The correct spacing between the laying potatoes is just as important for the yield as a well-prepared bed and a good supply of nutrients. This article provides information about the correct spacing and laying depth of the potatoes.
Laying depth
How deep potatoes are planted does not matter that much in comparison to the planting distance in the row and between the rows. With some cultivation methods, the drawing of a plant furrow is completely dispensed with. In contrast, potatoes are grown in ditches instead of dams. Common furrows are about 5 to 10 cm deep, which is more than enough for potatoes.
Row spacing
In the ridge culture, potatoes are piled up. For this, space must be planned between the rows. With new potatoes this is about 50 cm. Better a little more than too little, so that several good dams can be built. These enlarge the harvest by forming new tubers on the shoots and prevent greening
of potatoes. The dams are simply leveled during harvest, there is hardly any need to dig up potatoes.New potatoes
Since the cultivation time is comparatively short for early potato varieties, the distance between them is also different than for stored potatoes. New potatoes are usually pre-germinated before they are laid. The first sprouts and shoots form and, with a little luck, roots too.
Note: The yield of new potatoes should be increased if laying potatoes with many shoots are spaced a greater distance apart than potatoes with few shoots.
A simple rule is that potatoes are placed in rows with a foot between them. An average of 30 to 40 cm is assumed. However, putting your foot between the potatoes makes keeping your distance easier.
Storage Potatoes (Late Varieties)
Late varieties aren't just laid and harvested later, they are
also have a much longer cultivation time, which is accompanied by the fact that they have to be piled up more frequently. A row spacing of 75 cm makes sense for this work. The distance in the row is the same as that of the new potatoes.Further conditions on which the laying distance depends:
- Potato variety
- Laying time
- Cultivation method
- Size of the seed potatoes
- available space
particularities
There are several ways to grow potatoes. We show what peculiarities there are with the respective laying.
Balcony planting
Potatoes can be grown on the balcony, but the harvest is small due to the limited space. Various methods of planting potatoes on the balcony, aimed at over-planting, remedy this to repeatedly harvest smaller tubers from the plant for a longer period of time, but they continue to grow permit. For the laying depth and the distance, this means that only one potato plant is counted on a balcony tub of the usual size. There are no gaps. The depth depends mainly on the amount of substrate.
Potatoes in hay
In addition to the usual planting in dams, potatoes can also be grown in hay, clippings or even sheep's wool with far less effort. The laying depth is omitted
these variants, since the potatoes are placed on the bare earth, the distance corresponds to that of the dam planting. After planting, the potatoes are covered as tightly as possible. The material used should release nutrients evenly over a longer period of time and be constantly renewed. It is important that the potatoes are always covered so that they do not get any sun and turn green.Potatoes without a dam
Planting potatoes in a dam has advantages, but is not a must. If potatoes are not piled up, the harvest usually remains smaller, but the row spacing does not have to be that big. Smaller row spacings ensure that the potato plants quickly shade the area sufficiently and thus make life difficult for weeds.
Potatoes in the ditch
Instead of piling up potatoes, they can also be laid in trenches that are slowly filled in during the cultivation period. The effect is the same as with dam culture, but has the advantage that the dams cannot be leveled by heavy rain and therefore no potatoes are exposed. The disadvantage of trench culture is the difficult harvest and the reduced warming. In addition, trenches such as dams must have a corresponding distance from one another in order to be able to be processed properly.
Note: The trenches are drawn about as deep as a spatula. Also deeper in compacted, heavy soils.
