Potatoes are considered one of the most common vegetables that gardeners grow in their summer cottages. Growing a great potato crop is only half the battle. After cultivation, it is also necessary to properly harvest the ripened root crops. Digging by hand is difficult and that is why many people prefer to dig potatoes with a walk-behind tractor. This method is much simpler than using a bayonet shovel, since you just have to operate the cultivator to harvest the crop.

Before you start harvesting in this way, you should familiarize yourself with the features of using a walk-behind tractor.

Advantages of digging potatoes with a walk-behind tractor

Some vegetable growers refuse to dig up potatoes with a walk-behind tractor because they are afraid of ruining the potato harvest. Such fears are not in vain, since if the cultivator is used incorrectly, tubers can actually be damaged. Incorrect adjustment of the mini tractor often results in spoiled tubers cut into pieces.

However, despite this, the use of a walk-behind tractor has advantages that make the collection of root crops much easier. Common benefits include:

• Simplicity of design. The equipment has a simple design, the features of which are easy to understand. The main element of the cultivator is a potato digger, consisting of an upper fan and a metal plow.
• Easy setup that an inexperienced person can handle without any problems. Even gardeners who have never been interested in technology can handle setting up a potato harvesting machine. In order not to damage the root crops during harvesting, it is enough to adjust the depth of the plow, which is responsible for digging up the tubers.
• Reducing physical activity. The walk-behind tractor digs the potatoes itself, thanks to which physical activity is significantly reduced.
• Quick harvesting of ripe crops. Harvesting tubers using a cultivator takes less time than harvesting manually.

How to properly configure equipment?

Before you start harvesting the cultivator, it is pre-configured. When setting up equipment for collecting potato root crops, special attention is paid to adjusting the plow, which is responsible for digging up potatoes.

First, the distance the plow goes deep into the soil when digging is adjusted. It is enough to set the depth equal to the size of one shovel bayonet. If you set a smaller distance, then when digging potatoes out of the ground with a motorized cultivator, the root crops will be damaged.

The depth regulation is controlled by bolts located between the lock and the plow stand. After loosening the bolts, you can move the plow down or up yourself.

After adjusting the depth, the angle of inclination of the field board relative to the ground surface is adjusted. To adjust the angle, you will have to use a screw handle. When adjusting, the handle is twisted until the board rests completely on the ground. Then the handle is twisted in the opposite direction so that its back part rises 2–5 cm above the ground.

Digging potatoes with a walk-behind tractor

Beginners who have not previously harvested potatoes with a walk-behind tractor often have problems when using such a cultivator. Therefore, it is recommended to familiarize yourself in advance with the features of using such equipment in practice.

First you need to clear the area with the grown potatoes from debris, leaves and weeds. When clearing an area of ​​weeds, you can also use a cultivator. To do this, a special hiller and two rippers are placed on the equipment, after which you can loosen the soil between the rows. It is necessary to loosen the soil with a walk-behind tractor between the rows carefully so as not to accidentally damage the potatoes.

Once the rows are prepared, you can begin harvesting. When digging up potatoes with a cultivator, the harvest is collected through a row. Therefore, after collecting tubers in the first row, they immediately begin digging up the third. This is done to:

• do not accidentally damage the dug-up crop with wheels, which often ends up between the rows after digging;
• The walk-behind tractor was easier to control and did not drift to the side.

If you follow this easy scheme, you can harvest potatoes from five acres in 35–40 minutes.

Types of potato diggers

To dig potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, various types of potato diggers are used. When harvesting, simple homemade models and factory cultivators are used, which independently dig, collect and transport the harvested crop.

Factory

Factory models are often used to dig up potato roots, as they are of higher quality. Simple models are produced that look like a regular shovel with sharp teeth and without a handle. When digging potato tubers with a walk-behind tractor, the teeth go deeper into the soil and lift the root crops. Then all the potatoes in the soil fall onto the surface of the teeth and are carried out. Models with teeth require precise adjustment to avoid accidentally damaging the potatoes when digging.

There are also more complex models, tests of which have shown that they are more effective in comparison with simple models equipped with teeth. Such potato diggers are equipped with special belts for transporting already dug potatoes to their further storage location.

Homemade

Sometimes people simply don’t have the money for a super potato digger for harvesting potatoes, and so some try to make such a product themselves. Such work may seem difficult for many people, but in fact the manufacturing process is not that difficult. People who have previously worked with welding machines and metal products can easily make a homemade digger using drawings from the Internet. To create a structure for harvesting potatoes yourself, you will need the following tools and materials:

• hammer;
• welding;
• hammer drill for working with metal sheets;
• Consumables;
• metal scissors;
• spanners.

To efficiently dig up potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, you should choose a high-quality digger.

When choosing, the type of walk-behind tractor for which the digger is selected is taken into account. For example, potato diggers of the Agro or Zubr models are better suited for light walk-behind tractors than others.

All other varieties will not be combined with such cultivators.

For more powerful walk-behind tractors, the following models are chosen:

• KVM-3. The device goes deep to a depth of 25 cm, which allows you to remove potato tubers from the soil. The model allows you to install additional knives on it for collecting fruits in hard ground.
• KVM-1. Used for use together with Neva cultivators. Like the KVM-3 model, it is equipped with additional slots for knives.

Conclusion

Digging up potato roots is a labor-intensive job that all gardeners face. To somehow simplify this process, it is recommended to use special walk-behind tractors for harvesting.

Harvesting vegetables, fruits, fruits and berries is quite simple. We see whether the color of, say, the fruit we are picking is typical, we can pick it (after all, there are many more of the same on the tree, and we will not harm the plant in any way) and taste it, finding out by taste whether it is ready. With root crops, and in particular with potatoes, everything is different: in order to dig up potatoes correctly and so that in the end the tubers turn out to be ripe, tasty, large and, most importantly, preserved as long as possible, right up to the new harvest, you need to know a number of subtleties and features of this crop . Let's try to figure out how, when and what is the best way to dig potatoes.

When to dig potatoes?

Every gardener must firmly understand that the process of final ripening, including potato tubers, is influenced by a huge number of different factors. These are the characteristics of the current season, the condition of the soil, the degree of infection by pests and diseases, and, finally, varietal characteristics, which also dictate their own rules. For example, if you planted potatoes on the May holidays (or at the end of April, if the soil was well warmed up and was ready to work with it), then you can dig up potatoes around mid-August, until the end and beginning of September. This is the usual ripening period for the vast majority of different potato varieties.

Naturally, do not forget, or better yet, when planting potato tubers in the soil in the spring, write down the varieties of what ripening period you are planting: early, middle or late, because the period when you begin harvesting your crop will also depend on this. Don't think that the difference will be small. So, if it is indicated that the potato variety is early, then you can start digging it up a whole month earlier than the mid-season variety and a month and a half earlier than the late variety. In addition, take a look at your plot: if you are a conscientious owner and weeded out the weeds on time, then perhaps your potatoes received the maximum amount of nutrients from the soil, bypassing absent competitors, and they can be dug up at least a couple of weeks earlier. And if there are so many weeds that you can’t even see the potato tops, then perhaps your potatoes have been starving and they need a little more time to finally “ripen”.

How to check?

Of course, you can always stop guessing and check whether it’s time to dig up the potatoes. To do this, choose a bush that is simpler and closer to the edge and dig it up entirely, inspect the tubers and the skin on them. If the tubers are easy to separate and the skin on them is dense, then it is quite possible to start digging up all the potatoes.

Important! This applies to beginners who are trying to grow potatoes on their own plot for the first time and on their own. Often, due to inexperience and ignorance, they begin to dig up potatoes right in the middle of summer. The harvest is good, but these tubers have a thin skin, they cook quickly, that is, they are ready for immediate cooking, but they will not be stored for a long time.

Let's take a look at the tops

If you don’t want to dig up the bushes, then take a look at the potato tops: have they turned yellow or fallen down? If this happens at the end of August, then the potatoes themselves tell you that it’s time to get them out of the soil, otherwise, unevenly, the frost will strike and the potatoes will become sweet.

It happens that part of the potato tops has died and the time in the yard is appropriate, and part of it is green and green, as if it were not the end of August now, but some June. Why is this happening? This happens among gardeners who were too lazy to sort early, middle and late varieties and plant them in different plots. In this case, you need to dig up that part of the potato whose tops have fallen down and begun to dry out, and try not to touch the young tops, of course, if the digging is done with a pitchfork or shovel. With a walk-behind tractor, everything is more complicated: you shouldn’t go around these late bushes, you’ll have to sacrifice them and this will be a lesson for you for the future.

Phytophthora, which is not at all on time

By the way, by the time the potatoes are harvested, you can see the following picture: some of the bushes have already died, the tops on them are clearly dead, and some are “gnawing” on late blight. It has been noticed that such bushes may also have tubers affected by this dangerous fungal infection. And imagine what will happen if you dig up such bushes and place the affected potato tubers for storage along with healthy ones? That’s right, nothing good: all or most of the crop may be lost. Therefore, I advise you to dig up such potato bushes first, and either destroy the tubers removed from the soil or use them as livestock feed; I would not recommend eating them.

Do I need to remove tops when harvesting potatoes?

The debate about removing tops before harvesting potatoes has not subsided to this day. Personally, I firmly decided for myself that everything is good in moderation: complete removal of the tops (to the soil level) will simply make it difficult to dig up potatoes - you will have to look for the place where the bush was. The second problem is the same late blight: when you mow down the entire potato tops, you will spread the infection throughout the entire area, and when you dig up the tubers, you will also embed the fungus into the soil - which is what the infection needs. In principle, tops can be harmful, but in farms where potatoes are harvested by machines, hard tops can simply damage the tubers.

At home, I advise you to do this: first of all, we remove and destroy all living plants that are eaten by late blight. Neither tubers nor tops of such plants are needed. Next, we mow all the tops to a height of 12-15 cm, not lower. This way you will see the bushes and give an impetus to the tubers: they say they need to get out of the soil soon, which means you should stock up on a strong “crust”. After a week, you can start harvesting potatoes. By the way, healthy tops, devoid of late blight, are good compost.

Digging potatoes

First, choose a suitable day. It’s great if it’s hot and windy, if it hasn’t rained a couple of days before and the weather forecasters don’t promise it for the same number of days. Next, we carry out a control excavation: the potato skin is hard, the tubers are easily separated - that means everything is ready.

Step three - we estimate the likely amount of the harvest in order to know how many people, bags, wheelbarrows, bins or storage boxes and other equipment are needed. How to find out? A simple method: we dig up five potato bushes, select every single tuber from each, divide by five, and get the average yield per bush, which is quite accurate. Next, we multiply it by the number of bushes on the site; again we have, albeit approximate, but close to the real yield from the plot. If there is something missing to transport or store this vegetable, we urgently buy it in addition. Remember: the sooner you dig up your potatoes while the weather is good, dry them and put them in storage, the better.

When going out to harvest potatoes, I advise you to take with you four lots of bags, a pitchfork (if the soil is hard to dig) and a shovel (if it will be easy for you to dig). You can also take a walk-behind tractor, but we’ll talk about it later. Not everyone has it and not everyone knows how to manage it, but progress is inexorable and this moment of cleaning cannot be missed.

Why so many batches of bags? It’s simple, I advise you to divide it into four batches immediately after digging up the potatoes. The first batch will be giant tubers, the largest ones, which can either be eaten or left for seeds. In the second bag we put potato tubers of normal size, up to 80-90 grams, in the third - tubers that are even smaller (40-50 g, no more), and finally, in the fourth - all the little things, trimmed, pierced with a pitchfork, damaged tubers, which will be used either for food immediately or for livestock feed.

Potato digging tool

Shovel- This is a reliable tool, but it is advisable to have several of them, as the handles may break during the process. I wouldn’t recommend taking an all-metal shovel; it’s better to take one with cracks in the body; soil will spill into them and it will be easier to dig.

The disadvantages of a shovel are that it often spoils potato tubers - it cuts, leaves cuts, but the choice is yours, which also depends on the soil (personally, I could dig in clay with a shovel for no more than a couple of hours).

Pitchfork. It is also advisable to have a pair of pitchforks. Take forks with four or five teeth, no more, this will make it easier to reduce the risk of damage to potato tubers to a minimum. Be careful with the pitchfork, especially when you plunge it into the soil, you can easily pierce a rubber boot, so here I would advise wearing tarpaulin boots, they will be stronger. In principle, digging with a pitchfork is no different from digging with a shovel (although for me personally, digging with a pitchfork is easier, but that depends on who knows).

When digging potatoes, you need to stand so that the sun is looking at your back, so you can see what and where you are digging. Be sure to dress thoroughly so that all parts of your body are covered from the sun, you have a brimmed Panama hat on your head, and there is a persistent scent of mosquito and horsefly spray on the surface of your clothing. As for shoes, the ideal option is boots (they may be hard to wear, but it will be very difficult to accidentally injure your leg). Several people should follow you, no more than a couple of holes behind you and wearing gloves, they should select potatoes and sort them into bags.

Cultivator. This is already from the field of modern technology, it is designed for those who have the available funds and the ability to operate such equipment. A cultivator, in my opinion, is relevant if at least a hectare of land is planted with potatoes. A smaller area can be slowly dug up by three people. When working with a cultivator, it is advisable to remove all potato tops, leaving nothing on the site. But first of all, use a pitchfork or shovel to dig up the bushes infected with late blight, and at the same time, the tubers with it. Next, you need to wait a few days so that the grass settles down and does not interfere with work.

The weather is still the same - warm and dry for a couple of days. Regarding the choice of potatoes: here, most likely, you will have to do everything together and at the end of each row that the cultivator passes or, in general, after harvesting the entire area.

In order for working with a motor-cultivator when digging up potatoes to be a pleasure and not a chore, it is necessary that all the rows are level and the cultivator does not have to “walk” in different directions. Further, it is also desirable for the distance between the rows to be the same. Naturally, when digging potatoes for a cultivator, you need to use attachments designed for digging potatoes and nothing else. You should adjust the speed of rotation of the nodes so that they select the tubers, but do not throw them forcefully to the surface.

From my own experience, I can say that when digging potatoes with a motor cultivator, you should not dig row by row, it is better to dig potatoes through one row, otherwise one wheel will always move on the plowed ground, and the other on the compacted one, so it’s more difficult to work.

What is good about a motor cultivator: it usually allows you to select all potato tubers from the soil, rarely spoils them, makes work easier and speeds it up incomparably. A couple of people behind the cultivator can also go and sort the tubers or do this later, when the work of the motorized cultivator is completed, as we mentioned above.

Drying and storing potatoes

After harvesting all the potatoes, you need to dry them before storing them. For this you need to choose a sunny and preferably windy day, but you cannot pour the potatoes in an open and well-lit place: they can accumulate, albeit a little, the poison solanine. The best option is a canopy located on the south side.

Potatoes can be dried in fractions, since drying only takes 4-6 hours. Each fraction, after drying in one layer, with a turn to another barrel after two hours, must be placed in the cellar. An ordinary standard cellar has a depth of 2-3 meters, four walls whitewashed with lime and whitewashed every year, and bins - essentially large wooden boxes or standard apple wooden boxes, always new and dry. When pouring potatoes, you must not let them hit each other or fall from a height of more than 10 cm, this can lead to negative consequences, causing anything, even rot.

It is necessary to sort each batch, as we did on the field. It is advisable to have access to all potato fractions to check what condition they are in.

For normal maintenance of potatoes in storage, it is necessary that the temperature in it be at a level of plus 2-3 degrees Celsius, and the humidity should be at around 85-90%.

After storing all the potatoes, pay attention to the field: all the tops and weeds, if they are disease-free (and weeds without seeds), can be collected and placed in a compost heap. If you notice signs of fungal diseases, it is better to burn the tops.

That's all that can be said about when and how to dig potatoes.

Harvesting potato tubers is the most labor-intensive and crucial moment. The size and quality of the harvest depends on the choice of timing, and the duration of its storage depends on compliance with harvesting rules.

Only ripened tubers are stored well until spring. Harvesting too early can result in crop loss. It is also impossible to delay: potatoes in the ground are affected by pests and rot, which also leads to damage to the root crops during storage.

It remains to figure out when and how best to harvest the potato crop.

Starting from the flowering period, young potatoes are selectively dug for food. Everyone knows that such tubers have a thin skin that is easily peeled, and the root vegetable itself is watery and contains little starch (no more than 10%). These are the main external signs of unripe root crops.

A fully ripened tuber has a dense skin, sometimes similar to a cork. The starch content increases to 13-16%, depending on the variety.

Harvesting time depends on many factors, primarily on the potato variety.

The tubers are planted at the same time; the harvesting times for early and late varieties of root crops differ by 4-6 weeks.

Early potatoes for food are selected from the garden, starting from the appearance of flowers, until the end of July. Some tubers of early varieties are dug up for winter storage in late July - early August.

Objective and subjective factors cause confusion in the exact timing of ripening:

• climatic features of the region;
• vagaries of weather during the growing season;
• soil composition of a particular bed;
• negligent attitude towards compliance with the rules of agricultural technology.

There is no single deadline for harvesting root crops - even within the Middle Zone, potatoes are dug throughout the second half of August, until mid-September.

Tuber harvesting must be completed before the cold weather, when the soil temperature drops to 6-8°C. Rainy, cold weather does not contribute to the keeping quality of tubers.

According to the old tradition, potatoes and all root vegetables were harvested on Kupriyan day, August 31 (September 13, old style): the departure of the cranes symbolized the end of summer.

How to prepare potatoes for digging

In early August, the first external sign of potato ripening is the yellowing of the upper part of the bush. The initial stage of late blight manifests itself in a similar way after a rainy July. There is no point in taking protective measures anymore - the tops are mowed down and removed from the garden bed.

1. If it was late blight, the fungal spores will not descend into the tubers and the crop will not suffer from rot.
2. Mowing the tops accelerates the ripening of tubers - the peel becomes stronger and the starch content increases.

For mechanical harvesting, the tops must be removed.

What ways to dig potatoes - pros and cons

7-10 days after mowing the tops, the tubers are ready for harvesting.

For harvesting, you should choose a clear day, the temperature should be 10-17°C. It is undesirable to start work early in the morning: the contrast between the temperatures of warm soil and cold night air causes the formation of water condensation on the surface of the tubers.

Tubers selected from the soil must be dried before storing. Solar ultraviolet light kills fungal and rot spores, and the crop is stored better.

To dry, you need to prepare a flat, clean place where the potatoes will be removed.

With a pitchfork or shovel

The old-fashioned traditional method is the most labor-intensive. It is preferable to use potato forks with wide teeth: compared to a shovel, they are easier to work with and the tubers are damaged much less frequently by the tool.

Usually two people dig: one digs up the bush and turns the tubers to the surface, the other goes behind and collects the potatoes.

The main advantage of the method is that you can sort the tubers right away:

• reject sick and damaged, green, etc.;
• sort by size;
• select seed tubers from the bushes with the best productivity.

Hands

Without the use of garden tools, tubers are selected from potato beds planted under mulch or in high ridges. The mulch of straw, grass or leaves is moved with a rake, and the tubers are picked out by hand. Some of the potatoes go halfway into the ground - they are dug up with a pitchfork.

Using a walk-behind tractor

On a plot of several acres, a walk-behind tractor will help you quickly dig up potatoes. The entire digging process can be divided into 3 stages.

1. Dried tops, weeds, leaves, etc. are removed from the site.
2. Actually, digging potatoes.
3. Hand harvesting of tubers turned to the surface.

Digging potatoes using technology is much faster and easier than collecting them.

If the depth is incorrectly adjusted, the digger damages the tubers. The problem is not the technology, but the inability to use it. The depth is adjusted using the trial method, and the tubers remain intact, without abrasions or cuts.

A walk-behind tractor covers a plot of potatoes with an area of ​​5 acres in 20 minutes, and 3 people collect tubers raised to the surface in about 1 hour.

The walk-behind tractor and minitractor only pull the working tool and transmit torque to the rotating parts of the mechanism. A potato digger of a conveyor or vibration type is attached to a walk-behind tractor or a walk-behind tractor.

These mounted agricultural implements are similar in principle of operation.

1. The cutting element cuts the layer of earth.
2. The raised layer is loosened and rises to the surface along with the tubers.
3. Potatoes are collected in a storage bin or placed on a bed for manual harvesting.

Instead of a digger, hillers and cultivators are also used as mounted implements. The working tool is set to potato digging mode: the angle of attack at which the soil layer is turned over is selected. Compared to a shovel, a digger produces much fewer cut tubers.

We use a mini tractor

To cultivate large areas, it is much more profitable to use a mini tractor. Unlike a walk-behind tractor, you can attach a multi-row digger to a tractor. The tool grabs several rows of potatoes in one go.

A minitractor requires free space for “turn-turn” maneuvers - for small summer cottages the use of such equipment is irrational.

How to dig potatoes by hand using only a shovel can be seen in the video.

The potatoes are dug up - what next?

You should not put off sorting the tubers until later. Most summer residents choose potatoes by hand. It is much easier to immediately select planting material - these are healthy tubers from under the best bushes (70-100 g, without mechanical damage).

It is advisable to immediately pack seed tubers of different varieties into nets. Unlike potatoes for eating, seed potatoes should be kept in the light longer: until they turn green.

It is not advisable to immediately put the tubers in bags - a couple of hours of exposure to sunlight will benefit them. Scattering the potatoes in a thin layer will not only dry you out, but also improve your health.

After such drying, the tubers are sorted:

• small change and damaged potatoes for livestock and poultry feed;
• tubers with minor damage for primary consumption;
• large whole healthy root vegetables for winter storage.

During the harvesting and sorting process, tubers should not be thrown, sat on a bag, etc. Blue spots in the pulp, which are mistakenly considered the result of freezing, are nothing more than a consequence of careless handling of the dug up root crop.

Before storing in the cellar, the tubers must undergo a rehabilitation period of at least 2-3 weeks, or better yet, 1-1.5 months in a cool, dry place without access to sunlight.

1. Not all signs of disease are immediately visible.
2. During this time, the tubers finally ripen - the peel thickens and the starch content increases.

After rehabilitation, the tubers are sorted out again and placed in the cellar for winter storage.

Green manure is important

After harvesting the tubers, a dug up bed remained. Potatoes not only reduce soil fertility - the soil is contaminated with pests and diseases of the nightshade family.

On 6 acres of a country garden, it is almost impossible to follow the rules of crop rotation - alternating vegetable crops every 3-4 years.

Experienced summer residents act somewhat differently - they replace crop rotation of vegetable crops with winter sowing of green manure. Radish, mustard, and rye are especially valued. These crops not only replenish the nitrogen balance of the soil: wireworms disappear, late blight spores die, green manure displaces weeds from the ecosystem.

Conclusion

It is not enough to grow a record potato harvest; you need to accurately determine the harvest time. Harvesting too early: crop shortage and low quality tubers; harvesting too late - there is a risk of frostbitten tubers and rot.

Choosing a time to dig potatoes is not everything either; you need to choose the right weather, dig them up, sort them, dry them, and keep them in rehabilitation. Only after this the tubers are sent to the cellar for winter storage - the potatoes are healthy and will last until spring.

When to dig potatoes and determine that they are ripe? When deciding when to dig potatoes, you should understand that there is no specific date that would indicate when to harvest potatoes. The fact is that several factors can influence the maturation of a culture.

Vegetables and fruits must be harvested in a timely manner, otherwise the fruits may begin to deteriorate, which will also significantly affect their shelf life. If the fruits that grow on bushes and trees are visible, and by their appearance one can understand that they are ripe, then with root crops everything is different. In this article we will tell you about When dig potatoes, what are the signs of potato ripening and what are the average ripening times for vegetables, as well as methods for harvesting the seasonal harvest.

How to determine the timing of cleaning?

First of all, gardeners must understand that there is no specific date that would indicate when to harvest potatoes. The fact is that several factors can influence the maturation of a culture.

There is a certain dependence on what time the potatoes were planted in the ground. If planted at the end of April, harvesting can be done as early as early August. According to statistics, the most favorable month for planting crops is May. In this regard, potato harvesting can begin at the end of August or at the beginning of September.

It is imperative to take into account which varieties were used for cultivation in the current season. Early and late varieties can differ significantly in assembly time - from 4 to 6 weeks. Also, the timing will be influenced by how the owners cared for the site and crop during the summer, what the weather was like, and how much moisture and fertilizer got into the ground.

You can dig up a couple of bushes in the garden at the end of July if the vegetables will be immediately used for cooking, for example, young boiled potatoes. If the owners plan to store potatoes for a long time, then early harvesting should not be carried out under any circumstances. The thing is that it will still have too thin a peel, which significantly reduces shelf life. After the slightest damage to the skin, the tubers will subsequently begin to deteriorate and rot. And if the unripe crop begins to deteriorate, then you can be left for the winter without stocks and without preparations for the next season.

When growing potatoes from seeds, summer residents find out the flowering time of the bushes, as well as the ripening period at the time of purchase of a particular variety. Also, the required deadlines are usually indicated on the packages. If, in the process of caring for the plant, the flowering time occurs on time, this means that the growth of the potato is proceeding normally and it will ripen on time.

Signs of potato ripening

Usually, most summer residents are guided by the appearance of the bush. After the tops begin to turn yellow, there is every reason to believe that the potatoes are ripening and are already at the last stage. When the tops have dried and the tops have fallen, then after a few days you can start digging.

If you still doubt the need to dig up potato plantings, try first removing one or two bushes and carefully inspect the tubers. Their large size and dense peel will immediately indicate that it is time to harvest the entire crop.

However, it often happens that some of the bushes have already turned yellow and dried out, while others have not. This may be due to the fact that after digging up the potatoes last season and harvesting the tubers, they were not sorted by variety and, accordingly, by ripening period. If you have a similar situation, then you need to dig up the mature bushes and return to the rest in 10-14 days. By this point, you will be able to see the changes, and after that, dig up the remaining potatoes. However, we must not forget to continue to water the plantings.

When summer residents plant one variety of crop, it will need to be collected after the same period of time. Usually the harvest is harvested after 70-100 days.

In some cases, wilted tops do not always indicate potato ripening. This can happen if there is not enough moisture in the ground during a particularly hot period. So after a few days the bushes will begin to dry out a lot. To prevent this, you need to take care of your garden.

With an excess of moisture or nitrogen fertilizers, the tops are able to grow strong, while the root crops themselves do not have time to ripen by the time of harvest.

There are varieties in which the top part will remain green even when fully ripe. In this regard, we can conditionally determine the most favorable time for harvesting - the end of August and the first half of September. If in doubt, you can always try to dig up a couple of bushes to check the condition of the root crops of this variety.

Another way to determine the stage of potato ripening is by looking at the peel.. If the peel is easily erased and it is thin, then it is better to hold off on cleaning.

Dig up one bush to check. If the peel is not yet ripe, try it after 7-10 days.

To determine how many tubers you can collect from one square meter of seedlings, you need to know what variety was used during planting. Please note that young potatoes will have smaller fruit sizes.

Video: Signs of harvest readiness

Potato harvesting methods

Many summer residents are interested in how many methods there are for digging potatoes. During harvesting, you can use several methods.

The most commonly used gardening tools are a shovel and a fork. At the same time, during work you have to experience considerable physical stress, and since most gardeners are no longer young, this can become a problem. The lower back will be stressed the most. For those who have problems with the musculoskeletal system, it is better to use other methods, since in poor health, back pain may appear within a few hours.

Large farms will need to cultivate much larger areas than summer residents. For large-scale cleaning, special devices were designed to significantly facilitate the work. These include a potato digger or walk-behind tractor.
Ordinary physical labor can put a significant strain on a gardener's back. In this regard, if the area of ​​land cultivation is very large, and you have access to special agricultural equipment, then it is better to use it.

Everyone has their own method of cleaning: some dig with a shovel, some with a pitchfork, and some with a walk-behind tractor:

Cleaning using this equipment can be done after you have cut off all the tops on the surface. After a few days, you can get to work and dig up the potatoes.

Having determined when to dig potatoes , you need to prepare the equipment. First of all, you need to pay attention to the state of the rotation elements. They should be well lubricated. The parts that will loosen the soil and help harvest the crop must be cleared of old hardened soil, clay and pebbles. If the sharp edges become dull, then special sharpening will be needed.

It should be understood that using a walk-behind tractor requires compliance with a number of certain rules:

• all rows of planted potatoes must be level so that there is no need to change the direction of the device;
• the distance between all rows should be the same, since the wheels of the walk-behind tractor itself can drive into the adjacent planting, damaging the tubers;
• when harvesting, it is better to use a special attachment for the cultivator, selecting a certain depth for digging up the soil;
• the walk-behind tractor must be configured so that it moves easily, then the tubers will rise to the surface;
• To facilitate the process of working with the cultivator, it is best to dig up potatoes through a row, otherwise one of the equipment wheels will move along the plowed ground, and the other along a trampled path.

Before starting work, it is recommended to immediately prepare the place where you will sort or dry the crop. It is better to try not to throw or drop the tubers to prevent mechanical damage to the fruit, otherwise they will spoil in a few weeks.

During the harvesting process, you need to immediately discard damaged and diseased fruits, so as not to waste time on this again later. Place good harvests in bags and place them in a dark, dry, cool place. It is best to additionally cover the bags with thick fabric so that sunlight does not penetrate to the harvest. This measure will delay the germination of potatoes. Please note that it is better to immediately sort the varieties into bags to avoid confusion.

When tops and weeds remain on the field after harvesting, they can be dried in the sun. After a few days, everything should be collected and then buried in a compost pit.

If during the work you notice that the plant has signs of disease or fungus, then it is better to burn the tops.

Try to follow these rules, this will help make your job of harvesting potatoes easier.

Video “How to dig potatoes with a mini walk-behind tractor”

This video demonstrates how to quickly dig up potatoes using a Jikov motor-cultivator or a mini walk-behind tractor with homemade attachments without a shovel.

When to start digging potatoes in different regions of Russia

Most of Russia's territory is located in the zone of risky agriculture. Therefore, you need to choose a potato variety very carefully, giving preference to zoned varieties. True, there are varieties that are universal. Thus, according to statistics, almost 70% of owners of household plots located from Kuban to the Far East plant potatoes of the early Zhukovsky variety on their plots, which are characterized by high yield and resistance to weather conditions. Its only drawback is that the tubers begin to germinate at the slightest increase in temperature in the storage. If the autumn is warm, and the gardener delays harvesting, the potatoes may still germinate in the ground.

Potato harvesting in central Russia

In the north of central Russia, frosts begin in the third ten days of September. Accordingly, it is better to harvest potatoes before mid-September.

Although growing late varieties in such conditions is very risky, skilled summer residents are not afraid of difficulties: they are very popular mid-late varieties:

• Victory,
• Nakra,
• Altair,
• Fambo.

From early varieties, which can be harvested at the end of August - beginning of September, owners of personal plots prefer:

• Bashkir,
• Bellarosa,
• Nora,
• Rosaru.

In the south of central Russia, frosts occur later, at the beginning of October. The climate here is milder, so you can grow any variety of potatoes, even the latest ones.

• Of the later varieties, the varieties of Belarusian selection most loved by gardeners are Belorussky 3 and Lasunak,
• from the middle-late ones - Lorch, Mozart, Pobeda, Golubizna.

Potato harvesting in Kuban

The southern regions have their own specifics. Here they pay more attention not to frost, but to the summer heat. From about mid-July, the temperature rises so much that potatoes in the ground stop growing. Therefore, in the south of Russia it is profitable to plant early and mid-early varieties that ripen before the end of July.

It has been experimentally established that the same Zhukovsky produces high yields only in the first year, then the variety degenerates, losing resistance to heat. But in these climatic conditions they performed well early varieties:

• Cleopatra
• and Skoroplodny,

as well as mid-early:

• Svitanok Kyiv,
• Cardinal,
• and Reserve.

And Arrow is recognized as the most delicious of the early varieties grown in the Kuban.

Potato harvesting in Crimea

Although the first frosts in Crimea begin only at the end of October, due to the hot climate here, as in Kuban, it is more profitable to grow early varieties.
Crimean breeders specially developed a heat-resistant Crimean rose variety, ideal for local conditions.

If watering is organized on the site, then heat-resistant early varieties:

• Agave,
• Tiras,
• Laura,
• Arosa

In the conditions of Crimea, they can produce two harvests per season: the first is harvested in June, the second in early October.

Potato harvesting in the Urals and Siberia

In the Urals and Siberia, frosts begin in the second ten days of September. The climate is characterized by late spring frosts, possible July drought and heavy rains in August. Therefore, it is least risky to grow early and mid-early varieties, which can be harvested in the second or third ten days of August.

The most common varieties here are:

• Lugovskoy,
• Luck (both frost and drought resistant),
• Redstar.