When should sweet potato seedlings be planted?

Sweet potato is a high-yield and stable yield crop with wide adaptability, strong stress resistance, drought and barrenness resistance, and few diseases and pests. It is planted in many areas. So when should sweet potato seedlings be grown? Let’s learn more about it below.

When should sweet potato seedlings be planted?

Sweet potato seedlings need to be raised 2 months before transplanting. The time for raising sweet potato seedlings is generally around March. In the southern regions where the spring warms up quickly and the temperature is high, it can be carried out around February, while in some northern regions where the spring warms up slowly and the temperature is low, seedlings cannot be raised until April. This period of spring is generally warm, humid and rainy, with temperatures above 20°C, which is conducive to the growth of sweet potatoes.

When are sweet potatoes harvested?

Generally speaking, sweet potatoes are harvested in October. However, since the time of planting sweet potatoes varies in different regions, there will be certain differences in the harvest time. For example, if they are planted in May, the best harvest time is late September or early October.

Sweet potato seedling cultivation method

1. Seed potato selection

For seed potatoes, you should choose tubers that are bright in color, free of pests and diseases, intact, and of moderate size, with a tuber weight of about 300 to 400 grams. Genetically modified varieties must not be used.

2. Seedbed specifications

Choose a plot of land that is higher, sheltered from the wind, facing the sun, easy to manage, and has not been used to grow sweet potatoes in the past 2 to 4 years as a seedbed. Before raising seedlings, the land should be plowed, raked, and finely tilled into a sunny bed with a length and width of 80 to 100 cm, with the length depending on the amount of seedlings to be raised.

3. Rowing of seed potatoes

The potatoes should be arranged to meet the standard of "separated by size, head and tail facing each other, sunny side facing up, shady side facing down, flat on top and uneven on the bottom". Water the seeds after planting them and before covering them with soil. After watering, cover them with fine soil. The soil should be covered thinly, with a thickness of 2 to 3 cm above the soil on the seed potatoes. Adding a layer of plastic film on the seedbed soil can increase the bed temperature by 2 to 3°C, but be careful not to stick the film too tightly to the seedbed, as it will affect seedling emergence or potato rot. Remove the film immediately when seeds are above the soil.

4. Seedling bed management

From sowing to the emergence of potato seedlings, it is required to mainly promote germination, so that the bed temperature remains in the suitable range of 30-35℃, promoting early "sprouting" and more germination. The core of management is to increase temperature and keep warm, while paying attention to the humidity of the seedbed. The surface must be moist and covered with a film. During this period, the space inside the film should be heated by solar energy as much as possible to promote early emergence.

After emergence, it is required to ensure that the potato seedlings grow fast and strong. On the basis of mainly promoting urging, the seedlings should be hardened at the same time, and the urging and hardening should be combined. The bed temperature should be maintained at 25-30℃. Except for cold currents, low temperatures, rainy and snowy days, the curtains should be opened during the day as much as possible to allow sufficient sunlight. However, pay attention to the temperature changes inside the film at noon on sunny days, and do not exceed 40℃ to prevent burning of the seedlings.

On a sunny day at noon when the outdoor temperature is above 16 degrees, you can put down the thermal blanket from 12 to 2 o'clock to avoid being exposed to the sun at noon. As the number of seedlings increases and the temperature rises, the amount of watering should be increased to keep the soil in the bed moist. When the potato seedlings are close to the standard height (20-25 cm), the seedbed management enters the stage of focusing on hardening. Control the temperature and watering, from not covering the bed with straw mats during the day to gradually lifting the film to let in air, so that the bed temperature drops to around 20℃, so that the large seedlings can be exercised and the small seedlings can still grow.

That’s it