How to heat a greenhouse in the spring with your own hands. How does the soil warm up?

Warming up the soil

My Karelia, like the entire Russian North, is located in an area with excess moisture and lack of heat. Sometimes the earth warms up only towards the middle or even towards the end of summer, so the fruits simply do not have enough time to ripen. How can we, gardeners, help them?

First of all we must try improve soil thermal conditions. Warmth for the roots is comfortable for the plant. The root system can be compared to a foundation. A large, strong house is built on a strong foundation; on a weak foundation, it is better not to build anything at all. But sometimes we thoughtlessly accept recommendations that are useful in a different climate, thereby aggravating the situation.

Many northerners are fond of mulching, sprinkling paths, beds, and the ground around bushes with sawdust and peat chips. And in our climate, as a result of this, the access of solar heat to the roots of plants is completely blocked. I have seen more than once how, under a layer of sawdust or peat, ice remained in some places until the next winter. It is not surprising that plants lag behind in development and even die.
Our ancestors acted more prudently; they skillfully and diligently helped the earth to warm up and achieved good harvests even heat-loving crops.

How to improve soil heating? These techniques are available to everyone.

The most important, in my opinion, is adding medium or coarse sand to clay and loamy soil, better than a homogeneous composition. Here it acts more like an accumulator: the deeper the sand is brought in, the deeper the soil will warm up, accumulating heat. Sand also improves gas exchange. A favorable thermal regime activates the activity of microorganisms, which helps plants quickly grow roots.

Deep ditches along the edges and in the middle of the site(especially on damp clay and loamy soils) help not only to warm up the soil better, but also remove excess moisture and lower the groundwater level.

Gives excellent results raised vegetable beds(at least 30-40 cm). At one time, when developing a site, I had to pour earthen piles up to a meter high. Everything grew wildly on them. But as soon as the piles were leveled, the plants immediately withered.

Drainage on site

On clay and loamy soils, since they do not allow water to pass through well, you definitely need drainage. In various publications, sometimes without thinking, the authors describe the same method of drainage something like this: “Dig a hole and lay small pebbles at the bottom.” So what's next? You can pour pebbles even to the very top, but where does the water go in spring or autumn? Nowhere. It will accumulate, the soil will acidify, the roots of the plants will become soaked and die. Drainage must remove excess water, only then will it work and justify the cost of its installation.

If you have dug a hole for planting a tree or bush, then you must make an inclined layer from it of the same depth towards the reclamation ditch and fill it with the same drainage material (with the addition of sand) as in the planting hole. This system has worked successfully for me for many years. I use sand of medium or coarse fraction, which I pour in a layer of up to 10 cm at the bottom of the hole and layering. With such drainage, the adjacent layers of earth also dry out.

If, due to high groundwater levels, it is impossible to arrange drainage with layering, due to the fact that there is nowhere to drain the water, then plant fruit trees necessary on bulk hills, much higher than the level of the main site.

To speed up the warming up of the soil in the garden, which brings the planting time closer, I cut deep furrows. It's not easy work, but it's worth it.

The literature describes in some detail installation of a warm bed. But for some reason the mechanism of their action is not really explained. To make a garden bed warm, you need, at a minimum, microflora and a “kitchen” to feed microorganisms, which encourages reproduction. Since ancient times, the first component has been rotted manure (preferably a mixture of cow and horse), which is literally teeming with microorganisms. The food source is cellulose: sawdust, shavings, straw, hay, leaves. Only if these conditions are met does the rapid development of microflora occur, accompanied by the active release of heat.

With the advent of black covering film on sale fertile layer The soil is much lighter and warms up faster. Its low demand is explained by its high cost.

Another effective and accessible technique is creating a microclimate. It is important that winds do not blow heated air out of the area. First of all, it is necessary to lay hedges of fast-growing trees and shrubs.

In my opinion, the listed techniques will not be burdensome for anyone.

V. Afanasyev.

In the spring, I want to grow vitamin products early. We have a standard greenhouse (6x3), but the soil in it takes a long time to warm up, which delays sowing. Is it possible to speed up soil warming without additional costs? How to properly prepare a greenhouse for the new season?

The greenhouse can be prepared for the new season without additional costs

And it’s worth talking about warming up the soil in a greenhouse without additional costs.

Whether it is worth filling the greenhouse with snow depends on the expected timing of sowing and planting

Why is there snow in the greenhouse? There is often advice in the literature that the soil in the greenhouse should be covered with snow so that it does not dry out and become dusty. This is of course true. However, spring planting in such a greenhouse will be delayed by at least two weeks, because the incoming heat from the sun's rays will first be spent on melting the snow and only then on warming the soil. If you want to get a really early harvest, then you shouldn’t put snow in the greenhouse.

Digging the soil

Digging the greenhouse accelerates soil warming

The spring sun warms up the air in the greenhouse well, but the soil warms up slowly. In order for sowing seeds to become possible, the soil in the greenhouse must warm up to 10-15 0 C. To do this, it needs to be dug up and made permeable to air. Trenches in the beds increase the contact area of ​​warm air flow with cold soil. The ridges warm up quickly; by leveling them, you get a decent layer of already warmed soil.

Spilling soil with hot water

You can warm up the soil in a greenhouse by hot water. You will need flammable waste (dry branches, paper, scraps of boards, cardboard, etc.), a large metal barrel and several bricks, from which an improvised stove will be built. It is reckless to pour water into a barrel in advance; in frosty weather it will freeze and burst the barrel. It is not advisable to melt the snow, because... it will require a lot of fuel.

By heating 2 two-hundred-liter barrels and pouring the contents into the trenches of a standard greenhouse, the soil temperature will rise to 10-15 0 C. This means that sowing cold-resistant crops (leaf lettuce, onions, radishes, spinach, parsley, watercress, etc.) will become possible . In the future, there will be enough solar heat during the day to keep the temperature from dropping at night.

A fan will also come in handy

If electricity is supplied to the greenhouse, then a floor fan can be installed in it (it is not used for business anyway in March). It is known that warm air rises and cold air accumulates below. A working fan moves warm and cold layers well, helping to warm the soil.

After the soil has warmed up, you can start planting and sowing.

Having carried out such simple operations, and most importantly, without additional costs, you can open the sowing season in March in order to delight your family with fresh, environmentally friendly products in April.

A greenhouse is a special agroecosystem. All year round the soil in the greenhouse is not directly affected environment: inside the greenhouse there is no rain, no wind blows, no direct sunlight. Preparing the greenhouse and greenhouse for spring is a very important event.

On any sunny day, the air inside the greenhouse heats up under the influence of ultraviolet rays, and the soil is not supplied with life-giving moisture, it is not covered with snow, as is the case in ordinary beds. Because of this, the properties of the soil inside the greenhouse change over the winter season, and in the spring the first thing is to revive it and moisten it, tone it, as they say.

Soil preparation

During the winter, the soil in the greenhouse dries out very much and becomes almost dusty. On the one hand, this is good. Dry soil is an excellent heat insulator. In a greenhouse, the ground does not freeze deeply or does not freeze at all, unlike open ground. On the other hand, it’s bad, because in spring dry soil takes a long time to warm up. That is why it is so important to bring the soil “to life” in advance in the spring.

In the greenhouse, the soil must be heated to a temperature of +10 - +15 °C. When the bright sun shines, the air inside the greenhouse warms up almost instantly, it is held inside the structure by the walls and roof, and the soil remains cold for a very long time - several weeks. To provide plants with normal growing conditions, the soil in the greenhouse must be warm.

The first step is to loosen the soil to make it breathable. Then you need to make small trenches in the beds with a depth of a shovel bayonet. Such procedures will significantly increase the contact of warm air with cold soil.

After which the soil must be moistened with warm water. To do this, you can use ordinary heated water, or you can spill the soil in the greenhouse with a warm solution nutrients, for example, solution EM-1, Emochek, Baikal-1. You can also use a biological product in dry form, for example, Emochki-Bokashi, which you just need to sprinkle on top of the ground and pour over with regular warm water. These procedures will “revive” the soil, soil microorganisms will awaken in it and get to work.

The ridges between the trenches will warm up the fastest, since their area is small and the water temperature is high. By leveling the ridges, we will distribute the heat throughout the entire soil and obtain a relatively large layer of warm “living” earth.

Important! You should not throw snow into the greenhouse from the street. Many people do this, explaining that this is how they try to saturate the earth with water. Water, of course, will penetrate deep into the soil, it will be saturated with water, but it will not warm up, and the greenhouse season will begin 2 - 3 weeks later.

By watering the trenches with hot water, we almost instantly raise the soil temperature to +10 - +15 °C. This will allow you to immediately sow cold-resistant and early-ripening crops: radishes, lettuce, onions, watercress, parsley seedlings. Further, the soil temperature in the greenhouse will be maintained using solar energy.

Soil treatment against diseases

The soil was warmed up, soil microorganisms were awakened. What's next? Do not forget that in a greenhouse there is an extremely high risk of fungal and bacterial plant diseases. Late blight, alternaria, black leg, powdery mildew and others are the scourge of greenhouses.

To carry out preventive work, it is necessary to treat the soil, as well as all parts of the greenhouse - wooden parts, boxes, base, walls. Any biofungicide can be used as a treatment against fungal diseases. For example, "Fitosporin", "Mikosan-N", "Trichodermin", "Planriz", "Phytotsid", "Healthy Soil".

To better warm the soil in the greenhouse, it can be covered with black agrofibre. Heating under the rays of the sun, it will transfer heat to the earth. This is the case if the landings are not coming soon. But you shouldn’t mulch the soil before a constant positive temperature has been established in the greenhouse. Although it all depends on the color of the mulch. Under dark mulch the soil will warm up, while under light mulch it will remain cold.

Before planting cucumbers in a greenhouse, prepare the soil - treat it with “Azotofit” or another preparation that forces nitrogen to be fixed from the air.

To saturate the air in the greenhouse carbon dioxide, necessary for plants, inside the greenhouse you can install a container with compost or something else that ferments. For example, chicken manure, compost from a heap, or EM compost from plant scraps or organic food scraps from the table can be poured into the container. In a carbon dioxide-rich environment, plants will develop faster.

Having planted early ripening plants in March, be prepared to receive the first harvest in April.

Spring work in the greenhouse

If you don’t have a greenhouse, it doesn’t matter. You can quickly build a solar heated greenhouse. This is an excellent option for summer residents who are on the go. In a greenhouse you can grow seedlings and the first spring greens.

The greenhouse must be prepared in advance in the fall. The place for the greenhouse should be well lit and high enough so that it is not flooded by melted snow. spring waters. The depth of the pit for the greenhouse should be about 70 cm. A convenient width is the size of the frame with glass or film.

Up to half of the pit must be filled with humus, compost or other plant debris. A layer of fertile soil is poured on top. At the end of February - beginning of March, the greenhouse must be covered with a frame with glass to warm it up. The frame must be positioned with a slope to the south.
Before planting seedlings or sowing seeds, the greenhouse should be well ventilated and the soil should be watered with warm or hot water, as is the case with a greenhouse.

In such an earthen greenhouse you can safely grow seedlings of crops such as tomatoes, cabbage, eggplants, peppers and various flowers. From time to time, the greenhouse must be ventilated to prevent the plants from getting fungal or bacterial diseases. Better yet, treat the soil with fungicides.

Please note that in sunny weather the leaves of immature plants may turn yellow - “burn” in the sun, as glass enhances the heating effect. To protect the plants, they should be covered with covering material and only with glass on top.

Using a greenhouse to grow seedlings in open ground allows you to grow strong plants with dark green leaves and a developed root system, and also eliminates the need to use many cups for seedlings. And the window sills are not cluttered.

“Housing” for seedlings: breeding bed and cuttings

If it is better to grow seedlings of vegetables and annual flowers in a greenhouse or greenhouse, then for breeding seedlings of perennial flowers it is more advisable to arrange a special bed - distribution. In such a bed, seeds of perennial flowers are sown in the summer - in June, and bulbous flowers are planted in the fall for growing.

Small bulbous “babies” are grown in growing beds for 2–3 years, and the buds that appear on them during the growing season are carefully removed. For example, you can plant lily bulbs in a growing bed. After 2 - 3 years you will receive large lily bulbs.

It is better to sow seeds of perennial flowers not directly into the garden bed, but first into plastic cups or containers. There must be a drainage layer at the bottom of such cups or containers. It is advisable to sign the container, indicating the name of the plant and variety. And only then should the container be buried in the soil in the garden bed. This method allows you to avoid losses of “fighters”. After all, sometimes plant varieties get confused, and it happens that weak seedlings suffer during the weeding process.

It is best to place the spreading bed in partial shade or, conversely, in an area illuminated by direct sunlight, but on the north side the area should be protected from the wind by a wall or fence. It is advisable to limit the beds with sides made of wooden boards 15 - 30 cm high. You can also place arcs over the bed, allowing you to cover the plants from frost with film or from scorching sun. The optimal width of the spreading bed is 1.5 m, the length can be any. But the orientation to the cardinal points should be from west to east.

It is extremely important that the soil in the growing bed is fertile, light, air- and moisture-permeable. If the soil in the area is clayey, then it is necessary to perform drainage. To loosen the soil, you can add sand to it. Leaf and turf soil will also be useful, but adding compost to the soil is undesirable. Ash can be used to fertilize the soil. Its secretions stimulate the formation and development of the root system. Watering the plants in the growing bed must be carried out in a timely manner, avoiding severe drying out, but you should not over-water it either. It is better to loosen the soil once again or, even better, mulch, retaining moisture inside the soil and reducing evaporation.

Propagate berry and ornamental shrubs also inconvenient in ordinary beds. For this purpose they build cuttings. After all, the main condition for successful rooting of cuttings is high air humidity.

The cuttings must be placed in a shady place and covered on top with glass or plastic film on the arches. It is advisable to place the frame at a slight slope to the south. If you use plastic film, then its edges should be securely pressed to the ground.

Some gardeners root cuttings using plastic bottles, placing the cuttings from above upside down.

To prevent water from stagnating in the beds for cuttings, it is necessary to arrange drainage from crushed stone, gravel or expanded clay with a layer of 10–15 cm. A layer of sand of 5–7 cm is poured on top of the fertile layer. Spraying is necessary from time to time. Rooted cuttings are left in the cuttings for the winter and only the next year are transplanted into open ground to a permanent place.

Remember that preparing the soil in a greenhouse, hotbed or growing bed is key big harvests. Healthy seedlings, and therefore plants, are a direct consequence of caring for soil fertility and preventing dangerous diseases. Delight your family with fresh, clean vegetables and herbs grown with my own hands, as early and as often as possible. And bad weather or late frosts are not a problem if you have properly prepared your greenhouse or greenhouse.

Few people know that the cucumber is actually a native of the tropics. Therefore, it is afraid of cold weather, and only in the southern regions does it grow in open ground without any special problems. And for a different climate, sometimes the only way out is good greenhouse. But the very first plantings are usually planned when the snow has not yet melted there. And you won’t be able to just start the usual work in it - you need to prepare a polycarbonate greenhouse for planting in the spring, and it depends on how healthy, strong and pleasing your harvest will be. And we will help you understand all the intricacies!

Washing and cleaning every crevice

First of all, when deciding how to prepare the greenhouse for planting in the spring, start with simple cleaning. Throw away old twines and ties, and wash water hoses and water barrels well. All vegetation that remained over the winter will need to be completely removed. This will not be a good fertilizer - on the contrary, pathogens prefer to overwinter on such organic matter, which is dangerous for future seedlings.

You need to wash the greenhouse correctly:

1. Wash the film and glass with ordinary soapy water.
2. Clean PVC and metal frame elements with hot water and vinegar.
3. Cellular polycarbonate is best cleaned and disinfected by a weak, barely pink solution of potassium permanganate.

After washing, open all the windows and doors and dry the greenhouse thoroughly.

Spring disinfection

Let's start with the fact that any greenhouse soil contains pathogenic microorganisms and pests, and it will not be possible to completely clear the soil of them. So, all these living creatures also have their own cycle of activity, and their “awakening from sleep” occurs precisely in the spring. You don't want your newly planted seedlings to be eaten, do you? Therefore, at this time of year, an important procedure is carried out - disinfection, unless you did this in the fall.

Preparation for disinfection

Before chemical treatment, it is necessary to carry out mechanical treatment: remove moss from the base of the greenhouse and other places, and “cure” all these surfaces with a 5% solution of ferrous sulfate. This is the only way you can destroy all spores. If you did not remove plant debris in the fall, do it now, and be sure to disinfect it then. Take the discarded tops outside the site, because Usually all pathogens are stored in it.

Take the issue of disinfection seriously: fungal spores are able to maintain their vital activity even in severe frosts.

Disinfection with a sulfur bomb

We advise you to use a sulfur bomb, which during combustion produces a gas that penetrates everywhere. It cleans well even those places that cannot be reached with any brush, which is especially valuable for a greenhouse. And all insects are afraid of sulfur, malicious spider mite, mold and even slugs. During disinfection, wear rubber gloves and a face mask, and close all cracks in the structure itself. Leave it in the smoke for 3-5 days, then open it and ventilate thoroughly.

Disinfection with a sulfur bomb can be carried out already at a temperature of 14-16°C. All gardening Tools, shovels and watering cans should be kept indoors during processing.

Do not use a sulfur bomb if your greenhouse is on a metal frame. The gas that will be released reduces the service life of such structures, but for wood such treatment is absolutely safe.

Disinfection with bleach

The second option for safe disinfection is spraying with a bleach solution. They need to treat both the soil and the entire structure from the inside, even ropes and tapes drip irrigation. By the way, lime cleanses even heavily contaminated soil.

To do this, prepare a solution of bleach by mixing 400 g in 10 liters of water, leave it to infuse for a day (so that later its splashes do not cause burns), and coat all wooden parts with a brush. Pour the solution especially generously into the cracks - that’s where everything microscopic is hidden. Then take the liquid for spraying the soil into a spray bottle and coat the wooden parts of the greenhouse with the sediment.

Disinfection with biological products

Modern biological products are even safer, although less effective. Their main purpose is to destroy pathogens and increase soil fertility. There is no need to particularly ventilate the greenhouse after biological preparations, and seedlings can be planted in just a few days. However, if in the previous season you suffered from diseases and pests, then be sure to update upper layer soil.

But disinfection is undesirable, because... applied chemical substances can negatively affect the entire harvest. If it so happens that you didn’t do all this in the fall, then try to disinfect everything as early as possible so that there is certain period before planting seedlings. That is why it is better to disinfect indoor soil in the fall, and in the spring - only wash the structure from accumulated dust.

Finding and repairing damage

So, the first thing after winter we start renovation work. We check the integrity of the greenhouse, replace broken areas, and, if necessary, level the walls and arches after snow.

It is important not just to inspect the greenhouse, but to check for strength: all connections, all supports and guides. If you find warped, rotten or corroded parts, be sure to replace them.

Unfortunately, there are also such situations: in early spring people come to their dacha and see their beautiful greenhouse broken under the snow! But the manufacturer stated that it is powerful, strong, stable... But it doesn’t matter, almost any design can be corrected:

Replacing soil and applying fertilizers

In the spring, the soil is replaced with a new one, and if desired, so-called warm beds are arranged.

Most harmful bacteria accumulate in the top layer of soil. Therefore, it is better to completely remove the top 5-7 cm, so in a simple way improving the soil by 90%. And instead of the removed layer, sprinkle humus and mineral fertilizers. And yes, do not throw away the top layer - it will be quite healthy in the open air, especially in flower beds or beds with another crop.

If this spring it’s time to completely change the soil, approach it responsibly. Try to fill the new soil with organic matter to make it “living”. Here is one of best recipes: take four parts of loamy soil, three parts of manure or humus and three parts of peat. Another one: six parts loamy soil and four parts humus. These are universal recipes, but for each individual vegetable there is also its own, most suitable one.

1. After preparing the beds, be sure to check the acidity of the soil. For tomatoes, the soil should have a neutral pH, which can be achieved by mixing 60% peat, 20% sand and 20% compost. Place sawdust or straw at the bottom of the bed to further warm the cold-sensitive tomato roots.
2. For cucumbers and similar demanding vegetables, prepare the following soil: 6 parts peat, 2 parts humus and 2 parts wood soil. If desired, make a bedding here too from rotted sawdust.
3. For berries, make soil on light soil: 6 parts turf and 2 parts sawdust.

What matters is where exactly you get the land from. It is advisable that this is not a nearby state farm or vegetable garden, where a priori there are already pathogenic spores. Only fresh peat can be called absolutely sterile, but its reuse is no longer safe.

When replacing soil, be guided by the problems you encountered last season. After all, there are still regions in Russia where there are almost no contaminated soils - pests simply have not yet been brought there. Therefore, if the degree of spread of pathogenic microorganisms and insects was small before, and there were no late blight, then you can remove only 10 cm of the surface layer. Otherwise, change everything. But believe me, this process is quite labor-intensive.

After you form beds from the new soil, add a glass of ash and any mineral fertilizer to each of them. By the way, you don’t have to throw away the soil that you pulled out of the greenhouse - just disinfect it: put it in a pile, sprinkling it in layers with dry bleach. And leave it like that for three years. Recipe: 250 g of lime per 1 m2 in a 20 cm layer. This soil can then be used, provided it has never contained blackleg or late blight pathogens. You can also plant in it something that does not get sick from these misfortunes.

And finally, the finishing touch is the application of fertilizers.

If you correctly alternate the cultivation of vegetable crops every year, then you don’t have to change the soil, you just need to disinfect it.

In the spring, peat is also added to the greenhouse. This special kind soil, rich in humus and collected in swamps. When preparing peat, alternate its layers with manure and lime. And apply to greenhouse soil with the following calculation: 20-25 kg per 1 m 2 if the soil is light, and up to 15 kg if it is heavy.

Acceleration of warming up of greenhouse soil

The spring sun warms up the air quickly, but the soil takes much longer. But to sow seeds or plant seedlings, the ground temperature needs to be at least 10-15°C - will you really have to wait until April? Not at all - there are a lot of tricks on how to warm up the beds faster and, as a result, get the desired harvest much earlier.

So, watering with hot water not only warms the soil well, but also activates many beneficial microorganisms and bacteria. It is better to do it twice, then the temperature of the earth quickly reaches 15°C. And if your greenhouse also has electricity, install a floor fan. This way you will get rid of cold air, which, as you know, always accumulates below.

Any black covering material will help to additionally warm the soil.

Saturation of soil with oxygen

Strive to ensure that the prepared soil is loose, porous and oxygenated.

That is why at this stage we add compost to the greenhouse soil. These are food waste and products that have rotted for a year or two and need to be placed on the site in a separate box. The result is a high organic content, which is especially good for growing herbs and vegetables.

When using sawdust, try not to use fresh sawdust - these acidify the soil. Better old, rotten ones. If there are none, then put the fresh ones in some container, scald them with boiling water and fill them with water overnight, about 10 liters per three buckets of sawdust. The next day, fertilize the sawdust with a solution of fresh mullein, three liters per bucket of water. And in just two days this soil disintegrant will be completely ready.

To additionally feed the greenhouse soil for future plantings, many gardeners sow green manure: watercress and mustard. These plants thrive in low temperatures and produce a lot of greenery, and within a week or two after them you can plant seedlings.

Preparing beds for planting seedlings

In early spring, many greenhouse owners create warm beds so that they can plant earlier. Horse manure is ideal for this purpose, as it produces the most heat, with cow manure in second place. It’s good if you stock up on these raw materials in the fall, because... in the spring, through the melting snow, it will be difficult to deliver this goods.

Warm beds should be done like this:

• Step 1. Water the manure with hot water.
• Step 2. We dig trenches about half a meter deep.
• Step 3. Place this biofuel on the bottom with the outer layers down and the heated layers above.
• Step 4. Lightly compact the manure and cover with film.
• Step 5. Now we wait 3-4 days for the manure to settle. The final layer should be at least 40 cm thick.
• Step 6. Powder with lime to stop the growth of fungi, and sprinkle with soil.
• Step 7. After a week, the temperature inside the manure will be 30°C, when the seedlings can be planted.

They also do this: they bring manure in the second half of summer, spread it in a thin layer, dry it, and then stack it tightly in a pile. Cover the top with straw and roofing felt to prevent it from getting wet. It is more convenient to use such raw materials in the spring, but it is necessary to additionally feed them with nitrogen - during drying, this element partially evaporates.

Manure dried from the summer when placed in beds must be additionally heated by watering hot water, but fresh, just brought - there is no need, it is already hot inside due to active decomposition processes. It is advisable to even lay one of these in a heap around the yard for about a week so that it begins to “burn”, which will be noticeable by the light steam.

By putting all these simple “tricks” into practice, you will open the greenhouse season in March, and in April you will enjoy the first vitamin-rich vegetables!

Growing early potatoes is a common task. If you use no-till growing technology, you don't have to wait until you can plow the ground to plant. It turns out that the factor that delays planting is warming up the soil.

If planted in cold soil, there is a risk of sprouts being affected by rhizoctania blight. And you will have to wait a long time for seedlings.

Exist today various ways warming the soil for planting early potatoes.

The most effective way is to cover the soil with clear (not black) plastic film.

But if early potatoes are to be planted on 2-3 acres, then buying such a quantity of film can be expensive, and there is always a risk that someone will covet it.

You can do it differently:

1. To speed up the melting of snow, you can scatter coal dust. You only need a little of it. The spring sun heats up the black dust particles better, and the snow will melt much faster.

2. All beds can be made slightly raised. This technique allows the beds to warm up faster. It will be noticeable - when there is still snow on the paths, on the ridges a 5-7 centimeter layer has already thawed.

3. Another technique is a slope to the south. It is a well-known fact that everything grows faster on the southern slopes. If the site does not have a natural slope to the south, it is created artificially. This is done simply. Using a flat cutter, you need to loosen the top layer of the ridge, and then use a rake to pull the soil to the northern part of the ridge (the ridges are located from north to south). The slope turns out to be almost unnoticeable, but you need to keep in mind that a slope to the south of just 1 degree is equivalent to moving the site 100 km to the south. By doing this every year, we gradually increase the slope.

4. We make the surface of the ridge not flat, but with low waves. The southern side of the wave has a slope to the south, which enhances the heating. Due to the fact that the waves are low, the northern slope of the wave does not provide shade.

It is important that there is no thick layer of mulch on the garden bed. A loose layer of organic matter on the surface of the earth works like a thermos, preventing the soil from warming up. It should be noted that if film is used for heating, then it is better to leave the mulch on the garden bed. The open soil dries even under the film. Under the film and mulch it warms up and retains maximum moisture.

While the earth is warming up, we are preparing planting material. We set the tubers, disinfected and greened in the fall, for light germination. 10-14 days before planting, we set it up for wet germination. We line the trays with newspapers and put a 1-2 cm layer of wet sawdust. We lay the tubers almost side by side on this layer. Cover the tubers with the same sawdust on top. It is important that wet germination takes place at a temperature close to the soil temperature at the time of planting. The seed tubers adapt, and after planting, the potatoes quickly grow without experiencing stress. You should also not delay wet germination, otherwise the roots will grow too large and intertwine. It will be difficult to separate the tubers without cutting off the roots.

When choosing planting dates, you need to look at the soil temperature. At a temperature of 5-7 degrees you can already start planting. Landing also has its own characteristics. We loosen the top 5-7 centimeter layer with a flat cutter. We place the seed tubers so that the top of the tuber is approximately at the level of the surface of the ridge.

The photo was taken to illustrate the location of the tubers in the garden bed. In reality, planting is carried out like this: We make a hole with our hand to the solid ground, lower the tuber there. Then we make a hole for the next tuber, and move the soil onto the planted tuber. At the same time, we raise a mound 5-7 cm high above the tuber. Moreover, we make the mound compact (Fig. 1).

We leave it like this until the shoots appear. The loose top layer of the ridge and the undug soil under this layer provide required humidity, which allows you to do without watering. The temperature in the mounds is higher than in the ridge, which promotes earlier germination. With the emergence of seedlings, you can lightly hill them. But you shouldn’t be overzealous with this technique, otherwise we’ll get the harvest later. If the weather is dry, we mulch the surface of the ridges, including the surface of the mounds (Fig. 2) in which the tubers are located.

Now the mulch no longer interferes - the earth has warmed up, but it helps retain moisture. We place “bottle heat stabilizers” on the beds and cover them with non-woven material. According to my observations, Agrotex 40 (or other material with the same density) is optimal (see “Frost, rescue options”). It is convenient to press the non-fabric with the same plastic bottles filled with water. We do not use arcs; the plants lift thin material themselves. You just need to leave an allowance of material, taking into account that the stems are growing. It is better not to remove “thermostabilizers” after the end of the frost period. They will also be useful at this time. To ripen, potatoes need a certain amount of positive temperatures. And the sooner it is dialed (within optimal temperatures), the faster the potatoes will ripen. At the beginning of the early potato growing season, daytime temperatures are not yet too high, and nights are cold. These nighttime temperatures retard development. “Thermal stabilizers” heat up during the day and release heat at night. Thereby accelerating the development of potatoes. Not only bottles but also stones can be used as heat stabilizers.

When the heat comes, the potato tops grow
and closes the “thermal stabilizers”.

After the end of the period of possible frost, remove the non-woven fabric and add mulch. It is better that its layer is 15-20 cm.

At this time, the potatoes are already beginning to bloom. Now the mounds play a slightly different role. They make cleaning easier. Here's what happens. Stolons in loose soil are formed mostly short, and growing tubers protrude from the mounds. If you do not use a thick layer of mulch, they will easily become green. This technique allows you to monitor the development of tubers and, when tubers of commercial size appear, gradually select them without digging up the bush.

The remaining tubers of the bush continue to grow. I have to admit that the mounds do not allow us to detect 100% of all large tubers. Some stolons are taken into the soil by worm tunnels, and tubers are formed below the loose layer. Such tubers can sometimes be detected by cracks in the soil. If the soil of the ridge is loose, then everything is even simpler. We bury one finger in several places around the bush. If we find a tuber, then carefully turn it out, trying not to damage the roots. After the large tubers have been selected, we return the mulch to its place. Varietal characteristics should be taken into account. For example, the varieties Alena and Latona form an early harvest quite well. Therefore, it is worth harvesting marketable tubers once. Then dig up the entire bush. In other varieties (for example, Zhukovsky early), tubers can be removed several times; in them, tuberization is extended. You just need to observe the varieties that you have.

How do early varieties differ from mid-season and late-season varieties? Sometimes not knowing the answer to this simple question leads to failure in growing early potato products. The thing is that early ripening varieties begin to grow tubers even before budding, while tubers mid-season varieties tubers grow at the end of the growing season. For example, on the early Zhukovsky bushes there are still flowers, and on the stolons there are already tubers the size of a goose egg. And early varieties bloom earlier. In the photo - early Zhukovsky. The bushes have not yet reached 15 cm, but they have already collected buds.

I think that the technology for producing early potatoes can and should be improved. Potatoes are a crop of great potential! One of the members of the Omsk Potato Growers Club grows young potatoes through seedlings. Removes it in the last days of June.

New finds for you!
Oleg Telepov,
Omsk Potato Growers Club