When is the best time to plant potatoes in autumn?

Potatoes are a common food crop. They are very productive, generally yielding between 5,000 and 8,000 kilograms. They are easy to grow and have good returns. Potatoes can be planted in spring and autumn, so when is the best time to plant potatoes in autumn? Let’s learn more about it below.

When is the best time to plant potatoes in autumn?

The autumn potato planting area has strict requirements on the climate, requiring an effective growing period of more than 60 days from the emergence of autumn potatoes to the arrival of the first frost. It is best to start sowing potatoes in autumn after the Beginning of Autumn and around the End of Heat Festival. Sowing must be completed by the Autumnal Equinox. The best time for sowing is generally from late August to early September. The growing period of autumn-sown potatoes is an average of 10 to 15 days shorter than that of spring-sown potatoes. This is because the temperature in autumn is higher than that in spring.

How to plant potatoes in autumn

1. Choose good varieties

The growth period of potatoes in autumn is short, so it is suitable to choose early-maturing, virus-free, high-yield and disease-resistant potato varieties with short growing and dormant periods, such as Chuan Yu Zao and Chuan Yu 56. We must do a good job of removing weeds and inferior products to ensure that the seed potatoes used for planting are free of disease, insect damage, and mechanical damage, and maintain the inherent characteristics of the variety. Small whole potatoes have the best effect as seeds, and generally small whole potatoes weighing 40-60 grams per potato are selected as seeds.

2. Germination

15-20 days before sowing the seed potatoes, choose a cool place to germinate the seed potatoes. It usually takes about 15 days to germinate, and you can sow when the sprouts grow to 2-5 mm long. Be sure to sow seeds with sprouts, which is the key to successful autumn potato cultivation.

3. Appropriate density of planting

Since each autumn potato seed potato generally only sprouts one sprout and grows one seedling, and each plant produces only 2-3 potatoes, the sowing amount must be increased to increase the yield. Practice has shown that appropriate close planting can greatly increase the yield of autumn potatoes. When sowing, first make a hole and apply clean manure water, then apply compound fertilizer, and finally sow the seeds. Note that the compound fertilizer cannot come into direct contact with the seed potatoes. After sowing, cover the soil shallowly with 3-5 cm to facilitate germination.

4. Weeding and fertilization

25-30 days after sowing autumn potatoes, when the seedlings grow to 10-15 cm in height, remove weeds once, use 15-20 dan of clean water and manure per 667m2, and apply 7-10 kg of urea as topdressing fertilizer to promote seedlings, and build up the soil by 6-10 cm to make the ridge height reach 15-20 cm, so as to increase the tuber layer, improve yield and reduce the occurrence of "green potatoes".

5. Disease prevention and control

Pay attention to field observation after emergence, monitor through the potato late blight early warning system, and immediately prevent and control late blight when the prevention and control period is reached or the diseased plants in the center of late blight are found. For the first time, use 150-200 grams of " Mancozeb " per 667m2, diluted with 45 kg of water, for action spray, or 8 kg of water, for motorized spray. The pesticide must be applied on a sunny day, between 9 am and 5 pm. Pay attention to protection when applying the pesticide to prevent poisoning.

6. Harvest at the right time

Before the arrival of frost, autumn potatoes should not be dug up. Extending the growing period will help increase the yield. After the frost, when all the upper parts of the plants are frozen to death, choose a sunny day to harvest them in time.

That’s it