How to Grow Sugarcane: Sugarcane Planting Techniques and Precautions

Sugarcane is a fairly common fruit in daily life. Because of its good taste and high edible value, it has a large number of people who enjoy eating it. Sugarcane currently sells very well on the market, which attracts many people to grow it. However, before planting, everyone should still have a fairly comprehensive understanding of its planting techniques.

How to Grow Sugarcane

1. Variety selection: Choose excellent varieties with high yield, good quality, disease resistance, good adaptability and good taste. When selecting seed, choose seed cane tops with thick, large, uniform stalks free of cracks, sturdy tops, and broad, large, green leaves free of pests and diseases. Do not choose cane tops with pests and diseases.

2. Seed soaking: Choose plump, pest-free, disease-free, uninjured two-bud setts and soak them in clean water or 2% lime water for 1—2 days. This can improve the drought resistance of the seed cane and also achieve the effect of eliminating pests and diseases.

3. Reasonable close planting: Sow 5—6 seed canes per 100 cm in the planting furrow, and sow 3000—3500 two-bud setts per mu. The planting density is generally kept at about 20 buds per 100 cm, ensuring 4500—5500 effective stalks per mu.

4. Wide rows: The row spacing for sugarcane planting should be 90—100 cm, which is conducive to ventilation and field management after planting.

5. Shallow planting: The depth of soil covering the seed cane is generally about 5 cm.

6. Planting method: Use double-row planting with staggered spacing. The seed canes should be placed flat in the planting furrow with the buds facing the sides. When covering with soil, first gently press the setts into the soil, then cover with soil and firm it down to encourage rooting.

Sugarcane Planting Techniques and Precautions

I. Planting time:

1. Site selection and mechanical tillage: For sugarcane planting, choose soil conditions that drain easily and are deep, loose and fertile, so as to fully meet the needs of root growth and enable the roots to better absorb water and nutrients. If the previous crop was sugarcane, first use a rotary tiller to break up the cane stubble; this not only makes the soil clods fine and crumbly but also reduces damage by the sugarcane longhorn beetle. For ploughing, use a high-horsepower tractor to plough deeply, preferably to a depth of 35—40 cm, with a furrow bottom width of 20-25 cm. After ploughing, the soil should be fine and crumbly and level.

2. Row spacing and furrow opening: For plots with good water and fertilizer conditions, the row spacing can be appropriately increased, preferably 1 m to 1.2 m; for sloping land, smaller row spacing can be chosen, preferably 0.8 m to 1 m. Furrows on sloping land should be opened parallel to the contour lines, and the row direction should not run straight down the slope, otherwise rainfall will wash the fertilizer and seed cane out.

3. Reasonable close planting: The seed canes should be placed flat in the planting furrow with the buds facing the sides. When covering with soil, first gently press the setts into the soil, then cover with soil and firm it down to encourage rooting. Sow 5—6 seed canes per 100 cm in the planting furrow. The seed canes should be placed flat in the planting furrow with the buds facing the sides. When covering with soil, first gently press the setts into the soil, then cover with soil and firm it down to encourage rooting. The row spacing for sugarcane planting should be 90—100 cm, and the depth of soil covering the seed cane is generally about 5 cm. The planting density is generally kept at about 20 buds per 100 cm, ensuring 4500—5500 effective stalks per mu.

II. Precautions:

For fruit sugarcane, the planting time should be from September of the current year to February of the following year. If it is too early, there will be no seed cane; if it is too late, it will affect yield and quality.

How to Fertilize Sugarcane

1. Seedling-promoting fertilizer: After emergence, apply it together with the first weeding, at 15 kg of urea per mu.

2. Fertilization during the growing period: During the field growing period, apply 100 kg of superphosphate (or calcium magnesium phosphate) and 10 kg of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium compound fertilizer (or potassium chloride) per mu along with each hilling.

3. Apply foliar fertilizer and balanced fertilizer at the appropriate time. During the growing period, according to seedling condition, spray the compound, high-efficiency, multi-element, organic ecological foliar fertilizer “Rongdafeng” at 300 times dilution 3—4 times; after thinning to a stand, frequently water weak seedlings at the roots with 5% ammonium bicarbonate water.

Common Sugarcane Pests and Their Control

The main sugarcane pest is the sugarcane borer, followed by the pink sugarcane mealybug, the sugarcane woolly aphid and the sugarcane beetle. The control methods include the following:

1. Agricultural control: Mainly adopt healthy cultivation, reasonable close planting, scientific management and fertilization. Choose seed cane tops with thick, large, uniform stalks free of cracks and free of insect holes. Use a planting furrow spacing of 120 cm, a furrow depth of more than 40 cm, and a furrow bottom width of 20 cm, sowing about 20 buds per meter. Ensure no fewer than 4500 effective stalks per mu. During the growing period, promptly remove dead-heart seedlings and burn dead tops in a centralized manner, and kill the larvae inside the stems by injection or by piercing with a needle.

2. Physical control: Take advantage of the phototaxis of adults and install frequency-vibration insect-killing lamps to trap and kill adults.

3. Chemical control: Seize the peak occurrence periods (March—April, June—July, September—October) and the occurrence dynamics for control.

Before planting sugarcane, it is necessary to do a good job of seed selection, then select and prepare the land, and apply base fertilizer at the appropriate time when preparing the land. After planting, management needs to be strengthened, and the amount of fertilizer applied varies at different stages, so everyone should pay close attention. Sugarcane is also susceptible to pest invasion, so pest control is also a very important step.