Growing potatoes yourself – tips for growing potatoes

Recommended varieties

• Linda – is considered the queen of potatoes and is the most popular variety in Germany. Firm-cooking, very aromatic taste, entered in the list of varieties in 1974, long storage makes the potato floury.
• Bamberg croissants – a delicacy with a buttery taste
• Christa – very early variety, predominantly waxy, difficult to store
• Quarta – medium early variety, predominantly waxy, harvest in mid-August, can be stored well
• Melina – medium early variety, floury, harvest in mid-August, storable
• Belana – firm, early ripening, easy to store, particularly good lettuce potatoes, high harvest, should be the successor to Linda
• Linz delicacy – comes from Austria, very good taste and easy to store
• Gloria – dark yellow pulp, very early ripening, predominantly waxy, strong, aromatic taste
• Rosara – red-skinned, very early ripening, predominantly waxy, insensitive to many potato diseases
• Cilena – waxy and early ripening, deep yellow pulp, salad and fried potatoes, very firm, insensitive to many potato diseases, but prone to late blight and potato canker
• G ranola – predominantly waxy and rather late variety, yellow flesh, very good storable, insensitive to many potato diseases with the exception of cancer

Potato cultivation

Growing potatoes is pretty easy. You have to pay attention to a few things, then it usually works very well. It is important that the Colorado potato beetle does not settle and spread. It is advisable to grow different types of potatoes so that they do not all ripen at the same time. One uses new potatoes, which can be harvested as early as June, a medium early variety and late potatoes. So you have fresh potatoes from June to autumn. Late potatoes are also often stored, which is why you have to make sure that you choose potatoes that can be stored well when choosing the variety. Potato cultivation begins with the preparation of the soil, which starts in autumn.

Soil preparation

• The piece of land on which you want to grow potatoes has to be dug up well.
• Dig up really deep!
• Do not crush clods of earth!
• In winter the ground rests.
• The bottom cooking is improved by the effect of frost.

Pre-germinate potatoes?
You don’t have to pre-germinate potatoes, but you can. Many hobby gardeners swear by it. You place the seed potatoes in a light, 10 to 15 ° C warm room. This is how the tubers germinate and the harvest can be brought forward 2 to 3 weeks.

Prepare for planting

• You can only plant when there is no frost, and above all no ground frost!
• The soil should be around 8 ° C or more.
• This is usually the case from mid-April.
• The clods of earth, which have remained unchanged since autumn, are crushed. The easiest way to do this is with a tiller.
• The surface is then leveled with a rake. It gets a fine crumbly structure.
• All weeds must be removed!
• It is beneficial to rake in compost straight away, this is a good starter fertilizer.
• The bed is ready to be planted.

The actual planting – put potatoes

• Potatoes should be planted in a straight row. It is therefore advisable to use a planting cord.
• A small spade is used to dig holes approx. 15 cm deep.
• The planting distance between the holes should be around 30 to 40 cm!
• Put the potatoes in the holes and cover with soil!
• Row spacing about 60 cm.
• Do not trample earth !!!
• Pour on, but be careful! Don’t wash away the earth!

maintenance

• Potatoes need a lot of nutrients so that there are no nutritional disorders (heavy eaters).
• Magnesium fertilization is particularly important.
• Potassium must also be in the soil, otherwise fertilize patent potash. This improves the shelf life of the potatoes.
• As soon as the first green potatoes become visible, pile up the earth over the planted rows, as a dam, so to speak.
• The loosening of the soil that takes place in this process is beneficial for the formation of tubers. In addition, the light prevents the bulbs from turning green.
• If sowing early and there is a risk of ground frost, you should pile up soil again over the germs that are already growing out of the dam!
• The piling should be repeated every two weeks until the plant begins to bloom and the dam has reached a height of about 30 cm.
• From the middle to the end of May it has to be watered when it is dry.
• In addition, all weeds must be removed regularly!
• Nitrogen fertilization has a negative effect on taste. (max. 1 kg nitrogen fertilizer per 100 m²)
• Many hobby gardeners use horn shavings, a natural fertilizer.

Harvest new potatoes

The first new potatoes can be harvested shortly after flowering. The small tubers grow quickly. Once they are firm to the touch and the peel is difficult to peel off, the potatoes can be harvested. You have to be careful. You only harvest a few tubers per plant. Be careful not to damage the actual plant so that it can continue to form tubers. Very carefully expose the roots and then pile up the rows again!

Big potato harvest

Most of the potatoes are harvested in midsummer, as soon as the leaves have wilted. It is best to harvest on a dry day, then you can pull the tubers out of the ground quite neatly. You don’t have to harvest all of the potatoes at the same time. As long as the tubers are covered with soil, they can remain until they can be consumed. The tubers turn green when exposed to sunlight. The formation of the toxic ingredient solanine is stimulated. Green potatoes shouldn’t be eaten !!! The small, above-ground tubers that develop from the tubers must also not be eaten. They are poisonous !!!

Diseases and pests

To prevent disease, potato leaves should be destroyed after harvest. Otherwise occur:

Colorado potato beetle

• winters deep in the earth
• From April larvae and young beetles eat the potato leaves
• Up to three generations per year (in warm weather)
• Potato plants are extremely weakened, sometimes even destroyed
• Over-fertilized plants are particularly at risk
• The best method of control is collection
• Beneficial organisms such as birds and toads are helpful

Potato scab

• Fungal disease
• Occurs on dry and heavily calcareous soils
• To be recognized by the dark scabbed spots on the potatoes themselves.
• These also extend into the pulp.
• Impairs the shelf life of the tubers
• Prevention – do not lime, add a lot of humus and ensure sufficient moisture, especially in sandy soils!
• Susceptibility depends on the variety.

Viruserkrankungen

• There are different diseases.
• Potatoes grow poorly
• Can be recognized by deformed leaves and plants or by turning yellow.
• Dig up and destroy infected tubers!
• Viruses are transmitted by aphids or infected seed potatoes

Late blight

• Most dreaded potato disease
• Pilzerkrankung
• Occurs in humid summers and spreads heavily
• To be recognized by the brown spots that spread from the leaf margins.
• The underside of the leaf shows the whitish mushroom lawn.
• Leaves die off, look brown-gray.
• Tubers can be affected, gray spots and flesh turn brown.
• Potatoes get mushy and smelly.
• Prevention by never planting a potato bed in the same place for two years in a row.
• Only use the same bed for potatoes after 4 years at the earliest!
• Do not over-fertilize! Better to use nettle manure! No mineral fertilizer!
• If late blight occurs, do not use any seed potatoes from this stock !!!

Store potatoes.

Only late potatoes are stored. There are numerous varieties that can be easily stored. A dark, airy and slightly damp cellar is suitable for storage. Temperatures between 5 and 8 ° C are ideal. It is important to only store healthy and undamaged potatoes. If a potato is rotten or sick, it spreads quickly.

Conclusion Growing
potatoes is not difficult, but there are a few things to consider and a lot to do. It is important to choose different varieties in order to have a long harvest and to pile up the potatoes. You also have to look for pests on a regular basis. Otherwise it is not more work than you have with other plants. It should be noted that potatoes are only grown in the same bed every four years. Something else has to be planted for three years, such as kohlrabi, French beans, lettuce or endive. If you take that into account, nothing stands in the way of a good potato harvest. Potatoes taste best freshly picked.