An effective way to plant potatoes - under straw

Potatoes have been and remain one of the most important products on the table of all residents of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. The largest area of ​​the garden is allocated for its planting. Current biochemical technologies provide gardeners with a lot of means for plant care and protection. However, this is still chemistry, to one degree or another giving side effects both on the plant itself and on the soil. Therefore, our people are more inclined to use grandmother's secrets in the garden. One of these is planting potatoes under straw, a method that is gaining popularity today. It appeared on our territory back in the 19th century, was used by some peasants after the revolution, but it never got widespread.

Further in the article about the advantages of using the "potatoes under hay" method, how to properly plant and harvest potatoes and where to get straw for work.

Method advantages

Before you start planting potatoes under straw, you need to familiarize yourself with the advantages of this method.

The advantages of this method are:

• facilitating the work of the gardener: you no longer need to dig up the land and fiddle with the correct location of the pits, with hilling and weeding potato bushes;
• saving water: now worries about watering are a thing of the past;
• gluttonous Colorado beetles will no longer disturb your potatoes on the site;
• straw retains moisture, so even in a drought, the ground under it will not be dry;
• straw keeps the temperature balance: in hot or cold weather, your potatoes under the hay will feel great;
• thanks to straw, weeds cannot break out of the ground, and this saves your work and keeps the garden in order;

• carbon dioxide released during the decomposition of straw is good for root crops;
• in the decomposing straw, worms and various kinds of microorganisms multiply, which has a beneficial effect on the quality of the soil;
• due to the regular use of planting potatoes under straw, the volume of fertile soil will increase, and the yield will increase;
• potatoes under the hay dries out quickly even after rains, which means that you will not need to clear the crop from the soil adhering to it.

As you can see, there are many advantages of using this method of planting potatoes. The use of hay benefits both the tubers of the plant, the garden itself (soil), and the owner of the site, saving his time, effort and money, which could be spent on the purchase of funds to combat Colorado beetles.

Planting and harvesting instructions

Before you start considering the processes of planting and harvesting potatoes under the hay, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic conditions of this process. These are:

1. Adequate amount of hay. The location of the potatoes in the next few months should be covered with a layer of hay about 0.5 meters thick. Lack or overkill with the amount of hay will lead, respectively, to drying out of the soil or poor heating of the soil, which means a slowdown in plant growth.
2. Straw quality. Dense and packed hay will lead to disruption of gas and water exchange. Consequently, potatoes under hay will grow worse.
3. The quality and condition of the soil. The earth must have sufficient moisture. It is not difficult to check this: by placing your hand in the straw to the already planted potatoes, you should feel the moisture. If not, water the tuber.
4. The quality of the planting material itself.Use varietal potatoes and do not use store bought potatoes for consumption.

So you've decided to use the straw planting method. I will delight you, you do not need to dig up the earth, it will be enough to work with a hoe - so it will be looser and more fertile. We turn to the planting material: pre-selected and germinated, it is laid in rows on the site and covered with a layer of hay. As already mentioned, it must be at least 50 cm in thickness (from 50 to 70).

Before you start planting potatoes, at your discretion, you can apply additional measures:

• A little soil mixed with fertilizer can be poured over the tuber. Ash or manure can play its role. This will help rid the plant of diseases.
• In order for the hay to stay in place and not scatter, it needs to be lightly sprinkled with soil.
• In addition, you can dig small trenches (about 10 cm), dip the tubers in them and, accordingly, sprinkle them with hay. Thanks to the trench, seedlings will appear earlier.

After a while, when the sprouts grow 5 cm, you need to apply another layer of straw (15-20 cm). Only this must be done carefully so as not to damage the plant.

And in the fall, when the harvest is ripe, all that remains is to harvest it. This should be done when the tops are dry. Use a rake or hand to remove the layer of hay and harvest.

As you can see, it is quite easy to grow and harvest potatoes under the hay. Planting potatoes in straw is a pleasant and healthy chore.

Where can I get straw?

If the problem of lack of straw is acute enough, you can use all proven methods of obtaining it directly on your land.

So, first you need to divide the site in half. It turns out that you will alternate: in one half of the garden you plant potatoes in the usual way, in the other half immediately after the snow melts - peas or oats, you can also vetch. The earth is not dug up.

We leave everything that has grown in the first half of the plot (oats or peas) intact for the winter. We collect the planted potatoes.

After winter, you will have a wonderful layer of hay in your garden. It will then be used further: on this hay is laid for planting potato tubers. Only in straw for this you need to make small holes. Sprinkle the whole thing with earth (with a layer of up to 5 cm).

In the second half of the plot (where potatoes were grown using the standard method), oats, vetch or peas are now sown.

So, planting potatoes in hay is a fairly easy and ergonomic way to get a high-quality and environmentally friendly harvest. It does not require constant maintenance, the use of many fertilizers or special growing technologies. Yes, you can use a little fertilizer, but no chemicals (manure or ash). And numerous positive reviews about growing potatoes under hay speak about the effectiveness of this method.

Video "How to grow potatoes under hay or straw"

The woman tells and shows how to plant potatoes for hay, how they grow and how the harvest takes place.