How to grow potatoes in sacks, barrels? Potato field on the balcony

In spring all summer residents are rushing to their beds to stock up various vegetables. And how to grow potatoes for those who have a very small plot?

In the world there is a growing interest in various non-traditional ways of growing plants, including potatoes. One of them is the planting of potatoes in sacks or barrels. It is convenient for summer residents, who have a very small plot or bad soil on it.

Conditions for growing potatoes

It should not be forgotten that potatoes are a subtropical plant, and for its normal development and fruiting, it is necessary:

• Shine.
• Heat.
• Aerating (providing air access) to the roots.

Vertical way of growing

How to grow potatoes in bags? Due to what this method should work? The plant grows, and all of it is covered with earth. It is lengthened, and on the white stalk there are sprouts-stolons, on which the tubers will later become tied. As a result, there will be more, and if they manage to grow, then the harvest from one bush will be much higher than in the garden.

But the very cultivation of a long stem takes a month and a half. Will it have time to grow potatoes? And whether the bush will want to "pull out" all the formed tubers to the size we need? After all, each plant has its own load threshold.

Without providing good drainage how to grow potatoes in bags? Plants will rot and disappear. The opinion that woven plastic bags are good for water, controversial. Therefore, before you fall asleep in the ground, you need to check it. If the water does not pass or does it very slowly, you need to make holes in the bag for its outflow.

Bags

Sacks for potatoes can be taken special, written via the Internet for 20 euros. The testimonies indicate that some people do so. But most of the experimenters are adapting any woven bags left in the household from under sugar or flour.

Now on sale there are special Chinese bags, similar to backpacks. They are interesting in that they have a window on the Velcro from the side, through which the crop is poured in autumn. The price of one - about a thousand rubles.

You can use large checkered bags. Their advantage is the presence of pens. With their help, the "garden" can be moved from one place to another, if necessary. But the main advantage, of course, is the price, which bags are much lower.

They also use old buckets, barrels and boxes.

Varieties

There is no unequivocal opinion about which varieties can be grown in this way. Some gardeners offer early, but in the list below, there is potato Slavyanka, and her early can not be called.

In bags are offered to grow such varieties:

• Bellarose;
• Shante;
• Svitanok;
• Slav;
• Reliable;
• The Panyon.

Time of disembarkation

The landing time is chosen so that the street was warm. Planting of potatoes in bags is carried out at the end of April. Some truck farmers tried to do this in February, but the lack of sufficient light did not yield a harvest.

If you plant potatoes in the middle of March, then the young potatoes can be tried for Easter.

Soil composition:

• humus;
• sand;
• Clay (to hold water);
• Chernozem;
• ash;
• sawdust.

The earth needs to be taken on sites that are not infected with phytophthora. Do not use the ground from the territory on which potatoes or tomatoes grew.

Ways of planting potatoes in bags

• First in a row, gradually add a few more.
• Immediately fill the entire bag.
• In a bag laid horizontally.

Growing potatoes in vertical bags

The edge of the bag is wrapped outside to make it comfortable to work. At the bottom of the bag fall asleep land mixed with the overripe manure, a layer of not less than 10-15 cm. Then lay the sprouted potatoes and cover with a layer of earth. You can place two levels of tubers or shoots. But they need to be stacked in staggered order, so that the upper plants do not interfere with the lower one.

Install the bag in a sunny place. Topping off the top layer, watered. Some gardeners advise to set bags to choose a slightly darkened place, so that the land does not dry up so quickly, and the potatoes do not bake in the sun. But how will this affect the crop? After all, in the semi-shadowed places of the traditional garden, the harvest is very different from the solar plot, and not for the better.

Gradually, the shoots will appear above the surface of the soil. Then you need to fill them with an earth mixture. At the same time, the edges of the bag are constantly raised until it is two-thirds full. Next, only watered and fed.

One way to grow potatoes in bags involves hilling not with soil but with straw or hay. But the gardeners who grew it in this way, the result did not like. The yield was much lower than when grown in a traditional way or in straw in the garden.

When harvesting, pour all the contents out of the bag. Gather potatoes. The rest of the land is taken to the garden. The bag is dried and hidden until next year.

Terms of harvesting

Growing potatoes in barrels and bags allows you to try out young potatoes sixty days after planting. By this time, it should grow as big as a fist. Having typed a little potatoes, pour the earths instead of it.

Productivity

Adepts of the method claim that from one tuber to the fall you can get a bucket of potatoes. But the reviews say that it's practically impossible for anyone. Only some truck farmers report that the harvest from the bag was more than in the garden.

Benefits

• The bag takes up little space.
• You do not need to dig anything.
• The potato is not affected by the Colorado beetle.
• The water does not stagnate in the bag.
• Do not need to weed, hoe and fight with weeds.

disadvantages

Constantly you need to monitor the moisture of the soil. And it dries up very quickly. Installation of drip irrigation will help to solve this problem.

The soil in the bag is knocked down, and its aeration is disturbed. To improve it, they propose, before growing potatoes in bags, a rubber hose with spirals cut in it, spaced 20 cm apart. The length of the slits is 2-3 cm. The distance between the coils of the spiral is 10 cm. The end inside is overlapped, and the other is led upward. Through it, air will enter the bag and go through the holes inward, to the roots. But he himself can not do this. After all, the hose will be crushed by a layer of earth, the holes will be blocked. To fill the air with this system, you need to pump air once a week with a pump for 10-15 minutes. And also to this hose it is possible to connect a water pump and thus carry out watering. This will make it possible to successfully grow potatoes in bags.

The comments of many gardeners who have tried this method show that they did not manage to harvest the crop. Perhaps they had a technology violation.

Some truck farmers do not believe in the possibility of obtaining a decent crop in this way and argue their conclusions.

EM technologies

In a similar way, potatoes are grown using EM technologies. But as a capacity they do not take a bag, but a barrel. What is the difference between a barrel and a bag? She can cut the bottom. This will enable the earthworms to get inside and do their work there - improve the quality of the soil. You can also use a bag, but you need to cut off the bottom and secure the edges securely. Then there will be no problems with drainage.

The use of EM technology allows to supply the soil with a set of microorganisms necessary for it. Before growing potatoes in bags, prepare the EM compost. In the barrel when planting it is laid, mixing with the ground. Top dressing during the cultivation is carried out with the same diluted EM compost, connecting 5 parts of it with one part of the water.

It should be noted that when potatoes are grown by this method one should not allow sprouts to appear on the surface. Once they approach this boundary, you must immediately fill in a new layer of soil. Otherwise, green sprouts will not be engaged in strengthening the root system, but will grow up, releasing leaves and buds.

In order not to follow constantly this process, you can immediately plant three layers of potatoes and fill them with earth. Then you need to follow only the upper. And the lower will grow soon.

Landing in holes

Cultivation of potatoes "with the mind" is possible in another way. But here the bag is filled with earth immediately and tied. It is installed horizontally, and cross-shaped holes are cut through the knife, into which the tubers of potatoes are inserted. Then set on a sunny place, watered and fed.

Advantages of this method:

• It is not necessary to weed, to hog.
• Earlier grow tubers, because the sun will heat the roots in a larger area.

Cultivation of potatoes on the balcony

Growing potatoes in this way on the balcony, you should not expect a special success, because there is little light.

But some truck farmers manage to achieve good results. But they do not act on the principle of "planted and forgotten", but use different drugs and tools.

The tubers are kept in the sun until they are green, they are treated with potassium humate. Sprouted using the "Living Earth" substrate.

It is convenient to grow potatoes on a balcony in a special container with a removable top. Its design consists of two pots. The inner on the sides has holes. The cost of the pot in Germany is 10 euros.

The Germans put in one such pot from three to five potatoes, cover with a substrate and periodically watered. When it's time to eat some fresh potatoes, take out the inner pot from the outside, tear off the right amount of potatoes, and put the rest back.

So it is better to grow medium and late varieties, because they have a growing period longer and remove potatoes from the bush longer.