Potato peelings: the best fertilizer for currants, video and photo. How to properly use potato peels in the country as fertilizer How to dry potato peels

Before any happy owner of a summer cottage, every season there is such a great task as getting not just good, but the best harvest from his land allotment. And everyone wants it to happen at the lowest cost. In order to achieve this, the gardener is ready to go to any tricks and tricks. And first of all it concerns soil fertilization. After all, everyone is well aware that not only the quantity, but also the quality of the crop depends on its fertility.

Many amateur gardeners have heard that potato peels can also be used as fertilizer. For which plants is this method of feeding best suited and why is the usual fertilizer worse? Every summer resident scrolls such a question in his head, preparing in the winter for the spring-summer season. After all, the question of saving is interesting to everyone. It is worth sorting it out in order.

What is the disadvantage of organic and

In order to increase the yield, mineral (phosphates and nitrates) and organic (manure and peat) fertilizers were usually used. But both of these types of fertilizers have a common minus - the monetary cost. In addition, organic matter usually clogs the ground with weeds, and chemical fertilizers tend to accumulate in vegetables and fruits, and then get into human body, thus creating huge problems for him.

Therefore, modern summer residents are looking for more economical and safer ways to fertilize the land. One of them, which has proven itself very well, is to use potato peels as fertilizer. This method is known to many, but there were no negative reviews about it. Only from year to year more and more positive reviews are heard about him. In addition, it helps to protect the crop from certain pests. Therefore, most summer residents turned to such an unconventional method as fertilizer with potato peels.

How to turn waste into food for plants?

If you make an effort to save the waste that is potato peelings until spring, and not throw it in the trash, they will be of great benefit. In the spring and summer, on the garden plot, they will serve as an excellent top dressing, which does no harm at all, for many horticultural crops. Yes, and protection from pests such as slugs, wireworms, and Therefore, if you are thinking about the question of whether potato peelings can be used as fertilizer, prepare them in the offseason.

To do this, it is not necessary to freeze the skins of potatoes. It is enough to dry them. This will not be difficult at all, because the oven will destroy fungi and bacteria that may have fallen on the tubers from the soil. And they will take up much less space.

What benefits do they bring to the garden and the garden?

During the summer season, potato peelings are used as fertilizer and as protection against certain pests. Yes, and as a bait for the Colorado potato beetle or slugs, potato skins proved to be excellent. One has only to spread them on the surface of the earth before the appearance of sprouts, and when the pests stick around them (usually this happens at night) - destroy them. This will protect your crop from such a scourge.

It is good to dig them into the ground near those plants that love the starch contained in potatoes in large quantities. Rotting, they will give it to the soil, thereby making up for the lack of this product in it. And soaked cleanings are an excellent means for the seedlings of some plants to take root well and quickly grow stronger.

How to prepare fertilizer from potato peels?

Potato peelings have proven themselves in the best way for a long time. No wonder summer residents are trying to find out the most the best recipe its preparation. Of course, you can just bury it in the ground. But in this case, along with the cleaning, the phytophthora preserved on them will also get into the soil. And besides, it will take longer for them to completely decompose than when they get into the soil in the form of a properly prepared fertilizer.

Therefore, it is worth remembering a few rules for its preparation:

• Dried cleanings should be crushed to make transportation to the country house and further work with them easier.
• Shredded dry potato peel is placed in a barrel and poured with boiling water. This will help to cope with both late blight and other pests that have survived since autumn.
• The thickening formed after soaking is placed in the holes when planting seedlings, and the plants are watered with liquid from above, which helps not only to fertilize the soil, but also to cope with some pests.

What are the benefits of feeding pumpkin potato peels?

Potato peelings also proved to be excellent as a fertilizer for cucumbers and other members of the pumpkin family. Use them as top dressing when planting seedlings of these plants. It is prepared as follows:

• Dried and finely chopped during the off-season, potato peelings are poured into a barrel in the spring and poured with boiling water so that all pathogenic bacteria that have survived on them from last year die.
• After they are soaked under the influence of hot water, the contents of the container must be mixed well so that it turns into porridge.

When seedlings begin to be planted, a handful of this substance is first placed in each hole, sprinkled with earth, then porridge from potatoes is put again and earth again. Only now seedlings are planted in this mixture. It will be wonderful to grow after this procedure, because the mashed potatoes, which are mixed with the ground in the garden, will appeal to all our helpers in the soil. Like it and worms loosening the earth, and billions of soil bacteria.

This top dressing is good not only for cucumbers and pumpkins. Magnificent growth thanks to it will be in cabbage and even onion crops.

The right fertilizer for berry crops

But not only in garden beds, summer residents use such a wonderful fertilizer as potato peelings. They also took root in garden plots among Excellent reviews from many gardeners received potato peelings as a fertilizer for currants. After all, they are an excellent source of starch, as well as glucose, which this shrub likes so much.

Therefore, in order to have an excellent harvest of delicious berries, you should not be too lazy in the spring, at the time when fruit and berry plantations are dug in, to bring dry peelings of potatoes into the ground. Then in July, the bush will reward you with a magnificent harvest of large, selected berries.

In addition, potato peelings are used as in this case, they are also introduced into the soil during its spring loosening. It is also good to use an infusion of potatoes for irrigation in the summer. Any gardener who has ever tried this method of plant nutrition will never refuse it again.

A few rules for the use of potato peelings on the site

In order for potato fertilizer to bring only benefits and not make the summer resident who wants to start using it disappointed, you should remember a few rules for using them on the site:

• Potato peelings are undesirable to lay out on the surface of the soil. This will firstly make appearance the site is untidy, and secondly, it will attract numerous rodents to the territory who want to feast on.
• Potato peelings as a fertilizer for currants and other fruit and berry crops are added dropwise next to the roots in a dry form. This is done so that, decomposing in the soil during the summer, by the time the fruits ripen, they give all the accumulated glucose and starch to the ground.
• The remaining vegetable crops are recommended to be watered with infusion of potato peels from a watering can, after removing the strainer so that it does not clog.

Having fulfilled all these simple rules, an amateur gardener will certainly find himself with a large and excellent harvest by autumn.

Are potato peelings suitable for all plants as a fertilizer?

What must be remembered? Potato peelings as a fertilizer are not suitable for all plants. They should not be used for plants belonging to the nightshade family. Such as eggplants, peppers, tomatoes and similar representatives of this family. The thing is that by nature they have a lot of common diseases. Therefore, there is always a danger that pathogenic bacteria will remain on well-dried and steamed with boiling water cleanings.

Are Potato Peelings Fertilizer for Houseplants?

Potato peelings as a fertilizer are perfect not only for garden and garden crops. Houseplants will also respond well to this kind of organic top dressing. To do this, it is also worth diluting a solution of dry potato peelings at home and fertilizing every month by watering all domestic plants. From such care, their greens will be more magnificent, and you can get rid of many pests without problems without using purchased chemicals for this.

How convenient is this fertilizer?

No wonder this type of soil fertilization and plant nutrition is gaining more and more popularity. It is very economical, because potato dishes are the basis of the diet in any family, regardless of its income level. And given the fact that even with the ideal quality of tubers, about a fifth of them are subject to disposal, a fairly decent amount of cleaning is collected during the winter season.

Each gardener seeks to use on his site not only effective, but also environmentally friendly top dressing. Potato peelings can be safely attributed to these. Natural organic fertilizer will appeal not only to horticultural crops, but also indoor plants.

Can it be used?

Potato peelings are a public raw material that does not require additional financial investments. During the winter period, so much material is harvested that it is enough for the entire garden season. The main thing is to learn how to store it correctly.

Advantages

• Helps to increase the percentage of humus in the soil.
• Improves soil structure, increases its air exchange.
• Potato organics by the strength of the impact resembles complex mineral fertilizers.
• Environmentally friendly fertilizer that is not capable of harming human health.
• Organic top dressings enhance the growth of weeds, but this is not the case with cleanings.
• Potato skins not only nourish the soil, but also help fight garden pests.
• It is impossible to “overfeed” the land with such fertilizer, as is often the case with other types of top dressing.

Flaws

• To achieve the desired result, huge volumes of biomaterial are sometimes needed. It is very problematic to store it in an apartment.
• It is impossible to take control of the concentration of nutrients.
• Not suitable for all cultures.

The composition of the peel

Raw potato skins are easily processed by soil microorganisms, and therefore nutrients are delivered to plants faster. In this case, heat is released, which has a warming effect. This favorably affects the development of the root system of plants, improves the supply of nutrition.

Cleansing contains many useful substances: vitamins (mostly vitamin C) and starch, fats and glucose, macro- and microelements (a huge amount of potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, sodium and calcium, iron), mineral salts and several types of organic acids .

Such a rich composition of nutrients provides positive influence at all stages of growth and development of garden crops.

Benefits for plants

Potato peels are a fertilizer that has been tested by more than one generation of Russian gardeners.

• They are harmless to garden plants and soil.
• Unlike chemical complexes, they are absorbed by 100% and in the shortest possible time. Nutrients are immediately absorbed by the root system of garden crops.
• Cleanings introduced in spring protect against unexpected frosts due to the release of a significant amount of heat during overheating.
• The soil becomes looser and lighter. This is especially important on loams, aluminas, and heavily silted lands.
• Improves seed germination during sowing. Thanks to glucose and starch, it delivers the necessary nutrition to the embryos.

Potatoes are eaten in all Russian families, and therefore it is not necessary to specially extract fertilizer. After all, raw materials usually just go to the trash can.

How to cook?

Potato peelings are harvested in advance and stored until spring.

Drying

The peel is thoroughly washed, allowed to drain and dried. You can simply lay out the cleaning on the windowsill (balcony) or use the oven. If the peel is dried in the open air, it is protected from sunlight and precipitation.

Dry in a natural way of cleaning within 10 days.

If you don’t feel like waiting, they are put into the oven, heated to 100 degrees. Leave the door ajar to speed up the drying process. Usually 4 hours is enough.

Freeze

The peel can not only be dried, but also frozen. However, this method of storage requires an additional freezer. With the onset of cold weather, waste is stored on the balcony.

Note. Potato peels should not be re-frozen. It is forbidden to use boiled skins, since the raw materials have already given up all the useful substances to the water.

Cleaning in compost

Potato peel is a desirable biomaterial in any compost. It's all about its ability to accelerate the overheating of fresh organic matter.

But there is a problem - cleanings are often covered with fungus, which then, together with the compost, will spread throughout the garden.

Some gardeners carefully select raw materials, others prefer not to risk putting boiled skins into the compost.

How to use?

There are three main forms of application:

• in the form of flour

To make flour from the peel, it is dried to a crisp and ground using any kitchen technique. Store it in paper bags or cloth bags.

Fertilizer is valued for its versatility - it is suitable for almost all garden and domestic plants.

Important! You should not store potato flour for a long time - midges or harmful microbes will certainly start in it.

• In the form of a porridge

To prepare a paste-like fertilizer, dry potato skins are taken, hot water and special container. Cleanings are poured with boiling water to protect the biomaterial from harmful bacteria, fungus, and small insects. After about 7 days, the peel will absorb water and swell. It remains to ceiling it, mix it and use it for its intended purpose.

• In the form of an infusion

The peel in any form is poured with boiling water, left for a day. The resulting infusion is ready for use both in the garden and at home.

Important! You can not scatter potato peelings just on arable land - this way you can attract pests and rodents.

Top dressing and fertilizer

It is important not only to prepare potato peelings correctly, to bring them into one of the forms convenient for use, but also to be able to correctly apply them.

Cabbage and cucumbers, all types of currants, pumpkins, fruit trees and home flowers will like fertilizer based on cleanings.

Attention! Do not feed peppers, tomatoes, eggplants with peelings. These vegetables are susceptible to the same diseases as potatoes.

For the garden

• When planting seedlings.

Young plants more than others need a full range of nutrients. The introduction of potato flour or gruel directly into the holes, grooves facilitates the process of adaptation of crops, contributes to their rapid growth, abundant fruiting.

• For feeding a number of gourds (cucumbers, zucchini, watermelons, melons, pumpkins).

Cucumbers are especially fond of potato fertilizer. It is used when planting seeds in the ground or when planting seedlings in a greenhouse. Zucchini and pumpkins, melons and watermelons are recommended to be regularly watered with an infusion of potato peel to increase productivity.

• For radishes, turnips, radishes, garlic and onions.

These plants will appreciate potato infusion more. You can use it as a fertilizer after May 20. The intervals between making the composition should not be less than 14 days.

Many of you have probably heard that potato peels can be used as an organic fertilizer for country plantings. This is true, because they contain starch, potassium, and other valuable mineral components. This method of fertilization is absolutely harmless, economical, helps protect the garden from Colorado potato beetles (as well as their larvae), slugs, and wireworms. How to use potato peelings as a fertilizer, for which plants they are suitable as a top dressing - we will consider below.

How to prepare fertilizer from cleanings?

Potatoes are loved by so many of us, in most families they are considered the most popular, most commonly used vegetable in food. After peeling potatoes, always peel. And the highest content of valuable components is located in it and in the layer that is located under the skin. Raw potato waste contains a ton of macronutrients, micronutrients, and an impressive list of vitamins. If you use them rationally, do not throw them in the trash, then all useful elements will give their properties to the soil, plants in your garden.

It is much easier for residents of private houses to determine a place for organic fertilizers, they have a plot of land allotted for a garden. In this case, you can immediately send the potato peelings to the compost.

If visiting the dacha is seasonal, there is also a way out - the peel can be dried or frozen. When the temperature is below freezing outside, potato peelings can be laid out on an unheated balcony (on surfaces suitable for this). They will freeze and thus be preserved. New "portions" of cleanings can be easily taken out to the balcony as needed. As soon as early spring comes, you will have to visit the dacha and take them there, because in the heat this product rots, spreads bad smell and no one needs it.

Drying potato skins is a more troublesome method of preservation, but more reliable and convenient. It can be dried on a hot radiator or in an oven - this way it will be better stored. If you make an extra effort, grind the peels in a meat grinder after heat treatment, and then dry them again in the oven, you will get the perfect raw material for fertilizer.

With the onset of spring, frozen or dried potato peels are placed in a large container (for example, a barrel), poured with very hot water, and left to soak for 2-3 days. This nutrient mixture should be stirred periodically. Thus, potato peels are used as a fertilizer rich in starch, salts, minerals, and vitamins.

How to apply potato peel fertilizer?

The resulting slurry is just perfect for increasing soil fertility when planting seedlings of cucumbers, cabbages, gourds, fruit trees, bushes. At the bottom of holes and beds, pre-poured a small amount of the resulting potato infusion with gruel, and only then the plants are planted. Such a fertilizer acts as an organic top dressing, thanks to which onions, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, all varieties of cabbage develop well and grow actively. You can apply this top dressing (by watering the bushes under the roots) every 10-14 days, for this, the infusion is first filtered through a sieve.

Potato peel infusion is the best fertilizer for currants and similar berry crops. Thanks to this infusion, it becomes large, sweet. It is especially good to add top dressing at the stage of the appearance of the ovaries, during the ripening of the berries, before harvesting.

However, there are some limitations - tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, and other nightshade crops should not be fertilized with this method, since this fertilizer simply will not work on them. In some cases, it can even harm these particular plants, because they are prone to common diseases (black scab, late blight).

If you still want to feed the tomatoes with this organic composition, then use only those cleanings that have previously been in the oven. The hot-treated raw materials no longer contain phytophthora, if you pour boiling water over it before applying it to the soil or simply dig it near the plants, nothing bad will happen.

It is good to use potato peelings for fertilizing fruit trees and berry bushes. To do this, they are buried in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe near-stem circle. It is best to carry out this procedure in the spring.

You can also use potato peelings, the beneficial properties contained in them not only as fertilizers. With their help, you can scare away pests and save your crop.

Options for "external" use of potato peel:

1. You can spread it between the beds, as well as in places where slugs accumulate - they are attracted by the smell, they willingly crawl onto it. After that, it can be easily collected and destroyed.
2. If a lot of heaps of peelings are poured between the rows of potatoes, this will attract the Colorado potato beetles, their larvae. After the pests crawl into heaps, they are collected together with their peels and burned, after dousing them with kerosene.
3. Also, potato peelings will help to significantly reduce the number of wireworms, only here you will have to additionally donate a few potato tubers. Cleanings and tubers cut into several parts are added dropwise in different places of the site, and after 3-4 days they are removed from the ground along with voracious pests. Subsequently, the wireworm, together with the bait, is similarly destroyed by burning.

Potato peels and currants

According to many positive reviews from summer residents, feeding currants with peelings gives an excellent result. This berry bush "loves" starch and glucose, namely the skin of the tubers is the richest in these elements. Dry potato peels can be buried under currant bushes in spring and summer. They decompose in the ground, giving it all the useful components during the process. You can also pour boiling water over the cleaning, after the infusion has cooled down, they can be watered with shrubs.

In order for currant berries to approach cherry fruits in size, feel free to “treat” the bushes with an infusion of potato peels.

With the onset of autumn, remove the fallen leaves under the currant, loosen the soil, dig dry skins in a circle, and then cover the ground with dry grass on top. The result of your efforts will pleasantly surprise you later.

You can use cleaning not only for currants, but also for gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries. This fertilizer is very well suited for garden flowers, (strained infusion).

This simple free top dressing helps to increase soil fertility, is safe, non-toxic. It is an effective alternative to chemicals, and this is a significant plus. Do not rush to throw away a product rich in useful elements, especially since it dries easily, quickly, and is well stored in cloth bags. Use potato peelings as a fertilizer, for which plants they can be used, and for which they cannot - we tried to specify in this article.

Have a generous harvest!

Hearing such a phrase from experienced gardeners as, potato peelings are the best fertilizer for currants, a novice gardener will definitely be surprised. But in fact, there is nothing to be surprised at. Since potato peelings are the best organics for plants planted in the country.

So, below we will take a closer look at how to properly use potato peelings as fertilizers, how to feed a currant crop with this component, and what properties potato peels have.

Properties of potato peels

It is quite difficult to find a person in whose diet there is no product such as potatoes. Perhaps it would be superfluous to list how much benefit it brings to a person, since even Small child.

But not every adult knows that potato peels are absolutely not inferior to the fruit in terms of the content of nutrients. They contain a huge number of such elements as:

• fluorine;
• potassium;
• magnesium;
• iron.

And this is just a small list of useful substances that are contained in potato peels. But it is they who are so necessary for the full growth of crops, and not only for the currant variety. Fertilizing, for example, raspberries, currants or gooseberries with potato waste, you are guaranteed to get a good harvest of large and very tasty fruits.

Moreover, the peel of a potato can be safely called an organic growth stimulator, since it helps to increase the green mass of black currants more intensively, and the branches of this crop grow much faster.

By the way, it is worth highlighting that cleaning also has a great influence on the taste of berry crops, making them sweeter and juicier.

And all because the cleanings contain a high percentage of glucose, of natural origin. As a result, the gardener enjoys delicious and very sweet fruits.

Thanks to all the properties described above, potato lumps will become simply indispensable in the spring as a top dressing for such crops:

• for almost all fruit trees;
• all types of berry bushes;
• for vegetable crops;
• for flowers, including for indoor;
• and of course, for blackcurrant.

But how to prepare a fertilizer mixture from potato peels and consider further. And which is better, the use of raw or processed, let's figure it out together.

How to prepare potato peels

Currant-like potato peel can be harvested all year round. The main thing is to save them correctly until the onset of spring. To do this, you will need to do the following:

• potato peelings are thoroughly washed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate to destroy all fungal spores that are often found on the peel;
• then, the washed peel must be spread out in a thin layer on paper in a dry and well-ventilated place;
• further, when the cleanings are completely dry, they must be folded into pre-prepared paper envelopes in which they will be stored until spring.

It is worth noting that if you want to dry the potato peel faster, then chop it with a knife into small cubes, so it will dry several times faster. Or use the freeze method.

To do this, thoroughly rinse the cleaning and twist them into a meat grinder. The finished gruel is folded into a container and sent to the freezer until spring.

How to use

In order to use potato peelings in the spring, it is necessary to properly prepare organic fertilizer.

After freezing

If you have frozen the peel, then it should be removed from the chamber and allowed to completely thaw. Then, start preparing top dressing. First you need to boil 10 liters of water. Then 2 kg of gruel from potato peels are added to hot water. Next, mix everything well and let it brew for a day. Currant bushes are poured with the finished mixture at the rate of 1 liter of fertilizer under the bush.

After drying

In the case when potato peelings were harvested for future use by drying, the cooking method will be similar, only potato raw materials will need half as much, or more precisely, 1 kg. As for watering with this remedy, potato infusion is needed for 10 days, from the end of March.

It is worth noting that thanks to such top dressing, currant fruits will grow larger and sweeter. Potato infusion has a particularly good effect if the fertilization procedure is repeated during the formation of the ovary and a week before harvest.

At the same time, keep in mind that when re-fertilizing, the number of watering days is reduced to 3.

To enjoy currant berries, you do not have to purchase various preparations of chemical origin. To do this, you have a wonderful product in the form of potato peels.

Almost any crop can be fed with potato lumps. But if you don’t have time to harvest healthy potato raw materials, then a little trick from experienced gardeners will help you.

When autumn comes to your front garden and the time comes to prepare the currant crop for hibernation, perform the following manipulations:

• remove all fallen leaves and other fragments from the currant beds;
• dig the ground around the bushes;
• then, make a shallow groove around the stem circle of the currant;
• next, put fresh potato peelings in a 5 cm layer, previously washed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, into the dug groove;
• and bury the groove;
• and lay a thick layer of dry grass on top of the buried groove.

Having performed such a manipulation, in the spring you will be pleasantly surprised at how intensively the currant culture will grow. As already described above, potato skins are an excellent growth stimulant for almost all crops. And most importantly, it is absolutely natural.

Result

Most seasoned gardeners have experienced first hand that a top dressing like potato skins can really work wonders. In fact, it is universal. Since the cleaning contains potassium, glucose, starch and many other equally useful components for the full growth of fruit and vegetable crops.

Some gardeners claim that with the help of potato waste, almost all crops can be fully fertilized and chemical fertilizers can be completely abandoned.

Moreover, you can fertilize with this component not only in spring, but also in summer and even in autumn. In addition, potato peeling can increase soil fertility several times. Therefore, most gardeners recommend: before planting a fruit crop in the front garden, fertilize the ground with potato top dressing.

For these purposes, an infusion is prepared from it according to the above recipe. Or they put 200 g of cleanings on the bottom of the hole. At the same time, no matter which method you choose, the result will surely please you in the form of a good harvest.

Cons and pros of potato feeding

Despite the fact that the benefits of potato peel for your garden are simply colossal, there are still several disadvantages to such top dressing, which should always be remembered, namely:

1. The overwhelming majority of potato skins contain spores of defects of fungal origin. And if, before preparing such a product for future use, and not treating the skins with a solution of potassium permanganate, it is likely that the culture may become infected with a dangerous defect.
2. Potato dressing has a small side effect in the form of a significant release of heat during decomposition. As a result, if such a fertilizer is applied in early spring, the root system will quickly warm up, and may die during night frosts. For this reason, you should plan the time to apply this top dressing so as not to harm the culture.

Of course, it is worth noting that the above disadvantages are easy to eliminate if you correctly approach the process of harvesting and using raw materials.

Well, as for the pluses, then potato peelings have just a lot of them, namely:

• profitable financial means;
• natural growth stimulator;
• improves the taste of fruits;
• potato fertilizer is safe and does not contain toxins.

It is worth highlighting that this is only a small list of the advantages of using potato peels. In fact, all the advantages of such top dressing are quite difficult to list.

Conclusion

Well, now you know how useful potato peelings are for your front garden and vegetable garden. Such free top dressing helps not only to reap a good harvest of natural fruits, but also fertilizes the soil, making it more fertile.

Therefore, the next time before you throw away potato peels, do not rush to do this, use them in your country house. And your berry crops will surely thank you in the form of a good and generous harvest.

Simple tips on how to use fertilizer from potato peels in the garden and not only Potato peels, the benefits of which for the garden have been tested by time, are absolutely safe for humans and completely free fertilizer. Unlike chemicals, organic matter decomposes much faster, being processed by the bacteria contained in the soil. This means that the necessary microelements will quickly get to their destination through root system. « By-effect» fast decomposition - release of heat. If you fertilize in the spring, the soil warms up noticeably faster. The structure of the soil is also improved. It becomes lighter, looser. This is especially important for peaty, clay, silty soils. Everyone knows that potatoes are very useful. It contains many trace elements useful for humans - potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, sodium. But the same substances are necessary for the proper growth and development of plants. The most common chemical fertilizers contain precisely nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium. Potato peelings contain many useful substances that are so necessary for the plant. In addition, 10–25% (depending on the variety) of the potato mass is starch, and 3–5% is glucose. It is these substances that plants store in seeds, bulbs or tubers. Starch and glucose are the main food for the developing embryo. Therefore, potato fertilizer will be useful for crops at all stages of development. Another important point is the availability of potato peels. Potatoes in one form or another are present on the table of every family, regardless of financial situation, almost daily. Even if you remove the peel in a very thin layer, about a tenth of the mass of tubers will still go to waste. A more likely option is 15–20%. Now calculate how many cleanings you can accumulate by next summer, if you set yourself a similar goal from the beginning of autumn. Pest control useful property Potatoes are great bait for pests. Slugs, the click beetle (its larvae are popularly known as the wireworm) and the Colorado potato beetle are especially fond of it. You need to start setting traps as soon as the first shoots appear or seedlings are planted in the ground. So you are guaranteed to protect the future harvest. Potato peel pest traps are easy to make. Traps are easy to make. Dig into the ground glass jars, old unnecessary buckets and pots, cans or cut plastic bottles so that the edge of the container approximately coincides with the top edge of the hole. The container should be deep enough and without holes. Put potato peels on the bottom every evening. To enhance the effect, you can pour them with sweet water (a tablespoon of sugar per glass), syrup, or add a little old jam that no one will eat. In the morning, you just have to go around the containers, collect the pests caught in them during the night and destroy them. Just do not throw the collected over the fence. After a few hours, the slugs and insects will return to your yard. Another option for a trap is to bury a long piece of wire with cleanings strung on it in the ground. Leave one end sticking out of the ground or mark the place where the trap is buried. Once every 2-3 days, dig it out, collect the pests that have come across and change the bait to a fresh one. How to prepare and use fertilizer? Raw materials for the preparation of fertilizer must be collected all winter. Boiled potato peelings are not suitable as fertilizer. Long-term heat treatment destroys all useful trace elements. Of course, if you just lay out fresh potato peelings in the beds, you won’t wait for a good harvest. They will start to rot very quickly, especially in summer, in the heat, spreading the appropriate "aroma". In addition, mice, rats and other rodents that live in the vicinity will come running to your site - for them this is a wonderful delicacy. And in general, landings “processed” in this way look very unaesthetic. At the same time, fresh potato (like any vegetable) peelings can and should even be added to the compost heap. Potato peels are a good addition to compost There are different fertilizer options. But in any case, cleaning, before feeding, must be thoroughly washed and disinfected using boiling water, dry heat or cold to destroy the bacteria and / or fungi present on them. Otherwise, you will only infect the soil and healthy plants. To get the right, healthy fertilizer, you need to proceed as follows: Rinse the cleanings in cool running water until visible traces of dirt disappear. Wait for them to dry and lay them out in a single layer on newspapers or a thin cloth. If weather permits, dry outside in a well-ventilated area, out of direct sunlight and possible rain. When it's already cold, do it in an apartment on a battery or on a balcony. Complete drying takes 7-10 days outdoors and 2-3 weeks indoors. The exact time depends on the thickness of the peels. Those who wish to speed up the process can dry them in the oven. Arrange the cleaning on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, place inside and leave for 3-4 hours at a temperature not exceeding 100ºС, with the door loosely closed. The procedure will take even less time if it is carried out in a special electric dryer or microwave oven. The main thing is to choose the right mode. The finished fertilizer becomes noticeably lighter, the peels are translucent and break easily. You can simply freeze cleaning. The disadvantage is that there is probably not enough space in the freezer to store them. Another most suitable place is a balcony. But as soon as a positive temperature is established on the street, the fertilizer will have to be used for its intended purpose. It is strongly not recommended to defrost cleanings and freeze them again. If drying at home was carried out naturally, cleanings are stored on the balcony, in an unheated garage, shed, and so on, so that the cold destroys pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Arrange the future fertilizer dried in the oven in linen bags and keep in a dry, cool, well-ventilated place. The ideal option is a pantry. Grind dry cleanings in a meat grinder, blender or food processor to a powder. This ready-made fertilizer is the so-called flour. In addition, in this type of cleaning they take up much less space, they are easier to store and transport. In spring and summer, use dry cleanings to prepare the infusion. Put them in a bucket or barrel, filling the container about a third, pour boiling water to the top and close tightly. Wait 3-4 days for a characteristic odor to appear. Without stirring the contents of the barrel, scoop a liter of infusion from the top, pour into a 10-liter bucket and add water (9 liters). Now mix thoroughly and water the plants. The gruel remaining at the bottom of the container will also come in handy. It is dug into the ground under bushes and trees and added to the holes when planting seedlings. Another option for preparing the infusion is to pour boiling water over the cleaning, wait until it cools down to a temperature of 35-40ºС, and strain.