Pre-planting treatment of potato tubers โ€“

At the beginning of each season, any potato grower is again faced with the question โ€“ how and how to protect plants from diseases? With a wide selection of protective equipment, you always want it to be profitable and reliable. And in modern conditions โ€“ still get not only a large, but also a high-quality harvest. Against the background of a high level of production and a wealth of choice (and as a result โ€“ competition), prices for potatoes are no longer so different. And you must admit that with a small difference in cost, the buyer will give preference to a higher quality product โ€“ even, clean, homogeneous.

Modern plant protection products (PPP) are not only a fight against diseases, but often โ€“ a groundwork for improving the quality of the crop. The yield of potatoes in different regions averages from 120 to 600 c / ha โ€“ depending on the production conditions. And here is the decision of the potato producer himself, what he wants to get: a high harvest, but spending more effort and money on its production, or, having invested a minimum of funds, be content with a minimum harvest. As practice shows, there are fewer and fewer โ€œeconomicalโ€ manufacturers, since with minimal investment, product quality is lower, and competitiveness, respectively, is also lower. Moreover, the companies โ€“ manufacturers of plant protection products are finding new solutions that optimize the protection process by, for example, creating multicomponent drugs that expand the spectrum of protection, or drugs that act for a longer time.

Quality requirements for seed potatoes

The quality of the seed is essential. Until recently, the quality of seeds produced in our country left much to be desired, and potato growers who wanted to get high-quality potatoes were forced to buy imported seed material. And this, in turn, led to unpredictable results, since along with the seeds, diseases and pests that had not been encountered here before fell into our fields. Therefore, establishing the production of our own high-quality seeds is one of the most important tasks of potato growers. Recently, the situation has begun to change for the better โ€“ agricultural firms are being created, aimed only at the production of seeds. And for our seeds to be competitive, it is necessary that they meet international standards. And here also the plant protection products used for their production are of great importance.

Many agricultural producers grow potatoes after potatoes, use seed material of dubious quality, without doing its phytosanitary examination for the presence of latent infestation. All this further leads to the accumulation of infection in the soil and in the tubers of the new crop, therefore, special attention should be paid to the pre-planting preparation of tubers.

The main pre-planting activities include: rejection of infected tubers, wilting, germination with greening, air-thermal heating, treatment of tubers with pesticides. It is necessary to use only certified seed material, since strict quality requirements are imposed on it.

What happens to the crop from planting to emergence?

In the period from planting to emergence, the mother tuber is a source of nutrients that provide growth processes for roots, stems and leaves. Germination begins from the upper eyes, and usually one bud of the eye starts to grow. Breaking off the sprouts of sprouted tubers adversely affects the growth and development of potatoes and leads to a weakening of the growth process of the tuber.

Environmental requirements for germination

Air and soil temperature. Intensive germination of tubers begins at a soil temperature at a planting depth (6โ€“12 cm) of 7โ€“8 ยฐ ะก. The higher the soil temperature, the faster the seedlings appear. It has been established that the awakening of the buds of the tuber eyes begins at a temperature of about 5 ยฐ C heat. When potatoes are planted in soil heated to less than 6 ยฐ C, the germination process stops. The sprouts become thin, brittle and more vulnerable to fungal and bacterial diseases. The most dangerous during this period are fusarium, black leg and rhizoctonia.

Pre-planting treatment of potato tubers -Moisture. At the first stage of growth and development, from planting to the beginning of budding, potatoes are the least picky about soil moisture conditions. However, excess moisture during this period negatively affects potatoes. Optimal conditions for potato growth are created when soil moisture is 70โ€“80%.

The soil. The most suitable are sandy, sandy loam and loamy soils containing at least 2% humus. German researchers have found that the difference in starch-la content in tubers depends on the type of soil and can reach 3% or more. On clayey and boggy soils, the starch content is lower. Good harvests are obtained on stony soils, but machinery and harvesting are excluded due to the high wear and tear of machines and high costs.

Mineral nutrition. In the early stages of their development, potatoes do not require special mineral nutrition, since the supply of necessary substances is contained in the planting tuber.

Depth of landing. In areas of sufficient moisture, the optimal planting depth of tubers on light soils is 8-10 cm, on heavy soils โ€“ 6-8 cm, in arid regions โ€“ 12-14 cm. Planting small tubers should be 2-3 cm less than medium tubers for good warmed and carefully worked soil

Pre-planting processing

Pre-planting processing โ€“ this is the primary and one of the most important measures in potato plant protection technology. Latent fungal infection and pest damage, especially in the first half of the growing season, negatively affect the quantity of the crop and its quality as a result. Preparations for pre-planting treatment, introduced into the soil, come to the rescue. The main task of such drugs is to protect mother tubers and seedlings from damage. In addition, this method is considered to be environmentally safer โ€“ the use of preparations for treating tubers reduces the load on the soil biocenosis by reducing the number of treatments during the growing season. (For example, treatment of tubers with systemic insecticidal disinfectants โ€“ neonicotinoids โ€“ inhibits the Colorado potato beetle and aphids up to 60 days after planting!) Insecticidal components of pre-planting preparations protect mother tubers and crops from damage by underground pests โ€“ wireworm, scoop and others. Fungicidal preparations for pre-planting treatment (fludioxonil, pencycuron, tiram, etc.) are intended to protect against soil fungal pathogens. If potato seeds have been infected with Rhizoctonia, the pre-planting treatment will protect the tubers of the new crop and prevent the infection from spreading in the soil.

Pre-planting treatment of potato tubers -The recommended way of using preparations for pre-planting treatment on potatoes is processing tubers on tables. This method provides better surface coverage and, as a result, quality control of protection. However, it requires special equipment, and not every potato grower will decide on additional expenses. A much more common way of using pre-planting preparations is to add them to the soil when planting potatoes. This method is cheaper, but has its own difficulties (for example, more complex quality control of tubers processing). And here the best way out is to use systemic or translaminar plant protection products (for example, azoxystrobin), which can not only locally affect the disease / pest, but also spread throughout the plant or in the soil, maintaining protective activity for a long time. For full protection, most manufacturers use both insecticidal and fungicidal preparations for pre-planting treatment.

Therefore, a fairly new trend in the production of preparations for pre-planting treatment โ€“ the emergence of two or more component preparations containing both insecticidal and fungicidal components โ€“ has become a pleasant surprise for manufacturers. Several manufacturers have already released such preparations, and they are increasingly used for pre-planting, displacing single-component products from the market. These innovations have a number of advantages: a wide range of action (simultaneous protection from insects and fungal diseases), ease of use (there is no need to mix the preparations on your own), acceptable cost (the price of multicomponent preparations for pre-planting treatment is usually lower than if it were necessary prepare a mixture of two separate preparations). As a result, the crop is not only protected, but also improves in quality, since many damage by pests and diseases occurs precisely at the early stage of potato growth.

Exit mobile version