Detailed Explanation of Key Scientific Potato Planting Techniques
The potato, also known as the potato, yam, etc., is one of our home-style dishes, with a very high consumption rate. The nutritional value of the potato is also very high; it is one of China's five major staple foods, and the potato has high yield and strong adaptability, making it one of the easier food crops to grow.
Scientific Potato Planting Techniques
1. Cutting into pieces and sprouting. Start sprouting 20 days before sowing, around early March. When cutting seed potatoes into pieces, each piece should have at least one eye. 10~15 pieces/jin is appropriate. After cutting, mix with dry plant ash or use carbendazim powder at 1:200 diluted with water to soak the seed pieces for sterilization and disinfection. After the seed pieces are air-dried, begin sprouting in a seedbed. There are two methods: one is to sprout with sand in a corner of a room at room temperature above 15°C, one layer of sand and one layer of seed pieces; the other is to dig a pit outdoors in a ventilated, sunny spot running east-west for sprouting, with a pit depth of about 25 cm, one layer of sand and one layer of seed pieces, preferably 3 layers, then cover with an arched film, and add straw curtains at night for insulation. During the sprouting period, both methods require sprinkling water 1~2 times to prevent drying out. When the sprouts grow to 0.5~1.0 cm in length, begin sowing.
2. Land preparation and ditching. Before planting, check the soil moisture; if the moisture is poor, consider irrigating the ditches to build moisture, preferably 7~10 days before planting. Potato planting generally uses double-ditch planting; when opening ditches, a wide row of 50 cm and a narrow row of 40 cm can be used.
3. Sowing and covering with film. The period from the Spring Equinox to Qingming is the best time; it should be especially noted that virus-free potatoes can be sown earlier, finishing sowing before the Spring Equinox, with plant spacing controlled at 20 cm. Before sowing, spray along the ditches with phoxim at 1:10000 diluted with water to prevent underground pests. Organic fertilizer can be spread directly into the ditches or applied during land preparation; chemical fertilizer can be placed into the ditches or scattered between the seed pieces (note that it must not directly contact the seed pieces). When sowing, there are two ways to place the seed pieces into the ditches: one is with the sprout facing down; potatoes grown this way have long roots and strong seedlings, fewer potatoes but larger tubers, but the seedlings emerge 2~3 days later; the other method is with the sprout facing up; potatoes grown this way have relatively shorter roots, smaller but more numerous potatoes, and the seedlings emerge 2~3 days earlier. After planting is finished, take soil from both sides within the wide rows to cover the potato ditches and the spaces of the narrow rows, then level them, cover tightly with micro-film, and press firm.
How to Fertilize Potatoes
Potato fertilization is generally based on the principle of “organic fertilizer as the main component, chemical fertilizer as a supplement, heavy application of base fertilizer, and early application of topdressing.” This is because organic fertilizer contains abundant organic matter, which helps enrich and loosen the soil, improve soil fertility, and is more conducive to potato tuber expansion and root growth. During the potato growing period, the greatest need for water and fertilizer is at the flowering stage, and this is also the season when temperatures rise and rainfall increases, as well as the stage when organic fertilizer gradually matures and decomposes to release nutrients. At this time, the conversion benefits of the organic and inorganic fertilizers in the base fertilizer continuously expand, meeting the potato's nutrient needs during growth and promoting plant growth and development. This is the purpose of heavy application of base fertilizer.
There are two key points for heavy application of base fertilizer: first, use high-quality organic fertilizer as the main component in fertilization; second, insist on applying organic fertilizer together with the three-element chemical fertilizers, among which 2/3 of the total amount of the three-element chemical fertilizers used throughout the growth period should be used as base fertilizer, leaving 1/3 as topdressing. The base fertilizer application rate for a yield of 1500-2000 kg of potatoes per 667 sq m is: high-quality organic fertilizer 2000-3500 kg, urea 12 kg, superphosphate 20—30 kg, plant ash 150-200 kg or potassium chloride 10~15 kg. Mix the above fertilizers evenly with organic fertilizer and apply as base fertilizer into the soil layer below 10 cm; this can loosen the tuber layer and facilitate absorption by the potato root system.
Pest and Disease Control
1. Ring rot: Ring rot causes relatively great damage to potato growth; if it occurs over a large area, it can lead to reduced yield or total crop failure. Therefore, ring rot must be cut off at the source by selecting disease-free seed potatoes and disinfecting cutting tools during cutting to avoid cross-infection.
2. Viral disease: Viral disease is an infectious virus. In the early stage of the disease, chemical control can be carried out by spraying Kangdufeng (0.5% mushroom polysaccharide aqueous solution) 300 times dilution or 20% Virus A wettable powder 500 times dilution, etc.
3. Ladybugs: Ladybugs can be killed by spraying any of several methods, such as 80% trichlorfon wettable powder or 80% dichlorvos emulsifiable concentrate each at 1000 times dilution, 2.5% deltamethrin emulsifiable concentrate, and 10% cypermethrin emulsifiable concentrate at 3000 times dilution, spraying once every 10 days.
4. Underground pests: For underground pests such as mole crickets, white grubs, and cutworms, use 2~3 kg of 3% phorate granules per mu, prepare toxic soil at a medicine-to-soil ratio of 1:10, spread it evenly on the soil surface, and apply it during land preparation.
Harvest
For potatoes, when plant growth stops and most stems and leaves turn yellow and withered, the tubers easily separate from the stolons, the periderm hardens, specific gravity increases, and dry matter content reaches its maximum limit; this is the optimal harvest period for edible tubers. For tubers used as seed, harvest 5-7 days earlier to reduce the adverse effects of high temperatures in the later growth stage and improve seed quality.
The above is the potato planting technique summarized for everyone by the editor; I hope it can help you all! Although potatoes are easy to grow, they should not be grown blindly; you must learn to grow them scientifically, so as to better improve potato quality and yield. Potatoes have high yield, and profits are relatively considerable, so the planting prospects are still relatively broad!