Content
Potatoes are the second bread. To get a decent harvest, you need to choose a good variety. One of them is the late-ripening Ivan da Marya.
Origin story
Holland is famous for its potato cultivation technology and its excellent varieties. From this country they are exported all over the world. So once upon a time he came to us Picasso variety. It was created by AGRICO U.A. Externally, the tubers resemble an artist’s palette: the unusual combination of light crimson and yellowish colors on each of them gives them originality. Since 1995, the time when it was included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements, potatoes have been cultivated in the central region of Russia. More than 20 years of folk selection and selection gave rise to local clones. This is exactly how the Ivan da Marya potato appeared. The unusual appearance gave rise to many names: Little Red Riding Hood, Gorbachevka, Matryoshka. Here he is in the photo.
Description and characteristics
Ivan da Marya potatoes ripen at a late date. For a full growing season of this variety, it takes from 110 to 130 days, depending on the weather.Tuberization in Ivan da Marya is high: each bush can produce up to twenty tubers with an average weight of about 120 grams. We are also pleased with the high marketability of the resulting harvest - more than 90%. Ivan da Marya potatoes are suitable for growing in the Central Black Earth and Central regions. Each of them has different yields. If in the Central region you can collect up to 320 kg per hundred square meters, then in the Central Black Earth - only 190 kilograms from the same area.
The potatoes are not too starchy. Depending on the growing conditions, the starch content in tubers ranges from 7.9% to 13.5%. Therefore, the taste can be satisfactory or good. But the tubers of Ivan and Marya are stored well. About 90% of the harvested crop lasts until spring without damage.
The Ivan da Marya potato bush is tall with straight stems and well leafy. It blooms with creamy white flowers that quickly fall off without forming berries.
The tubers of the Ivan-da-Marya potato are notable for their multi-colored colors. Pink spots and small eyes of the same color stand out brightly against a yellow background. The inside of the flesh is creamy in color.
The production of seed tubers from this Dutchman has been mastered by many Russian seed farms. It can be purchased at ZAO Oktyabrskoye in the Leningrad region, at LLC Meristemnye Kultury in the Stavropol Territory, at the Elite Potato agricultural company and at the All-Russian Research Institute of Potato Farming named after. Lorja.
Advantages and disadvantages
Like any other variety, Ivan da Marya has its own advantages and disadvantages. They can be summarized in a table.
| Advantages | Flaws |
| High yield, large tubers | Quickly loses varietal characteristics |
| Good taste | Moderate resistance to leaf curl and late blight |
| Universal application | Scab infection |
| High marketability | Weakly resistant to late blight |
| Good keeping quality | |
| Resistance to cancer and potato nematode | |
| Poor formation of berries - all the forces of the bush are aimed at forming a harvest |
Landing
Only properly planted potatoes will give a full harvest. There are many different planting methods. Let's stick to the traditional. Before planting potatoes, the tubers need to be germinated.
Germination
It will take about a month for Ivan da Marya potato tubers to form strong sprouts. Conditions for germination:
- lay out the tubers in one or two layers in the light;
- We maintain the temperature at about 20 degrees for about 10 days, during which time the sleeping eyes will wake up;
- during the remaining 20 days we maintain the temperature no higher than 15 degrees;
- During this time, the tubers need to be turned over several times so that they form sprouts evenly.
You can watch the video for more information about sprouting potatoes:
Landing dates
This is a very important point. Potatoes planted too early will chill and take a long time to germinate, and may even rot completely. If you are late with planting, the soil will dry out and there simply won’t be enough moisture. All this will significantly reduce the yield. Even our ancestors began to plant potatoes when their bare feet on the ground were not cold.If we translate this rule into modern language, the soil temperature at a depth of half a shovel bayonet should be about 10 degrees Celsius. Usually this moment coincides with the appearance of leaves on the birch tree and the beginning of bird cherry flowering.
Landing rules
It would seem that everything is simple: put the potatoes in a hole and cover them with earth. But there are some subtleties here too:
- the distance between the rows for late varieties, namely the Ivan da Marya potatoes, should be about 70 cm;
- the distance between tubers in a row is from 30 to 35 cm;
- For better lighting, the rows are arranged from north to south.
Tubers the size of a chicken egg are best suited for planting. You can plant smaller ones, but then more often. Planting holes are filled with humus or compost - about 1 liter, ash - about a tablespoon and a teaspoon of complex mineral fertilizer with microelements. It would be better if it was specifically designed for potatoes.
The roots of the plant are located above the tuber. If food is placed at the bottom of the hole, it will be difficult for growing potatoes to use it.
All that remains is to fill the holes with soil.
You can watch the video about different methods of planting potatoes:
Care
To get a good potato harvest, you have to work hard. Planting tubers and forgetting about it before harvesting will not work. At best, you can collect a handful of potatoes the size of a pea. All agrotechnical measures for caring for plants must be carried out on time and in full:
- weed and loosen, preferably after each rain or watering;
- water in dry weather. The Ivan da Marya potato is especially demanding of moisture at the tuberization stage.
- It will be necessary to carry out hilling and root and foliar feeding in a timely manner;
- You will also need to take care of protecting Ivan da Marya potatoes from diseases and pests.
Hilling and feeding
Gardeners often argue about whether they need to hill up potatoes. Traditional technology considers this operation mandatory.
Hilling
What are the advantages of hilling:
- The soil retains moisture better.
- The tubers are not exposed and do not become green.
- The air regime of the soil improves.
- In hot weather, the soil does not overheat and the tubers do not bake in it.
- The overall harvest increases.
According to classical technology, hilling is carried out twice: the first - when the sprouts reach a height of about 14 cm, the second - after two to three weeks, usually this coincides with the flowering of the potatoes.
In those regions where return frosts are repeated with enviable consistency, you should not wait until the potatoes grow to the required size. It is better to hill up the seedlings as soon as they appear: this will protect them from freezing.
Often another hilling may be necessary if young tubers are on the surface of the soil. When carrying out this procedure it is important:
- do it early in the morning or late in the evening;
- after rain or watering.
Hilling must be carried out very carefully, raking soil from the row spaces.
Top dressing
Potatoes take a lot of nutrients out of the soil. To make the harvest happy, you will need 3 root feedings.
- A month after planting, 10 g of urea and potassium sulfate and 20 g of superphosphate are dissolved in a bucket of water. This amount is enough to feed one square meter of plantings. You can apply dry fertilizers between the rows, but then you will need good watering. Even at the first stage of growth, you cannot overdo it with nitrogen fertilizers; the tops will be very good, and few tubers will be formed.
- The second feeding is carried out in the budding phase.
- The third - at the end of flowering.
Foliar feeding will also be required. If plant development is slow, they can be fed with a weak urea solution - 10 g per bucket. During budding, it will be useful to spray with a solution of complete mineral fertilizer with microelements - 15 g per bucket.
To ensure that there are no voids in large Ivan-da-Marya potato tubers and that the taste improves, during tuberization, foliar feeding is carried out with a solution of Mag-Bor fertilizer - a tablespoon per bucket of water.
Foliar fertilizing with phosphorus gives a very good effect during tuber ripening. For it you need to dissolve 20 grams of superphosphate in 10 liters of water. You need to infuse the solution for two days, remembering to stir. For spraying, a liter of solution per hundred square meters is enough.
Diseases and pests
Viral and fungal diseases cause the most damage to potatoes.
Viral diseases
There are many viruses that infect potatoes. They can significantly reduce the yield, depending on the pathogen - from 10 to 80% of the potatoes are lost.When planting potatoes obtained from seeds - super super elite and super elite, they are free from viruses. Infection occurs with the help of pests. Over time, viruses accumulate and so-called potato degeneration occurs.
Virus damage is indicated by various spots, stripes or wrinkling of the leaves. There is no means to combat viruses on potatoes. It is necessary to carry out biological cleaning by inspecting the bushes. All suspicious ones are dug up and the tops are burned.
Fungal diseases
All gardeners know about late blight and diligently fight it by processing tomatoes. But potatoes need no less treatment, since the outbreak of the disease begins with them. It can affect all parts of the plant, manifesting itself as vague, wet spots on the leaves, from the inside of which a white coating of spores is visible. Brown, hard spots appear on the tubers. Ivan da Marya potatoes are not resistant to late blight. Therefore, mandatory treatments with copper-containing preparations or phytosporin are required. They begin from the moment of budding and end no later than 10 days before harvesting. The total number of treatments is up to 5.
A dangerous disease is potato cancer. The fungus that causes it can live in the soil for up to 20 years.
Potatoes may be affected by Phoma, black and common scab, and ring rot. To prevent them, it is necessary to observe crop rotation, not apply fresh manure, and keep the plantings clean from weed and earth up the plants on time.
Pests
Potatoes have a lot of people who want to eat them.
- The most annoying thing about potatoes is the Colorado potato beetle. Its larvae can completely eat all the leaves, leaving the gardener without a harvest. They are fought with the help of chemical methods and folk remedies. You can collect pests by hand. Do not remove ants from the garden; Colorado potato beetles do not live near an anthill.
- Tubers are also damaged by wireworms - the larvae of the click beetle. The drug Prestige is used against them. Repeated loosening of the soil, as well as liming, also helps.
- Nematodes, of which golden nematodes are the most harmful, can reduce crop yields by 80%. They are considered quarantine pests and are very difficult to control. It is easiest to plant nematode-resistant varieties, and the Ivan da Marya potato is highly resistant to this pest.
Harvesting
Ivan da Marya potatoes are ready for harvesting 4 months after planting. At the end of summer, there is a high probability of plants being affected by late blight. Experienced gardeners advise mowing the tops 2 weeks before digging potatoes. What does it give:
- The likelihood of tubers being affected by late blight is reduced.
- They ripen in the ground.
- The peel becomes denser and is less damaged during harvesting.
- Such potatoes will be stored better.
If there is a need to select part of the collected tubers for planting next year, you need to collect them in the field. To do this, potatoes from each bush are placed next to the dug hole. It should dry out a little: on a sunny day - no longer than 2 hours, and on a cloudy day - about 4.
During this time, the required number of tubers is selected, observing the following conditions:
- the shape and color of the tubers must fully correspond to the variety;
- they need to be selected only from bushes that contain at least 15 potatoes;
- The size of the tuber is about the size of a chicken egg.
Potatoes are not stored immediately after digging. It should lie in piles in a barn or any other suitable room for at least 2 weeks. After this, the tubers are sorted and sent for long-term storage.
Conclusion
Among the many varieties of potatoes, Ivan da Marya is distinguished by its attractive appearance, good taste and preservation during storage. If all the rules of agricultural technology are observed, it will delight the gardener with an excellent harvest of large tubers.
