The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is an integral part of healthy cooking. You can buy potatoes in any supermarket. Potatoes can also be easily grown in the home garden. There are many different varieties and the crops are very good. But the potato plant (Solanum tuberosum) also requires appropriate care. These planting and care instructions are intended to help you grow your own potatoes with complete success.

Characteristics

  • Plant Family: Nightshade, Solanaceae
  • Genus: Nightshade, Solanum
  • Type: Potato
  • Scientific name: Solanum tuberosum
  • Trivial names: potato, pear
  • Origin: Chiloé, Chonos Archipelago, Chile
  • Planting time: from March/April
  • Height of growth: up to one meter
  • contain vitamin C as well
  • high quality proteins B6 and C

Every German also consumes an average of 50 kilograms of potatoes a year. The potato is one of the most popular fruits and is indispensable in the kitchen. Potatoes can be prepared in many ways, whether as fries, boiled potatoes or puree, they are always a pleasure. There are many different types of potatoes on the market. Different species with specific characteristics thrive in each country.

maintenance

The potato (Solanum tuberosum) can also be grown very well in the home garden. If you don't have your own garden, you can even grow them in buckets and boxes. The cultivation is worthwhile in any case, because you also have the opportunity to breed old or special varieties that are not available in the supermarket. Potatoes taste even better when freshly harvested from your own garden.

Potato plants have the following characteristics:

  • growing upright or climbing
  • herbaceous
  • persevering
  • can grow to over a meter tall
  • Stem axis four-edged, may also be winged in some cases
  • shoots are formed just above the surface or underground, which support the tubers

location

location and substrate

To grow new potatoes, you should consider the following points:

  • use humus-rich, ideally sandy and loose soil
  • Loamy soil with a high proportion of sand is also well suited
  • Potatoes should not be planted on heavy soil, as these are not suitable due to their air and heat conditions
  • Potatoes are sensitive to frost and should therefore not be planted before mid-April
  • a guide value of 9 degrees applies

plant

planting and crop rotation

When planting potatoes, you should heed the following tips:

  • before the potato plants (Solanum tuberosum) are laid out, they are pre-germinated
  • the potatoes should be kept for about 6 weeks in a bright room and at temperatures of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius - this will free up the bed for other crops at an early stage
  • now draw a furrow of 10 centimeters in the bed with the hoe
  • the tubers are then laid out with their shoots, eyes up
  • New potatoes should be planted within a row, 30 centimeters apart
  • the distance between the rows should be 70 centimeters
  • never use tubers with pale, thin shoots from the basement
  • use only the best sprouting potatoes for propagation
  • from April the plants are allowed outdoors
  • You should prepare a bed for this two weeks in advance
  • fill the bed with nutrient and humus-rich, crumbly soil

Potatoes do best at temperatures between 16 and 21 degrees Celsius. Potatoes do not do well at temperatures above 30 degrees, and they often no longer form tubers.

If the temperatures are too frosty, the potato greens should be covered with straw or fleece to prevent the plants from freezing. As a rule, the plants continue to thrive, even if the green has already frozen. In this case, however, the potato plants are more susceptible to diseases, they develop more poorly and the yield is reduced.

If you have laid out your rows of plants in an east-west direction, you should ensure even better insulation by keeping a planting distance of 60 to 70 centimeters. This means that the surface heats up more quickly and the floor also dries faster. Please make sure to keep a four-year break in cultivation on the same soil. After the potatoes, you can, for example, grow endives, kohlrabi, lettuce or bush beans on the area. New potatoes are well suited as pre-crops because they ensure loose soil with few weeds.

pour

watering and fertilizing

Proceed as follows when watering the plants:

  • From the time the tuber forms, potato plants (Solanum tuberosum) need a lot of water
  • water more generously when dry
  • it is best to water in the morning so that the surface of the soil can dry again by evening
  • Never rinse the leaves, otherwise fungal attack will result

Fertilize

How to fertilize your own potatoes:

  • in the fall you should prepare the ground for the potatoes
  • fertilize it preferably with stable manure
  • in spring rotted compost is incorporated into the planting bed
  • Potatoes need a lot of nutrients, so fertilization with magnesium is particularly important
  • a lack of magnesium often results in a nutritional disorder of the plant - this deficiency symptom is usually triggered by an increased potassium content in the soil

propagation

propagation and harvest

Potatoes are usually quite easy to propagate.

Proceed as follows when propagating:

  • use daughter bulbs that have at least one eye
  • Place seed potatoes in a flat box
  • the sides with the most eyes should be facing up
  • after a short time the first shoots emerge
  • the boxes must be placed in a bright place with a minimum temperature of 15 degrees Celsius
  • the plants are already blooming at the beginning of June and you can already harvest the first early potatoes

There are a few things to keep in mind when harvesting:

  • only harvest early potatoes as needed, as they don't store well
  • New potatoes lack the protective cork layer and will wrinkle and lose their almond-like flavor if not eaten early - so they are only suitable for fresh consumption
  • wait until the tubers have reached a size that is suitable for cooking
  • do not use a spade to dig up the potatoes to avoid damaging the tubers
  • a digging fork is better suited for this
  • lift the perennials with the fork and then pull the attached tubers out of the ground

As a rule, the potato harvest is delayed until the plant withers and develops brown leaves. Now is the best time to dig up the potatoes. Potatoes are easy to find when the soil is dug up within a range of 50 to 60 centimeters around the plant.

Potatoes that are green and have been lying close to the surface should no longer be eaten, as the toxic substance solanine has formed here. The solanine content in older potato varieties is significantly higher than in today's varieties. A solanine content of 3 to 7 milligrams is measured in the new species, but this is mainly found in the shell.

pile up

When the first greens of the potatoes can be seen, start piling up the potatoes:

  • loosen the soil - this will have a positive effect on the formation of tubers
  • the potatoes should be mounded regularly. In this way you can significantly increase the yield
  • the potato forms a large number of daughter tubers by piling up
  • this will prevent the bulbs from turning green from exposure to light - you should repeat this process every two weeks when the plants are in bloom or the mounds are about 30 centimeters high
  • If there are longer periods of drought, the plants should be watered regularly from mid to late May
  • be sure to remove any weeds between the potato bushes as you till

store potatoes

Potatoes should be stored in a dark, slightly damp but airy room. Basements are particularly good for this.

Conditions for storing potatoes:

  • the ideal room temperature is + 7 to 8 degrees Celsius
  • if the temperatures are higher, germination occurs faster
  • at low temperatures, the conversion of starch and sugar starts faster, which gives the potato (Solanum tuberosum) a sweeter taste
  • Potatoes need a dark storage place, under the influence of light, the toxic substance solanine develops, which can be recognized by greenish discolored areas - these must be removed before eating
  • store the potatoes dry or in a loose heap in boxes - the dumping height should not be higher than 40 centimeters

sorts

More than 400 varieties of potatoes are grown in the Andes alone. About 70 years ago, scientists began to secure wild potato species and conventional breeds in gene banks. Even today, farmers in the Andean highlands, where potatoes originated, cultivate over 400 potato varieties. These differ not only in the color of tubers and flowers, but also in taste.

The variety of early, medium-early and late-ripening varieties also has a positive effect on the selections in the home garden and provides variety there. The risk of bad harvests is significantly reduced. The infestation with pests and diseases is also reduced. Colorado potato beetles and potato scab are also less common. To prevent late blight, which is quite common, it is best to plant the potatoes early.

Cultivated potatoes are divided into:

  • early varieties (90 to 120 days)
  • medium varieties (120 to 150 days)
  • late varieties (150 to 180 days)

Diseases

diseases and pests

Potatoes are actually one of the robust plants. Nevertheless, they can be attacked by pests and diseases. If the soil is too dry in summer, potatoes are more susceptible to pests. On the other hand, if the soil is too wet, mushrooms have the best living conditions.

Late blight can be very dangerous for new potatoes. The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is particularly easily infected with the disease in humid and warm weather conditions. Brown spots spreading from the edge of the leaf are the typical signs of late blight. This is a fungal disease that is difficult to prevent or control. In the worst case, the leaves will dry up, which in turn can lead to the entire perennial dying off. Sunken and lead-gray spots are visible on the tuber.

pests

There are also different types of aphids that can infest potato plants.

These include:

  • the alder louse
  • the peach louse
  • the buckthorn aphid as well
  • the green striped potato aphid

In the growth phase of the potato (Solanum tuberosum), other pests such as the Colorado potato beetlethat affect plants. The beetle originated in the USA, but is now also found throughout Europe. A typical feature of the Colorado potato beetle is its black and yellow striped wings. There is only one way to drive the Colorado potato beetle off your potato plants: collect and kill the beetle and its larvae.

At the potato scab It is a type of bacteria that occurs particularly on light sandy soils. The looser the soil, the easier it is for potato scab to spread, because it depends on oxygen. The disease spreads in all potato growing areas.

Colorado potato beetle on a potato plant

The external quality of the potato suffers from the scab and thus reduces its market value as a ware potato. Because of the scabs, other parasites also have the best conditions to infest the potato (Solanum tuberosum). The disease does not affect the taste of the potato, but increased peeling losses occur. Potatoes that have developed scab also have limited shelf life. Potato scab only occurs on the tubers. The perennials themselves show no symptoms. The scab is recognizable by corky, brown spots. If the infestation is severe, these converge to form scabbed areas.

Another disease is that blackleg. This is quite common in potatoes. This disease is also caused by bacteria. Harvest losses are only to be expected if the infestation is severe. Potato plants become infected particularly quickly with the pathogens if they are planted in soil that is too heavy. Waterlogging occurs here, which potatoes cannot tolerate. The plant withers, turns yellowish and eventually dies. The stem is particularly affected, here the typical black discoloration can be seen. Plants affected by blackleg are easy to pull out of the ground and give off a pungent odor.

Category:

Vegetable garden