If a person has a vegetable garden, potatoes are sure to grow there. Sometimes it's a large plot, sometimes a bed, and sometimes a couple of bushes "for soup."
Rarely does a gardener completely refuse to plant this irreplaceable vegetable in cooking.
Is it really necessary to green the tubers?
Greening of planting material in spring is especially popular in private households. This method really has many advantages.
The main ones are:
- Better preservation of the tuber. Solanine (a substance produced under the influence of light) is poisonous to animals. Therefore, the seeds are not damaged by pests after planting.
- Acceleration of germination. Growth processes begin long before planting, so greened potatoes sprout instantly.
- Early harvest. Due to the fact that the tuber "comes to life" 1.5-2 months earlier, it is possible to get an early harvest.
These advantages play an important role for farmers, who can sell early potatoes several times more expensive than those that ripen in the fall. Therefore, agronomists most often advise greening the planting material, but they are silent about one important nuance. But experienced gardeners know this nuance and are in no hurry to green the tubers.
Why spring gardening is not beneficial for planting in the garden
As a rule, every hundred square meters counts for a gardener, so he wants to get the maximum harvest from a smaller area. And the goal of most gardeners is to grow a supply of potatoes for the winter. And here, landscaping is not the best helper.
The thing is that tubers are formed on cord-like shoots (stolons) that come from the stem. This is something like an umbilical cord through which the mother plant feeds the tuber.
The subtlety is that stolons are formed on the white underground part of the stem. That is why potatoes are hilled to increase the yield. Underground, the green stem does not receive light and turns white.
But if you have a small garden, it is much more profitable to germinate potatoes in the dark. Then they will immediately form long white sprouts. Of course, you can’t plant 5 acres of potatoes without breaking off the fragile sprouts. But if you have 1–2 beds, it is quite possible.
Summer residents who practice this type of planting claim that the yield is significantly higher due to the active formation of stolons on a long white stem.
By the way, it is possible and necessary to green seed potatoes. But it is advisable to do this in the fall so that they are stored well in winter. When storing green tubers, it is possible to reduce the risk of rot and protect the seed material from being eaten by rodents.
