Potato Manifesto. Even before the onset of the new season, summer residents and gardeners begin to plan future plantings and are actively interested in new varieties of agricultural crops. No one wants to lose crops due to pests, droughts, prolonged rains or some other natural surprise. Particular attention is paid to potatoes, because they are called the second bread for a reason.
Most farmers annually look for new varieties for planting, resistant to diseases and pests, unpretentious to growing conditions and at the same time high-yielding varieties of this crop. Thanks to modern breeding, such a task is quite feasible. The greatest interest in recent years has been caused by the Manifest potato variety bred in Belarus, which meets all of the above requirements. It got into the State Register of the Russian Federation quite recently, only in 2014, and today this potato is successfully grown in many regions of our country.
Potato Manifest: variety description
The bushes of this culture reach a height of 50 cm and are distinguished by almost erect stems. The leaf plate is medium in size, has a rich green hue, an even surface and a barely noticeable waviness along the edge. The flowers are lilac, with a weakly expressed anthocyanin tint on the inner side of the corolla.
The root system of plants of this variety is well developed, up to 15 tubers with an average weight of 110-130 g are formed in one bush. Under favorable conditions, the weight of one potato can exceed 150 g. The shape of the fruit is oval, slightly elongated. The tubers are covered with a smooth light red skin, their eyes are small, of a more intense shade. The pulp pleases the eye with a pleasant pale yellow (amber) color. The starch content is average, this figure ranges from 11 to 15%.
Manifesto potatoes have excellent yield indicators – up to 400 c / ha, and this is far from the limit. According to the assurances of Belarusian breeders, under favorable weather conditions and correct agricultural technology, more than 700 centners of this potato can be harvested from one hectare. Can you trust them? Numerous grateful reviews of gardeners have long dispelled doubts about the high yield of the variety. Those who have been cultivating it for several years have noticed that the Manifesto grows best on light soils. For example, loose loam. It can be successfully grown on heavy soils, but in this case, the costs of the corresponding agrotechnical measures increase.
Taste characteristics, as well as yield, are also at their best. Tubers have a universal culinary purpose. You can cook a variety of dishes from them, from everyone’s favorite puree to all kinds of potato casseroles. They are also suitable for adding to salads. The fried potatoes of the Manifest table variety have an excellent taste. It turns out fragrant, soft on the inside, with a delicious crispy crust on the outside. It is also worth noting the average boilability of this potato, which the housewives really like.
Among the disadvantages of the variety, one can name a relatively low keeping quality – 94%, but against the background of all its advantages, this is not so critical. Subject to all storage rules, this figure can be much higher.
Peculiarities of growing
Landing
This is one of the most important stages that you need to prepare for in advance. To create optimal conditions for plant growth, the site is prepared in the fall – organic matter is introduced (40-50 kg per hundred square meters) and the earth is dug up. In early spring, immediately after the snow melts, it is recommended to improve the nutritional properties of the soil by introducing mineral fertilizing. For example, nitroammophoska at the rate of 4 kg / weaving. Directly during planting, a little wood ash is added to each hole, which improves the development of plants.
Before planting, it is recommended to treat the planting material with solutions of different actions:
- copper sulfate (increases the immunity of tubers to many crop diseases);
- boric acid (protects against rhizoctonia, a dangerous fungal disease that can manifest itself in cold weather).
In general, planting tubers begin to be prepared a month or even a month and a half before planting. What should be done?
- Conduct an audit and select too small potatoes, as well as specimens with mechanical damage or signs of disease. The optimal size of tubers for planting is 4-6 cm.
- Place the planting material in boxes (3-4 layers) and leave in a bright room for germination.
- Before planting, select tubers with thick, strong shoots and discard those that have not sprouted.
The best time for planting the Manifest variety in the ground is the first half of May. Depending on the climatic characteristics of each individual region, this event may be held earlier or later. Establishment of stable warm weather should be considered a signal to it.
Most farmers agreed that for the Manifesto potatoes, the ridge method with a 30-centimeter distance between the potatoes and a ridge height of up to 30 cm is best suited. According to observations, it provides several advantages at once. First, the yield increases significantly. Secondly, the ridge method allows you to preserve the loose structure of the soil. Well, the third advantage is that the first shoots on potato beds will appear 1-2 weeks earlier.
Care of plantings
The most time consuming process at this stage of growing is weed control. As a rule, gardeners are limited to one or more weeding, but you can make their work easier with selective (selective) herbicides. These are special chemicals for the destruction of unnecessary vegetation. I must say that not all site owners are ready to use them in their beds, and there are very good reasons for this. The less chemistry in the garden, the more environmentally friendly the harvest.
Manifest potatoes love moisture, especially during the period of active growth of tubers. To get a good harvest, it is advisable to spend two or three watering from the moment budding begins. Sprinkler irrigation is recognized as the most effective method of irrigation, in which water is distributed evenly and economically. If the season is rainy, then this procedure is not necessary.
Sometimes, for one reason or another, it is not possible to carry out a full preparation of the soil for planting, namely, to fertilize it with high quality. Nothing wrong. You can feed the plants while they are growing. When the potato bushes reach a height of 10-12 cm, a mixture of organic matter and mineral fertilizer should be applied under the root. An excellent option is feeding from manure (1 kg) and superphosphate (st. Spoon), diluted in 10 liters of water. It is important to apply such dressing exclusively at the root, preventing the mixture from getting on the ground part of the plants.
Fighting diseases and pests
Manifest potatoes are quite resistant to common crop diseases such as late blight, golden nematode, common scab, wrinkled mosaic and others. As for pests, the greatest danger to planting is the potato moth, which should not be underestimated. Under optimal temperature conditions, which is 20-25 degrees, one generation of this insect develops in less than a month. The moth can destroy a significant part of the crop, making the tubers unusable. The main problem is that the butterfly itself is quite difficult to detect; its presence can be determined only by indirect signs – cobwebs on bushes and decaying leaves. To 100% make sure that the planting was attacked by this pest, you need to dig up the damaged plant and cut one of the tubers. There will be narrow passages in the pulp and under the skin, cut by the larvae of the potato moth.
How to deal with it? A drug that can completely destroy this pest has not yet been created, but it is quite possible to reduce its number in the beds. This will help special preparations lepidocid, bitoxibacillin or dendrobacillin. The processing of the bushes is carried out before the first ovaries appear. How to use the listed means, the instructions on the package will tell you.
Another serious enemy of both the Manifesto and other potato varieties is the Colorado potato beetle. You can fight him and his larvae in different ways. Someone prefers alternative methods, even such as the collection of pests by hand, followed by destruction outside the site, while someone goes the easier way and uses modern chemicals.
Harvesting and storage of crops
Manifesto potatoes are harvested when the ground part of the plants dries out by 60-70%. It is advisable to mow the tops 10-12 days before harvesting so that the skin on the tubers becomes denser. This will increase their keeping quality. For harvesting, it is worth choosing a warm, but cloudy day, since in the sun the potatoes will begin to wither, which will negatively affect their appearance and taste. In addition, such potatoes are poorly stored.
Potatoes dried in a shaded place are sorted, seed material is selected for planting in the next season, diseased tubers are culled and destroyed. The cut and deformed ones will not end up in storage either, they must be used first. For example, for livestock feed.
You can store the crop in nets or boxes at a temperature of 3 to 5 degrees and a humidity of 80-90%. For this, a ventilated, frost-protected basement or cellar is suitable.
In conclusion
The taste of Manifesto potatoes will satisfy even the most demanding gourmet. If we add to this unpretentiousness in cultivation, resistance to droughts, immunity to many diseases and high yield of this variety, then we can safely call it one of the best results of breeding work. It remains only to express our deep gratitude to our neighbors, Belarusians.
