There is often debate among farmers about what constitutes a potato’s tall tops. However, there is no single standard. To understand how the culture should look in this case, you need to study the description of the variety and see its photo. There are several reasons for the active growth of the ground part of the bush, and they are not always pathological. What to do in a given situation and is it possible to cut the tops. Advice from experienced farmers will help you decide what to do next.
The value of the ground part of the potato and its normal length
A person eats tubers obtained as a result of complex biochemical processes in plants. To them, useful substances come from the roots and foliage. Nutrition goes from the soil to the tuber, and the leaves participate in photosynthesis. Experienced farmers know that a lot of potatoes (and large ones) are formed on bushes with dense and powerful shoots. Thin and weak stems indicate an impending crop failure. Healthy-looking shrubs mean potatoes will last until spring.
The ground part is necessary for the plant. Underground shoots are formed when the first buds appear. And at the same time, small tubers are formed. In early varieties, they appear before the inflorescences. When flowering ends, tubers begin to build up mass. At the same time, they concentrate in themselves the necessary substances (including vitamins and starch).
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Young potatoes have a thin, transparent peel. It will become coarse only when the leaves begin to wither and dry. The answer to the question of whether it is possible to cut the tops of potatoes, if it is long in young bushes, the answer will be negative. After mowing, the tubers stop growing, and the skin on them becomes denser.
Why are the shoots long
The norm of the length of shoots in different varieties may differ. So, if in some they grow up to 40 cm, then in others – up to 80 cm. Therefore, before you panic, you need to find out what length of potato tops is normal for the existing variety. Shoots that have grown much more than expected indicate that agricultural technologies have been violated. This can lead to crop failure.
Excess of nitrogen
Any fertilizers should be used in moderation. Nitrogen stimulates an increase in the ground part of the bush, but to the detriment of tubers. Often, gardeners add manure to the soil in autumn and spring, and then they also carry out additional fertilizing with nitrogen. Wanting to get a rich harvest, they only make things worse. The bushes begin to “fatten”, but the tubers remain small.
Attention!
The length of shoots over 80 cm usually occurs in violation of agricultural technologies or adverse weather conditions, and more than 1 m – with an excess of nitrogen.
Wrong Seed Selection
Agronomists advise taking for planting healthy and undamaged tubers the size of a chicken egg. It is a mistake to select massive potatoes, as they will give long shoots and small fruits. During planting and subsequent vegetation, the plant consumes nutrients from the seeds. And in large tubers, their supply is huge. Therefore, the plant will not grow roots and stolons with young potatoes for a long time. Root formation will begin when the nutrients in the seeds are depleted. At the same time, time will be lost and the tubers will not have time to increase and ripen by the due date of collection.
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Lack of sunlight
Bushes are tall, growing in the shade or partial shade. Competing with each other and trying to capture more light, they stretch upward. At the same time, the stems are weak, thin and light, albeit long. It also happens that potatoes grow in a sunny area, but too densely. This also leads to a lack of sunlight, and the shoots begin to grow and curl. In thickened rows, air circulates poorly, which leads to the development of infectious diseases. Tubers grown under these conditions remain small.
Unfavorable weather
Potatoes do not like cold or heat. Favorable air temperature for him is + 20-25ΒΊC. If the summer is warm and damp, the shoots are actively stretched out. All kinds of bushes, greenery and grass on the site are also growing rapidly. If the rains began in the second half of summer, the shoots may have a “second wind”. Then they will increase, drawing off nutrients from the fruit.
What to do
What to do with high tops in potatoes depends on the factors that led to this. If the variety you choose is tall, you don’t have to worry. In all other cases, you can try to take action. So, with an excess of nitrogen, the use of phosphorus will help. Then the plants will switch to it. It is necessary to dilute 300 g of superphosphate in 100 ml of hot water and add cold water to make a volume of 10 liters. The finished product should be poured under 20 bushes. It is also helpful for them to spray the leaves. Then the results will be faster. To enhance the effect of superphosphate under the bushes, you can scatter wood ash, mulch the beds with dry grass. Straw-processing bacteria consume nitrogen and, as a result, its content in the soil is reduced.
Attention!
Some manufacturers add nitrogen to superphosphate. With excessively high bushes, it is advisable to refuse this option.
If the presence of an elongated tops of a potato is explained by large seeds, it will not be possible to correct the situation. However, in the future, it is important to take into account the mistake made. As a last resort, the seeds can be cut up and then sprinkled with ash. It will not be possible to correct the situation if the bushes are stretched out in the shade or the problem arose due to unfavorable weather. The only thing that can be done in this case is to gently bend the tops of the potatoes after flowering. Then their lengthening will slow down. For about 2 weeks they will be under stress and the strength of the bush will go to tuberization.
The need for mowing
Whether it is necessary to trim the tops of a potato if it is too long depends on the situation. It happens that itβs time to dig up the tubers in time, but the leaves still donβt turn yellow and donβt dry out. In this case, it is necessary to cut the tops of the potatoes. This will stimulate the build-up of the thick skin required for long-term storage. This is also true in the case when a farmer living in a region with a cool climate has planted a late variety of potatoes that turn green until autumn. Such varieties do not always ripen in the middle lane, not to mention, for example, Siberia. With late blight, mowing is also necessary. If this is not done, the fungus will spread from the leaves to the tubers, there will be an epidemic. And this is fraught with crop failure. With late blight, the shoots are mowed carefully so as not to spread the infection. After removal, they are burned.
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You can cut the tops of potatoes if at first it turned yellow, but then, due to the rains, it came to life again and began to grow. This will allow the already formed tubers to receive a sufficient amount of nutrients. In general, mowing will result in the following:
- all the forces of the bush will go to the ripening of tubers;
- the quality of the potatoes will increase and they will be better stored;
- the risk of developing infections will decrease (this is especially true in rainy weather);
- the soil will dry out and it will be easier to dig.
Timing of mowing
An early variety of potatoes is cut when 60-70% of the leaves turn yellow at the tops. Shoots can be removed from late varieties no earlier than a month after flowering and no later than 3 weeks before frost. The ideal time for this is 2 weeks before the planned excavation. This period is enough for the skin to become coarse, and the tubers could be dug out without fear of mechanical damage.
Attention!
If the ground part of the potato has died off by itself, it is necessary to dig up the tubers within 20 days. Otherwise, its taste will deteriorate, and the shelf life will be reduced.
Stunted bushes
As in the case of tall plants, there is no need to panic with stunted bushes. You should familiarize yourself with the features of the available variety. After all, there are undersized varieties for which a height of up to 40 cm is the norm. But despite this, they can produce about 25 large tubers per bush. Although not always everything is so rosy.
Sometimes short stature indicates a deficiency of micro- and macroelements (primarily phosphorus) in the soil. At the same time, the number of tubers decreases. To confirm the presumptive diagnosis, you need to dig up the potatoes and cut them. With phosphorus starvation, a purple tint will be present on the cut. It is recommended to use superphosphate to eliminate this problem.
Reviews
Catherine
We have been planting potatoes for the fifth year, but we saw excessively tall shoots for the first time last year. I didn’t measure it with a ruler, but it was more than a meter – that’s for sure. And it happened so because it was abundantly fertilized with manure. When they realized that it was an excess of nitrogen, they added phosphorus, potassium and magnesium to the soil. As a result, we got the number of tubers typical for our variety.
Bogdan
2 years ago I first encountered the tallness of potato bushes. They began to fatten because of the constant rains. Then I learned that the bushes need to be bent, and when spraying the plant from the Colorado potato beetle, add a teaspoon of Sudarushka or Ryazanochka micronutrient fertilizer. And it helped. There were a lot of potatoes and they were big. 2 weeks before digging, cut off the shoots. Thanks to this, the fruits were stored longer than usual.
Conclusion
The number and weight of tubers are not always interrelated with the length of the shoots. There are many tall varieties for which long shoots are the norm. Moreover, their tubers are medium or even large. You need to worry when the usual variety is excessively stretched, and the fruits, on the contrary, are lagging behind in growth. In such cases, the identification of pathological factors and their elimination are necessary.
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