Why doesn't potatoes bloom and how dangerous is it for the plant?
Many questions related to vegetable growing arise from a lack of understanding of their essence. Among them is the problem of potato reproduction, which is very relevant in our country. Knowing that this root crop can reproduce in two ways, namely, with the help of seeds and vegetation, gardeners are often faced with the topic of potato flowering. So why doesn't potatoes bloom, and can this affect tuberization?
Lack of a potato flower: problem or pattern
Potato bloom depends on many factors, and only some of them directly affect the tuberization process. Let's consider the reasons for the lack of flowering in a potato field in more detail:
Will the bush bloom or not? In order to form full-fledged tubers, potatoes do not have to bloom at all. In some manuals on potato growing, you can find recommendations on the deliberate removal of peduncles and buds. Agronomists, after conducting several studies on this topic, came to the conclusion that the breaking of ovaries and flowers has negative consequences, but not at all due to the absence of the flowers themselves. During bud set, many varieties begin to form tubers. Now you need to make a strong top dressing and strengthen watering... There are potato varieties in which the flowering and tuber formation cycles do not coincide. In our latitudes, it is customary to plant potatoes with medium early ripeness, namely, its tubers are formed during the flowering process.
An important point - when cutting off the flower stalks, summer residents trample the aisles and break off the green tops, which leads to a decrease in the yield!
Is the variety important for the formation of peduncles? There is an ultra-early potato. Their roots form so quickly that they pass all known diseases, ripen until the summer of the Colorado beetles, but at the same time they absolutely do not have time to bloom. For example, varieties "Roco", "Timo" or "Mariella". The abundance of their harvest leaves much to be desired, but when growing potatoes, as a way to earn money from selling them early, early maturity is very important. In any case, such potatoes can be planted in small quantities on a personal plot, only for their own needs and to quickly get young potatoes on their table. Speaking about whether potatoes need to bloom, you should know that varieties are classified into those that thrive abundantly, those with average flowering, as well as rare-colored varieties and varieties without flowering at all. For example, the "Vesna" potato variety refuses to bloom in dry years, and at normal humidity it blooms so quickly that many simply do not notice this period.- Do peduncles eat colorado beetles? What this pest looks like is known to everyone who has ever grown potatoes on their personal plot. In addition to the Colorado potato beetle, other insects that are not so widely known can also harm the potato.For the most part, these creatures do not cause much damage, however, they are not useful either. Among such insects are ground beetles and potato ladybugs. When potatoes bloom, adults of these beetles begin to feed on its peduncles. If a lot of black and small beetles were found on a flower, then it was just the above-mentioned pest that appeared. Large clusters of beetles eat flowers very quickly, and the flowering process itself remains out of sight.
Is the issue of flowering important in growing potatoes
Whether or not a potato has bloomed this season will not affect the mother plant in any way. What's more, potato flowers absolutely will not affect the formation of the green mass of the bush or its ability to form tubers.
All processes that occur in the flower itself are only and exclusively for the fruits of potatoes, that is, berries that are formed after flowering.
Tubers are formed without the participation of these processes, for them they simply have no value. They don't need fertilization. The tuber itself is not the seeds of a plant in the usual sense of its word, it is just its vegetative part.
Therefore, answering your question - why the potatoes did not bloom, remember that the formation of flower stalks does not in any way affect the yield even before you start to panic. Complete absence or wilting flowers can signal the summer resident that there is some pressing reason for this phenomenon. Whether it is a plant variety, insects, high temperatures, low humidity or soil depletion. In the case of a decrease in yield, it is not necessary to look for the reason at all in the absence of flowering.
I always wanted to know why one year the field is white with high-standing inflorescences, another time the potatoes bloom reluctantly and for a short time. Now it is clear that a lot depends on the variety and climatic conditions. But it reassured that the filling is not a consequence of flowering. However, abundant flowering takes up a lot of nutrients, which are better redirected to the formation of the underground part of the bush. There were varieties that bloom for too long. I tried to remove the unopened buds, but the plant again threw out the peduncle. Then I decided that it was hardly necessary to trample and injure the plants. In general, I didn't fight with nature anymore, the flowers fell off, there were few berry ovaries. Then I began to use the largest of them from good bushes for seed propagation. Once even a new variety turned out, but I could not consolidate the properties, and after two years it degenerated.