How to grow taro to get high yield?

Taro, a tuberous herb famous for its underground bulbs, is widely grown in the Pearl River Basin of Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as the Yangtze River Basin areas such as Taiwan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Sichuan. They not only have excellent taste and diverse applications, but also have extremely high nutritional value. They are one of the important economic crops in the southern region and have long been favored and continuously cultivated by people. Let’s learn together how to grow taro to achieve high yield.

1. Select taro seeds and promote germination

Select healthy, disease-free mother plants, and pick out taro with large size, medium-length stems, full terminal buds, and no disease or insect spots as seed taro. The weight should be about 50 grams, and about 150 kilograms of seed taro are needed per acre of land. 20 to 30 days before sowing, the seed taro should be germinated. First, air the seed taro for 1 to 2 days, then soak the seed taro in 500 times diluted 50% carbendazim wettable powder for 20 to 30 minutes, take out and dry for use. Choose a well-drained sandy loam land that is sheltered from the wind and facing the sun as the seedbed. Arrange the taro seeds on the seedbed and cover them with 3 cm of fine sand. Cover them with plastic film after watering to maintain moisture and temperature. When the buds grow to 3 to 5 cm, they can be transplanted into the field.

2. Land selection and land preparation

Taro should not be planted continuously. It is best to choose fertile soil that has not been planted with taro for more than three years, with a deep soil layer, strong water and fertilizer retention capacity, and good drainage. Loam or sandy loam. Before land preparation, apply 1,500 kg of decomposed pig and cattle manure, 50 kg of phosphate fertilizer, 50 kg of quicklime powder, and 75 kg of compound fertilizer (nitrogen: phosphorus: potassium = 15:15:15) per mu. After fertilization, fully plow the land and build raised ridges with a ridge width of 2 meters (including ditches) and a ditch depth of 35 to 40 centimeters.

3. Sow seeds in time

Late March to early April every year is the suitable sowing period. The germinated taro seeds are planted in double rows in holes. The planting depth is controlled at 3 to 5 cm, and the row spacing is 50 cm × 100 cm. After sowing, use pre-emergence herbicide 60% sethoxydim emulsifiable concentrate 100 ml or Jindul 50 to 80 ml, add 60 kg of water and spray evenly on the bed surface to remove weeds.

4. Field management

(1) Apply fertilizer in time

Taro has a long growth period, high yield, and requires a large amount of fertilizer. In addition to applying sufficient base fertilizer, topdressing should also be applied in batches. Apply fertilizer once in the early stage of seedlings, and apply fertilizer 2 to 3 times in the early and middle stages of plant development and bulb growth. Increase the amount of fertilizer gradually from a small amount to a large amount, and pay attention to the coordinated use of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. In the later stage, topdressing should be controlled to avoid excessive growth of the plants and delayed maturity. In the middle and late stages of growth, you can use 100 ppm paclobutrazol and 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate for two foliar sprayings to nourish the roots and leaves and promote bulb enlargement.

(2) Reasonable irrigation

Taro likes a moist environment and avoids drought. Keep the soil moderately moist during the seedling stage to avoid waterlogging in the field; during the plant growth stage and the peak period of bulb growth, the water in the furrows should be kept shallow, with the amount of water just enough to submerge the bottom of the furrow; drain the furrow water 20 days before taro harvest.

(3) Soil cultivation and bud removal

During the field growth period, it is generally necessary to add soil 2 to 3 times. Adding soil is an important step to ensure the normal growth of taro and increase the accumulation of nutrients in the bulbs. The first soiling is carried out in late May to fill the planting holes; the second soiling is carried out in mid-June, combined with weeding and loosening the soil; the final soiling is carried out in late July, and the soil thickness must be uniform. Before closing the taro rows, the buds should be cut off in time, and the soil should be re-cultivated in combination with fertilization to cover the side buds.

5. Pest and disease control

The main diseases and pests of taro include taro blight, taro soft rot, taro wilt, underground pests , and Spodoptera litura.

In terms of agricultural prevention and control, we implement reasonable crop rotation, collect seed taro from disease-free fields or disease-free plants, minimize mechanical damage to the leaves, pay attention to drainage and irrigation, prevent the taro fields from being too dry or too wet, and maintain ventilation and other measures to reduce the occurrence of diseases and pests.

In terms of chemical control, wilt disease can be treated by root irrigation with 300 times diluted 12.5% ​​enhanced carbendazim soluble concentrate; soft rot can be treated by spraying with 600 times diluted 30% cupric oxychloride suspension or 3000 times diluted 68% agricultural streptomycin soluble powder, once every 5 to 7 days, for 2 to 3 times in a row; white rot can be treated by spraying with 1000 times diluted 50% chlorpyrifos wettable powder or 600 times diluted 80% carbendazim wettable powder, and once again after 7 to 10 days; blight can be treated by spraying with 600 times diluted 75% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder or 500 times diluted 64% alum wettable powder, once every 7 to 10 days, for 2 to 3 times in a row.

The prevention and control of underground pests can be combined with manual catching of insects and drug control. For drug control, 800 times diluted 48% Lorsban emulsifiable concentrate can be used for root irrigation; 1500 times diluted 50% cypermethrin emulsifiable concentrate can be used for spraying of taro locusts; from the peak incubation period to the second-instar larvae stage, 1500 times diluted 10% chlorpyrifos (chlorfenapyr) suspension or 1500 times diluted 0.8% avermectin benzoate emulsifiable concentrate can be used for spraying in the evening.

6. Harvest at the right time

Taro can be harvested when its leaves begin to turn yellow and shrink, the base of its petioles become soft, there is no crisp sound when broken, and its roots begin to wither. 15 to 20 days before harvest, drain the water from the ditch bottom to make the soil dry to improve the quality of taro and facilitate harvesting, storage and transportation.

In general, the cultivation and management of taro is relatively simple, and the environmental requirements are not strict. As a vegetable , the cultivation benefits of taro are quite considerable.