How to Grow Sweet Potatoes: Latest Planting Methods and Timing Explained

Sweet potato is also called sweet potato, and it is one of the easiest food crops to grow, producing very good yields even with casual planting. In rural areas, most people grow sweet potatoes mainly to feed pigs and cattle, and because of the great famine of the 1960s, many people lose their appetite at the sight of a sweet potato. Now the uses of sweet potato have been promoted again; sweet potato leaves are also a very delicious vegetable, while the sweet potato itself can be made into all kinds of dishes, so it can be said to have entered a new era. Today Qinnong Web shares with you the planting time and planting methods for sweet potatoes. Let's take a look.

Planting Time

Sweet potatoes are generally only harvested in autumn and winter, and they go through a long period of growth in between; for example, they first go through seedling raising, then cuttings, and only then do they officially begin growing. Generally, sweet potatoes are sown between April and May each year, and the best sowing time is in mid-May, when the temperature is basically stable at around 15 to 20 degrees; sowing sweet potatoes at this time allows them to sprout quickly.

Planting Methods

1. Seed selection

Although sweet potato planting looks simple, selecting good seeds is also the basic condition for a high yield, and it is also the basic requirement for rooting and sprouting. When selecting seeds, we generally choose relatively large sweet potatoes. First, observe whether the seed sweet potatoes have any defects, or whether any part has been bitten by insects or rats. If not, then continue to see whether the sweet potatoes have many sprouting points and whether their vitality is strong. Basically, that is enough.

2. Sowing

When sowing, soak the seed sweet potatoes in a Duolingjun solution for about ten minutes; this can effectively prevent some diseases and can also prevent the seed potatoes from being eaten by rats before they sprout. Then it is time to sow. When sowing, we must distinguish the head from the tail, otherwise the sprouts will not come out. If you really cannot tell them apart, you can place them diagonally. Finally, cover the seed sweet potatoes with a layer of dead grass and rotten wood, then cover them with a thin layer of soil. If you are worried that the temperature has not reached the requirement, we can cover them with a layer of plastic film. When the sweet potato sprouts grow to 30 to 40 cm, we need to cut them off, then cut them into small sections with three leaves per section, and they can be used for cuttings. When cutting, generally keep a spacing of about 30 cm per plant.

3. Fertilizing

After planting, the first fertilization is needed. This fertilization is mainly to make the cut sweet potato seedlings grow new roots, so human excrement and urine water is generally used. The second fertilization is after the sweet potatoes survive; because their growth varies, they look uneven, so this time is mainly to even out the seedlings, and urea is generally used. The third fertilization is a seedling-lifting fertilizer, also urea, but a little compound fertilizer needs to be added. The last is the most important fruit-swelling fertilizer, generally potassium fertilizer and boron fertilizer.

4. Vine training

To make later harvesting easier and to prevent unnecessary branches and leaves from consuming nutrients, we need to train the sweet potato seedlings in the field, sorting the sweet potato vines in one direction and letting them grow in one direction. This will make harvesting much easier later. Second, when training the vines, just remove some excess branches and leaves.

5. Disease and pest prevention

What generally harms sweet potato growth are leaf rollers, aphids, white grubs, and field mice. Leaf rollers and aphids generally harm sweet potato leaves, affecting photosynthesis, while white grubs and field mice generally prefer to eat the sweet potatoes in the field, biting and damaging the sweet potatoes one by one. Generally, for pests that harm branches and leaves, spraying with trichlorfon solution is enough, but for things like field mice, spraying is not very effective, so trapping is generally used; place the field mice's favorite food in the field mixed with rat poison to trap and kill them.

6. Harvesting

Harvesting generally comes around September and October. First, we need to cut off the sweet potato seedlings, then dig out the sweet potatoes. The dug-out sweet potatoes generally need to be stored in a cellar, otherwise the water is easily lost and they rot easily.