Weeding potatoes during flowering: is it possible

With the exception of special methods of growing potatoes, weeding is an essential part of this process. If you want to spend a minimum of effort on weed control, you should learn about the latest weeding methods using industrial, home-made or manual tools.

We will help you with this.

Description of potato weeding and timing

Weeding means removing weeds from crops. This procedure can be carried out mechanically and chemically or manually.

Potato weeding can be carried out even before the appearance of the first seedlings, because weeds are significantly ahead of the crop plants in terms of time and frequency of seedlings. As a rule, this is done once every 2 weeks. You can stop weeding potatoes when the bushes are already quite large and strong. From this period, weed grass no longer harms the development of tubers.

Potato weeding rules: trimmer and chopper

You can weed potatoes in various ways or use them in a complex. Especially popular among gardeners are trimmer and chopper.

• Trimmer represents a motokosa working on gasoline fuel or the electric power. The device provides a weeding speed that cannot be achieved using hands. As a rule, supporters of organic farming prefer the trimmer. In their opinion, cut plants should be left on the beds. So, they retain moisture, and for some time interfere with the growth of new weeds, act as fertilizers, and help attract earthworms and microorganisms.
• Hoe. Perhaps this tool has been used for tillage for centuries. It can be called a combination of a shovel and a hoe. The chopper is universal, it is suitable for weeding and hilling, but it requires considerable time and effort. Before weeding with this tool, it is necessary to check the sharpness of the blade, work carefully, without raising moist soil, do not make beds sharp so that rainwater does not drain from them, but moisturizes potato bushes.

Is it worth weeding potatoes during flowering?

Weeding potatoes when it blooms is not harmful. In addition to cleanliness in the garden, this will make it possible once again to loosen the soil, facilitating the ingress of oxygen to the roots of the plant. So such a procedure for your potatoes can be called very useful.

However, there is an opinion that there is no need for weeding during flowering. When the blow job is this time, the weeds no longer harm the future crop, which means that weeding can not be carried out.

Motoblocks

Such a device as a walk-behind tractor or a motor cultivator is winning more and more hearts of gardeners. With it, the weeding of potatoes becomes much more pleasant and faster. There are various types of motoblocks and nozzles for them to perform a variety of functions:

• Walk-behind tractor with rotary cutters. I use a milling cutter for weeding potatoes, as well as for mixing natural fertilizers with the ground. This is a special nozzle in the form of sharp star-shaped plates. They are put on the working shaft.
• Motoblock with lancet paws. For weeding, gardeners also use the insole foot nozzle. This is a frame with small V-shaped plows. For effective weeding, plows are immersed in soil by 2-3 cm. Such a nozzle cuts weeds quickly enough.In contrast to milling cutters, lancet paws take care of the soil, without creating dust clouds and without raising the moist layers of the earth.

Nozzles for motoblocks

In addition to the nozzles described above, there are several more used for weeding potatoes:

• Rotary hedgehogs. Such a nozzle can be used on various walk-behind tractors. She copes with weeding beds 50-70 cm wide.
• Cone hedgehogs. As a rule, hedgehog is used for weeding weeds that have not yet sprouted. The weeding process is faster than with other methods.
• Milling cutter. The cutter is also called soil cutter. Milling cutters are different in shape and size, but they have one principle of operation - when the mill rotates, the soil is ground together with weed grass and fertilizers. The mill is convenient for its versatility.

How to sprinkle potatoes with a trimmer

When weeding potatoes with a trimmer, it will be correct to set a rounded fishing line. Then the weed will grow slower. This mechanism is most effective when the weeds have just sprouted and are easily cut with the help of a motokosa knife. When weeding, several important points should be considered:

• use special glasses;
• turn off the trimmer if someone comes up to you, because when it is working, small stones fly apart in different directions;
• do not immerse motokosa knife into the soil more than 1-1.5 cm;
• using a low-power device, take a break every 15 minutes so that the engine does not overheat;
• after the season ends, treat the knives with fungicides so that they do not leave pathogens of potato diseases.

How to make a nozzle on a trimmer for weeding potatoes yourself

If the motokosa does not cope with the more complex tasks assigned to her by gardeners, the craftsmen find ways to make a special nozzle. Why spend large amounts on the purchase of equipment, if you can do everything out of the means at hand?

We take a metal perforated plate (10 cm by 24 cm), 2 hacksaw blades for metal, 4 screws and 4 M5 nuts, 4 washers and 4 enlarged washers.

So let's get started. For the base of the nozzle, you need to cut a square with a side of 1 cm from the plate. We place it so that there is a hole right in the middle. To achieve this, from the center of the selected hole perpendicular to the short side of the plate, measure 50 mm and outline cutting lines. Having removed the excess, we get a square of 1 cm by 1 cm. Next, round the corners and drill a central hole for the trimmer shaft. Measuring 8 cm on each side, we cut the canvas. Now we have 4 blanks that need to be shaped like knives. We mark the cut line, connect the workpieces and grind the excess. After that we put a small washer on the screw and insert it into the corner hole. We put on a knife from above, having the sharpened side in the direction of rotation of the brushcutter shaft. Next, install a large washer and nut, which we do not tighten, so that the knife rotates easily. In the same way we fix the remaining knives. The end of the screw must be riveted so that the nut does not fly off. The nozzle is ready!

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The method of growing potatoes without weeding

There are farmers and gardeners who successfully apply the technology of growing potatoes without weeding. To do this, carry out preparatory work in the fall. The soil is cleaned of weeds, dug up, then fertilizers are applied, and the entire plot is covered with a thick layer of straw. Before the next planting, she manages to overheat and creates a natural mulch that retains moisture, creates a comfortable temperature level and prevents weed grass from growing. This is a great way to get rid of the endless weeding of the site.

Reviews

Vasily Fedorov, Krasnoturinsk:

- Personally, I use homemade hedgehogs for weeding.Cheap and cheerful! I made them with the help of a hollow pipe, on which I welded teeth made of metal rods. I fixed it all on a metal frame and attached it to a wooden handle. You push and push this wonderful machine forward and down. And no weeds!

Mikhail Stepanov, Voskresensk:

- A homemade chopper helps me in the fight against weeds. I recommend to everyone! To make it very easy: take 70-80 cm of elastic steel wire (diameter 2 mm), a tube of polypropylene (diameter 20 mm), pliers, glue gun, electrical tape. Bend the wire in half and push it into the pipe. Bend the edge with pliers, then fix it with electrical tape. For greater reliability, it is better to fix the structure - it is necessary to pour polyethylene into the end parts of the pipe with a gun.

Anna Nikiforova, Kemerovo:

- From my own experience I was convinced that it is easiest to weed potatoes with a plane cutter. The husband made it from the canvas of the old braid, attached the canvas to the tube and put it on the stalk. I click on it, I walk it on the ground, and weeds, as it has never been before.

Oleg Melkozerov, Kazan:

- I prefer manual weeding to cultivators. In July, I invite friends and relatives to barbecue, and weeding is quick and fun. As they say, one in the field is not a warrior!

So, there are a great many ways of weeding, and among them there is sure to be a suitable one for you. You may want to try a method of growing without weeding or you will remain an adherent of manual products. The choice is yours! The main thing is that gardening should be a joy for you.