The end of the season is approaching and harvest time. Someone has already started digging potatoes, and someone else is waiting for the right moment. I haven’t taken up the pitchfork yet, but I’ve already decided where I will use the dry potato tops. In this article, I want to share a few ideas for the uses of these plant waste.
The vast majority of gardeners use potato tops for composting. Despite the content of toxic compounds (which oppress other crops) and the possible infection with diseases inherent in the species, it is a good raw material. After three years, a solid fertile substrate is obtained from the tops.
Like other gardeners, I also put some of the potato tops in the compost pit. I treat dubious armfuls with a 1% solution of copper sulfate from viral and fungal diseases. I use the other part for less traditional purposes.
From dry and clearly infected tops, I prepare ash. It turns out a valuable phosphorus-potassium fertilizer containing manganese, boron, iron, molybdenum and other trace elements that garden crops need. Since the tops itself burns rather badly, at first I kindle birch firewood, and then I report it in small batches. I start the fire in a metal box so that the ash does not go into the soil and it is easier to collect it.
I leave a small part of the tops dry for the next year to prepare an insecticidal solution. The recipe for the drug is quite simple. 400 grams of tops must be poured with 5 liters of water and insisted closed for at least 4 hours. Over time, strain and add 50 grams of tar (laundry) soap. You can take the solution no more than once a week until the harmful insects disappear completely. At least two weeks must elapse between the last treatment and harvest.
I use the remaining tops to mulch the tree trunk circle. I spread it out in several layers and trample it with my feet. It turns out a cover that protects from cold, harmful insects and weeds. Since potatoes and fruit trees do not have common diseases, there is no need to fear for the health of the garden.
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