In spring, all summer residents rush to their beds to stock up on various vegetables. And how to grow potatoes for those who have a very small area?
The world is growing more and morenon-traditional methods of growing plants, including potatoes. One of them is planting potatoes in bags or barrels. It is convenient for summer residents who have a very small area or poor soil on it.
One should not forget that potatoes are a subtropical plant, and they need for normal development and fruiting:
How to grow potatoes in bags? How should this method work?The plant grows, and its all is covered with earth. It is lengthened, and stolons are formed on the white stem, on which the tubers will subsequently be tied. As a result, there will be more, and if they have time to grow, the harvest from one bush will be much higher than in the garden.
But the cultivation of a long stem takesmonth and a half. Will the potatoes have time to grow? And will the bush want to “pull out” all the formed tubers to the size we need? After all, each plant has its own threshold load.
Without ensuring good drainage how to growpotatoes in bags? Plants will rot and disappear. The opinion that woven plastic bags well pass water, is controversial. Therefore, before falling asleep in them the ground, you need to check it out. If the water does not pass or does so very slowly, you need to make holes in the bag for its outflow.
Sacks for potatoes can be special,write out online for 20 euros. Reviews show that some people do. But most of the experimenters adapt any woven bags left in the household of sugar or flour.
Now on sale there are special Chinese bags, similar to backpacks. They are interesting because they have a velcro window on the side through which a crop is poured in the fall. The price of one is about a thousand rubles.
You can use large checkered bags.Their advantage is the presence of pens. With their help, the "garden" can, if necessary, be moved from one place to another. But the main advantage, of course, is the price, which is significantly lower for bags.
Old buckets, barrels and crates are also used.
There is no single opinion on which varieties can be grown in this way. Some gardeners offer early, but in the list below, there are potatoes Slavyanka, and you can not call her early.
In bags it is suggested to grow such varieties:
Landing time is chosen so that the street washeat. Planting potatoes in bags is held at the end of April. Some gardeners tried to do it in February, but the lack of a sufficient amount of light did not give a harvest.
If you plant the potatoes in the middle of March, then you can try the new potatoes for Easter.
Soil composition:
Land should be taken in areas not infected with blight. You should not use the soil from the territory in which the potatoes or tomatoes were grown.
Bag edge is wrapped outside to make it comfortable.work. At the bottom of the bag fall asleep the earth, mixed with rotted manure, a layer of not less than 10-15 cm. Then sprouted potatoes are laid and covered with a layer of earth. You can place two levels of tubers or shoots. But they must be laid in staggered order so that the upper plants do not interfere with the lower ones.
Install the bag in a sunny place.Covering the top layer, watered. Some gardeners are advised to choose a slightly darkened place for placing the bags so that the earth does not dry out so quickly and the potatoes do not bake in the sun. But how will this affect the harvest? After all, in the semi-darkened areas of a common vegetable garden, the harvest is very different from the solar plot, and not for the better.
Gradually sprouts will appear overground surface. Then you need to fill them with earthy mixture. At the same time constantly raise the edges of the bag until it is filled by two thirds. Then just watered and fed.
One way to grow potatoes in bagsimplies hilling not with earth, but with straw or hay. But the gardeners who grew it in this way did not like the result. The yield was much lower than when grown in the traditional way or in the straw in the garden.
Cleaning the crop, pour all the contents out of the bag. Gather the potatoes. The remaining land belongs to the garden. The bag is dried and hidden until next year.
Выращивание картофеля в бочках и мешках позволяет try new potatoes sixty days after planting. By this time, she should have grown the size of a fist. Typing some potatoes, pour earth instead.
Adherents of the method claim that from one tuber toAutumn can get a bucket of potatoes. But reviews say that almost no one succeeds. Only some gardeners report that the harvest from the bag was greater than in the garden.
Constantly need to monitor the soil moisture. And it dries very quickly. Installing drip irrigation will help solve this problem.
The soil in the bag is strayed, and its aeration is disturbed.To improve it, it is suggested, before growing potatoes in bags, to spiral rubber hose into it with holes cut in it, spaced 20 cm apart. The length of the slots is 2-3 cm. The distance between the turns of the spiral is 10 cm. The end located inside overlaps, and the other is brought up. Through it, the air will flow into the bag and go out through the holes inwards to the roots. But he himself can not do this. After all, a layer of earth will press on the hose, the holes will be blocked. To fill this system with air, it is necessary to inflate air once a week with a pump for 10-15 minutes. And still to this hose it is possible to connect the water pump and thus to carry out watering. This will give the opportunity to successfully grow potatoes in bags.
Reviews of many gardeners who have tried this method indicate that they could not harvest. Perhaps they had a violation of technology.
Some gardeners do not believe in the possibility of obtaining in this way a decent harvest and argue their conclusions.
In a similar way, potatoes are grown withthe use of EM technologies. But as a container they take not a bag, but a barrel. What is the difference between a barrel and a bag? She can cut the bottom. This will enable the earthworms to get inside and do their work there - to improve the quality of the soil. You can also use a bag, but the bottom needs to be cut off and the edges securely fastened. Then there will be no problems with drainage.
The use of EM technology allows you to supply the grounda set of microorganisms he needs. Before growing potatoes in bags, prepare EM-compost. In the barrel when planting it is laid, mixing with the ground. Fertilizing in the process of growing is carried out by the same diluted EM-compost, connecting 5 parts of it with one part of water.
It should be noted that when growingpotatoes by this method should not be allowed to sprouts appear on the surface. As soon as they approach this boundary, it is necessary to immediately fill up a new layer of soil. Otherwise, the green shoots will not engage in strengthening the root system, but will grow upwards, releasing leaves and buds.
In order not to constantly monitor this process, you can immediately plant three layers of potatoes and cover them with earth. Then you will need to follow only the top. And the bottom will not grow soon.
Growing potatoes wisely is possible with anotherin a way. But here the bag is filled with earth immediately and tied. It is mounted horizontally, and the cross-shaped holes are cut into the top, in which the potato tubers are thrust. Then set on a sunny place, watered and fed.
The advantages of this method:
Growing potatoes in this way on the balcony, you should not count on special success, because there is little light.
But still some gardeners manage to achieve good results. But they do not act according to the “planted and forgotten” principle, but use various drugs and tools.
Tubers stand in the sun to greening, treated with potassium humate. Germinated using the substrate "Living Earth".
It is convenient to grow potatoes on a balcony in a special container with a removable top. Its design consists of two pots. The inner side has openings. The cost of the pot in Germany - 10 euros.
Germans are placed in one pot from three tofive potatoes, covered with substrate and periodically watered. When it comes time to eat young potatoes, remove the inner pot from the outside, tear off the right amount of potatoes, and the rest are placed back.
So it is better to grow medium and late varieties, because they have a longer growing season and remove potatoes from the bush for longer.
