Sweet potato planting methods and management

Sweet potatoes are widely favored by people of all ages and have become one of the crops that must be planted almost every year in rural areas. Although the technical threshold for growing sweet potatoes seems to be low and everyone can do it, it does require certain skills and experience to truly cultivate high-quality sweet potatoes. The key evaluation criteria for high-quality sweet potatoes are the size of the tubers, flavor and taste, and the smoothness of the skin, which constitute the basic conditions for successful sweet potato cultivation. In addition, yield is another important indicator to measure planting effectiveness. Let’s learn about the planting and management of sweet potatoes.

1. Soil selection

Sweet potatoes have certain preferences for soil conditions. As the saying goes, "What kind of soil produces what kind of potatoes", this reflects the important influence of soil on the quality of sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes grow best in sandy soil because sandy soil not only helps keep the surface of the sweet potatoes smooth, but also helps them grow in volume and accumulate starch and sugar, making the sweet potatoes taste better. In contrast, sweet potatoes grown in sticky soil have a less smooth surface, are smaller in size, have lower starch and sugar content, and have a relatively poor taste. Therefore, sandy loam should be preferred for growing sweet potatoes.

2. Seedling treatment

Before transplanting sweet potatoes, the seedlings need to be properly treated. Before transplanting, part of the roots of the seedlings should be cut off, leaving about half of the root system. This is because the bottom of the seedlings pulled directly from the seed potatoes may carry pathogens, and the roots at the bottom will not produce tubers. Cutting them off can promote the germination of new roots, which helps the growth of the seedlings and the production of tubers.

3. Fertilization and transplanting

Sweet potatoes prefer organic fertilizers for growth, especially poultry manure, pig manure and cake fertilizer. If conditions permit, using wood ash as part of the base fertilizer will have a better effect. When applying base fertilizer, you should first dig trenches and spread fertilizer, then build ridges and transplant them. The ridge height should be about 20 cm. When transplanting, insert the roots of the seedlings into the soil at a 45-degree angle, with the insertion depth being about two-thirds of the seedlings. If you use cooked soybeans as auxiliary fertilizer , placing a dozen soybeans in each hole, you can further improve the quality of the sweet potatoes. After transplanting, water thoroughly and compact the soil by hand.

4. Field Management

Proper field management is required during the growth of sweet potatoes, including topdressing, vine lifting and soil cultivation. Before the potato vines are used to cover the ridges, loosen the soil and weed to keep it loose. When closing the ridges, the soil should be piled up and the vines should be lifted regularly afterwards to prevent the vines from taking root in the soil. During the tuber expansion period, top dressing should be combined with watering. You can choose bean cake water, chicken manure water, or a mixed solution of urea and potassium dihydrogen phosphate to irrigate the roots to promote the growth and expansion of the tubers. In addition, when the potato vines grow to a certain length, they are topped and pinched to control the growth of the vines.

5. Foliar Fertilization

During the tuber expansion period of sweet potatoes, foliar spraying can increase yield and improve taste. An effective method is to use a mixed solution of glucose and potassium dihydrogen phosphate for foliar spraying, spraying twice, with an interval of 7-10 days. The sweet potatoes processed in this way are not only larger in size, but also taste better.

In summary, the key to sweet potato cultivation lies in reasonable fertilization and careful field management. As long as these two aspects are done properly, sweet potatoes can bear abundant fruits of high quality.