What is the best month to start sweet potato slips?

SummarySweet potatoes are generally started in mid-February to mid-April, with the timing varying by region. For spring sweet potatoes, slips are started around Awakening of Insects (Jingzhe); south of the Huai River, starting is done after mid-February, and north of the Huai River, before April 10. A hotbed or cold frame covered with plastic film can be used for starting slips, or potatoes can be laid out in the open field. Open-field laying of potatoes is generally done before April 20, and slip starting can be carried out 45 days before transplanting.

1. What month are sweet potatoes started

1. Sweet potato seed potatoes can be started in mid-February to mid-April. For spring sweet potatoes, slips are started around Awakening of Insects (Jingzhe); south of the Huai River, starting is done after mid-February, and north of the Huai River, before April 10.

2. Hotbeds and cold frames covered with plastic film are mainly used for starting slips, while open-field laying of potatoes can be done before April 20. With open-field slip starting, plastic film covering is not necessary, and slip starting must be carried out 45 days before transplanting.

2. Sweet potato slip-starting methods

1. Setting up the seedbed

(1) Choose a disease-free plot with sufficient light for the slip-starting bed. Choose a plot that is level, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, well-drained, and with a low groundwater table. The seedbed should preferably run east-west, with a bed width of about 1.3 m; the length can be determined by the number of seed potatoes, and then it is covered with plastic film.

(2) The bed soil should be fertile, loose, and free of pathogens, ideally sandy loam. The bed soil should not be too thick or too thin, generally 5-8 cm is suitable. A small amount of decomposed cow manure or horse manure can be applied into the bed soil. After the bed soil is leveled, apply 100 g of ammonium sulfate per square meter, which helps improve the quality and quantity of the seedlings.

2. Seed selection

Choose potato tubers with smooth skin, bright skin color, uniform size, no disease or damage, no cold or moisture damage, and plenty of white sap as seed potatoes, weighing 3 liang-1 jin; 65 jin of seed potatoes are needed per mu of land.

3. Soaking the seeds

(1) To prevent seed potatoes from carrying disease, warm water or chemicals can be used for soaking. The suitable water temperature is 51-54°C, then soak for about 10 minutes. When the seed potatoes are first placed in the warm water, they must be constantly turned up and down so that they are heated evenly.

(2) Seed potatoes for open-field slip starting, or seed potatoes that have already suffered slight frost damage, are not suitable for warm water soaking. Generally, 50% carbendazim diluted 500 times with water, or 70% thiophanate-methyl diluted 700 times with water, can be used to soak the seeds for about 10 minutes. These chemical solutions can also be sprayed on the slip-starting bed.

4. Potato laying techniques

(1) Potatoes can be laid diagonally, flat, or straight. In diagonal laying, the potato head is pressed over 1/3 of the potato tail. For solar-powered slip starting, flat laying is preferable, so that the seed potatoes are evenly distributed rather than crowded, which helps cultivate strong seedlings. Straight laying is generally not suitable. When laying the potatoes, the head and tail must be distinguished, and they must not be placed upside down.

(2) Generally, the potato head has darker skin color, more sap, and fewer fine roots. Because potato tubers vary in size, they should be selected by category. In laying potatoes, the principle is to lay large potatoes densely and small potatoes sparsely, keeping the top and bottom aligned. The soil covering the tubers should be consistent, so that seedlings emerge more evenly and neatly, and later seedbed management is also easier.