What if the potatoes have large tops?

Perhaps the most common vegetable crop in our country is the potato. Despite the fact that this plant has long been known to agriculture, it is not always possible to get a good harvest of root crops. The reason for this may be a large tops of potatoes. What leads to the growth of green mass, as well as how to deal with it, our today's article will tell you.

Potato leaves are not the edible part of the plant. However, it is a valuable raw material for the creation of organic fertilizers through the use of composting or burning to ash. And also it is used to prepare infusions of traditional medicine in order to combat certain insect pests. At the same time, high and plentiful green mass can negatively affect the yield. The fact is that in a situation where the potato has a well-developed tops, its root crops are formed small. In this case, the plant spends all its energy on forcing greenery, leaving quite grains on the underground part, for which the gardener plants this crop. Although this situation is not always possible. Whether or not potatoes will be small with high tops depends on many factors.

The following moments can lead to a situation where the greens of the potato grow very much:

It is worth noting that a lot of tops do not always mean a bad harvest. This may well be a feature of a particular variety. However, in order not to lose the potato crop, you still need to know what to do in this situation.

Video "Potato Care"

From the video you will learn how to care for the root crop.

What to do

When growing any vegetable crop, it is necessary to know the features of caring for it in order to prevent the appearance of pests, the development of diseases and a decrease in plant fertility. Potatoes do not require too much care to achieve excellent returns in the form of large and tasty root vegetables. But there are times when certain measures must be taken so as not to lose the crop. One of these moments will be a huge potato bush (more than 80 cm). If the greenery is actively growing, then this indicates that adjustments need to be made in the care of plantings.

Situations where the tops are higher than a meter indicate too much nitrogen in the soil. In this case, you need to adjust the top dressing. With the normalization of nutrients in the soil, the tops, of course, will not decrease, but the process of tuberization will begin. The addition of 100 g of superphosphate diluted in 10 liters of water will stop the growth of the green mass and cause the plants to form tubers.

A growing potato bush must be properly fertilized to avoid active growth of its aerial part. To do this, top dressing should look like this:

• the first time top dressing is carried out immediately after the appearance of the first shoots. It is carried out using ammonium nitrate or urea. 10-15 g of the drug should be dissolved in 10 liters of water. You need to know that during the autumn or spring refueling of the soil with manure, fertilizers are not applied for the first time in order to prevent excess nitrogen in the soil;
• further top dressing is carried out after hilling. The second time fertilizers are applied at a tops height of 20-25 cm (20-30 g of nitrophoska are scattered between rows). If the soil is well fertilized, no more fertilizers are needed. During the summer, some gardeners carry out foliar feeding several times, which saturate the earth with phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and other trace elements.

It is worth noting that foliar top dressing can be combined with spraying bushes from phytophthora and the Colorado potato beetle.

If you cannot determine what caused the forcing of the bushes, then the tops can simply be crushed and bent down. Such manipulations will lead to the fact that the potatoes will stop growing for at least two weeks, which will give a chance for normal tuberization. The method is very popular with gardeners, as it does not require additional costs for fertilizers, stimulants, and also takes little time.

You can just remove the greens. To date, there are two ways to remove the aerial part of the potato:

Both haulm removal methods can be applied a week before mowing. Such an algorithm of work will make it possible to remove all shoots and stems more efficiently and easily, without damaging the root crops or garden tools. This is especially important for varieties that form powerful and strong stems and leaves.

It is worth noting that in the presence of prolonged rainy weather, the tops may begin to re-form. In this case, it can be re-treated with special chemical solutions. Before this, you need to again carry out a mechanical removal option.

Also, one of the methods for increasing the yield of bushes is mowing the tops. But here you need to know when you can mow potato tops.

Haulm mowing after flowering

You can mow the tops of potato bushes after the plant stops flowering. Until this moment, it is better not to touch the aerial part of the bushes, as this may affect their yield.

It is worth noting that mowing the tops of potatoes after flowering is an important point in the harvesting process. This procedure is carried out for the following reasons:

• removal of green mass stimulates the ripening of root crops;
• improves the quality of the fruit;
• furrows and beds dry out sooner;
• reduces the risk of infection of tubers with diseases, the carriers of which may be on the tops (for example, phytophthora). Mowing the aerial part of the bush serves as a good prevention of various diseases, and also allows you to get rid of pests that have not yet had time to move from the tops to the soil for wintering. But it is impossible to determine the infection of tubers from healthy ones, since at this stage the disease does not manifest itself in any way;
• increasing the shelf life of potatoes in the basement.

In addition, mowing the tops greatly simplifies the further collection of potatoes. However, in order to get all the benefits described above, it is necessary to clearly know when to carry out this procedure. Otherwise, your efforts will not bring the expected result. Experienced gardeners advise harvesting greens at least two weeks before the expected harvest date. You can find information that this process can be carried out a week before digging potatoes. But also a week before mowing, you need to wait in a situation if the bushes have been treated with fungicides. A slight delay, especially in the presence of rainy weather, can lead to massive infection of tubers due to the strong accumulation of fungal spores on infected leaves.

When mowing tops, it must be remembered that pathogens, as well as pests, can exist in the soil for a long time. Therefore, to prevent infection of the fetus, an integrated approach should be taken. It involves not only the removal of the green mass of bushes, but also the cultivation of the soil. To treat the crop from pathogenic microflora and pests, it is necessary to use fungicides. In this case, chemicals can do an excellent job of protecting root crops from harmful microorganisms.

Mowing should be carried out only after the end of the budding period. If you do this procedure during flowering, you can slow down the tuberization process.

As you can see, large tops of potato bushes in most cases lead to a decrease in yield. Therefore, the tops must be monitored to prevent its growth.

Video "Mowing"

From the video you will learn how to mow the tops.

Svetlana