If the potato tops are high. Potatoes have high tops - what to do? What is a garden without watering? But

22.02.2024

Perhaps the most common vegetable crop in our country is potatoes. Despite the fact that this plant has long been known to agriculture, it is not always possible to obtain a good harvest of root crops. The reason for this may be the large potato tops. What leads to the growth of green mass, as well as how to deal with it, our article today will tell you.

Potato tops are not an edible part of the plant. However, it is a valuable raw material for creating organic fertilizers through composting or burning to ash. It is also used to prepare traditional medicine infusions to combat certain insect pests. At the same time, high and abundant green mass can negatively affect the harvest. The fact is that in a situation where potatoes have well-developed tops, their root crops form small. In this case, the plant spends all its energy on forcing the greenery, leaving only grains for the underground part, for which the gardener plants this crop. Although this situation is not always possible. Whether or not the potatoes will be small with high tops depends on many factors.

The following points can lead to a situation where the greenery of potatoes grows very much:

It is worth noting that a lot of tops does not always mean a bad harvest. This may well be a feature of a particular variety. However, in order not to lose the potato harvest, you still need to know what to do in this situation.

Video “Caring for Potatoes”

From the video you will learn how to care for root vegetables.

What to do

When growing any vegetable crop, you need to know the specifics of caring for it in order to prevent the appearance of pests, the development of diseases and a decrease in plant fertility. Potatoes do not require too much care in order to achieve excellent results in the form of large and tasty root vegetables. But there are times when it is necessary to take certain measures so as not to lose the harvest. One of these moments will be a huge potato bush (more than 80 cm). If the greenery is actively growing, this indicates that adjustments need to be made in the care of the plantings.

Situations where the tops are higher than a meter indicate too much nitrogen in the soil. In this case, adjustments to fertilizing are needed. When the nutrients in the soil are normalized, the tops, naturally, will not decrease, but the process of tuberization will begin. Adding 100 g of superphosphate diluted in 10 liters of water will stop the growth of green mass and force the plants to form tubers.

A growing potato bush must be properly fertilized to avoid active growth of its above-ground part. To do this, the feeding should look like this:

The first time fertilizing is carried out immediately after the appearance of the first shoots. It is carried out using ammonium nitrate or urea. 10-15 g of the drug should be dissolved in 10 liters of water. You need to know that when filling the soil with manure in autumn or spring, fertilizers are not applied for the first time in order to prevent excess nitrogen in the soil;
further fertilizing is carried out after hilling. The second time, fertilizers are applied when the tops are 20-25 cm high (20-30 g of nitrophoska are scattered between the rows). If the soil is well fertilized, there is no need to apply more fertilizers. During the summer, some gardeners carry out foliar feeding several times, which saturates the soil with phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and other microelements.

It is worth noting that foliar feeding can be combined with spraying the bushes against late blight and the Colorado potato beetle.

If you cannot determine what caused the bushes to be forced out, then the tops can simply be crushed and bent down. Such manipulations will lead to the fact that the potatoes will stop growing for at least two weeks, which will give a chance for normal tuberization. The method is very popular among gardeners, as it does not require additional costs for fertilizers, stimulants, and also takes little time.

You can simply remove the greens. Today, there are two ways to remove the above-ground parts of potatoes:

Both methods of removing tops can be used a week before mowing. This operating algorithm will allow you to more efficiently and easily remove all shoots and stems without damaging root crops or garden tools. This is especially important for varieties that form powerful and strong stems and leaves.

It is worth noting that in the presence of prolonged rainy weather, the tops may begin to re-form. In this case, it can be re-treated with special chemical solutions. Before this, you need to carry out mechanical removal again.

Also, one of the methods for increasing the yield of bushes is mowing the tops. But here you need to know when to mow potato tops.

Mowing the tops after flowering

You can mow the tops of potato bushes after the plant stops blooming. Until this moment, it is better not to touch the above-ground part of the bushes, as this may affect their productivity.

It is worth noting that mowing potato tops after flowering is an important point in the harvesting process. This procedure is carried out for the following reasons:

removal of green mass stimulates the ripening of root crops;
the quality of fruits increases;
furrows and beds dry out more quickly;
the risk of infection of tubers with diseases whose carriers may be on the tops (for example, late blight) is reduced. Mowing the above-ground part of the bush serves as a good prevention of various diseases, and also allows you to get rid of pests that have not yet had time to move from the tops to the soil for wintering. But it is impossible to determine whether tubers are infected from healthy ones, since at this stage the disease does not manifest itself in any way;
increasing the shelf life of potatoes in the basement.

In addition, mowing the tops greatly simplifies the further harvesting of potatoes. However, to get all the benefits described above, you need to clearly know when to carry out this procedure. Otherwise, your efforts will not bring the expected results. Experienced gardeners advise harvesting greens at least two weeks before the expected harvest date. You can find information that this process can be carried out a week before digging up the potatoes. But you also need to wait a week before mowing in a situation where the bushes have been treated with fungicides. A slight delay, especially in the presence of rainy weather, can lead to massive infection of tubers due to a strong accumulation of fungal spores on infected leaves.

When mowing tops, you need to remember that pathogens, as well as insect pests, can exist in the soil for a long time. Therefore, to prevent infection of fruits, an integrated approach should be taken. It involves not only removing the green mass of bushes, but also treating the soil. To treat crops against pathogenic microflora and pests, it is necessary to use fungicides. In this case, chemicals will be able to do an excellent job of protecting root crops from harmful microorganisms.

Mowing should be done only after the budding period has completed. If you do this procedure during flowering, you can slow down the tuberization process.

As you can see, large tops of potato bushes in most cases leads to a decrease in yield. Therefore, you need to monitor the tops to prevent them from growing.

Video “Mowing”

From the video you will learn how to mow the tops.

What pests are water extracts from potato tops effective against?

You overdid it with fertilizers or added too much humus or manure to the potatoes, so they become fattened and drive away the tops. And the harvest is unlikely to be high if all the energy goes into the tops. To get a harvest, try now to bend it down a little, crush the tops, then they will not grow so quickly and strongly and the tubers will begin to set. Next year, do not apply a lot of fertilizers for potatoes, only strictly according to the instructions, or do not overdo it with humus. Potatoes that are too heavily fertilized, even if they grow large and beautiful, are stored very poorly, so you need to fertilize them in moderation, and then you will have a good harvest.

On the contrary, the stems were tall and did not allow the tubers to develop; all the strength was lost

So that moisture goes to the root crops, and not to the tops.

Potato tops - raw materials for compost

- scoop;

Good afternoon, friends!

Cutting potato tops before harvesting is not a mandatory procedure. This, of course, can be done to make harvesting easier, so that, as they say, there is less unnecessary stuff around during potato harvesting. But it is also worth noting that potato tops can serve in the future as a natural fertilizer for the earth.

Watching the dried potatoes and digging them up gradually, we noticed that they were still growing, despite the dry tops. So next time. We won’t dig up dried potatoes right away, let them get stronger and grow a little.

How to prepare an effective insecticidal composition against pests

, since otherwise after some time you will not find the place where the potato bush was, or potato tubers (new tubers) may sprout under favorable conditions, but such potatoes will not be stored in the winter).

Potato tops should be removed rather than plowed up. I am not an agronomy specialist, but I have a friend who is an agronomist by training. She once told me that rotten potato tops are not a fertilizer, but rather, on the contrary, cause some harm to the soil, so at the dacha we always remove the tops of the collected potatoes, and only then plow the area. The reason for this may be the presence of a large amount of nitrogen fertilizer in soil and high humidity. There is a controversial opinion that with high tops there will be a high yield. If the potatoes have large tops, then you will have a good potato harvest. This plant is designed like this. First it grows tops, then all the nutrients accumulated in them are transferred to the root crop as the upper part of the plant dries out. This is why potatoes are dug when the top part is dry. And those who mow potatoes reduce the harvest.

in height.

ayatskov1.ru

Potato tops - how to turn them into fertilizer | DomStroy

If the tops are large and juicy, this does not mean that

Potato tops in this regard raise concerns: after all, if #potatoes were infected with #late blight, it is possible that pathogens will multiply in the compost, and after such #fertilization the entire area will suffer.

- fleas;

We will talk about the use of potato tops on the site as a fertilizer and a protective agent against pests in this article.

How to disinfect potato tops

I think that there is no need to trim the tops of potatoes. Friends tried to somehow trim the tops, but there was no effect in terms of increasing the yield. There is only one reason to trim the tops - if the bush becomes infected with a fungal disease, so that the infection does not spread to healthy bushes, the tops can be trimmed.

If the tops on the potatoes are completely dry, then the tubers will definitely not grow. The growth of tubers stops, because they have nowhere to get nutrients. It's time to harvest the potatoes.

Compost production - on the conveyor

It sometimes happens that the tops of some bushes dry out, while on others they are still green. Dig up bushes with dried tops, however, they are unlikely to please you with the size of the tubers, since the bush has dried out prematurely.

It’s better to have tops. 1) It’s better to dig potatoes. 2) They remove them so that there is no late blight (disease).

If your potato variety is not distinguished by the presence of high tops, then the reason that it has a high green part is usually:

High tops of potatoes can grow due to several reasons. The most common is

There is such an agrotechnical technique - the tops are rolled up a couple of weeks before harvesting.

DomStoy.ru

potato. Why and when do they mow the tops of potatoes?

Svetlana

potatoes will be good.
Therefore, most often, potato tops are mowed a few days before digging up the crop, and after drying, they are burned. In vain - if you take certain precautions, you can make excellent #compost from fresh tops. This is even more beneficial since there are usually more potato plant residues than any other plant residues in the garden.
- codling moth and other leaf-eating caterpillars.

Hedgehog

Potato tops are a valuable raw material for creating fertilizers by composting, obtaining ash and preparing insecticidal infusions against many garden pests.

Zheka :)

Grey

After harvesting, the potatoes must be dried (just not in the sun!), and then stored in a cellar or basement.

LOCK NIKKOLSON

The tops of the potatoes have dried up, which means it’s time to dig up the potatoes and they won’t grow anymore.

Dmitry DMB

The potato tops must be removed from the field and burned; if they are not dry, then you need to light a fire from dry wood and gradually add the tops to burn them. A fungal disease, late blight, often settles on potatoes, which can spread from the tops to the soil and the next year can infect potatoes and tomatoes. You should not put potato tops in the compost heap.

Lydia

lack of sun, potatoes are overly shaded and reach for light, so it is better to choose bright places for planting them.
Potatoes grew in the shade of a tree
Mowing facilitates mechanical harvesting with a potato digger. If you dig by hand, with a pitchfork and a scratch, then mowing is not important.
2 weeks before harvesting... so that the peel becomes thicker and so that when digging the potatoes are not infected with late blight from the tops

Amir Zhumagaliev

When the tops are still green, and there is not long left before harvesting, they are mowed. This will not harm the potatoes; on the contrary, their ripening will accelerate: the plants will not need to spend energy on maintaining the above-ground parts and will focus on the tubers.

Andrey Proshkin

To prepare an infusion from the tops, use both fresh potato shoots (necessarily undamaged by fungal and other diseases) and dried tops. This is especially convenient in terms of the availability and cost-effectiveness of raw materials, because every summer resident can prepare (dry) large volumes of greens for the next year.
The only thing you need to remember when putting potato greens into a compost heap is that the fertilizer can be used no earlier than after 3 years (the risk of preserving the vital activity of fungi that cause late blight). In addition, in the fall, a pile of compost containing tops is spilled for additional disinfection with a solution of copper sulfate (a couple of tablespoons with a heap of blue crystals are taken for a standard 10-liter bucket of water).
Potatoes that have stood without tops for a day are better stored in winter; their skin is harder. In order not to lose the bush, you can cut the tops not close to the ground, but leaving a 20 centimeter whip.
For all tuberous plants, and potatoes are a tuberous plant, the harvesting time is determined by the dried tops.

Irina Shabalina

Very small tubers and few in the bush, which means there was not enough moisture, the potatoes did not receive the required amount of water, and it also depends on the variety; if you plant the same potato variety in one place for several years in a row, the yield decreases.

[I Am Your Legend]™

After harvesting the potatoes, the tops must be removed from the garden. Very often, old potato tops are infected with late blight. If you leave it in the garden, the tops will contaminate the soil. It is also not recommended to throw the tops into a compost pit. It is best to burn dry tops; they will burn quickly, causing virtually no harm to the environment.

Lilia Voronina

potatoes are over-fertilized, do not overdo it with the application of mineral and organic fertilizers, then the potatoes will “work” not for the tops, but for the tubers.

Why do potatoes have high tops? Why did the potatoes go to the tops?

Pensionerochka

or trees. Naturally, the green tops reached towards the sun.

YanaMarina

If you expect an outflow of nutrients from the tops to the tubers, then it is much more reasonable not to mow, but to senicate the tops (artificial aging). Spray the tops with a strong solution of superphosphate, 2 kg. for 10 liters. The solution burns the leaves a little, and then, within a couple of weeks, the juices from the stems flow into the potatoes. Then they dig.

Barambulechka

During flowering, tubers begin to grow; If you remove the tops, what will the plant eat? During flowering, flowers are picked off, supposedly they delay nutrition - but this is not necessary. And the tops are mowed a week before harvesting to avoid infection of the tubers with late blight and to allow the tuber skins to get stronger. But this is mainly done in the industrial production of potatoes (to facilitate harvesting). The mown tops are immediately placed in a compost pit, generously watered with a solution of copper sulfate (3%) and layered with garden soil. Instead of copper sulfate, you can use a purchased product that accelerates the decomposition of plant residues and destroys pathogenic fungi (there are plenty of these on sale today). 1 liter bucket of water, leave under a lid in a warm place, for example, in a barn, for about 4 hours, and then filter. Before pouring the solution into the sprayer, it is advisable to dissolve a small amount of grated household, tar or liquid soap (about 50 g) in it to improve the adhesion of the composition and enhance its effect on dangerous insects. It is advisable to irrigate the plants in the evening, always in dry weather (rain completely washes off the protection from the greenery), every 2-10 days, depending on the pest population.

For anyone who does not want to spend a long time preparing compost, it is recommended to burn the potato tops and use the resulting ashes as a valuable phosphorus-potassium fertilizer for the soil. Tops ash, in addition to a high concentration of potassium and phosphorus, contains a number of useful microelements (boron, iron, manganese, molybdenum, etc.) necessary for the favorable growth and development of fruit crops. When I was on a collective farm, the tops were cut off a day or two before harvesting, although maybe this was so that the matsapura would not get clogged. While the stems and leaves are green, the tubers are nourished, which means they grow or become stronger for long-term storage. And when the leaves and stems begin to turn yellow, the tubers (bulbs) stop growing.

It is necessary to change potato varieties, watering potatoes is costly for many gardeners, so after a good rain, the potatoes must be hilled up so that additional roots have formed.

Registrar

We tried it yesterday, we dug up one bush, and there were potatoes there, smaller than a chicken egg. - more than a year ago

The world around us.

The second reason is

zlyden

But if the potatoes are not overfed with nitrogen, if they are planted at the right time, if there is no outbreak of late blight, then there is no need to split hairs at all. And the outflow from the tops into the tubers, and the aging of the tops, and the coarsening of the skin on the tubers go their natural way. Here, any tricks only reduce the yield.

Jennyfer

after it has bloomed, but for what purpose, I don’t know, someone says that then it’s more convenient to dig, someone says that the tubers develop better

After the potato tops are placed in the hole, its top layer should be covered with earth (up to a 30 cm layer), and the hole should be covered with a thick black film. We secure the film by throwing a little earth on it.
Using affordable, environmentally friendly and effective herbal remedies in your own garden, you get rid of pests without harming our wonderful nature. Besides

bolshoyvopros.ru

Complete the cycle of tubers, potatoes, tops. The world around us

Evgeniy Avdeev

Farm animals, in particular cows and horses, should not be fed green potatoes, since the composition contains a high concentration of corned beef and other toxic compounds that cause digestive tract upset. It is these substances that make it possible to use potato tops as a natural insecticide. The only exception is sheep, which eat young potato shoots without any consequences. And according to some sheep breeders, wool growth in animals is even significantly activated.

Dmitry Nagaev

Not necessarily... I haven’t heard of this at all, and before harvesting the tops of potatoes are usually already dry, it’s almost impossible to see where to dig the bush. And also, depending on when they are going to dig up the potatoes...If you want a month after planting, you can mow them...But you won’t find any potatoes there either...

Is it worth removing tops from potatoes?

Do I need to cut off the tops of potatoes before harvesting before digging up the potatoes?

Msergey

During the summer, I hill up the potatoes twice, the moisture in the potatoes is retained and the yield is only pleasing, and every three years I change varieties.

Aleso

The tops have dried out, which means growth has stopped and the potatoes need to be dug up. Otherwise, secondary growth may begin. There are varieties that have a very short dormant period. When the summer is long, you can get two harvests. Tubers from the first harvest are dug up and planted again to obtain a second harvest. There are only a few techniques that improve the germination of freshly harvested potatoes. In the middle zone this is impossible and the potatoes must be removed two weeks after mowing the tops or immediately after drying. Otherwise, the crop may be lost in certain weather conditions. In hot weather it will bake, in damp weather it may rot or begin to grow again.

I really don’t understand the chain. If structurally, then tubers, and tops on top. If there is a process of growth, then first there is a tuber from which the tops emerge, which provide additional elements from photosynthesis (in the meantime, the “antennae” of the tubers are absorbed from the soil). Plus they provide flower propagation. Winter is coming and the tops are decomposing (and not soon). Minerals and other substances gradually end up in the soil, further feeding the tubers. Next year the soil will not be enriched as much, but with this set of components, all we can do is rely on our remains, or on the world around us.

excess nitrogen fertilizers or manure

Elena Luk

Success!

ptotocol701

When the tops are collected, they dig them up along with the tuber. potatoes in a bucket and then in a bag and then the tops in a pile and burn. That’s how it is in our Verkhnelozovka.

angren

Next spring, when it gets warmer, you need to remove the film, water the potato tops again with the same products, and then return the film to its place. This completes the disinfection work.

Sveta S

use of potato tops

bolshoyvopros.ru

Are the tops of the potatoes completely dry, do the fruits stop growing or are they still growing?

- aphids of all types;

Msergey

In principle, cutting off the tops before harvesting does not carry anything positive, just as it does nothing negative. In any case, the potatoes are dripped after the tops dry out, then the potato fruits themselves will become stronger and will be well stored.

Graph

If you remove the tops before you start digging up the potatoes, you may end up leaving part of the crop in the ground or shredding a decent amount. After all, it is by the bush that you can navigate when digging up potatoes, so I would not recommend that you remove the tops before digging up your potatoes.

Dried potato tops are a signal that they are no longer needed for tubers. This means their formation has ended and they no longer grow.

As the authors of BV correctly noted earlier, if the tops on the potatoes are completely dry, the tubers simply have nowhere to get nutrients for their further development and their growth stops. However, in my experience, it is better not to allow the plant to wilt, but it is advisable to remove the tops when a large number of yellow leaves appear on them, in order to prevent the development of fungal diseases.

natla

Do you need to remove the tops from potatoes when harvesting? I think if you plow the soil along with the tops of the potatoes, this will be an additional fertilizer, that is, you will get humus. But some people say that on the contrary, it is better to dig up without the tops.. Then people say that potatoes “boil.” Those. instead of giving fruit - forming tubers, the potato feels so good, it has so much nitrogen and nutrients that the plant is not going to bear fruit, but goes into the tops - it goes wild, in our opinion - it enjoys life :)) Usually the tops are mowed in late varieties or late planted ones, when the time has already run out, and the tops do not think of drying in order to speed up the ripening of the tubers.

1.so that late blight does not spread to the tubers 2.10 days before harvesting

Aleso

In a year in the spring, the potato tops that you laid in the hole will turn into wonderful humus - crumbly and without pathogens.

is completely safe, since the toxic compounds in potato tops completely decompose and are not absorbed into cultivated fruits and berries. The only condition is that it is advisable to carry out the last treatment of plants before harvesting 10-14 days in advance. Easy work for you in your summer cottage!

- spider mite;

It's better to trim. In principle, you can prune after the potatoes have flowered or later, at the first signs of wilting. This is done so that the tops do not interfere with the tubers gaining weight and quickly becoming covered with a thicker skin.

Afanasy44

Pruning the tops before harvesting is only necessary if they are severely affected by late blight. Then the tops need to be mowed and removed from the area so that fungal spores from the tops do not get onto the tubers. If the tops are green and mowed ahead of time, there will be a loss of yield. While the tops are growing, they are green, and the tubers are growing. If the tops wither, the tubers do not grow. Mowing tops in large areas is extra work.

You can leave everything as is, or you can mow the tops and remove them from the garden, because they can be affected by fungal diseases, and fungal spores, in turn, can spread to the soil and subsequently infect potato tubers. After the tops are harvested, usually after 7 - 10 days, gardeners begin to dig up potatoes. During this time, the thin skin on the tubers will coarse and thicken, which increases the shelf life of the potatoes and has a positive effect on increasing their shelf life.

Agafya

And one more piece of advice. It is best to dig up potatoes in the morning, on a clear, sunny day, so that the tubers have time to dry well in the evening before storing them in a cellar or basement for long-term storage. In this case, this food product, indispensable for many, can be stored for quite a long time.

Sergei58

The tops are mowed 2 weeks before harvesting. On large farms this is done with a chopper mower, which chops and scatters the tops across the field. In small areas they do this with a scythe and collect the tops in heaps and then burn them. Ash can be added back to the soil, but not the tops themselves, on which late blight spores are located. Why increase the infectious background of the site yourself? If you don’t want to burn it for environmental reasons, you can make compost, just don’t put it under potatoes and tomatoes.

Galina 1

So be careful with fertilizers, don’t overdo it :)

Esther

it was more convenient to collect

Sveta S

If the summer is rainy and the tops are driven up, almost half, mowed and

Compost is always needed for the garden. Therefore, without waiting for this compost to ripen, place another batch in the fall - in another hole. So, in terms of producing your own fertilizers, you have a conveyor belt.

What to do if the potatoes have high tops - rejoice or worry about the fate of the future harvest? It is not always good when the tops are large. It is definitely bad when the length of the lashes exceeds 1 meter. A large volume of green mass takes away the main share of nutrients from plants, leaving a small part of them for the tubers.

On the one hand, powerful potato tops are an indicator of good plant development and health. It is necessary to take any measures only if the lashes begin to stretch greatly, their length significantly exceeds the varietal characteristics. It is not always possible to correct the situation. If more than a month has passed since flowering, time has already been lost, and work on the mistakes will have to be done next season.

Excess nitrogen

Powerful potato tops may be a consequence of a high concentration of nitrogen in the soil. This situation arises when the summer resident overdoes it with nitrogen fertilizing:

Before planting, add a large dose of organic matter (humus, compost) to the soil;
additionally used nitrogen-containing mineral fertilizers (urea, ammonium nitrate), adding them during plowing (digging);
After emergence, additional fertilizing was carried out with urea, mullein or grass infusions.

An excess of nutrients in the soil leads to increased growth of the above-ground part, which negatively affects the development of roots and the formation of tubers. A noticeable reduction in yield is observed when the stems continue to actively grow after flowering.

The appearance of buds and flowers occurs a month (25-28 days) after planting; tubers are actively formed after they have flowered. The process of accumulation of their mass lasts until the tops completely dry out.

If there is an excess of nitrogen, the crop can be saved. To do this, it is necessary to fertilize the potato plantings with superphosphate. Phosphorus contained in the fertilizer stimulates the outflow of nutrients from the above-ground part of the bush to the tubers. This helps speed up the process of tuber formation.

Any feeding helps (root, foliar). The solution is prepared according to one recipe:

water – 10 liters;
superphosphate granules – 100 grams.

The granules do not dissolve well in cold water, so they are poured with a small volume of boiling water for a day, and before processing the potatoes, the resulting suspension is poured into a bucket of water. Before use, the working solution is mixed several times.

Large tubers

Intensive growth of tops is not always caused by an excess of nitrogen fertilizers in the soil. Planting low-quality seed material, namely large potatoes, leads to a similar result:

the potato bush is fattening;
stems grow;
the tubers are small.

It’s not in vain that experienced gardeners spend time selecting seed potatoes in the fall. Its size directly affects the volume of the harvest. For optimal development of the above-ground part of the bush, the nutrients contained in a potato the size of a large chicken egg are sufficient.

There are more of them in larger tubers, which explains the reason why potato tops are tall. Until the large seed potato runs out of nutrients, the above-ground part grows; when they run out, new tubers begin to form, but there is no time left for their growth.

Lack of light

When a plant receives little light, it stretches upward. Potatoes are no exception - bushes of the same variety planted in a well-lit place will be lower than those growing in the shade. Lack of lighting is caused not only by the shadow of a structure (barn, fence, house), but also by closely planted potato bushes.

To get a good harvest of root crops, you need to follow simple rules when choosing a location and planting pattern:

If, according to the description of the variety, the bushes should be taller, then it is necessary to look for the cause of the problem. In some cases, slow growth of vines is a consequence of a plant disease (black scab, brown bacterial rot) that must be treated.

One of the common reasons for slow growth of tops is nutrient deficiency: depleted soil, phosphorus deficiency. You can find out about the lack of the latter by cutting a young tuber with a knife. If there is a purple border around the perimeter of the cut, then the plant definitely lacks phosphorus.

In this case, the bushes require emergency assistance in the form of foliar feeding. Prepare a suspension of superphosphate (1 liter of hot water, 100 grams of fertilizer), the next day add 9 liters of water to it, and spray the potatoes with the resulting solution.

It doesn’t matter if this season it was not possible to grow large-fruited potatoes; the bushes became fat and went into the tops. Working on mistakes and choosing a good variety will correct the situation. Next summer you will be able to grow tubers of the desired size and taste.

Potatoes are grown today by a significant portion of Russian citizens. A large increase in plant ground mass does not always allow one to count on large tubers. Good large tops have a bad effect on yields and in most cases indicate incorrect growing techniques. Why potatoes grow tall tops and what needs to be done, you need to know to get the proper harvest.

High potato tops in traditional varieties have a negative effect on yield indicators. This is due to the fact that the plant devotes all its energy to the formation of green mass, and there is no food left for the growth of tubers. Several factors can lead to a situation where the shoots begin to stretch out greatly. The main reasons are:

planting a plant in a shaded area;
excessive application of fertilizers to the soil;
excessive watering or abundant planting.

Excessive growth of green mass and the lack of timely measures will indicate that time has already been lost, and it will be impossible to influence yield indicators from a certain point.

Often, potato tops develop due to excessive application of fertilizers to the soil, which stimulate the growth of green mass. Excellent growth of tops is observed when the soil is excessively enriched with manure and nitrogen-containing fertilizers. In this case, the height of the bushes reaches 80 cm or more. In this case, the rate of application of nutrients is adjusted and measures are taken to stop further growth of the tops.

In places where tubers are planted, the following fertilizing scheme with fertilizers is suggested:

the first is done after the emergence of seedlings, if no manure was added to the soil in the fall or spring, saltpeter or urea is used at the rate of 10 g per 10 liters of water;
the second is done after hilling and when the height of the tops is from 20 to 25 cm, 25-30 g of nitrophosphate are scattered between the rows.

During the summer season, it is necessary to fertilize several times with complex fertilizers, saturating the soil with potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and other types of microelements.

Excessive application of fertilizers does not always lead to the growth of tall tops, and in this case it is worth paying attention to the characteristics of the potato. The reason may be hidden in the tubers. Why potatoes have high tops is often determined by the breeding qualities of the variety, so before planting it is worth studying the features and characteristics of the garden crop.

A tall potato bush is characteristic of species such as Nakra and Impala.

A common mistake novice gardeners make is the desire to choose large tubers for planting. As a result, due to the large amount of nutrients, rapid growth of shoots is observed, and the supply in large root crops is enough to form a large volume of greenery. For planting, it is recommended to use tubers no larger than the size of a chicken egg.

Lack of light negatively affects the potato harvest. In cases where there is not enough space on the site, gardeners begin to “cut” the site and plant tubers in the shade of trees. Such plantings are distinguished by elongated tops of root crops and their high growth. The lower the tree crowns, the more dense and shaded the planting area becomes. In this regard, it is recommended to choose open sunny places for growing potatoes.

Often the problem of insufficient lighting arises due to non-compliance with the planting scheme and planting the tubers too close to each other. At the same time, the shoots begin to stretch out, and there is a thickening of the plantings, which leads to poor ventilation and plant diseases.

Many gardeners resort to tricks by planting bushes with the formation of plantings from north to south. This method makes it possible to provide the shoots with maximum light around the clock, since in the first half of the day sunlight reaches one side of the bushes, and in the second half the second side of the plant is fully illuminated.

Weather conditions often cause poor harvests. The higher the level of precipitation and the more significant its excess above the norm, the taller the bushes are formed. This situation is typical for a rainy summer with a lack of sunny days and warm weather.

Many gardeners mistakenly believe that the more often they water, the higher the harvest. Excessive soil moisture leads to the opposite effect; progressive growth of tops and crushing of tubers is noted. An additional disadvantage of frequent watering is the poor storage capacity of such potatoes, so you will have to part with part of the plant.

What measures to take if the tops are high

To stop the growth of tops, many summer residents use treatment of the planting site with a solution prepared from 100 g of superphosphate and 10 liters of water for every hundred square meters of area. The prepared product needs to be poured over each potato bush. This method is in most cases used when there is excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers to the soil and there is an urgent need to stop the growth of green mass.

The active components of the drug lead to the acceleration of the formation of potato tubers due to the outflow of nutrients or leaves into the root crops.

You can resort to a method in which the tops are mowed. It is applied only after the potato flowering period has completely ended. Experienced gardeners advise mowing 2 weeks before harvest.

When using the mowing method, several positive results are achieved, and the likelihood of obtaining a good harvest is quite high. Positive points include:

stimulation of root crop formation processes;
improving the taste and external characteristics of fruits;
better evaporation of moisture, reducing the risk of waterlogging;
prevention of various types of potato diseases, which often affect tubers through the tops;
increasing the ability for long-term storage.

When potato tops are trimmed, harvesting is greatly simplified. After finishing the work, the mowed greenery must be removed and the soil treated with fungicides, which will reduce the risk of infection of root crops.

What to do if the tops are low

The size of the tops is influenced by many factors; the characteristics of the variety are fundamental. For some crops, a height of 45 to 50 cm is considered the norm, so before planting a new type of potato you should read the description. You need to worry when a variety that has been planted for many years begins to grow abnormally, and the growth of the tops has stopped.

The most common reason for low tops is due to improper potato care.

In most cases, this situation occurs when there is a lack of nutrients in the soil. Phosphorus deficiency leads to underdeveloped tops and poor plant growth. A signal of a deficiency of such an element is the acquisition of a purple hue from a tuber cut in half. In this case, it is enough to spray the plants with a superphosphate solution to solve the problem. For good potato growth, it is important to exclude plant diseases, follow the planting scheme and watering recommendations.