Dear readers! In this issue, we give the floor to the AgroAlliance-NN seed farm (Nizhny Novgorod Region), specializing in the production of European potato varieties (breeding companies Europlant and HZPC Sadokas) high reproductions. A brief overview of the key stages of cultivation brings to your attention a specialist of the enterprise Kirill Kraev.
LANDING
108 hectares of arable land were allotted for potatoes on the farm. This year, the landing began on May 10, which is about two weeks later than previously planned. The weather forced us to postpone the start of the work: April in our region turned out to be cold and rainy, as a result, the soil could not warm up to the required levels for a long time, and the fields remained waterlogged for a long time.
Planting was started when the soil temperature reached 12-14 ° C, the potatoes were planted to a depth of 15 cm. The air temperature during the period of work averaged 12-13 ° C (only May 20-21 was noticeably colder). It is worth noting that during the landing, windy weather was often recorded, but precipitation bypassed.
COMBINATION
By the time we needed to switch to crest formation, the colds returned to the region: the temperature dropped to 5-7 ° C, a strong wind was blowing, and in some places snow was falling. In the following days, rains began in the area, but the type and condition of the soil in the fields made it possible to avoid downtime. Ridding was carried out in the required agronomic terms.
HERBICIDAL TREATMENT
After completing the work on combing, we promptly carried out pre-emergence treatment of plantings with herbicides (Zenkor 0,6l / ha + Boxer 3l / ha). Processing was carried out on moist soil or after rain, which allowed to maximize the effectiveness of the preparations. The work was carried out using a Hardi sprayer equipped with a Twin system.
FEATURES OF GROWING VARIETIES AT EARLY STAGES OF VEGETATION
Bernice
Mid-season table variety. Tubers actively grow from the moment they hit the ground (stolons grow above the mother tuber, especially in dry spring), therefore, when planting, they must be placed at a distance of 14-15 cm from each other. With this variety, we began planting in 2018. After 25 days, we observed friendly green shoots.
MADEIRA
High quality mid-early table variety.
Shoots appear very quickly, plants develop intensively and in a short time “catch up” with previously planted potatoes. Depth of landing - 12 cm.
By the first decade of June, potatoes of this variety showed excellent results (although in the first weeks after planting, the growth rate was slightly restrained by the lack of moisture, there was not enough rain).
IN THE COLLECTION
Very early table variety. If you want potatoes of this variety to grow faster, you need to warm the tubers before planting. In the ground, the potato stays at rest for some time, but then actively picks up sprouts.
RED SCARLETT
An early red-cheeked table variety, one of the most popular in Russia.
Due to the cold weather, this season developed more slowly than usual. However, two weeks after planting, farm specialists noted the appearance of a large number of stolons on tubers.
COLOMBA
Super early table grade. It was planted under the most favorable conditions (planting occurred in the warmest period), gave amicable shoots that outpaced the seedlings of the previously planted Red Scarlett variety in growth.
ORDER OF SLEEP
Very early red-cutlery table variety.
Planting took place at the time of cooling, which slowed down the process of germination of tubers. As a result, ridge formation in this area was carried out two days later than previously scheduled.
APPROBATION. PHYTROCLEANERS.
By mid-July, the potato fields of the farm bloomed. Earlier than others, Red Scarlett potatoes were pleased with the flowering, from which we started the testing procedure (work was carried out with specialists from the Rosselkhoztsentr).
Also, from that moment on, phyto-cleanings were organized on all varieties. I want to emphasize that this year we planted very high-quality elite material, there were few diseased plants, in general, the number of removed plants for varieties did not exceed 0,5-1%.
Employees who had passed special training on the farm were involved in the phyto-cleaning work. Their activities were supervised by specialists with many years of experience in growing potatoes.
In accordance with the potato protection scheme, treatments with fungicides and insecticides were carried out (on average, five times per season for each variety). In addition, after each treatment with insecticides, we organized the processing of fields with mineral oil - to protect the plants from insects.
All our varieties have been successfully tested in seed inspection, respectively, the entire volume of potatoes grown on the farm received the status of seed material.
PREPARING FOR CLEANING
It should be noted that the cold beginning of June and a relatively small amount of precipitation in the subsequent period led to the fact that almost all varieties started to produce a small amount of tubers per plant. For example, by the tuberization coefficient, the Colomba variety is medium (8-10 pcs. Per bush), this year it formed 5-6 tubers. Therefore, we were faced with the task of not overgrowing the tubers above the seed fraction. Controlling the situation, we conducted weekly digging in all varieties to determine the size of the tubers. During the examinations, it was determined that the potatoes are characterized by comparative homogeneity: the run up in calibers is small.
The last digging took place on July 30, it showed that almost all tubers correspond to the size of the seed fraction, after which we decided to remove the tops.
For several years now, we have been practicing the use of desiccant not in one pass, but in two - in order to better dry the massive tops.
This year, we encountered small difficulties in removing the tops of Red Scarlett potatoes: the plants formed such a powerful ground part that it could not be dried in two applications of desiccant, we also had to use a topper.
The start of harvesting is scheduled for early September. After harvesting, samples of each variety will be sent to the laboratory for testing for viral infections, but we will talk more about this in the next article.