The Vegetable Garden: What, When, and How to Plant

by Anonymous

Planting.—The rows should be laid off as close together as practicable without interfering with horse cultivation. Generally the seed pieces should be dropped in furrows made in the level field and not on ridges. However, low ridges are advantageous for an early crop and on poorly drained land. In covering the seed pieces, whether they are planted flat or on ridges, it is well to leave a small, sharp ridge marking the line of the row. In some localities, however, where excessive moisture is not feared, the opening furrows are only partially filled after planting, leaving a depression along the row to be filled by the use of the smoothing harrow or other implement. In planting late in the season this course is sometimes advisable. The pieces may be dropped by hand in the open furrow, or a potato planter may be used, dropping and covering the seed pieces at one operation. There are several potato planters that do very satisfactory work, but their cost restricts their use to those who plant a large acreage in potatoes or to cases where several farmers can use one together. Their more extended use is perhaps desirable, since they save a considerable amount of labor and enable the potato grower to take full advantage of even a brief period of favorable weather at planting time regardless of scarcity of labor. In the preparation of the ground and in planting, the earth along the line of the row should be compacted as little as possible consistent with thorough work, and hence the team should be made to walk between the rows whenever possible instead of along the drill. There is a simple potato coverer constructed somewhat like a triangular snowplow, with the wide end forward and a portion of the point or apex cut away so as to leave a narrow opening at the rear. No special implement, however, is required for this purpose.

Planting Machines.—Planting potatoes by hand on any large scale is out of the question on account of the expense. The large potato grower can of course afford the most modern machinery. In a community of small potato growers it is possible for them to own machinery jointly, and thus avoid any large expense to the individual farmer. The two most expensive machines connected with potato growing are the planter and the digger. A word of caution about the type of planter is perhaps desirable. There are some planters which pick up the seed potatoes by means of a prong or fork which breaks the skin of the tuber. This exposes the potato to any germs of potato diseases which may be present in the soil. Furthermore, it carries any germ disease that may be on some of the seed potatoes to others. There are planters which pick up the potatoes in such a way as not to break the skin. This point is especially important in planting whole seed. In planting cut seed there is still the danger of transferring the disease from one piece of potato to another. Whatever planter may be used, some one should ride on the machine in order to see that it works regularly, so as to give as nearly a perfect stand as possible. The improved planters of today open the furrow, drop the seed, cover it, firm the dirt over the seed, and mark the next furrow. Such a planter is drawn by two horses. Experiments with potatoes planted in rows all the way from 36 to 42 inches apart indicate that the best distance depends upon the seasonal conditions and type of soil; it is a problem for each grower to solve for himself. The distance apart the potatoes should be planted in the row also depends so much upon the variety, the fertility of the soil, the availability of water, etc., that each farmer must determine this from his own experience.

Time of Planting.—Each community is the best judge of the proper date for planting. Where potatoes are grown for the early market the aim is to plant as early as possible, without subjecting the young plants to severe cold. The crop should be planted at such a date as to bring the stage of growth during which the tubers are rapidly developing at a time when there is ordinarily an adequate supply of moisture. The month when dry weather is most certain varies with the locality, and each potato grower should so time his planting as to be least affected by drought. Where the growing season is long the crop that is to be stored over winter should be planted very late, so that it may remain in the ground until cool weather. On the other hand, where the season is short, late varieties should be planted in time to ripen before frost.

Depth of Planting.—The Toots of a young potato plant grow, not directly from the seed piece, but from the underground joints or nodes of the stem. From these underground nodes also grow the short stems which bear the tubers at their extremities. Hence the seed pieces should be placed deep enough in the soil to permit several of these joints to form below the surface, so as to afford room for an ample supply of roots and tuber-bearing stems to grow. Many experiments have been made to ascertain the best depth for planting. The results, with some exceptions, favor planting not less than 4 inches deep. The favorable effects of deep planting were especially marked on well-prepared, friable soil and in dry seasons. Very deep planting is open to objection because of the increased labor of harvesting and the danger of a deficient stand when weather conditions are unfavorable. Very shallow planting reduces the yield and injures the quality of the crop.

Growing Seed Potatoes Under Mulch.—The Nebraska Experiment Station reported an interesting comparison of the value for seed purposes of potatoes grown under mulch with those grown with ordinary cultivation under like conditions, which indicates that the mulch method offers a convenient and practical means of producing good home-grown seeds under Nebraska conditions. The theory of the method and the results obtained in the comparative tests are thus stated: Potatoes are a cool-weather crop. It is because of this that they succeed so well in the far north. Moreover, potatoes require for their best development fairly uniform conditions, especially as regards soil moisture and soil temperature. This being the case, why should not potatoes grown under a litter mulch be especially well developed and therefore make strong seed? The soil beneath a mulch not only has a moderately low temperature during summer, but its temperature is also exceptionally uniform, varying not more than a degree or two between day and night and only a few degrees from day to day. The soil moisture beneath a good mulch is also more abundant and much more nearly uniform in amount than in case of bare ground, even though the latter is given good tillage.

The value for seed purposes of tubers grown under a litter mulch has been tested during two seasons at the experiment station. In 1904 a plat of potatoes was mulched with straw and an adjoining plat was given careful cultivation. The soil of the two plats was practically uniform and the seed planted on the two plats was taken from the same lot of tubers. Seed was saved from the mulched and cultivated plats separately, kept under the same conditions during winter, planted on adjoining plats in the spring of 1905, and given identical cultivation during the summer. In 1906 the experiment was repeated with seed grown in mulched and in cultivated ground the year before. The same precautions were observed as in the first test. Uniform seed was used to start with in 1905. The seed saved from the mulched and from the cultivated plats was taken as it came, without selection, and was kept over winter under the same conditions. Both kinds of seed were cut in the same way, planted in the same way, on adjoining plats, and treated alike as regards tillage, spraying, etc. Under these conditions any constant differences in yield between the two plats must be ascribed to the effect of the methods of culture employed the previous season. The yields obtained from the mulched and from the cultivated seed were as follows: Cultivated seed, 384 pounds in 1905; mulched seed, 563 pounds in 1905; cultivated seed, 123 pounds in 1906; mulched seed, 174 pounds in 1906.

The use of seed that had been grown under a mulch the preceding year increased the yield of potatoes 47 per cent in 1905 and 41 per cent in 1906. If further tests confirm the results reported here, it would seem that mulching might be used for the production of high-grade seed potatoes at home. Moreover, mulching usually results in increased yields if properly handled. Mulching potatoes on a large scale is of course impracticable, but most farmers could easily mulch enough of their potato field to produce the seed that they would require the following year, and in doing so they would not necessarily increase the cost of production per bushel.

Time to Cut Seed Potatoes.—At least three American experiment stations have conducted tests to learn the effect of cutting seed potatoes several days or weeks in advance of planting. The results varied somewhat according to the length of time that the cut sets remained unplanted, but on the whole indicated no marked difference in productiveness between planting freshly cut pieces and those that had been cut for a week or less. The investigations of Kraus and of Wollny in Germany led to the conclusion that a slight wilting of the seed pieces increased the yield on moist soils and in wet seasons, but reduced it on soils not retentive of water and in dry seasons. On the whole it appears that the storing of cut pieces for several days, which sometimes becomes necessary, is attended with no great disadvantages. Of course due care should be taken in such instances to prevent heating, and it may be well to dust the cuttings with gypsum (land plaster) to prevent excessive wilting.

Seed End v. Stem End.—When potatoes are cut in half through their smaller diameter there is a seed or bud end more or less crowded with eyes and a stem or butt end on which there are few eyes. Experiments to determine the relative values of cuttings from the stem end and from the seed end of the tuber have been numerous. The majority of these showed that the yield was greater when the seed end was used. The superior productiveness of the seed end as compared with the stem end was maintained, whether the halves of the potatoes, the thirds, or smaller cuttings were employed.

Effect of sprouting.—The growth of sprouts before planting is made at the expense of the tubers from which they draw their support. Hence if these shoots are rubbed off before planting there is a total loss of the nutriment contained in them. Moreover, numerous weak shoots grow from the injured eye. To prevent these evil consequences of premature sprouting, seed potatoes are stored in a dark, dry, cool place. In spite of all precautions the tubers sometimes sprout; but when practicable only potatoes that have not sprouted should be selected for planting. If the eyes appear dormant in spring, seed potatoes may be exposed to the light and warmth for a few days before planting so as to promote germination and prompt growth. If long exposed, sprouts will form and careful cutting and planting by hand become necessary, so as to avoid breaking of these sprouts.