Much depends on how promptly gardeners begin sprouting potatoes before planting them.
If you plant unprepared tubers, the shoots will appear much later and will be weak, which will ultimately affect the quantity of the harvest and its quality.
We will tell you how and when to start preparing seed potatoes for planting.
Preparation
1. First, the seeds need to be treated in a solution of copper sulfate. The composition is prepared from 1 teaspoon per bucket of water. Along with disinfection, rotten, diseased or suspicious seeds are discarded.
2. After bathing in copper sulfate, the tubers are dried on a clean cloth; the solution is not washed off; it should dry on its own.
3. At the same time, you should not confuse potato varieties if they are different, especially late and early ones.
4. If you need to put the vegetables in boxes, you need to lay them out in one layer so that you can then turn the tubers from side to side at least once a week. This is necessary for uniform development of the sprouts.
5. All the time while the tubers are in the light, they need to be sprayed with clean water once every 2-3 days, otherwise they may begin to wrinkle and dry out.
6. About a week before planting, you need to start taking the potatoes outside, but not into direct sunlight.
When to start
Germination usually takes about 3 weeks. Considering that planting is done in early May, you need to start in the first half of April.
Sprouted seed potatoes emerge within 5-6 days.
When planting, the main thing is not to damage the emerging sprouts, otherwise all the work will be in vain.
