Potato green manures are a great way to increase your yield! Selection and planting of green manure for potatoes Sowing green manure in the fall after potatoes

Many gardeners are trying to replace agrochemicals natural fertilizers for soil. In this case, siderats are used, which enrich the fertile layer with nutrients and improve mechanical properties soil. What green manure for potatoes should be chosen to enrich the depleted soil with useful substances?

The choice of green manure

Potatoes can grow in one area for no more than four years, then the soil is depleted and ceases to give the necessary nutrients to the root crops. In addition, the neglected fertile layer of the earth becomes a breeding ground for pathogenic bacteria that can destroy the crop. Rejection chemicals can lead to many problems with the soil, so instead of them you can use plant components - green manure (green manure).

Decomposing siderates for potatoes, they give the soil the required substances: nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and other trace elements. Also, thanks to green fertilizer, the soil is enriched with humus. However, care should be taken not to exaggerate the number of plants grown for humus, otherwise the green mass will begin to turn sour instead of decomposing.

No more than 2 kg of plant seeds are spent on one hundred square meters of land.

Green manure plants:

  • lupine;
  • lentils;
  • beans;
  • sardella;
  • peas;
  • alfalfa;

The root system of green manure loosens the soil, and the green mass enriches with nutrients and acts as a mulch. For example, to enrich the earth with phosphorus and nitrogen, you need to plant leguminous plants.

Sunflower should not be used as a green manure. First, he draws a lot useful substances for your development. Secondly, its coarse structure takes too long to decompose in the ground.

Other plants that enrich the soil with nutrition are:

  • wheat;
  • colza;
  • mustard;
  • oats;
  • rye;

They enrich the fertile layer with essential minerals, and also protect against weathering and dehydration. The above plants contain a lower content of nitrogenous substances than legumes, but they also bring undoubted benefits to the soil and potatoes. And if these crops are planted in the fall, they will save the soil from freezing.

However, rye and wheat have the peculiarity of attracting wireworms to the soil, so it is advisable to exclude them from the lists of green manure for potatoes.

Note! To increase the yield of potatoes, it is recommended to mix green manure with a high nitrogen content with others. The combination of nitrogen and minerals in the most beneficial way affects the nutritional value of the soil.

The choice of green manure is also based on the need of tubers for a sufficient amount of air. Therefore, the soil must be breathable and loose. This can be ensured by well-chosen plant cultures.

Is it possible to replace green manure with humus? This option is also well suited for enriching the soil with humus and minerals, however, green manure decomposes faster in the ground. Also, the disadvantage of feeding with humus is large quantity introduction of the substrate compared with green manure.

Application methods

Green manure is used to improve the structure of the soil, so they can be planted twice a year - in the fall after harvesting the fruits and in the spring before planting crops on the beds. Siderat for potatoes is best planted in the fall, but sometimes green manure is grown in the spring.

Advantage autumn cultivation green mass is that the vegetation cover protects the earth from freezing.

In the spring, after the snow melts, the plants are not removed from the site until May. Sometimes green manure is not removed when planting tubers, as it can protect them from the negative effects of sunlight and spring frosts.

If you decide to mow green manure before planting potatoes, then this is done about a month before the start of work. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the green manure does not enter the color, otherwise the decomposition process in the ground will slow down.

But after harvesting, you need to plant leguminous plants, since even before the onset of frost they will have time to gain biomass.

Green manure can be used in several ways:

  • full incorporation into the soil;
  • cutting method;
  • wicked way.

Complete incorporation of green mass into the soil is carried out by digging the site to a depth of 10 cm. Mowing method - plants mowed from another site are embedded in the soil. Otavny method - only the roots of plants are used on the site, and the green mass is mowed and used for other purposes.

With the help of the otava method, you can enrich green manure two sections at once: the roots remain in one section, and the beveled mass is closed up on the other.

Autumn work on the site

Siderates for potatoes are sown in autumn before the onset of cold weather, so that they have time to gain a thick green mass. Around mid-September, you can start sowing, after digging up the ground well. In autumn, you can safely sow crops, as they are resistant to winter frosts.

Immediately after harvesting potatoes, green manure can be planted:

  • peas;
  • oats;
  • mustard.

You can scatter the seeds on plowed soil, and then level the surface with a rake. You can sow seeds in shallow grooves, and then sprinkle with earth. From above, the earth is covered with a small layer of compost for warmth. In the month of May, green manure is mowed and embedded in the soil, then potatoes are planted.

Alternate green manure on the site, do not plant the same crop every year.

Experienced gardeners advise not to mow green manure winter crops before frosts. If you leave them until spring, you will not have to dig up the ground for planting potatoes.

spring work

Planting green manure in spring under potatoes should be planned in April or early May. The criterion for choosing the right sowing time should be warmed soil.

Before planting tubers (in 14-15 days), the green mass is mowed, and the earth with roots and plants is dug to the depth of a shovel. The green mass quickly decomposes, giving nutrients earth.

A big mistake is mowing green manure, which managed to give seeds. Work must be done before wild flowering plants.

What green manure for potatoes in spring is preferable? Gardeners believe that phacelia - universal fertilizer for a rich harvest of root crops. This plant is sown immediately after the snow melts, before planting potatoes, it has time to gain green mass and structure the soil at the same time - to make the earth loose. In addition, phacelia (like mustard) drives away the wireworm from the site.

Too abundant green mass will not be able to completely rot in the ground and will begin to rot, so remove the excess.

How deep should tubers be planted? Prepare holes 5-6 cm deep. Experienced gardeners potatoes are planted along with mustard, as it protects against weeds and loosens the soil well. When the mustard stretches to the height of the potato tops, it needs to be cut. If this is not done, it will prevent the tops from developing. Cut mustard tops can be placed between rows or put into compost.

Description of green manure crops

Legumes are considered the most useful, as they enrich the soil with nitrogenous substances and humus. But cruciferous plants, along with cereals, also contribute to soil enrichment. Consider their features.

Vika (mouse peas)

This culture is characterized by an accelerated growing season and unpretentiousness to growing conditions. Mouse peas belong to the legume family, which means they accumulate a large number of nitrogen between root nodules. During the decomposition of the roots in the ground, an active release of nitrogen occurs, without which the potato cannot develop. The decomposition of the green mass of mouse peas enriches the soil with humus, significantly increasing its fertility.

sweet clover

This culture is also distinguished by the rapid development of green mass, endurance and undemanding to growing conditions. Sweet clover forms a powerful branched root system, going to a depth of more than a meter. Thanks to the developed root system of the sweet clover, the soil becomes loose, so it does not need to be dug. In the spring, the green mass is cut off and placed in the aisles or sealed up in another area as an aftertaste method of fertilization. Sweet clover belongs to the legume family.

Mustard

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of white mustard for feeding potatoes. Planting potatoes after green manure (mustard) gives bountiful harvest. Culture with long roots attracts earthworms and creates favorable conditions for the formation of humus. Mustard has a phytosanitary effect on the soil, repelling pests and keeping potatoes from rot and other diseases. If a wireworm is wound up on the site, it can be driven away with the help of white mustard.

Experienced gardeners mix mustard with mouse peas, achieving excellent results. To accelerate the decomposition of the green mass of the plant, biostimulants of the Baikal type can be used. If you grow mustard together with potatoes, it will not allow weeds to develop.

radish

This green manure culture also belongs to the cruciferous family, like mustard. Oil radish quickly grows, forming an abundant green mass. Weeds do not grow near this crop, including the ubiquitous wheatgrass. It rarely has a phytosanitary effect on the soil, destroying rot and soil pests. Before sowing seeds, the soil should be dug up well, as the radish does not like dense soil. After a month, the tops can be cut off and planted greens in the ground. The sowing rate of seeds is 300 gr per hundred square meters.

Rye

This cereal crop is an excellent winter green manure and soil sanitation. Rye completely destroys helminths and late blight, insects and other soil pests. Juicy green mass of rye quickly decomposes in the soil, giving a large amount of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. Developed root system loosens the earth, making the fertile layer air and water permeable. Rye perfectly prepares the area for potatoes, creating the most favorable conditions for its development.

When is the best time to sow rye? Sowing is carried out immediately after harvest, that is, at the end of August. In the spring, when the sprouts stretch to a height of 25-30 cm, the green manure is buried in the ground. After half a month, tubers can be planted.

oats

This crop enriches the earth with nitrogen and potassium. A powerful root system loosens the soil, creating conditions for optimal water and air balance. It is recommended to sow oats on heavy soils that are unfavorable for the growth of root crops. To increase soil fertility, oats are mixed with mouse peas and fodder peas. Sometimes, when sowing, they use ammonium nitrate. The green mass is embedded in the soil before the formation of buds.

Soil infested with fungus and pests

What to do if the site is not suitable for planting potatoes due to damage by fungus and pests? In this case, siderate will also help. Gardeners treat the site with cruciferous plants - rapeseed, mustard, reps and radish. They free the soil from phytophthora, rot and potato scab. In addition to these diseases, cruciferous worms and slugs are driven from the site.

If the soil is heavily affected by phytophthora and pests, then green manure is not mowed completely, but left in the aisles - it will perform its phytosanitary functions until harvest.

Outcome

Siderates in the fall for potatoes are an excellent environmentally friendly fertilizer. After such feeding, you can collect at times more harvest from the site. Tubers greatly deplete the soil, pulling out useful substances for their growth. Therefore, you can’t do without top dressing - every year the harvest will decrease, and the tubers will shrink.

Green manures in the spring for potatoes prepare the soil well and create favorable conditions for the development of tubers. When is the best time to plant green manure plants - in autumn or spring? On this score, gardeners do not have a unanimous opinion. If you need to keep the ground from freezing, then you should plant winter crops.

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The problem of obtaining a good harvest is always acute. This is especially true for crops, the cultivation of which is quite laborious. There are quite a few solutions to this problem today, but zealous owners make their choice in favor of the most environmentally friendly, because vegetables from their garden should not only be tasty, but also safe. Planting green manure in the spring - here The best way to receive excellent harvest potatoes.

The best green manure for potatoes

As you know, green manure is called technical plants that are able to increase the level of soil fertility and improve its quality. They can be sown both in autumn and in spring, before it is time to plant the main crop. When siderates grow up, but have not yet begun to bloom, they are buried in the ground, where they will decompose, releasing useful substances into the soil: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. In the use of green manure, as in any other business, there are also subtleties. Firstly, it is necessary to choose the right time for their planting, and, consequently, the subsequent incorporation into the soil. Young siderates, harvested before flowering, decompose much faster, releasing more nutrients into the soil. Secondly, it is necessary to precisely define required amount green manure. If there are too few of them, then the soil will not be enriched enough. An excess of green manure will lead to the fact that in the ground they will not decompose, but turn sour. Thirdly, for each culture, it is necessary to choose the type of green manure that contains maximum amount substances needed by this particular culture.

For the full development and maturation of potatoes in the soil, there must be a sufficient content of nitrogen and phosphorus. Legumes can enrich the soil with these elements as much as possible: alfalfa, vetch, peas, lupins and sweet clover. It is these green manures that will be the best fertilizer for potatoes. The action of legumes is in many ways similar to the action cow dung, with only one difference: they decompose much faster and you need them much less.

Planting potatoes after green manure

Land needs to be sown in early spring when the ice crust comes off the soil surface and its upper (30-50 mm) layer thaws. For one hundred square meters of land, no more than 2 kg of green manure will be needed. Any cold-resistant siderats are suitable for sowing, for example, fodder peas, mustard, phacelia and oats. When the time comes to plant potatoes, these plants will already have time to grow the required amount of greenery. When a couple of weeks remain before planting potatoes, green manure must be embedded in the soil: plow to a depth of 60-80 mm on heavy soils, or 120-160 mm on light soils. It is necessary to close up green manure until they begin to bloom, and even more so - until seeds begin to form on them. If it is not possible to plow the site, then green manure can be embedded in the soil in another way - cut at a depth of 20-30 mm with a flat cutter or chopper and leave it in the garden. After waiting a few weeks, you can start landing work. Planting potatoes after green manure differs from conventional way shallower depth of embedding it into the soil. Planting potatoes after green manure should be no deeper than 50-60 mm. It will be convenient to plant it in shallow grooves made by a flat cutter, and plant mustard between the rows, which will do several useful things at once: loosen the soil, retain the necessary moisture in it, prevent weeds from developing and scare off pests. When the potato and mustard bushes grow to the same size, the mustard should be chopped so that it does not oppress the potatoes.

Grow without fertilizer good harvest potatoes, like other vegetables, is impossible. To increase the fertility of the land, gardeners use mineral mixtures or organic matter. But besides them, there is another option - to carry out sideration of a potato field with other plants. Find out which siderates for potatoes are best to choose, what benefits they bring, when and how they should be sown.

Siderates are plants grown specifically to produce green mass, which is then embedded in the ground or used as mulch in order to improve soil fertility and increase potato yields. They are sown to the main crop, and when they grow, they are mowed and embedded in the ground.

Green manure sown under potato crops help improve the structure and fertility of the soil, and saturate it with minerals, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other useful nutrients that are important for plants.

Thus, sowing green plants helps to increase the yield of potatoes, allows you to increase the amount of crop harvested per unit area. How effective they are can be understood if we consider that green manure as a fertilizer is not inferior in efficiency to cow manure.

The roots of plants used as green manure strengthen the soil and prevent it from being washed away during the rainy season, and during a drought they save the earth from drying out quickly. Cruciferous plants protect the crop from pests (for example, wireworms, nematodes, slugs), and legumes from scab, as they contribute to the reproduction of saprophytic bacteria in the soil that compete with them. Such plants sprout early, so they prevent weeds from breaking through to the top, thus preventing weeds from overgrowing the beds. The use of green manure for potatoes helps to make products more environmentally friendly, because the amount of mineral fertilizers used to feed the crop is reduced.

This method has no disadvantages. The only thing is that it is necessary to monitor the volume of green mass plowed into the soil: if there is too much of it, it will slowly decompose, turn sour in the ground, increasing its acidity. In acidic soil, the possibility that the potato will get sick with fungal diseases increases.

Ways to use green manure

The purpose of the use of green manure is to use their green mass as organic fertilizer. There are 3 options for how this can be achieved: bury it in the soil, lay it on the surface of the beds as mulch, or add it to the compost heap with other plant debris.

Important rules for the use of green manure:

  • in the same area each next year it is impossible to sow plants related to those crops that grew in this place before them;
  • they should not reach the flowering stage, so they are mowed or plowed into the ground when they grow up to 20-30 cm or until the buds appear.

Green manure is sown before planting a crop, in this case potatoes, or after it.

What green manure is suitable for potatoes

Let us consider in more detail which of the siderates is best sown in the spring, and which in the fall after the potatoes.

Legumes

Plants of this family are suppliers of nitrogen to the soil, it accumulates on their roots, so they are considered the best green manure for potatoes of all possible. For this purpose, you can use the following leguminous herbs and crops: vetch, chickpea, peas and beans, soybeans, alfalfa, sainfoin, beans, lentils, lupins, clover, sweet clover, etc. Any of these plants can be sown in the area where potatoes are supposed to be grown, and then mowed and buried in soil. You can sow them in spring and autumn, that is, 2 times a year.

cruciferous

Siderates that are used for potatoes in the spring are mustard, rapeseed, colza, oil radish. But, like legumes, they can also be sown in the fall, that is, twice a year. Cruciferous not only improve soil composition, but also protect potatoes from pests.

cereals

As organics for potatoes from this family, you can choose any crop (wheat, ryegrass, barley, oats, rye), but it is rye as green manure that is considered the most preferable. You can sow cereals on garden beds in spring and autumn, in addition, they can be planted after potatoes, leaving before winter.

In addition to plants from these 3 families, phacelia and buckwheat can be sown under potatoes.

If it is supposed not to grow anything on the site after the potatoes, so that the earth rests, then any listed green manure can be planted at this place.

When and how to sow

It is not enough to choose suitable green manure, it is also necessary to sow them on time and correctly.

spring planting

In spring, green manure for potatoes can be sown after the snow melts and the earth warms up to 10 ° C. It is necessary to plant in the soil fertilized with mineral fertilizers: the plants will process them and transfer them into an organic form. It is possible to sow green manure in front of potatoes in 2 ways: put the seeds in shallow grooves, and then sprinkle them on top of the ground, or simply scatter them over the surface of the beds, sprinkle with peat or humus. After that, they must be watered. If it is too warm and the earth dries out quickly, then you will have to water several more times after germination.

By the way, it is not necessary to dig green manure in the spring: you can plant potatoes in the holes, mow the greens and lay them as mulch. You can mow manually with a sickle or lawn mower. If a lot of greenery has grown, some can be decomposed into other beds.

autumn planting

It is necessary to sow green manure in the fall after harvesting potatoes at least 1.5 months before a steady cold snap. This is necessary so that they have time to ascend, grow up to about 20 cm, and after mowing and surface incorporation into the ground, decompose in it. In this case, suitable plants with short period vegetation, which are sown after potatoes of early or mid-season varieties.

Sequencing:

  • remove all plant debris from the site;
  • dig it;
  • apply nitroammophoska and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers (30-40 g per sq. m.);
  • sow the area with the seeds of the selected crop. You need to sow fairly thickly.

Under the winter

If you plant winter green manure after potatoes, such as rye, vetch, rapeseed, then you do not need to mow and dig them up in the fall. Podzimny sowing can be carried out randomly or sow grains in grooves, placing them between future rows of potatoes. The seeding depth is 1.5-2 cm. Sowing should be carried out no later than the first half of August. In the spring, the regrown plant mass is plowed into the ground 10-15 days before planting potatoes.

Potato belongs to the nightshade crops, whose homeland is South America. It is one of the main vegetables on the table of every housewife, and the variety of dishes throughout the year depends on how it is planted and grown correctly.

To get a good potato harvest, you need to properly prepare the soil and create conditions for its growth. And also we must not forget about the rules of crop rotation, and the selection of the best neighboring crops.

On the same plot, potatoes can be planted in 3-4 years. If the site is small, then it can grow in one place, but not more than 3 years.

At the same time, organic and mineral fertilizers compensating for all the useful substances taken by potatoes from the ground. In addition, one should not forget about the disinfection of the soil, since diseases and pests will hit potatoes with renewed vigor every year.

After harvesting potatoes, a deep digging of the earth is carried out with a complete overturn of the layer. This contributes to the freezing of the earth and the destruction of diseases and pests.

In the spring, after the earth warms up, compost or humus is introduced and it is dug up again. Mineral supplements deposited upon boarding.

After harvesting early potatoes, green manure is sown in its place, they will improve the soil for the next plantings.


When choosing crops that can grow after potatoes, one should not forget about the rules of crop rotation.

According to the rules of alternation, cultures are divided into 4 groups:

  1. Root vegetables (potatoes, onions, beets, carrots). Giving a good harvest with a high content of potassium in the soil.
  2. Fruit (cucumbers, pumpkin, pepper, eggplant, zucchini). Demanding the presence of phosphorus in the ground.
  3. Leafy (greens, cabbage, lettuce, spinach). Demanding on the content of nitrogen in the soil.
  4. Legumes that saturate the soil with nitrogen. Most suitable for crop rotation.

Any crops are planted in accordance with their needs for nutrients, for example, leafy plants are planted after legumes. And legumes, in turn, grow well after onions and garlic. And they give a good harvest after potatoes.

Vegetable crop rotation table

PotatoOnion garlicLegumesPeppers, eggplant, tomatoes Cucumbers, zucchiniCarrotBeetCabbage
Onion garlicLegumesPeppers, eggplant, tomatoes Cucumbers, zucchiniCarrotBeetCabbagePotato
LegumesPeppers, eggplant, tomatoes Cucumbers, zucchiniCarrotBeetCabbagePotatoOnion garlic
Peppers, eggplant, tomatoes Cucumbers, zucchiniCarrotBeetCabbagePotatoOnion garlicLegumes
Cucumbers, zucchiniCarrotBeetCabbagePotatoOnion garlicLegumesPeppers, eggplant, tomatoes
CarrotBeetCabbagePotatoOnion garlicLegumesPeppers, eggplant, tomatoes Cucumbers, zucchini
BeetCabbagePotatoOnion garlicLegumesPeppers, eggplant, tomatoes Cucumbers, zucchiniCarrot
CabbagePotatoOnion garlicLegumesPeppers, eggplant, tomatoes Cucumbers, zucchiniCarrotBeet


With crop rotation, you can alternate tops and roots, for example, greens, legumes, carrots, beets, lettuce, garlic, zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage and pumpkin are planted in place of potatoes and tomatoes.

In the spring, former potato beds can be planted: onions, radishes, garlic, radishes, spinach, beets, lettuce, turnips, cabbage, daikon, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, legumes and melons.

In place of onions, garlic, legumes, you can sow and plant any crops. Replanting them in one place is undesirable.

It is not recommended to plant strawberries and strawberries in place of potatoes.

In place of gourds, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, it grows well: potatoes, legumes, radishes, tomatoes, garlic, and cabbage.

Carrots are grown locally or cabbage.

What to plant in autumn?

In autumn, after harvesting potatoes, you can sow greens, winter cereals, peas. All these crops allow you to restore deep layers of soil and grow well in place of potatoes.

Under the winter

To improve the composition of the soil, you can sow green manure:

  • alfalfa
  • lupine
  • mustard
  • peas
  • phacelia

They not only improve the composition of the earth, but also loosen it and fight diseases and pests.

Click beetle larvae (wireworms) are ubiquitous, not only in potato beds.

It is undesirable to fight the pest with pesticides. In this case, toxic substances enter the plants. In addition, they destroy not only the larvae, but also living ones useful for the soil.

Therefore, various agrotechnical methods of control are more often used. Digging the soil in autumn reduces the number of insects. The larvae die from the cold.

  • Early spring digging also helps in the fight against wireworm.
  • Properly organized crop rotation helps to get rid of the wireworm.
  • In heavily infested areas, green manure is sown after harvest.
  • The wireworm does not like such crops like: buckwheat, mustard, rapeseed, colza, sweet clover, oil radish, black beans, chickpeas, beans, soybeans, peas, soybeans and spinach.

These crops are sown on the site for 2-3 years. During this period, all wireworm larvae die or turn into beetles and leave.

Sown green manure attract pests, after which the plants are dug up and removed from the site.

Marigolds and white mustard, sown in the aisles or along the edges of the beds, will also help to fight the wireworm.

Instead of pesticides, ammonia fertilizers are applied to the soil in spring, which destroy the pest.

Siderates and onions after potatoes: video

After what crop to plant potatoes?

The best predecessors for potatoes are various root crops, cabbage, green crops.

You can alternate with potatoes onions, beets, carrots, peas, zucchini, beans, cucumbers and beans.

On the spot, you can plant potatoes and other root crops, legumes, next year you can plant zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, and then onions and tomatoes.

After watermelons, melons, celery, cucumbers, carrots and parsley, they plant: potatoes, tomatoes, legumes, onions and garlic.


During the growing season, potatoes take phosphorus and potassium from the soil. After harvesting, it is necessary to replenish the lack of these substances in the soil by applying appropriate top dressings.

Potatoes should not be planted after tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, physalis and tobacco. They are related crops and share common pathogens and pests. At the same time, spores of late blight, macrosporiosis accumulate in the soil, various rots and plants begin to hurt.

What can not be planted after potatoes?


Potato as a predecessor is not suitable for strawberries and strawberries. Strawberry beds in place of potatoes can grow no earlier than 3 years later.

It is strictly forbidden to grow potatoes on the site:

  • sunflower,
  • cucumbers,
  • pumpkin,
  • zucchini,
  • squash,
  • melons,
  • raspberries.


For the success of potato cultivation, the principles of beneficial neighborhood must be taken into account.

Potatoes go well with corn, white cabbage, beans, horseradish, spinach, mint, garlic and onion. They have a beneficial effect on potato plantings. The beans nourish the potatoes with nitrogen, protect them from the Colorado potato beetle, and he, in turn, protects them from the bruchus pest.

Neighborhood with potatoes for cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, squash, peppers, physalis, eggplant and cabbage are undesirable for each other.

Planting strawberries, strawberries near a potato bed leads to the attraction of a wireworm. AT rainy weather berries are affected by black and gray rot. The infection eventually passes to potato tubers.

Potato and strawberry plantings should separate strips of spinach, carrots, beets or radishes.

Potatoes also do not like the neighborhood with cherries, apple trees, raspberries, sea buckthorn, chokeberry and grapes.

To prevent the occurrence onion fly, weevil, cabbage whitefish, as well as damage to plants by fusarium in the aisles marigolds can be planted.

  • Calendula protects against the Colorado potato beetle.
  • Nasturtium prevents the appearance of whiteflies and whiteflies.
  • Chamomile-feverfew does not allow aphids, caterpillars of cabbage scoops, whites and rodents.
  • Tansy - from many pests.
  • Lavender - from aphids, ants.

At correct selection neighboring crops can protect plants from diseases and pests, and increase yields.


This nightshade culture loves fertile, breathable, light soil, slightly acidic, with a pH of 5-6.

Potatoes give a good harvest on sandy, soddy-podzolic, chernozem, peat, gray forest soils.

Loose soil allows the root system to be saturated with oxygen and tubers to develop well. Normal access of oxygen to the roots guarantees good taste qualities tubers.

Damp areas and beds with close passage ground water not suitable for planting potatoes.

Waterlogging potatoes is highly undesirable. This leads to slower plant growth and promotes the development of diseases. With a close passage of groundwater, a drainage system is necessary.

  1. Heavy sandy, clayey, podzolic soils require preliminary improvement.
  2. In dense soil, small, deformed and tasteless tubers are formed.
  3. In heavy clay, loamy soil per square meter a bucket of humus (compost, peat) is introduced. A bucket of clay soil is brought into the sandy or sandy loam area.
  4. AT peat soil you need to make a bucket of compost or humus, a bucket of clay, a bucket of coarse sand.
  5. At high acidity of the soil, mix slaked lime or ash.

Feeding, watering, weeding and hilling potatoes can compensate for the lack of oxygen and nutrients, which allows you to grow a good crop.


Shaded areas are not suitable for growing potatoes. The beds should be bright, fully heated sunbeams. The lack of light leads to stretching, lightening of the stems, weak flowering, poor and small harvest.

Plowing or digging the soil for potatoes creates a loose, ventilated soil layer with a sufficient amount of moisture.

Potatoes are planted in a plot that has been dug up in advance, since autumn, to a depth of 25-30 centimeters.

Before the start of digging, per square meter of land, 5 kilograms of rotted manure or compost are introduced. On sandy or depleted soils, the amount of organic matter increases to 9 kilograms. Fresh manure and unripened compost are not suitable for these purposes.

  • Together with organic matter, 200 grams are introduced per square meter of beds wood ash or slaked lime, 25 grams of potassium sulfate and 25 grams of double granular superphosphate.
  • In the absence of organic matter, mineral fertilizers are buried in the soil. Per square meter of future plantings is 50 grams of ammonium sulfate, 15 grams of urea or 50 grams of superphosphate.
  • Intensive potassium-phosphorus nutrition increases the resistance of potatoes to low temperatures and diseases, and increases productivity.

All fertilizers are buried 12-15 centimeters into the ground.

1/2 norm nitrogen fertilizers are brought in in the spring, after plowing and closed up with a rake. The second part of top dressing is applied before hilling potatoes.

Potatoes reproduce vegetatively. To do this, take whole or healthy large tubers cut in half. Depends on the size of the tubers and the number of eyes on them. future harvest. From small potatoes with a small number of eyes big harvest fail to collect.

Tubers are prepared from autumn. They are selected and sent for storage in a well-ventilated area. Tubers germinate 1-2 months before planting. To do this, they are distributed thin layer in boxes and displayed in bright room at an air temperature of + 15-20 degrees.


After germination, tubers with filamentous sprouts are removed.

Potatoes are best planted from north to south or from northwest to southeast. Optimum temperature soil for planting potatoes is + 7-8 ° degrees.

For early potatoes, a glass of humus, a tablespoon of ash and a teaspoon of superphosphate are added to each hole. The mixture is embedded in the soil to a depth of 10 centimeters. For mid-season varieties, the number of dressings is doubled and deepened by 15 centimeters.

Potatoes are laid out in holes and sprinkled with earth, tubercles form on top of the holes. If the air temperature has not reached the required standards, the landings are covered with a film or nonwoven fabric. When shoots appear, arcs are installed. With a well-established warm weather cover is removed.

How to cultivate the soil after potatoes: video

Potato is one of the main crops cultivated in garden beds. All subsequent plantings on this site depend on a healthy potato harvest, in order to avoid problems, everything must be carried out on time agrotechnical measures, adhere to crop rotation and correctly combine neighboring plants.

No bugs, no weeds!

It is difficult to deal with a bear in a greenhouse, in a small area, but what to do on a large potato plot? Collecting information about a harmful insect, along the way I came across brilliant finds of contemporaries. This is me about planting potatoes in double rows.

So, having shoveled the information from the magazine in the winter and digested it properly, I started last season by planting potatoes in double rows. Since autumn, my plot has been sown with white mustard, before frost it managed to grow by 120 cm. I didn’t do anything with it!

Frost and wind dried and broke small twigs, and large ones met me in the spring with dry straw. Digging the ground, I was convinced that digging was not needed - the earth after the mustard became loose: neither rain nor snow compressed it!

I took two twine (one with serifs measuring the width of the furrows, the other so that the furrows would go evenly and please the eye), a bucket of potatoes, a shovel and went to plant, as they taught - a groove 30 cm wide, tubers in a checkerboard pattern with a step of 50 cm in a row; I retreat 80 cm and again dig a furrow 30 cm wide. The mustard straw crunched softly under my feet, crumbled and mostly went underground.

Frankly, I did all the work, not paying any attention to the remnants of mustard. In the spring it was still sticking out of the ground, but in autumn only noticeably loosened soil remained.

Soaked the potatoes twice. The first time when the bushes were already 15 cm above the ground showed off. She rowed 25 cm on each side, and after 10 days she divided the remaining untouched land between the rows in half. As a result, my site took the form of a vegetable garden with narrow and rather high ridges.

Immediately, I walked along the newly formed aisles and sowed them with white mustard. The potatoes sprouted and the mustard trailed. The potatoes have bloomed, and the mustard has scattered yellow tassels. Well, not a potato field, but a meadow rich in herbs! Cultures clearly did not interfere with each other, but there was no place left for weeds.

I see that the neighbors with jars walk around their plots from morning to evening - they collect Colorado beetles. And I passed. Didn't find one. For the whole summer! But between mine and neighboring plots only the net is stretched...

Rye with mustard

It's time to dig potatoes. Well, I think, now I’ll dig up a crop of bears - all June in the evenings they sang songs. I step into the aisle. I don’t remove the mustard that has grown, but I fill it up, without pulling it out, under my feet. I dig carefully, do not scatter the earth, carefully shake it off the tubers. Behind me remain clean, high enough narrow ridges. I walk on the hard mustard grass - the shoes are clean!

I look, the mother potato is eaten to the skin, and the young potato is not touched. Another such bush comes across, then another and another ...

Having dug up the site, I did not find a single bear! Traces of vital activity (eaten planting tubers) indicate its presence in the first half of summer. Then - no. Yes, in the second half of the summer, when young potatoes were growing and pouring, mustard grew and spread its roots. And these roots, it seems, Medvedka did not like. Just like tops of mustard frightened or knocked down the Colorado potato beetle.

I must say that for the sake of the experiment, phacelia was sown in several potato row spacings. The bees liked the phacelia very, very much. I had no idea there were so many bees in the area! Pleasant rumble over numerous purple flowers stood from dawn to dusk. The Colorado potato beetle didn’t even fly close, but the bear frolicked ...

A few days later, I prepared the potato plot for spring planting. Since I dug carefully, my narrow beds remained even, high, soft, and the dimensions I needed, of course, were preserved. She drew two ditches along the ridges and sowed white mustard. In the aisle along the littered mustard, rye was sown in a narrow strip. The grains fell under the mustard stalks, and there was no need to cover them with earth: the earth that rolled down from under the rake was enough.

Why is there rye between the rows?

In autumn, she will gain some green mass. It won't freeze in winter. In the spring, before planting, it will still increase the green mass, and even if the spring turns out to be late and cold, potatoes laid out on crushed rye will not freeze.

The green mass of rye covered with earth will, of course, “light up”, give the potatoes much-needed warmth and nitrogen at first.

The earth after mustard is always soft, it is easy to sprinkle spread out potatoes with it, and after planting and two hillings, rye will be under such an earthen pillow that it will have no chance to come out.

In the photo there is 1 plot, sown with siderites a week ago. In photo 2 - a month has passed. Photo of February 3-9, potato plot after the January frosts of -32 ° and the February thaw: mustard lies in hay on the beds, rye with cheerful green tufts pleases the eye, and from summer mustard littered between rows up to 80 cm high, almost only memories remain.

Working without a sweat

My husband really liked the new method.

It was his duty to dig up the ground in spring and autumn, but already in the second year there was nothing to do with a shovel on a potato plot: it was convenient to fill potatoes with soft earth with a chopper or ... Finally, a trident bought a long time ago found its use: its three teeth are bent, like on a chopper , and mounted on a long handle. The productivity is small, but the area is small: the job is done, and the T-shirt is dry.

I puzzled over how to close the planted potatoes without trampling the beds.

I decided to lay it out on the rye in a checkerboard pattern, moving along the same boundary (trampling the rye), and cover it with earth, moving along the neighboring boundary, moving the earth from the nearest bed and pushing the earth from the previous one. The main thing is that the tool is light and convenient.

Thanks to the people who shared their findings about the double row: indeed, hilling is half as much, the evaporation area has decreased - the potatoes got more moisture, and in last years is it so important! The illumination of each bush has increased - all bushes are extreme, therefore, all potatoes grow large. Great!

White mustard as green manure

On the small area problem with crop rotation.

I have been sowing white mustard in the vacant ridges for five years already. She grew up different heights- from 5 to 150 cm, it all depends on the landing time and temperature. Mustard planted in mid-September usually grows by 25-30 cm. Thick green soft bushes lie on the ground under the weight of snow, forming a thin dense crust on it. In the spring, this crust dries up, compacts and does not allow the sun to reach the ground, thereby preventing weeds from growing and preserving precious spring moisture.

Mustard roots also worked hard: the earth is soft, crumbly, there is no need to dig. And this wonderful circumstance saves us, summer residents, strength and gives time. The quality of the land has improved markedly, and most importantly, bears and Colorado potato beetles bypass, as it turned out, only live, blooming white mustard.