excellent effectiveness. Today, this technique is well used, conducting experiments, adjusting them based on growing conditions. This method greatly simplifies growing potatoes.

Advantages of using straw when growing potatoes:

By growing the plant under straw, the soil and tubers do not overheat. This important factor, because potatoes stop growing if the temperature exceeds 22 degrees.
Moisture is stored under the straw and formed due to condensation.
Straw does not prevent air penetration.
Lack of light stops weeds from growing.
After a couple of years, straw becomes soil fertilizer.

Conditions for planting potatoes under straw:

loose soil - requires treatment with a weeder or flat cutter, loosening depth - 5 cm, width 10-15 cm;
Watering after planting is required;
When pouring straw, you need to take into account that it shrinks by half. If there is not enough of it, the earth will dry out. If you put too much straw, the soil will not warm up well, which will hinder the growth of the plant. When the straw is compacted, there is poor air flow.

The best method for planting potatoes

On damp and loose soil should be spread out at some distance potato tubers, cover them with straw. The layer thickness should be approximately 30 cm. As soon as the potato tops are dry, the straw is removed and harvesting begins.

You can make grooves about 10 cm deep, potato tubers are placed in them, and they are lightly covered with damp soil, and straw, approximately 15 cm thick, is poured on top. Potatoes will rise faster, since the earth will warm up better.

After the sprouts have reached 5 cm in height, straw is placed between the sprouts in a layer of 15-20 cm, being careful not to break the sprouts. No more care will be required.

Strong winds can blow away the straw cover, so it should be lightly covered with earth. When growing potatoes under straw, the vegetable does not need to be watered. The straw will protect the soil from the sun, retain moisture, and due to the temperature difference between day and night, condensation will appear in the ground, so the soil will be cool and moist. This excellent conditions for efficient potato growth.

Growing potatoes under straw video

There is a drawback to this method of cultivation: mice breed under the straw. can damage potato tubers, like the cabbage pest. Very interesting way, which will increase your yield and help you cope more easily with related problems.

This unusual method of planting potatoes was known back in the 19th century; it was used mainly by peasants to increase productivity. Centuries later, the method again gained popularity among summer residents. True, over time it was slightly modified, because everyone tried to add something of their own to it, but this did not make it any less effective.

Potatoes under straw - advantages

The method has a lot of positive aspects, for example, it is not necessary here:

weed;
spud;
loosen;
water;
fight the Colorado potato beetle.

Potatoes under straw - important points

All you need is:

straw or hay;
high-quality planting material.

Preparing the beds

Preparation of beds for planting begins in the fall. It is not necessary to dig, just loosen the soil with a shovel. To do this, a layer of earth only 5 cm thick is removed with a shovel. Compost is then added. After two weeks, the soil needs to be loosened again.

Spring work

When the snow melts, the soil for planting must be loosened. Weeds will appear and a week before planting they should be cut off, loosening the soil again. Before planting, peat and compost are introduced into the ground and placed on the soil surface. The layer thickness is at least 10 cm. Additionally, you can add ash.

Landing

Medium-sized potatoes with good and strong sprouts are selected for planting. Place the tubers in the holes with small sprouts facing up. There is no need to water them. A layer of straw is placed on top so that the hole is completely closed.

Care

The layer of straw prevents weeds from breaking through, so there is no need to weed the beds. The straw will settle over time, so add it periodically. Otherwise, when exposed to light, the fruits will begin to turn green.

You can replace hay with freshly cut grass. Straw retains moisture, so there is no need to water the seedlings. The exception is hot summer.

Fertilizers

With this planting method, no special treatment of the plant is needed. And all fertilizers (peat, compost) were applied in advance during planting. This is quite enough.

Cleaning is a pleasant experience

Harvesting is very pleasant. No need to fiddle with a shovel. It is enough to lift the straw and remove clean tubers from there.

Advantages of the method

Thanks to mulch, which is straw, the harvests are much richer. In addition to this mulch:

saturates the earth with air;
the soil is looser;
straw acts as fertilizer;
the soil remains moist.

Disadvantages of the method

In any business you cannot do without negative aspects. They are also present here:

rodents and slugs often live in straw;
insufficient amount of straw.

But all the disadvantages are offset by an excellent potato harvest at low cost.

Among the variety of species and hybrids of philodendrons, there are many plants, both gigantic and compact. But not a single species competes in unpretentiousness with the main modest one - the blushing philodendron. True, his modesty does not concern the appearance of the plant. Blushing stems and cuttings, huge leaves, long shoots, forming, although a very large, but also strikingly elegant silhouette, look very elegant. Philodendron blushing requires only one thing - at least minimal care.

Thick chickpea soup with vegetables and egg is a simple recipe for a hearty first course, inspired by oriental cuisine. Similar thick soups are prepared in India, Morocco, and other countries South-East Asia. The tone is set by spices and seasonings - garlic, chili, ginger and a bouquet of spicy spices, which can be assembled to your taste. It is better to fry vegetables and spices in clarified butter (ghee) or mix olive oil and butter, it's certainly not the same, but it tastes similar.

Plum - well, who isn’t familiar with it?! She is loved by many gardeners. And all because it has an impressive list of varieties, it’s surprising excellent harvests, pleases with its diversity in terms of ripening and a huge selection of color, shape and taste of fruits. Yes, in some places it feels better, in others it feels worse, but almost no summer resident gives up the pleasure of growing it on his plot. Today it can be found not only in the south, in middle lane, but also in the Urals and Siberia.

“Every vegetable has its time,” and every plant has its optimal time for landing. Anyone who has dealt with planting is well aware that the hot season for planting is spring and autumn. This is due to several factors: in the spring the plants have not yet begun to grow rapidly, there is no sweltering heat and precipitation often falls. However, no matter how hard we try, circumstances often develop such that planting has to be carried out in the midst of summer.

Chili con carne translated from Spanish- chili with meat. This is a Texas and Mexican dish whose main ingredients are chili peppers and shredded beef. In addition to the main products there are onions, carrots, tomatoes, and beans. This red lentil chili recipe is delicious! The dish is fiery, scalding, very filling and amazingly tasty! You can make a big pot, put it in containers and freeze - you'll have a delicious dinner for a whole week.

Cucumber is one of my favorites garden crops our summer residents. However, not all and not always gardeners manage to get a really good harvest. And although growing cucumbers requires regular attention and care, there is little secret, which will significantly increase their productivity. We are talking about pinching cucumbers. Why, how and when to pinch cucumbers, we will tell you in the article. An important point agricultural technology of cucumbers is their formation, or type of growth.

Now every gardener has the opportunity to grow absolutely environmentally friendly, healthy fruits and vegetables in their own garden. Atlant microbiological fertilizer will help with this. It contains helper bacteria that settle in the root system area and begin to work for the benefit of the plant, allowing it to actively grow, remain healthy and produce high yields. Typically, many microorganisms coexist around the root system of plants.

Summer is associated with beautiful flowers. Both in the garden and in the rooms you want to admire the luxurious inflorescences and touching flowers. And for this it is not at all necessary to use cut bouquets. The assortment of the best indoor plants includes many beautifully flowering species. They are in the summer when they get the most bright lighting and optimal daylight hours, they can outshine any bouquet. Short-lived or just annual crops also look like living bouquets.

Pie with sardines and potatoes - quick, tasty, simple! This pie can be baked on weekends, on weekdays, and even modestly. festive table it will also decorate. In principle, any canned fish - natural with the addition of oil - is suitable for the filling. With pink salmon or salmon the taste will be a little different, with saury, sardines or mackerel it’s so delicious! The potatoes are placed in the pie raw, so they need to be cut very thin so that they have time to bake. You can use a vegetable cutter.

Summer is in full swing. Planting in gardens and vegetable gardens is mostly completed, but worries have not diminished, because the hottest months of the year are on the calendar. The temperature scale of the thermometer often exceeds +30 °C, preventing our plants from growing and developing. How can we help them cope with the heat? The tips we will share in this article will be useful for both country and city residents. After all indoor plants During this period it is also difficult. In hot weather, plants need watering.

For many gardeners, slugs are a real nightmare. Although you might think, what’s wrong with these, at first glance, peaceful, sedentary creatures? But in fact, they can cause significant harm to your plants and crops. Not only do slugs persistently eat leaves, flowers and fruits in spring and summer, but with the onset of cold weather, these land mollusks move into the cellar and there they continue to destroy what you have so carefully grown and collected.

Spelled horns with beef - quick dish for dinner or lunch. IN Lately spelt (spelt wheat) becomes popular among supporters proper nutrition and not only. This tasty cereal is used to prepare porridges, soups, spelled and pasta. In this recipe for spelled cones, we will prepare healthy navy-style pasta with a sauce made from vegetables and lean ground beef. The recipe is suitable for those who watch their figure and like to cook healthy food at home.

Summer is a wonderful time of year! There is so much you can do at your dacha in a few warm months - work, relax, and invite friends to a barbecue. But as soon as the heat of the day subsides, our small but real enemies immediately appear - mosquitoes. IN rainy summer or after a strong river flood there are especially many of them and the attacks of small bloodsuckers become simply unbearable. Mosquitoes produce unpleasant squeaks and bites that cause severe itching.

The incredible blooms on your favorite cacti and succulents always seem even more delectable because of the amazing hardiness of the plants themselves. Luxurious bells and dazzling stars remind you that nature has many miracles in store. And although many indoor succulents need special conditions wintering, they still remain crops that require minimal care and are suitable for everyone. Let's take a closer look at the most spectacular of them.

Summer snack with quail eggs and red caviar - simple vegetable salad with a spicy sweet and sour dressing that goes well with eggs and caviar. The salad is an explosion of vitamins - fresh cucumber and radish, sweet pepper and ripe tomato, and also creamy curd cheese, which perfectly complements the vegetable mix. This dish can be served before lunch as a light snack with toast. For dressing, unrefined oil and balsamic vinegar are suitable.

Linden is planted in parks and squares; slender trees with spreading crowns perfectly purify the air and give long-awaited coolness on a hot summer day. She is loved for the amazing honey aroma that envelops her in late May and early June, when the linden blossom appears. He has valuable medicinal properties, used in many folk recipes, retains its beneficial qualities for a long time. How and when to collect it, how to properly dry, store and use it will be discussed in the article.

Preface

Planting potatoes under straw and hay has already been used by gardeners more than a century. Despite this, many are wary of this growing method and prefer traditional planting in open ground. Believe me, if you try this method at least once, your doubts will completely dissipate.

Preparatory work for the next planting begins not in the spring, but in the fall with the selection of a suitable site. Suitable beds where rye, oats, alfalfa, mustard, and phacelia were previously grown. Next, the ground is cleared of weeds and carefully dug up. Now it's time to cover it with a thick layer of hay. Laying mulch in the fall helps prevent the formation of weeds, which grow with renewed vigor in the spring. Hay (straw) retains moisture and heat, creating a favorable environment for the life of earthworms.

Potatoes under the hay

The presence of earthworms in the area is a sign of good soil. Thanks to numerous passages and constant digging of the soil, these worms maintain the necessary balance of moisture, fresh air flow and nutrients, make the earth light and porous. Earthworm excrement (coprolites) is an important basis for the formation of humus. According to experts, coprolites are considered more valuable than manure and humus of livestock.

in spring old layer We remove last year's hay. There is no need to dig up the ground again; carefully level it with a garden rake and lay a new layer of hay. Many people place potatoes directly under the straw (hay). However, if you decide to plant a root crop under hay that has been mowed in advance, then this option will not be the most successful, since the crop will begin to rot, just like the weeds. Therefore, first make furrows, placing them at a comfortable distance from each other, in the row spacing - 60-70 cm, and in the row itself - 40-50 cm. These numbers may be higher, but not smaller. A cramped growing space is guaranteed to result in unsatisfactory size and number of tubers per plant.

Planting potato tubers

Potatoes for sprouting should have eyes 0.5-1 cm. We place such tubers in furrows, lightly sprinkle them with soil and cover them with straw on top. Many experts advise not to sprinkle the root crop with soil, but to immediately cover it with straw. Both options have the right to life; here you should be guided by the situation. If the soil is moist and heavy, cover the top of the tubers only with mulch, and if it is dry with admixtures of sand and clay, lightly sprinkle the potatoes with soil for germination. The total thickness of the mulch layer should be 20-25 cm. As the seedlings grow, the layer will settle and will need to be added.

You shouldn’t constantly look under the hay and check the condition of the potatoes, this is unnecessary. The seedlings will break through it on their own. If the mulch layer is too high, you can push some hay aside to give the seedlings a boost. It is difficult for weeds to get through such a “coat”; moisture is retained in the soil for a long time, while the earth has time to warm up and also accumulates heat, and constant looseness ensures air flow directly to the root system. Thus, when growing potatoes under hay, you free yourself from weeding and constant watering beds.

After deciding on hay, many people have a question about where to get it. If you own large crops, then this problem should not bother you. Just mow the dry stalks of cereals - you get straw, cut the grass, dry it in the sun, and you will have hay. However, if you own small areas, mulch can be purchased in bulk, and alternative option highlight small area for sowing green manures (green manures).

Potato tubers under straw

When purchasing, it is not necessary to purchase straw and hay highest quality. For such purposes, old stocks are quite suitable, which after harvesting can not be thrown away, but used for planting. next year. The main thing is that the mulch must be dry, like the soil itself on which you will lay it. If there has been heavy or even drizzling rain, the procedure should be postponed until the soil is completely dry and warm. The mulch layer retains even a small amount of moisture, which does not evaporate for a long time, creating a favorable environment for the development of fungus, which leads to slow rotting of the straw and root system of nightshades.

You won't need much mulch for growing. However, you should not save money; cover the potatoes well; if the layer is thin, the tubers may begin to turn green. It is also better not to experiment with high embankments. The earth will dry out quickly and will not warm up well sun rays and allow a small amount of air to reach the roots. Because of this, the sprouts grow slower and break out. To prevent the mulch layer from being blown away by strong gusts of wind, we recommend sprinkling it with a small amount of soil.

In any case, the hay dissipates and decomposes over time, but if you add it on time and take all the necessary measures, the percentage of loss will be minimal. By autumn, the mulch layer will settle, making the process of harvesting the potato crop easier.

When growing potatoes in the ground, there is a high probability of tuber damage dangerous pest- Colorado potato beetle. According to the observations of gardeners, when using hay and straw, the presence of this beetle on the site is reduced to almost zero, and there are explanations for this. The mulch layer with which you cover the soil in the fall prevents beetles from penetrating and overwintering in the soil.

Marigolds for pest control

When the sun warms up, these pests will also not be able to break through such thick layer mulch. In addition, the smell, which is often planted along potato beds, covers the smell of rotting straw, scaring away Colorado potato beetles. But what you really need to watch out for are mice and rats. These pests love straw, can dig numerous holes in the ground and cause great damage to the crop. To fight rodents, install mousetraps in advance and make special repellers.

In the fall, when the potato tops begin to turn yellow and dry, you can begin harvesting. We rake the mulch layer with our hands. Most of potatoes will be on the surface, collect them. To get to the other half, use a pitchfork and carefully pry up the bush with its roots embedded in the ground. We turn the bush on its side and collect the tubers. If all the points have been taken into account and everything has been done correctly, the quality and quantity of potatoes should please you pleasantly.

Due to the close location of the tubers to the top layer of soil, there are no accumulations of earthen lumps on the harvested potatoes, as often happens with classic soil cultivation. It should also be noted that the land where potatoes are grown using this method is not depleted due to the annual replenishment of the soil with mulching compost, which remains in it after each harvest.

Potato harvest

If you missed a few potato tubers during the fall harvest or deliberately left them under the straw, don't worry, they will keep great until next spring. The main thing is to make the mulch layer thicker, and with the onset of the first warm days, do not forget to dig up the root crop, otherwise it may rot. Potatoes planted under straw or hay require virtually no intervention from you. The only thing you have to watch is the thickness of the mulch layer; it must be added as the bushes grow.

During spring frosts you don’t have to worry about the tubers freezing or becoming moldy, because the straw reliably protects it from this. And when it gets warmer, the mulch can be slightly opened to allow fresh air to penetrate to the roots. Support optimal microclimate The difference between day and night temperatures helps, which creates additional condensation under the “cushion”.

If the soil temperature exceeds 22 °C, this causes tuber growth to stop. When using mulch to grow this crop, the problem can be completely avoided. As for additional fertilizing and fertilizers, they are not necessary. Organic matter from green manure, straw and hay will become the best fertilizer for your potatoes.