How to grow sweet potato slips quickly and in abundance, with a method for cutting the slips

AbstractSweet potato slips are generally grown using the traditional dormant vine propagation method. The specific steps are: first select healthy vines and remove the leaves, keeping about 1 cm of the leaf stalk, cut them into sections of two nodes each, and soak the cut vines in an Amfetrine solution for 2 minutes, then dry them; next, place the vines flat into a pit for sand storage, using one layer of vines and one layer of sand; finally, when the average spring temperature reaches above 15°C, insert the vines into the field.

I. Sweet potato slip growing method

1. The traditional sweet potato slip growing technique is generally used, which involves burying sweet potatoes harvested the previous year for slip production in spring, and then transplanting the sweet potato slips, but this method requires consuming a large amount of seed potatoes.

2. Using the “dormant vine propagation method” for growing slips can turn discarded vines into a valuable resource, and can also save a large amount of seed potatoes, with significant economic benefits.

II. Steps for growing sweet potato slips

1. Cutting the vines

Generally, after the sweet potato harvest in autumn, select frost-free, disease-free healthy vines, then remove the leaves, keep 1 cm of the leaf stalk, and cut them into sections of two nodes each.

2. Forced dormancy

During this period, soak the cut vines in a 0.5% Amfetrine solution for 2 minutes, then take them out and dry the surface moisture, and this chemical is available in chemical reagent stores.

3. Sieving the sand

Sieve ordinary yellow sand, then remove large particles and impurities, and sprinkle water until the humidity is such that when the sand is squeezed tightly by hand, it disperses into clumps when released.

4. Sand storage

(1) First dig a pit in the ground, with no limit on length and width, and a depth of 0.5 m, then place the vines flat into the pit using one layer of vines and one layer of sand, keeping a 1 cm gap between vines.

(2) The thickness of each sand layer should be no less than 3 cm, and the top sand layer should be no less than 15 cm thick, then cover the surface with a layer of plastic film. In areas with heavy frost, straw or grass curtains can be covered over the film. Wait until the spring of the following year when sweet potatoes are planted, then take out the vines for insertion.

5. Insertion

(1) When the average spring temperature is above 15°C, the vines can be planted in the field. Because the temperature is relatively low from late April to mid-May, plastic film mulching cultivation can be used during this period. When planting, insert the 4 nodes horizontally or obliquely into the soil.

(2) In dry weather, leave two leaves and one bud above the ground, and bury the remaining leaves in the soil, which helps the sweet potato slips survive and the tubers form evenly, improving the marketable rate and yield. The generally suitable planting density is 4000 plants per mu, with a plant spacing of 20 cm.

6. Growing slips

(1) The “dormant vine propagation method” is generally used, which has the characteristics of low investment and easy management, can eliminate rot losses from cellar storage of seed potatoes, and can also save the land occupied by seed potato slip growing and the management during the slip-growing period, making it very suitable for small-scale implementation by farming households.

(2) After the vines stored in sand are taken out, a small number of new roots have already grown, so after insertion they survive quickly and grow well, helping to increase sweet potato yield per unit area by more than 15%-20%.