How to grow sweet potatoes to achieve high yield?

Sweet potato , also known as sweet potato, yam or sweet potato, is called differently by farmers in different places. Planting sweet potato has significant economic value. During the planting process, increasing the yield of sweet potatoes is extremely important for farmers. So how can we grow sweet potatoes to achieve high yields?

1. Planting

Select tubers that are moderately sized (200-300 grams), uniform, free of pests and diseases, damage, and chilling damage as seed potatoes. The width of the seedling bed is 1-1.2 meters, and the length is adjusted according to demand. Usually, every 50 kilograms of seed potatoes can produce 0.9-15,000 seedlings, which is suitable for planting in 3-4 acres of land. The sowing period should be arranged about 100 days before transplanting.

2. Seedling cultivation

When the potato seedlings grow to 25-30 cm, they are transplanted to promote branch growth, and when the transplanted seedlings reach 6-10 nodes, they are topped to promote branching.

3. Fertilization

Apply quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer 5-8 days before the expected seedling harvest to cultivate tender and strong seedlings, and harvest and plant the potato seedlings in time when they grow to 25-30 cm.

4. Land selection and preparation

(1) Land selection: For sweet potato planting, sandy loam or loam with medium or higher fertility and convenient drainage and irrigation should be selected. The soil should be loose, deep, nutrient-rich and air-permeable.

(2) Fertilization: The focus of sweet potato planting should be on applying base fertilizer. Organic-inorganic compound fertilizers or farmyard manure rich in humic acid can be used, following the principle of "base fertilizer as the main and topdressing as the auxiliary".

(3) Bed cultivation: Bed cultivation helps with drainage during the rainy season and the decomposition of organic matter, increases ground temperature, and increases the temperature difference between day and night, which is beneficial to the growth of sweet potatoes. The furrows should be narrow and deep to avoid a "hard center". The bed spacing is 1.1-1.3 meters, the bed height is 0.3-0.4 meters, and the bed runs east-west to optimize light.

5. Planting

Seedling selection: Select strong seedlings at the top for planting. These seedlings have apical dominance, strong growth, strong resistance to adversity, fast greening after planting, early rooting and high yield.

Transplanting: There are various methods for planting sweet potatoes, and the method should be selected according to land conditions, groundwater level and seasonal rainfall. Pay attention to the planting depth and ensure that each section of the potato seedlings is in a soil layer with loose soil, good ventilation and suitable temperature difference.

Close planting: 3000-4000 sweet potatoes per mu in autumn and 4000-5000 sweet potatoes per mu in winter. Ridge planting can thicken the soil layer, increase the area of ​​soil receiving light, and increase yield.

6. Field management

Initial management: Check the seedlings and replant within 5 days after transplanting, keep the soil moist, and improve the survival rate. Apply seedling fertilizer after about 15 days.

Mid-term management: control creeping, promote branching, keep soil moist, and irrigate at appropriate times.

Later management: maintain the growth balance between the above-ground and underground parts, pay attention to pest control, and irrigate at the right time.

Management before harvest: focus on the accumulation of starch in the tubers, apply vine-growing fertilizer at the right time, clear ditches and drain water to prevent potato rot.

7. Harvest

Sweet potato harvesting should start when the temperature drops to around 15℃ and be completed at around 12℃ to avoid frost damage.

The above is an introduction to the key points of high-yield cultivation of sweet potatoes. If you want to achieve high yield in sweet potato cultivation, every link is very important.