Characteristics of the potato variety Zhukovsky (early)
Zhukovsky potatoes are an early masterpiece of Russian breeders. Excellent taste, high resistance to stress and spectacular appearance allowed it to occupy a worthy niche among other representatives of the early ripening period. The description of the culture allows you to appreciate all its benefits.
Characteristics of the potato variety Zhukovsky (early)
Features of the variety
The culture has a compact bush, not spreading, with a limited number of stems and dense branches. The leaves are large, dissected, dark green, their edge is weak, the veins are clearly visible.
Early Zhukovsky potatoes have surprisingly beautiful barrel-shaped tubers. They are pink in color with lilac dots-eyes, with a delicate white and unusually tasty pulp that does not darken when cleaning.
Tubers boil well even in hard water, they get excellent and weightless puree. The mass of tubers reaches 175 grams, starch is about 15%, the maximum crop yield is 38 tons per hectare. Potatoes are not afraid of mechanical damage and can be stored well. Thanks to these indicators, this variety is highly popular among summer residents and vegetable growers.
Advantages and disadvantages
Potatoes occupy one of the main places in the human diet. It provides the human body with many useful substances, trace elements and vitamins. The Zhukovsky variety belongs to the group of "pink" flowers. Its advantages are quite obvious, as evidenced by the following characteristic:
- increased stress resistance during the heat;
- increase in yield after flowering, which contributes to the rapid reproduction of the culture;
- a two-month period for the ripening of the culture;
- excellent taste;
- thin skin, which significantly reduces waste;
- high resistance to painful conditions (nematode, cancer);
- high degree of storage (from 92%).
The listed advantages are absent in other early crop varieties.
Among the shortcomings of culture should be noted the defeat of the spider mite, Colorado potato beetle, aphids. In greenhouse conditions, the plant is affected by the whitefly.
Planting potatoes
Tubers must be disinfected before planting.
Before planting potatoes of the Zhukovsky variety, tubers must be germinated at a temperature of 4 to 20 ° C in bulk in a warm room or placed under a film. In a dry room, they need to be turned over and moistened from time to time. It is recommended to cover the seeds with a white cloth or paper from direct sunlight. It is necessary to disinfect tubers with potassium permanganate every 6 days.
Soil preparation
Solanaceae are light-loving crops, so the area for growing them should be well-lit and open. It is necessary to prepare the soil in the fall; you need to dig the ground carefully and deeply. If the soil is acidic, you need to add 200 gr per 1 m². lime.
Organics under Zhukovsky early are used in such quantities per 1 m2:
- clay soil - up to 10 kg of humus or peat;
- sand or sandy loam soil - 10 kg of humus or peat and a bucket of clay;
- peat - a bucket of sand, clay and manure.
In addition, mineral fertilizers are applied on 1 m²: 1 tbsp. superphosphate, 200 gr. wood ash, 1 tsp. potash fertilizers. It is not recommended to use fresh manure for fertilization: the potatoes will be watery, with an unpleasant aftertaste. At the same time, the foliage can be exposed to late blight.
After fertilizing, the soil must be dug to the depth of the shovel bayonet. All weeds and larvae must be carefully selected.
Planting potatoes
Seeds are considered ready for planting if the sprouts on them reach 1 cm. Experience shows that the germinated seed material forms more stems and gives a high yield. Studies show that when preparing tubers for planting, you must adhere to the following rules:
- Overcooling of the planting material should not be allowed, as this will affect germination.
- The potato variety Zhukovsky belongs to the early ones, but in order to get a harvest earlier than usual, the seeds must be placed in peat or moistened sawdust for 7 days. This procedure stimulates early root formation. The method is advisable only if the planting is done manually. A mechanized planting method will damage the delicate root system, and you will not be able to get a super-early harvest.
- You can accelerate the growth of the culture in the following way: you need to cover the area with agrofibre or film. It will be possible to remove the cover when stable warm weather is established.
Seeds must comply with the following description: be of high quality, their weight must not be less than 80 grams. Rotten or damaged tubers will not produce a good crop and high yield. Before planting, the seeds are treated with a fungicide: 50 gr. phytosporin-M is diluted in 3 liters of water and the tubers are sprayed. These preventive measures will protect plants from late blight.
The tubers are planted in holes or rows. The distance when planting from one hole to another is at least 25 cm.
Potato care
Plants need good care
The first shoots appear in 2-3 weeks, and the rows close in 40-50 days. All this time, the soil and culture require careful maintenance: loosening the soil, protection from frost, weeds, disease states and pests, watering and feeding.
Already a week after planting the tubers, the soil is carefully loosened with a rake so that it can pass air and moisture and does not overgrow with weeds. If there are a lot of weeds, after 5-7 days the event is repeated, but with great care so as not to injure the emerging sprouts.
Once the rows are formed, the crop must be carefully hoeed and the weeds removed. When the plant reaches 15-20 cm, it needs to be covered with earth.
Watering
Solanaceae are sensitive to drought, the lack of moisture can significantly reduce the yield, the ripening period of potatoes will be later. The number of root crops and their weight directly depend on timely watering.
If the leaves of the plant droop, you need to water it. This should be done in the evening, under each bush you need to pour up to 3 liters of water by sprinkling or into furrows. After a day, the soil around the plants must be loosened with hand hoes.
Fertilizer
Crops should be fed in order to improve the quality of root crops and yield, resistance to disease conditions and weather conditions. Processing is carried out during the period of bud formation. Top dressing is carried out by root and foliar method.
Top dressing at the root:
- The first feeding is carried out 7-14 days after the tubers are planted. For this, organic fertilizers with a high nitrogen content are used: cattle manure and poultry manure. For this purpose, 0.5 kg of manure or slurry must be diluted in a bucket of water, add 20 grams. crystals of urea. Art. l.litter should be diluted in 10 liters of water and poured 0.5 liters of solution under each bush.
- The second top dressing is done with potash fertilizers. They allow the plant to form and grow tubers. To prepare the mixture, you need to take 15 g of potassium sulfate and superphosphate and dilute in a bucket of water.
- The third feeding is carried out 20 days before the harvest. Fertilizer needs to be prepared complex, mineral-organic: 250 gr. manure and 20 gr. superphosphate should be diluted in a bucket of water and poured over the culture.
Foliar dressing is a prerequisite for a good harvest. Surfactants are able to penetrate the Zhukovsky variety through the leaves and provide the plant with the necessary nutrients and world elements. For this purpose, it is recommended to use the drugs "Immunocytaf", "Epin-extra" according to the instructions.
Pest control
Zhukovsky's potatoes must be protected from pests in a timely manner. They cause tremendous damage to plants and can lead to their death.
Pests and ways to combat them:
- Aphids affect young and adult crops. The pest settles on leaves, shoots, flowers and sucks juices out of them. A good preventive measure is the timely ventilation of greenhouses. Plants should be treated with broths of bitter wormwood, yarrow, the drug "Phosbecid".
- Spider mites infest the back of the leaves of this potato variety. As a result, the leaves turn yellow and fall off. Preventive measures are cleaning up the remnants of the previous culture from the site, disinfection of greenhouse complexes, treatment of plants with decoctions of plants. During the growing season, the drug "Fitoverm" is used.
- The Colorado potato beetle eats the leaves of the crop, causing irreparable harm to it. The site should be inspected regularly, adults should be manually collected and their larvae destroyed. The Zhukovsky variety is treated with Destroy, Killer, Stop Beetle.
Potato Zhukovsky early is a high-yielding type of potato.
The characteristics of the culture testify to the many advantages of the plant over other representatives of the early ripening nightshades. Its tubers are extremely tasty and healthy, they enrich the human body with nutrients and trace elements. It is these qualities that allowed the Zhukovsky variety to gain high popularity among summer residents and vegetable growers.