One of the most common and commonly used vegetables in us is undoubtedly potatoes. Among the rich variety of its varieties, the Tale variety has a special place. About what this potato is good about, the rules for its cultivation will be discussed in the proposed material.

Description and description of the variety Fairy Tale

Potato variety Skazka is the result of joint work of the breeding company LiGa and the State Scientific Institution Leningrad Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture Belogorka. The variety was bred in 2004 from the genetic material of the parental varieties S.vernei, S.demissum, and S. tuberosum. This is an early variety; harvesting can begin as early as 85 days after planting.

Did you know? Homeland of potato — South America, where the Indians began to cultivate it more than 4 thousand years ago.

The plant is characterized by medium stature (bush height up to 0.7 m), erect, non-sprawling stems (which makes it convenient for hilling). Inflorescences formed on the stem (of 3-4 flowers) have a pale purple color. Light yellow small oval tubers, smooth, eyes small. Under the peel - white flesh, slowly darkening to clean.

Advantages and disadvantages

• The indisputable advantages of Tales are:
• early ripening;
• high productivity;
• good transportability and ability to store tubers;
• excellent taste;
• universality of use in cooking;
• ease of care;
• resistance to diseases;
• It is widely used in folk medicine, mainly due to the high content of potassium, which allows you to remove excess salts and water from the body. With the help of the Tale, gastritis, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are treated, the variety is recommended for heart failure and other ailments.

• Cons of the variety are:
• unsuitability for cultivating two crops in one season;
• low productivity and insufficient drought tolerance during cultivation in the southern regions.

Planting and growing potatoes

The agricultural technology of the variety is not in itself complicated, but, nevertheless, it must be known and observed. This will be discussed.

Did you know? According to the International Potato Center, located in the capital of Peru, there are over 7 thousand varieties of this vegetable in the world.

Optimal landing times

The best planting times are the first days of May, at a daytime ambient temperature from + 10 ° С to + 15 ° С and soil temperature +7 ... + 8 ° С.

Crop rotation rules

Desired predecessors of Fairy Tales at the planting site are cereals, legumes, root crops, cabbage or cucumbers. But at the place where tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and zucchini were previously cultivated, it is not recommended to cultivate the Tale. However, if you change the place of planting potatoes there is no way and you have to plant on the site of an undesirable predecessor.Then you need to sow peas in August on this site, firstly, it will enrich the soil with nitrogen, secondly, the crop will become a good predecessor, and thirdly, by October, grown peas will turn into green fertilizer when plowing.

Soil requirements

The most favorable soil for this variety is chernozem, sandy loam or loamy soil. Before planting in autumn, soil preparation is carried out, which consists in the following:

1. On the eve of plowing the site, the soil is fertilized with humus or compost, based on 1 m² of soil, 0.5 buckets of fertilizer. In case of lack of humus - you can sprinkle ammonium nitrate or double superphosphate - 25 g per 1 m² of soil.
2. Then the plowing of the site to a depth of 0.3 m is performed.

Important! With a lack of planting material, it is allowed to divide one potato into two parts.

Preparing planting material

The preparation of planting material begins 30 days before the immediate planting. Material for germination — potatoes weighing 60–70 g — is extracted and taken from the storehouse. The selected material is soaked for 10 hours in warm water — this restores moisture lost during winter storage.After that, they begin to germinate, which is carried out indoors at a temperature of + 15 ° C: prepared tubers in 2–4 layers are placed in boxes, and each layer is covered with moistened sawdust - this helps to develop the root system well.

Landing technology

The depth and pattern of planting potatoes Tale entirely depends on the type of soil:

1. Light sandy loamy soil - digging a landing hole with a depth of 10-15 cm and a distance of 25 cm from each other in a checkerboard pattern.
2. Heavy clay soil - a landing furrow of 5 cm depth is cut into which the seed material is put and filled with soil from the aisle. The distance between the rows is from 60 to 70 cm, which guarantees sufficient illumination of the plantings and will facilitate subsequent care.

Video: planting potatoes

Features of care for the variety after planting

The care of the Tale does not present any difficulties. It consists in the necessary and timely replenishment, watering, weeding and hilling. Consider these agrotechnical requirements in detail.

Important! When planting in each well, to stimulate growth and improve the fruiting of potatoes, it is necessary to fill up half a glass of wood ash.

Fertilizer

In order for the potato to produce a plentiful harvest and tolerate long storage, it needs to be fertilized. Feed is important for the culture due to its weak root system and the large number of tubers of different sizes. Therefore, the correctness of the selection and application of top dressing is of particular importance. Potatoes Tale need to be fed every 10-15 days. The fundamental rule is to apply fertilizer to wet soil - after good rain or heavy watering.Ideal - after moisturizing, but before hilling. At the beginning of the growing season after the appearance of the first seedlings, nitrogen fertilizers are applied: dissolved in 10 l of water 1 tbsp. urea spoon; feed consumption - a bucket of 20 bushes. On the eve of hilling, a mixture of 1 liter of chicken manure diluted in 10 liters of water is introduced.

Did you know? Potatoes can be cooked over 2000 dishes.

The composition is watered exclusively with the roots of the potato; the mixture that has fallen on the leaves is removed. Towards the end of flowering, foliar phosphate top dressing is done by spraying in 100 l of 1 kg of superphosphate by spraying on a 100 m² plot. This recharge has a positive effect on yield and increases the amount of starch in tubers.

Watering

Potatoes are extremely sensitive both to deficiency and to excess moisture, so timely and proper watering should be given special attention. Potatoes are watered 5 to 7 times a season, and the first moderate watering is carried out after the bushes are formed; the time interval between irrigation is 7-10 days. The main sign of the need for watering is the drying of the turf to a depth of 6 cm. When watering, you need to moisten the soil with moisture up to 0.5 m, the optimal method of watering is drip, if this is impossible to provide, they are watered “under the bush”.

Weeding

For normal growth, potato tubers need:

1. Air access (aeration).
2. Moderate humidity.
3. Soft, well-loosened soil.

For many weeds, the root system is stronger than for potatoes and they grow well in the area prepared for potatoes, while intensively pulling valuable substances intended for potatoes from the soil, slowing the growth of the crop.

Important! If no protective actions are taken in time, diseases can ruin the appearance of the tubers, or even completely destroy the potato crop.

Weeding allows you to:

1. Remove plants that impede the normal development of potatoes.
2. Fluff the soil, thereby creating a convenient environment for potato tubers to grow.
3. Create conditions for access to air and moisture tubers.

The beds with the Fairy Tale need to be weeded 3-4 times during the season, and, the first time, when the sprouts are stretched 2-4 cm above the ground.

For weeding, you can use:

• simple tools for manual cultivation - for example, hoes, plane cutters;
• cultivators;
• motoblocks.

Hilling

Hilling involves moving soil from row spacing to stems, forming ridges. On the sprinkled segment of stems, secondary stolon roots grow, which form an additional level of tubers. Potato is staked twice: first - 14-15 days after emergence; the second - on the eve of the beginning of flowering. As a rule, along with tumbling, soil loosening is also carried out.

Diseases and Pests

Diseases and harmful insects in a short time can cause considerable damage to the garden economy. The variety is most susceptible to damage:

• late blight;
• black scab (rhizoctonia);
• L virus.

Consider these diseases, as well as preventive measures and ways to combat them.

Late blight - a fungal disease that spreads rapidly, especially in rainy and warm weather.

Signs of the disease:

1. Yellowing leaves.
2. The acquisition of a brown stalk.
3. In the later stages - drying of the tops.
4. The appearance of dark spots on tubers.

The disease halves the yield. Treatment - potassium and phosphorus feeds, protection of the culture with Radomil and Agate preparations.

Black scab. The whole plant is affected, the development of the shoots is inhibited, the death of the entire bush is possible. The conditions for the spread of the disease are increased soil moisture, as well as its warming up more than + 18 ° С.

Signs of the disease:

1. Appearance on tubers of spots in the form of a grid.
2. Thinning the stem.
3. Growth retardation.

The disease reduces the yield from 10 to 40%. Treatment - fungicidal treatment of plants.

Prevention:

1. Compliance with crop rotation rules.
2. Careful selection of planting material and culling affected tubers.

L virus. Most common in regions with high humidity. The disease is transmitted through aphids that directly transmit the virus.

Signs of the disease:

1. Brightening the tops.
2. Twisting the top leaves.
3. Fragility of leaves.
4. Acquisition of the back side of a sheet of silver.

The disease reduces yield by 70%.

Did you know? The most expensive potato variety is La Bonnotte, its price is about 500 euros per 1 kg. This potato is grown only on the small island of Noirmoutier in France, its harvest — no more than one centner per year.

Treatment:

1. Soil and planting preparations designed to combat aphids.

Prevention:

1. Careful selection of planting material and culling affected tubers.
2. Careful harvesting, culling and removal of affected tubers.

Of the harmful insects, the varieties are most dangerous:

• Colorado beetle;
• a bear;
• wireworm.

Let's talk about these pests, as well as measures to combat them.

Did you know? In the general ranking of world agriculture, only wheat, rice and corn are higher than potatoes.

Colorado beetle. It affects the tops. A female beetle can lay about one thousand eggs, from which in summer hatched larvae can eat whole leaves, then pupate, turn into a beetle and fly away to lay new offspring.

Control measures for this harmful insect:

1. If the plot is small - manual collection of insects: beetles are collected in containers, and then burned.
2. Processing with pesticides (for example, Inta-Vir, Killer, Stop Beetle, etc.). The site is treated several times a season and with an interval of 15–20 days. Adult insects and their larvae after processing die during the first day.
3. Treatment with biological products (for example, "Agrovertin", "Bitobaxicillin"). Spraying is done once every 14 days. Preparations do not harm the environment and other insects, but destroy pests within 3-5 days.
4. The use of phytoncides (plants that repel harmful insects with their sweetness), planted around the perimeter of the site - calendula, nasturtium, marigold, tansy.
5. The use of folk remedies, for example, dusting with ashes or spraying with various infusions.

Medvedka - a large harmful insect that is underground and eats tubers and roots.

Measures to combat the bear:

1. The use of volatile - marigold, chrysanthemum and marigold.
2. In autumn, the transfer of heaps of manure, where the bears are located for the winter. When moving such heaps, the manure freezes, the bears die.
3. Catching insects with the smell of beer or honey.

Wireworm. Damage from these insects can be detected only during harvesting - the abundance in the tubers of bacteria-infected passages, which upon subsequent storage of the vegetable provoke its rot.

Control measures for wireworms:

1. The use of fungicides - marigolds and legumes.
2. Deoxidation of the soil (the pest loves acidic soils) using chalk, lime and ash.
3. The elimination of the nursery pest - wheatgrass.

Harvesting and storage

Tales are harvested in early September. A week before the start of the harvest, potato tops mow down - this is done so that the nutrients from the roots go to the tubers. The harvested crop is dried for 4–5 hours in the open air, sorted, unsuitable and affected by diseases (pests) are discarded and sent for storage.A variety is stored, usually in a cellar. The first month in the storage place it is necessary to maintain a temperature of + 15 ° С, during this time the vegetable will be prepared for winter, its peel will thicken and the wounds will be tightened, then the storage temperature should be reduced to + 12 ... + 13 ° С. Potato variety Tale, subject to the recommended agricultural standards, is able to please an abundant harvest of excellent taste and versatile vegetable.