Almost every gardener grows potatoes on his plot. This is a favorite vegetable of Russians and the most adapted garden crop. However, not everyone can boast of a rich harvest of large, even potatoes. This is often associated with unfavorable weather conditions, pests, or unsuccessfully purchased seed potatoes.

Among the Dutch varieties, the most popular are Eba, Mona Lisa, Cleopatra, and Asterix.

Growing potatoes using Dutch technology allows you to increase the amount of harvest. This method has been used by our gardeners for a long time.

The Dutch method involves not only a certain type of soil cultivation, but also a whole series of procedures that must be carried out at a certain time:

• The Dutch pay a lot of attention to air exchange and saturation of the soil with oxygen. Therefore, before planting, the area must be thoroughly loosened.
• There should be enough potatoes between the rows long distance. This way each bush will receive enough light and nutrition. The distance between tubers when planting is at least 30 cm, and between rows - more than half a meter.
• Choose only high-quality seeds. It is desirable that the seed tubers are no lower than the second reproduction (variety renewal stage). If you plant the same seed tubers every year, the yield will decrease and the potatoes will begin to accumulate infection.
• Try to change the location for potatoes every year. Potatoes will grow well in the same area if they are planted there no more than once every three years. During the break, it is good to plant grain crops on the potato plot.
• Be sure to fertilize the soil. During spring preparation of the soil, add urea to it, and wood ash into the holes when planting.
• The Dutch recommend keeping the tubers warm before planting so that the sprouts reach a length of 2 cm.
• Cut tubers are planted. Each piece should have a peephole.
• When the sprouts appear, they are removed, and the bushes themselves are sprinkled with loosened soil so that the height of the ridges increases.
• Potatoes need to be watered generously at least 3 times during the summer.

If you follow all the rules and select the right potato variety, you can get up to 2 kg of yield per bush.

Growing in straw and barrels

Unusual methods of growing potatoes will help cope with problems such as an overgrown plot (if there is no way to plow it), lack of space on the plot, as well as a consistently low yield when traditional methods landings. In these cases, gardeners resort to the most non-standard solutions. The essence of the straw planting method is that the tubers are sprinkled with straw instead of soil.

This method has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the absence of straw, which simply cannot break through the straw, a rich harvest, good air exchange and an incredibly simple way to harvest (no need to dig anything). However, there are also some disadvantages. For example, straw does not hold water, so you will have to water a little more often. Straw can also attract various animals, such as mice.

The result of growing in straw in different regions may vary. The method of planting under straw is suitable for those who have too heavy soil or too much grass on their plot, which they do not have the time or opportunity to dig up. Instead of straw, it is sometimes recommended to use freshly cut grass if it has already grown in sufficient quantity by the time the potatoes are planted. For better preservation moisture, the tubers can be planted in shallow holes, and then sprinkled with straw.

There is an opinion that in just one barrel without a bottom you can grow a fairly large number of potatoes using only 4 seed tubers.

This method is suitable for those who do not have a lot of space on their site.

To grow potatoes in a barrel, you need:

• Pour 20 cm of fertile soil at the very bottom.
• 4 tubers with eyes are placed on top and sprinkled with a small amount of soil.
• When the sprouts hatch, you need to add soil as they grow.
• Periodically you need to water the soil and it. All procedures are carried out until the barrel is full.

If you believe the inventors of this method, then closer to autumn you need to overturn the barrel and it will be full of selected potatoes. You can plant potatoes in this way not only in a barrel, but also in a box without a bottom, a bag, and even an old bucket. Some people make holes in the sides of the container and plant the tubers there.

All fertilizers, especially mineral and potash fertilizers, must be applied to the soil before planting. Sometimes it is useful to mound lightly to improve air exchange. If you want to get the maximum yield with this growing method, you need to plant the tubers so that each bush with one of its bases is in a hole for watering.

The method of growing potatoes under film is extremely simple. To do this, you only need a black strip or any black non-woven material. First, the site is carefully prepared for planting: it is dug up and fertilized. The film is spread on the prepared area and fixed firmly enough so that the winds do not blow it away. Small cross cuts are made in the film sheet in rows.

A small hole is made under each cut, into which a tuber is planted and covered with earth.

This method is good because there is no need to weed and hill up the area. It is convenient to plant early varieties of potatoes under the film, since the black film warms the soil faster and allows the potatoes to sprout earlier. However, it is not recommended to plant potatoes under film in areas that are too hot and dry; the tubers will simply bake under the film and not sprout.

Mittleider and Gülich method

Suitable for those gardeners who do not have large areas or they want to collect as much harvest as possible from each bed:

• First, carefully prepare the area: remove all obstacles to light, dig up, remove weed roots.
• After preparation, markings are made. You need to take a thin rope and pegs, drive the pegs on 4 sides of the bed so that there is sufficient distance between them. The resulting beds should be up to 9 m long, up to half a meter wide, and the distance between the beds should be at least a meter.
• According to the markings, you need to dig up the beds, making small sides along the edges, and add. There is no need to touch the row spaces.
• Then holes are made in the beds. For better growth the holes should be staggered at a distance of at least 30 cm from each other (meaning holes in one row, resulting in 2 rows of holes on 1 bed).
• In each hole about 10 cm deep you need to put a little and 1 tuber, and sprinkle earth on top.

The Mitlider method does not imply hilling, but weeding is mandatory. The bushes need to be watered regularly so that the soil does not dry out.

Narrow beds significantly reduce maintenance and provide the bushes with sufficient nutrition, and also save space and water.

The Gülich method is somewhat the opposite of the Mittlider method, since its essence is to provide each potato bush with as much free space as possible.

Gülich method:

• The area is divided into squares 1 by 1 meter.
• Make a roll of manure inside and plant one tuber with the top part in the soil.
• Shoots begin to grow from the tuber to the sides, each of which is sprinkled with earth.
• As the shoots grow, they continue to be sprinkled with soil.
• After all the manipulations, a large multi-stage bush is obtained, which as a result can produce up to 16 kg of potatoes, if provided with sufficient care, watering and fertilizing.

More information can be found in the video.

“On Sunday, in the market square, the city executioner will cut off the noses and ears of the enemies of the potato.”

Don’t be alarmed - this decree is not modern, it is already many years old. At one time it was published King Frederick William I . Now it is no longer relevant, because it is unlikely that anyone in our time should be forced to plant potatoes.

Although... when growing potatoes- Almost all of our gardeners sometimes work from morning to evening, spending considerable sums on purchasing fertilizers and chemicals, and getting rather mediocre results.

While it is considered normal potato yield 400-500 kg per hundred square meters, we generally collect no more than 100-200 kg, or even less. However, 500 kg is not the limit. Many grow 800 and 1000 kg per hundred square meters, and some craftsmen grow up to 2000 kg.

Soil preparation

In the spring, if continuous mulching has not been applied since the fall, where it is planned to plant potatoes, the soil must be dug up if the areas are small, or plowed if the areas are large. If plowing results in large lumps of earth, then the soil must also be harrowed to obtain a level field.

When the soil has been mulched since the fall with film, straw, sawdust, a thick layer of leaves, etc., then you don’t have to dig, but clear the area of ​​mulch and immediately plant potatoes in such soil, since it is loose, and experience shows that the yield is no lower than when digging or plowing the soil.

The arable layer should contain at least 2−2.5% humus.

It is imperative to alternate crops in such a way that the potatoes return to their original place no earlier than after 3-4 years .

How to fertilize potatoes

The yield of potato tubers can be increased through fertilizers in the same way as through sprouting potatoes, by 40−50%. Potatoes are a plant that constantly requires a certain amount of fertilizer during the growing season. The best way this need can be satisfied if both organic and mineral fertilizers are used simultaneously.

These types of fertilizers complement each other, since mineral fertilizers are consumed by plants in the first period of their growth, and organic fertilizers later, because they still need to be mineralized.

The organic-mineral potato fertilization system works flawlessly in any area. And, in essence, there are no areas of land where the application of any fertilizers would not be required at all.

Inorganic fertilizers must be applied 50% phosphorus and 50% potassium, according to the instructions on the packages. Also add organic matter: half-rotted manure or mature (old) compost at the rate of 400−500 kg/100 m² (per hundred square meters) is applied only in the fall for fall plowing

EM drugs.

Before planting in the ground, sprouted potatoes are soaked in a working solution of the EM preparation at a concentration of 1:1000. To prepare the working solution, take warm non-chlorinated water and a little nutrient medium. This simple operation is performed in any stainless container. The tubers are kept in the solution for half an hour. Seed potatoes are processed in batches, without allowing the tubers to dry out, and then they are planted in prepared beds.

The presence of EM compost simplifies the task of growing a record harvest . A handful of “ripe” EM compost and a handful of soil are thrown into the planting hole. Then the prepared tubers are placed on a “nutrient cushion” and buried.

The newly emerged shoots are treated with an EM solution. The next time the drug is used during the budding period, then during the flowering period. Before each hilling, it is a good idea to spray the soil and leaves with an EM solution.

The use of EM technology speeds up all processes, so plants will bloom 1.5–2 weeks earlier than usual. Thick stems and dense tops are too much for the Colorado potato beetle, and it cannot cause much harm. Potatoes grown using EM technology are perfectly stored until the next harvest without being spoiled.

Seed material.

The main reason bad harvest— use of degenerate seed material. If the seed material is of poor quality, then no other agrotechnical measures will help. The solution is that in almost every city there are shops, companies, and private entrepreneurs that sell seed potato tubers. You can search on the Internet or through newspaper advertisements. If you don’t have it, you’ll find it in the next town. Naturally, it is best to start looking for seed material in early spring, because then it may not be available. Then you can use it for several years until the variety degenerates. A degenerate variety produces a wide variation in tuber sizes at harvest. Seed potatoes produce crops with uniform tuber sizes.

Potatoes should be dug for seeds 3-4 weeks after the start of flowering. At this time, the tubers are still growing intensively, all processes in them are aimed at growth. We interrupt this growth and, thanks to this, lay the foundation for the rapid growth and development of plants next year.

When digging potatoes, tubers for seeds are taken from those bushes where the stems are quite thick, the tubers are large, the same in size, and there are no small tubers at all. Such tubers are divided into varieties and placed in separate boxes, preferably in banana or tomato boxes, or specially made ones. Each variety is indicated by its name by inserting a tag into the box or by making an inscription on the box itself. This is how planting material for next year is formed.

When selecting tubers for subsequent planting, always remember that it is better to select larger tubers, since it is more rational to plant parts of large (healthy) tubers than whole small tubers of the same weight. The yield will always be greater. And this happens because parts of large tubers always have a higher biological potential (in addition, wound reactions from cutting tubers are added) than small ones, although they are also healthy tubers.

Potato greening

Potato tubers selected for seeds are planted in a bright place. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that direct sunlight does not fall on the tubers.

Landscaping is best done in the shade of trees, under various canopies, on the north side of buildings (before possible frosts).

Potato storage

In all regions where there may be dampness above the permissible level in storage facilities during winter storage, it is necessary to sprinkle the seed tubers (before bringing them into storage) thin layer chalk. Then the tubers are placed in storage until spring.

Potato processing

Seed tubers after winter storage before germination, that is 40 days before landing , needs to be processed aqueous solution two substances, namely: boric acid(borax) and copper sulfate .

In this case, boric acid (borax) is taken 100 g per 10 liters of water, that is, the solution has a concentration of 1%, and copper sulfate - 20 g per 10 liters of water (solution concentration 0.2%). The chemicals are poured into a bucket of water, which should be at room temperature, and mixed well.

Before preparing the solution, the boxes are taken out into the yard and placed on the ground in one layer. Next, the tubers are sprayed directly in the boxes until they are completely wetted on one side. Then the tubers and boxes are given the opportunity to dry. After this, the tubers are turned over and treated with the same solution on the other side. And - drying again.

If there is no sprayer, you can perform the treatment using a broom.

Sprouting potatoes

As already mentioned, 40 days before planting potatoes, after processing and drying the boxes are brought into a warm (12-15 degrees) and bright room (this should not be a living room), and here the tubers are germinated for 30 days. It is advisable to spray the tubers with water at room temperature every 2-3 days, and after 15 days, change the boxes: those that were at the top, put them down, and vice versa - those that were at the bottom, put them on top, one above the other. As soon as 30 days have passed, the tubers are cut, dried and planted in the ground in parts with sprouts,

Tubers need to be cut

After germination, the potato tubers are completely cut into pieces with sprouts. Each part of the tuber should have one sprout, in some places two or even three (where the sprouts are very close to one another). When cutting tubers, the knife should be constantly soaked in a 0.1% potassium permanganate solution after each tuber. Next, the pieces of tubers are placed on blotting or filter paper to dry, which lasts three days. In this case, the cut parts of the tubers are turned over daily.

You don’t have to cut it - the second way

After the potatoes sprout and the stems reach a height of 15 cm, parts of the tubers and whole tubers are dug up. The stems with already formed roots separate from them and sit back in their rows. The tubers and parts of the tubers are then discarded.

Wet growing of potatoes

By so-called wet growing, you can get the highest potato yield. To do this, it is necessary to do parts of the tubers with sprouts, after cutting the germinated tubers and drying them on filter paper or in another way, the so-called wet growing. It is carried out for 8 days in the following way. At the bottom of the boxes, if they have cracks, put cardboard, then a layer fertile soil or a mixture of soil with humus, or a mixture of peat with humus, in any case 3-4 cm thick. Then the dried (3 days) parts of the tubers with sprouts are laid out on this litter, sprouts up. Pieces of tubers are laid so that there are small gaps between them (1–2 cm).

From above, these pieces of tubers with sprouts are covered with the same substrate that was placed on the bottom of the box, for example, a mixture of soil and humus. Then everything is watered with water at room temperature until completely moistened, and the boxes are placed in a room with a temperature of 12-15 degrees Celsius. After 8 days, the seedlings are ready. In the yard, everything is carefully poured out of the boxes, the seedlings are selected from the substrate into buckets or baskets and planted in the soil on the plot for growing new potatoes. Thus, from the day germination begins to the day the seedlings are planted, 41 days pass: 30 days - germination, 3 days - drying parts of the tubers after cutting, 8 days - wet growing.

When to plant potatoes

It is better to plant potatoes very early. For example, for the conditions of the Zhytomyr region this is the end of March - the beginning of April. As soon as the soil temperature will exceed +2 degrees and there is a tendency for the temperature to increase, you can plant.

Very early planting allows rational use of winter moisture reserves. It happens that the area is covered with snow, there is ice and frost. It's not scary. Experience shows that when snow falls after planting potatoes, the yield increases significantly. When snow melts, biologically active water enters the soil. And this has a positive effect on the harvest. At the same time, the roots grow rapidly, especially when the soil temperature rises from +2 to +11 degrees. But still, a caution should be made here. If the soil where you plan to plant potatoes contains little organic matter, then spring frosts it can freeze to a great depth and the planting material dies. Therefore, in such cases, it is necessary to wait until the soil at a depth of 15 cm warms up to +5 ... +8 degrees.

How to plant potatoes

Sprouts with pieces of potato tubers planted to a depth of 7 cm at a distance of 10 cm from one another , Distance between rows 80 cm. Between parts of the tubers you can apply fertilizer: superphosphate, potassium magnesium, urea, ash (wood, straw, weeds), bird droppings or vermicompost. All this must be mixed in certain quantities and buried in the ground so that there is no contact between the planting material and the fertilizer (there may be contact with vermicompost).

In general, we can clearly formulate a pattern that exists for row spacing: where it is cooler, there are more cloudy days and more precipitation, the row spacing should be larger, but not more than 100 cm; Accordingly, where it is hotter, there are more sunny days and less precipitation, the row spacing should be smaller, approximately 60 cm.

The distance between plants in rows (when planting potatoes in parts of tubers with sprouts) should be 8-15 cm and depend on the pieces of tubers: the larger the pieces of tubers, the greater the distance and, conversely, the smaller the pieces of tubers, the less the distance.

Calculation of the required number of tubers

Let's make a calculation for an area of ​​\u200b\u200bone hundred square meters of land (100 sq. m.). Let's say we have a rectangular plot of 12.5m x 8m. We will place the rows from south to north, the distance between the rows is 80 cm. Since the width of the area from east to west is 8 meters, 10 rows can be placed on it from south to north (8 m: 0.8 m = 10). The total length of all rows will be 125 m.

For every meter of row length, ten parts of tubers with sprouts are needed (with a distance between sprouts of 10 cm). This means that 125 x 10 pieces are needed for the entire length of the total row. = 1250 pcs. A healthy tuber usually has 5 or 6 eyes.

Therefore, if the number of required eyes is divided by five (1250 parts of tubers divided by five), then this will be 250 tubers. The remaining eyes, if there are more of them, will remain in reserve.

This means that in order to plant a plot of 100 square meters with potatoes. m (one hundred square meters), we need to have 250 tubers, each weighing 200−300 grams or more.

Accordingly, in order to plant ten acres, it is necessary to prepare 2,500 tubers for planting next year.

Hilling up potatoes

As soon as the potatoes begin to emerge from the ground in some places, we do pre-emergence hilling: ridges are made along the rows with a height 7−10 cm. In this case, the emerging plants are completely covered with earth. Pre-emergence hilling has its advantages. We list 10 positive factors that have a beneficial effect on potato growth with this hilling:

1. the soil near the plants is loosened, oxygen access to the roots improves;

2. weeds die in the white thread phase;

3. the potatoes receive the first hilling, and it is already clearly visible where the rows are and where the rows are;

4. emerging potatoes are protected from frost, if any;

5. if it is warm enough and the Colorado potato beetle crawls out of the ground, it will no longer be able to lay its eggs on emerging plants, since they are not on the surface;

6. if the Colorado potato beetle lays eggs, they die from contact with the ground;

7. the layer of soil above the stems puts pressure on the stems, and they then become thicker;

8. nutrients, which are in the soil, move from the rows closer to the plants, which accelerates their development;

9. ridges warm up better than flat soil, which also accelerates plant development;

10. More so-called stolons (underground stems) are formed, at the ends of which small tubers initially appear.

Second hilling

As soon as the plants break through the ridges and reach a height of approximately 10 cm, they are earthed up again, or rather, completely covered with earth again, so that the height of the ridges is 20−30 cm(less in the south, more in the north). In this case, the soil between the rows is treated with hoes, tillers or plows, fluffing it to the greatest possible depth. Here again all the same positive factors apply as during the first hilling. Thus, the ridges can accommodate the entire crop of tubers. The inventor has found that tubers form in the ridges very well, even when the ridges are dry, even better than with very wet ridges. If the ridges are overly wet, tubers may not form at all (there have been such cases).

Weeds

It is also necessary to periodically destroy weeds in the inter-row spaces (with a hoe or other implement). And in the rows of potatoes themselves, near the stems, weeds (quinoa, mustard, field sow thistle, etc.) can only be destroyed manually. It is important to remember that the weight of the tuber harvest decreases as much as the weeds weigh.

Watering potatoes

In all regions where potatoes are grown and there is not enough moisture in the initial growing season, and the soil has a moisture-retaining complex (sufficient amount of humus and organic fertilizers), it is advisable to do the so-called moisture-recharging irrigation with an irrigation rate of 4-7 cubic meters. m per hundred square meters of land. If this can be done, then all early potato varieties will produce a satisfactory harvest next year even when there is a drought. Of course, all this applies to flat areas of land.

When there is an opportunity and need, then watering the potatoes must be done during the growing season, especially during the budding period, when small tubers have already formed in the ridges. First, you need to dig up the ridge from the side in one place (0.3-0.5 m along the length of the ridge) and make sure that the tubers have already formed. From this moment on, a very clear pattern applies: the more water, the greater the tuber yield.

If not sufficient quantity rain moisture has to be watered, then one must strive to fulfill one important instruction; pour water onto the ground so as not to destroy the soil structure and try to ensure that the water gets as little as possible on the leaves and stems of plants.

It must be remembered that the more water gets on potato plants, the greater the likelihood that a very dangerous potato disease - late blight - can develop.

Colorado beetle

If you apply the technology described above, especially early boarding potatoes, then, as a rule, there are no Colorado potato beetle larvae on potato leaves before flowering, and adult beetles must be collected by hand and destroyed. When the larvae appear after flowering, it is necessary to decide how to destroy them. All mid-season and late varieties potato processing with modern effective means(Ratibor, Konfidor, Aktara, etc.), since they are almost harmless to human health. But such treatment must be applied no later than 20-30 days before harvesting potato tubers for food purposes. Therefore, on very early varieties, if possible, it is advisable to do without chemical treatments.

Late blight

There are practically no potato varieties that are completely resistant to late blight. This disease causes great material damage to potato growing and significantly reduces yields. And in cases of late planting of potatoes and early development of late blight, there is practically no chance of having a harvest. The method of growing potatoes proposed here, among other things, increases plant resistance to disease due to less dense stems and rapid development and maturation of plants. In other words, by the time late blight develops massively, potatoes planted using this technology are actually already ripe.

Potato harvest

Early digging of potatoes for seeds for planting next year has already been discussed. All other tubers that are intended for food purposes can be dug up later, at full biological ripeness, when the tops have already died off naturally (become yellow).

Before harvesting, the tops are completely damaged and removed.

As mentioned above, planting sprouted potatoes with sprouts with parts of tubers leads to the fact that all varieties (early, mid-season and late) finish accumulating a full harvest 10-20 days earlier than when planting with whole tubers.

Increasing the dose of fertilizer (within reason and within the instructions), as well as the presence of sufficient moisture and heat in the soil can speed up the ripening of tubers by even 30 days. Therefore, potato growers must be prepared to dig all the potatoes quite early. It should be remembered that delaying the harvesting of tubers leads to their infection with various diseases in the ground, primarily late blight and rhizoctonia (black scab of tubers), damage to tubers by wireworms and rodents.

Thanks to the use of this technique, the tubers grow very large: one of the reasons is that there are relatively few of them on each stem (usually 1–5, sometimes 6 or 7, sometimes up to 10). And due to the fact that there are few of them and constantly undergo a healing process (when cutting seed germinated tubers), they grow large and very large, weighing up to 1.6 kg. And high yields can be determined using scales by weighing tubers per unit area. In this way, you can get 8-9 kg per square meter. Naturally, anyone who manages to get such a harvest at least once will have a desire to grow potatoes all his life.

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*Calculations use average data for Russia

An agricultural business can be profitable and profitable with the right and competent approach. Growing and selling potatoes as a business is considered extremely rarely by novice entrepreneurs. Although potatoes are an irreplaceable food product and are a regular guest on any table - from everyday to festive, the business of growing and selling this crop is considered complex, costly and highly competitive.

For it to be successful, it will require considerable investment, as well as knowledge and experience. Experts in the field of agricultural business provide the following data. In order to get 20-30 tons of potato harvest per hectare, you need to invest 100 thousand rubles. For comparison, from the same area you can get up to 8 tons of wheat. However, the cost in the case of sowing wheat will be from 5 thousand rubles per hectare, and for potatoes - over 150 thousand rubles per hectare! The profit from the sale of 20 tons of potatoes is estimated at approximately 70 thousand rubles (at the latest prices, which are constantly changing in the current economic conditions). In addition, there are Newest technologies intensive cultivation of potatoes, which allow achieving yields of 65-70 tons per hectare. In this case, the profit can be about 900 thousand rubles.

To successfully conduct commercial activities and obtain maximum profit from growing potatoes for sale, experts advise using an area for sowing of at least 250 hectares. The profitability of such a project is estimated at 100-200%, and investments amount to hundreds of millions of rubles. At the same time, the payback for such a project is about 6-7 years. You need to take into account possible risks (bad harvest year, decrease in potato prices, etc.) and be prepared to constantly invest in the development of your business.

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Obviously, novice entrepreneurs cannot afford such a scale. But this does not mean that you will have to abandon your plans and look for new directions for work. You can start this business with much less investment. True, its profitability will also be significantly lower and will amount to no more than 60% (on average, 40%).

Potato growing technology

Potatoes, unlike a number of others vegetable crops, more susceptible to the influence of weather and climatic conditions. There are two main ways to grow potatoes. In the first case, very early varieties are grown in specially equipped greenhouses (thus, young potatoes go on sale in the spring), and in the second case, potatoes are grown in the open for long-term storage and consumption in the autumn-winter period. The first option will bring you more profit, but its implementation also requires significant initial costs, which will go towards equipping greenhouses and providing necessary conditions for early ripening of potatoes. The second option is more accessible to entrepreneurs with small start-up capital, so we will start with it.

Potatoes are early ripening crops. It only takes four months from planting to selling the finished product. The technology for growing and selling potatoes involves several main stages. They include the preparation of planting material, soil preparation for planting, planting itself, hilling, fertilizing, pest control, cleaning, storage, packaging of finished products and their sale.

Potatoes purchased for seeds must have all the necessary documents that guarantee the absence of future diseases and high productivity. Higher demands are placed on such planting material. Thus, the diameter of the tubers should be from 3 to 5 cm. However, it is not allowed to mix tubers different varieties. Plant vegetation must be 100%, and their reproduction must be stable and high. If the reproduction of varietal potatoes does not reach the second stage according to established standards, it is prohibited to use it for seeds.

Ready ideas for your business

Planting material is prepared in the fall. To do this, potatoes are sorted, leaving only whole, clean, medium-sized potatoes without signs of spoilage or disease. Tubers selected for planting must be “greened” in advance. To do this, they are left in the light for about twenty days. Moreover, direct sunlight is strictly contraindicated for potatoes. The light must be diffused. As a result of “greening,” the seed qualities of potatoes are improved, and the material itself becomes less susceptible to rotting. After germination, the potatoes are stored for storage in a room where sunlight does not reach. The warehouse must maintain an optimal temperature of +1 to +3 degrees and air humidity of about 80-90%.

About a month before the planned sowing, the potatoes are transferred to a bright and warm room, where they begin to germinate. The size of the sprout before planting should be at least one centimeter. As a rule, a medium-sized tuber is chosen for planting, but if there are large tubers in the material, then it is divided into parts - in half or into quarters so that each part has at least two or three eyes. Tubers are cut two weeks before germination or immediately before it. To protect the tubers from disease and spoilage, the cut areas can be covered with tree resin. Note that with large volumes of tubers, no one sorts them out manually and, moreover, they do not process them additionally. Preparation of planting material is carried out automatically, and tubers of the same size are selected for planting.

Ready ideas for your business

The timing of planting potatoes depends on soil temperature. IN middle lane Potatoes are planted in May, in the south - from March, and in the northern regions - in early summer. Determining the readiness of the soil is easy. It must be warmed up to 8 degrees to a depth of 12 cm. The soil for planting must also be prepared in advance. In small areas it is dug up with shovels or loosened with pitchforks. Of course, over an area of ​​several hectares manual labor excluded. For this purpose it is used special equipment– a plow with a walk-behind tractor or a tractor. Previously, it was recommended to turn the soil over, that is, swap its lower and upper layers. Now experts only advise loosening upper layer soil, which provides unimpeded access to air and moisture to the tubers. In such conditions, the root and bush parts of the plant will develop fully. Milling units with additional attachments are used to cultivate and loosen the soil.

Potatoes are planted in rows at a distance of at least a meter between bushes. The row spacing for early varieties should ideally be about 65-70 cm, and for later varieties – 75-80 cm. Compliance with these requirements is necessary for the normal development of bushes and to facilitate the process of processing plants and harvesting using machinery. With such row spacing, high loosening with milling units does not harm the root system of plants. However, most farmers prefer to increase the planting density by all means in order to save space, and make the row spacing a maximum of 40-50 cm. This saving turns out to be questionable in the end, since when loosening the soil, developing roots are subsequently cut off, as a result of which the growing season is greatly slowed down, and tubers exposed due to lack of soil turn green in the sun.

Tubers are planted to a depth of 4 to 8 cm, forming a ridge about 10 cm high on top. When planting seed potatoes, in accordance with the technological standard, there must be at least thirty bushes per square meter of land. In order to achieve such density, from the heated and germinated tubers at the stage of preparing planting material, those that have sprouted at least five eyes are selected, which means that they can produce the required number of main stems. About a couple of weeks after planting, it is necessary to remove weeds from the field and hill up the sprouts. In this case, the soil ridge above the potatoes is increased by another 10 cm. Thus, as a result, the height of the ridge is, in general, 20-25 cm, and its base is at least 75 cm. When forming the ridge, the soil should be loose and soft, since it is in it that potato shoots will develop. Water the potatoes two to three times a week if there is no rain. In southern regions, during severe drought, it is recommended to water daily. In cloudy weather and high humidity, the frequency of watering can be reduced.

Don't forget about using fertilizers for growing potatoes. The best organic fertilizer is considered to be cow or horse dung, which is introduced into the soil before planting and thoroughly mixed with the top layer of soil. The issue of using chemical fertilizers deserves special attention. When using organic fertilizers, if the soil is not depleted, you can do without them. After harvesting the potato crop, it is recommended to sow the field with any green manure crops. They belong to the so-called “green fertilizers”. These are plants that are grown for the purpose of their subsequent incorporation into the soil to improve its structure, enrich it with nitrogen and inhibit the growth of weeds. These include sunflower, corn, clover, legumes, etc. (about four hundred plant species in total).

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When potato bushes bloom, they are treated with solutions of products against Colorado potato beetles - the main crop pests that can ruin the entire harvest. In addition, it is recommended to prevent late blight by spraying plants special drugs. The plantings are treated at least 5-6 times with strict adherence to the alternation of products recommended by the drug manufacturers. Abroad, when cultivating planting material, indirect methods are also used to protect plants from viral infection. To do this, destroy aphids in advance using chemicals. In our country, such processing of seed potatoes is carried out extremely rarely (again for the purpose of economy). We fight the spread of diseases mainly by removing infected plants during weeding.

Potatoes are harvested immediately after the tubers ripen, which allows you to significantly increase their shelf life and preserve all the useful qualities of the product. The collected potatoes are stored in specially equipped warehouses where a certain temperature and humidity level are maintained.

Potato yield depends on many factors, but the main one is the varieties used. For example, Dutch potato varieties are highly productive varieties. If, for example, high-yielding domestic varieties produce a yield of approximately 20-30 tons per hectare even with insufficient compliance with technological requirements, then the yield of Dutch varieties with the same care is about 30-40 tons per hectare. Although, for example, the same Dutch varieties are not used in great demand among Russian potato farms. The fact is that our compatriots prefer to save on the cultivation technology, significantly simplifying it and limiting it to three main manipulations - planting, hilling and harvesting. In addition, not everyone can afford to purchase high-quality planting material, often using degenerate potatoes for several seasons. Special attention no attention is paid to the prevention of plant infection with late blight and the fight against it, and the level technical equipment farms, as a rule, leave much to be desired. Meanwhile, experts are confident that a competent approach and correctly selected planting material are the main conditions for the success of a potato growing business.

As for the cost of seeding materials, about 40 kg (that is, about 600 tubers) will be required per hundred square meters of area. The exact amount depends on the average weight of the tubers and the planting pattern you use.

Legal and accounting issues of running an agricultural business

If the land where you plan to grow potatoes for personal use or for sale in small quantities is your property and belongs to the category of private plots (personal subsidiary plots), you do not have to register as an entrepreneur and simply sell your products ( or rather its surplus) on the retail market. However, you should not count on big profits in this case. If you want to have not just additional income, but a profitable business, then you will have to register as an individual entrepreneur. When registering, you will need to select an OKVED code. In our case, the appropriate encoding is 01.11.2 “Growing potatoes, table root and tuber crops with a high content of starch or inulin” (current for 2015). This group includes growing potatoes, growing table root and tuber crops with a high content of starch or inulin, growing seeds and planting material, including elite and reproductive ones, intended for sale.

The Unified Agricultural Tax (USAT), which is 6% of net profit, is one of the most profitable. As the name implies, only agricultural producers, that is, enterprises or individual entrepreneurs who themselves produce these products and sell them, can pay the Unified Agricultural Tax. If you already have an operating enterprise and want to switch to the Unified Agricultural Tax, then the amount of income from the sale of agricultural products should be at least 70% of your total income. For producers of agricultural products, there are two taxation regimes - general and special. Between them there is certain differences. Enterprises paying taxes according to the general tax regime must pay VAT, unified social tax, property tax (for property that is used for the production and storage of finished agricultural products, a benefit is provided), transport tax (for trucks and agricultural machinery there are also benefits ), transport tax (a benefit is provided for trucks and agricultural machinery), profit tax (preferential tax rate on profits from the sale of agricultural products), land tax, mineral extraction tax, tax for the use of water bodies and environmental pollution.

Individual entrepreneurs who switch to a single agricultural tax are exempt from paying personal income tax, VAT (except for imports), property tax, and enterprises and organizations that have chosen this taxation system are exempt from paying VAT (except for imports), property tax and tax on profit. All other fees are paid as under other taxation systems, but the benefits for agricultural enterprises are obvious.

If you are an agricultural producer and fall under the above requirements, you can switch to the Unified Agricultural Tax as per the general procedure by submitting an appropriate application to the Federal Tax Service in the period from October 20 to December 31 current year, and individually – within thirty days after registration as individual entrepreneurs or legal entity. In the first case, your enterprise will switch to the Unified Agricultural Tax from the new calendar year, and in the second, when registering with the Federal Tax Service. Keep in mind that you will not be able to opt out of your chosen tax system during the year. But there is also the possibility of forced abolition of the unified agricultural tax if your enterprise begins to conduct activities that are not related to agriculture, or the share of sales of agricultural products becomes less than 70%.

It is also worth considering the fact that the expenses of an individual entrepreneur or an enterprise that conducts agricultural activities are limited to expenses for the purchase of fixed assets, wages of workers and advertising with the obligatory maintenance of a book of income and expenses. Only those funds that go to your current account or to the company’s cash desk are considered income.

Business plan for growing and selling potatoes

Let's take a closer look at what an entrepreneur will need to organize his own business. To cultivate a small plot of 30 acres (personal subsidiary plot), you will need a mini-tractor (or walk-behind tractor), a plow for it, a hiller for a mini-tractor, a body for transporting goods using a mini-tractor, and a device for digging up potatoes. This equipment will cost 100 thousand rubles.

If we're talking about not about hundreds, but about hectares, then the costs of equipment will, of course, be much higher. So, you will need a combine that costs about 350 thousand euros, a planter that costs about 100 thousand euros. Is it worth saving on equipment? You can also purchase long-outdated equipment from Soviet times, but the savings in this case will be questionable. Old technology constantly breaks down. In addition, its use leads to loss and damage to the crop. New Russian-made equipment is cheaper than imported equipment, while not much inferior to the latter in quality and performance. Therefore, it is better to purchase it rather than used and obsolete equipment.

Additional costs are associated with cleaning the harvested potatoes from contaminants, sorting them, packaging and transporting them. For a small farm, these investments will be about 10 thousand rubles. A shed or barn with a slatted floor is suitable for drying washed potatoes. For packaging, you can use packaging bags made of dense porous polyethylene, a stapler for sealing bags with staples, strips of thick cardboard and labels measuring 25 by 8 cm, which can be printed on your printer. The process of peeling and packing potatoes is quite simple - a couple of people can handle it.

First, the crop is sorted, and all spoiled potatoes are removed from the total mass. Then the selected potatoes are soaked in a container of water. An hour later the water changes. This procedure is repeated two to three more times until the potatoes are completely free of contaminants. The potatoes are then laid out to dry on a grated floor and left until completely dry. Finally, the finished products are put into bags and weighed ( average weight A “portioned” bag of potatoes is about 2-4 kg). Top part The packaging bag is wrapped several times around a cardboard strip, which gives it rigidity and prevents tears, and then is stapled in two or three places with a label previously inserted under the polyethylene.

But large production enterprises will have to spend a lot of money on ensuring a constant water supply, purchasing large containers (baths) for washing products, equipping a room for drying potatoes, purchasing scales, as well as packaging bags and labels. However, these expenses are worth it. Experience shows that clean, selected potatoes are in twice as much demand as dirty and unwashed ones.

Additional costs are associated with the purchase of seed, fertilizers and means for treating potatoes from pests (Colorado potato beetle) and diseases. For a small farm, this expense item is about 10-15 thousand rubles. From one hundred square meters you can harvest, on average, 250-300 kg of potatoes. Even with relatively small area in 30 acres you can collect about 7500 kg of products. Thus, the wholesale sale of potatoes can bring in an income of about 180 thousand rubles. Less taxes and contributions to the pension fund net profit entrepreneur will be from 70 thousand rubles.

Potatoes from personal plots are sold, as a rule, in food markets. Also, many entrepreneurs give their products for sale or sell them to wholesale companies. The last option is suitable only for large farms, since prices from wholesalers are significantly lower than market prices. In addition, you can sell your potatoes grocery stores, retail chains and individual retail outlets. Large enterprises work mainly with wholesale warehouses. Regardless of the scope of work you are going to work on, if you are an individual entrepreneur or a legal entity, draw up your own version of the contract in advance, which specifies the terms of delivery of products and receipt of payment for them, prices and other important terms of cooperation. Keep in mind that the highest prices for potatoes are observed in the spring.

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It is difficult to imagine a more popular vegetable on the table of domestic consumers than potatoes. We love and honor this root vegetable, respectfully calling it our second bread. In addition, it is in increasing demand from European companies, which makes it possible for Russian farmers to grow it for export.

It is also worth noting the growing needs of the domestic market, where demand significantly exceeds supply. Thus, there is enough space in this niche of agricultural production for everyone: both small and large entrepreneurs.

It should be understood that running any own business has both its advantages and disadvantages. And the potato business is no exception.

The main advantages that allow you to quickly make a project profitable include:

• independence of demand for goods from the time of year (the vegetable is equally in demand by Russians at any time, and the cost of early varieties of potatoes is especially high);
• unpretentiousness and good adaptability of the root crop to climatic conditions and soil;
• seasonal payback of the project (with a competent approach, the business will begin to generate real income in 4-5 months);
• low price of fertilizers and the possibility of using production waste (for example, tops) to improve the quality and fertility of the soil.

If we are talking about small and medium-sized businesses in villages or villages, tax exemption will be an additional bonus and financial help for future farmers. In addition, you can save on labor costs employees, turning to local residents, and here there is already a mutual benefit: your fund is decreasing wages, local residents get new jobs.

Growing vegetables for sale also has its own characteristic disadvantages and risks, most of which can be minimized with timely measures:

• seasonal heat - it is better to immediately spend money on an irrigation system than to try to save the remains of the crop;
• man is not the only fan of this root vegetable. As soon as the first tops appear, pests will begin to attack the plants. Timely fight against them will get rid of the problem;
• infected planting material will nullify all your efforts and destroy all the plants.

And, perhaps, the main disadvantage of the business is its seasonality, which, if desired, can be turned into an advantage. After working for several months, you can relax or think about a new project.

The following video shows how to organize such a business according to European standards:

Landing area

According to experts, growing potatoes involves using an area of ​​about 250-300 ha. However, for a good harvest and obtaining a stable profit, the presence of territories is not enough. In order for the land to be fertile, it is necessary to prepare it for planting crops. Most the right time– September-October (before the first frost).

The ground is cleared of weeds, debris and stones, loosened, preventing the soil layers from mixing. It's time to think about fertilizer. It is better to split this process into several stages, saturating the soil with new micronutrients. It's better to use only natural organic fertilizers . By the way, it is extremely unwise to save on fertilizing the soil - a small amount of organic matter even with a slight decrease temperature regime will lead to freezing of the soil, and no matter what planting material you choose, the harvested harvest will not recoup the costs.

Preparation of planting material

High-quality planting material is clean, medium-sized tubers without visible signs of disease or defects. With the onset of autumn, the selected material is “greened” by leaving it in the light for 2-3 weeks (avoiding excessive sun). This is done in order to improve the quality of the tuber and its resistance to the rotting process.

Then the potatoes are placed in a dark, cool and humid room, where they are stored until spring. About a month before planting in the ground, the planting material needs warm and light storage in order to be able to sprout. Large specimens are cut into pieces, each of which will subsequently also be covered with pars. The cut areas are treated with ash for disinfection purposes.

Before planting in the ground, the soil is dug up. For comfortable growth of the crop and ease of technical processing, the distance in the rows between the bushes should be about 1 meter. The distance between rows is 30-40 cm.

The time period for the start of planting is determined temperature factor. As soon as the soil warms up to 8-10 degrees at a depth of 10-15 cm, you can begin.

Care, collection and storage

A couple of weeks after planting, the first hilling is carried out (it will allow the soil to breathe, make it soft and loose), and the first weeds are removed.

At the beginning of flowering, young bushes literally attract Colorado potato beetles. IN large quantities they are capable of destroying the entire crop in the shortest possible time. To avoid this, thoroughly spray the above-ground parts of the plant.

Watering is carried out regularly - potatoes do not tolerate drought well. In extreme heat, daily watering is recommended, normally enough once every 3-4 days.

Harvesting is carried out after the final ripening of the tuber. In this case everything beneficial features the product will be preserved as much as possible.

Store the vegetable in well-ventilated, ventilated warehouses. Perfect option– dark, dry, moderately cool storage. Before storing, the product is thoroughly dried. outdoors. Tubers with defects should be stored separately to prevent the spread of rot.

Sales channels

Depending on the volume and specifics of doing business, the harvested crop can be sold in the following ways:

• Independent market sale. Justified for relatively small volumes, time and appropriate conditions that ensure high-quality long-term storage of the product.
• Hand over for sale. On the one hand, it is convenient and fast, on the other, it entails certain financial losses. This option is suitable for farmers who own large areas and reap good harvests. At good quality They will not have problems selling the goods.
• Conclusion of contracts with large retail outlets and supermarkets. Important point: the price of packaged potatoes is twice as high as those sold in regular bags. Packaging equipment will pay for itself fairly quickly even with small production volumes. Today, more than 50 percent of domestic potatoes are sold through the retail chain.

It is preferable to think about distribution channels in advance. This is not only saving time, it is an opportunity to preserve the harvest and deliver a quality product to the consumer, receiving a decent payment for it.

Business costs and profitability

The potato business is a profitable enterprise compared to growing other types of crops. Even taking into account the initial investment, with a well-drafted business plan, the costs will pay off within a few months, and the profitability will be at least 150%.

The cost of the project will be:

• land rental - 20% (in this case, rental of at least 2.5-3 hectares of land is considered profitable);
• special agricultural machinery (as a rule, this expense item accounts for about 25% of the total investment);
• wage fund (20 percent);
• planting material (20 percent);
• transportation costs, fuel, chemicals and organics (about 15%).

It should be understood that already in the second year of the project, the cost part changes downwards: there is no need to purchase equipment (the costs of operating the existing equipment are minimal). And even with a good harvest, your own planting material may be quite enough.

Among other things, the potato business has excellent prospects - the possibility of further processing it into raw materials is not far off. And these are completely different profits.

Potatoes, being the most profitable agricultural product, are nevertheless very demanding in terms of cultivation, processing, and storage technologies. This product does not forgive a careless attitude towards it, however, with a high-quality approach to all stages of production, it will make your enterprise successful, profitable and prosperous.