Latest Prices for Purple Sweet Potato Seedlings and a Detailed Guide to Growing Them

Purple sweet potato, also known as black potato, sweet potato and so on, is a twining vine in the Convolvulaceae family, genus Ipomoea. Its flesh is purple to deep purple. Besides containing the nutrients of ordinary sweet potato, it is also rich in selenium and anthocyanins, and has special benefits such as relieving constipation and detoxifying, preventing and fighting cancer, slowing aging, and losing weight and slimming down. Now let us take a look together at the prices for purple sweet potato seedlings and how to grow them!

How much does a purple sweet potato seedling cost?

The price of purple sweet potato seedlings is about 0.1 to 0.15 yuan per plant, but prices vary depending on variety, quality, place of origin and market. The planting time for purple sweet potato is generally when the temperature reaches about 15 degrees in mid-February. Before raising seedlings, first prepare the seedbed, place the purple sweet potato seeds horizontally in a connected row on the seedbed with a row spacing of about 5 cm, cover with fine soil, moisten the soil with a sprayer, cover well with plastic film to retain moisture and warmth, and when the sprouts grow to more than 20 cm they can be cut and inserted into the field.

What varieties of purple sweet potato are there?

1. Xuzishu No. 1: A new high-yield, purple-fleshed variety with red skin and purple heart and fairly good eating quality. A density of about 3300 plants per mu is suitable, and fresh tuber yield is stable at more than 2000 kg per mu. It is suitable for planting in most areas of northern China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

2. Zhezishu No. 1: Good sprouting ability, vigorous growth at the seedling stage, long stems and vines, heart-shaped leaves with teeth, green leaf color, concentrated tuber formation and a fairly large number of tubers. The average number of tubers per plant is 5.1, the average single tuber weight is 106.1 grams, and the average fresh tuber yield per mu is 2148.7 kg.

3. Guangzishu No. 1: The top leaves are purple at the edges, the leaf shape is shallowly compound, the veins are purple, the stems are green with purple, the plant form is semi-upright, the tubers have purple-red skin and purple flower-colored flesh, good storage tolerance, good sprouting ability, moderate resistance to sweet potato blast, and an average fresh tuber yield per mu of 2375.0 kg.

4. Jingshu No. 6: A hybrid of Brazilian sweet potato and Chinese sweet potato, with long stems and vines, purple skin and flesh, high sweetness and good quality. The yield per mu is 1500 to 2000 kg, with a high dry matter rate. It is mainly used for deep processing and pigment extraction.

5. Japanese Lingzi: A new black sweet potato variety introduced from Japan. The tubers are long spindle-shaped, the skin is glossy purple-red, the flesh is purple-black and nearly black after cooking, with strong disease resistance and storage tolerance, drought and barren tolerance, and strong adaptability. The spring tuber yield per mu is 3000 kg, and the summer tuber yield per mu is 2000 kg.

How to grow purple sweet potato

1. Variety selection: Purple sweet potato can be divided by use into fresh-eating type and processing type. For the fresh-eating type, choose varieties with good taste, moderate pigment content, good disease resistance and attractive tuber shape. For the processing type, choose varieties with high pigment content, good disease resistance and a high dry matter rate.

2. Seedling raising and seed selection: Purple sweet potato can be taken out of the cellar for seedling raising in mid-February when the temperature reaches about 15 degrees. Prepare the seedbed well, place the seeds horizontally in a connected row on the seedbed, cover with fine soil and plastic film, and when the sprouts grow to more than 20 cm, cut and insert them into the field.

3. Apply enough base fertilizer: When growing purple sweet potato, apply enough base fertilizer. Generally, apply 40 to 50 dan of high-quality organic fertilizer per mu and 35 to 50 kg of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and compound fertilizer. All the organic fertilizer is spread before plowing, and the compound fertilizer is used as core fertilizer when forming ridges.

4. Cultivation management: After ridging the purple sweet potato, while the soil is still moist, apply a herbicide once to prevent weed growth, cultivate 2 to 3 times, and combine cultivation with hilling soil to support the ridges. It is afraid of waterlogging. When drought is severe, timely drought relief should be carried out where conditions permit.

5. Lift the vines at the right time: Purple sweet potato vines grow vigorously and have many adventitious roots at the nodes. Lifting the vines is key to increasing purple sweet potato yield. Do not disrupt the direction, but do not turn the vines over. Turning the vines over disrupts nutrient transport and generally reduces yield by 30%.

6. Harvest and storage: For seed use, purple sweet potato should be harvested in mid to late October. For the fresh-eating type, purple sweet potato is delayed until early November. It must be completely harvested before frost. In the early storage period, pay attention to ventilation and reducing humidity, and in the later period, pay attention to keeping warm and retaining moisture.

Pest and disease control of purple sweet potato

1. Black spot disease

[Symptoms] The lesions mostly occur on wounds, appear black to brown, round or irregular, and are slightly sunken in the center.

[Control] Soak seeds for 10 minutes in 1000 times 50% carbendazim wettable powder, or soak seedlings in 500 to 700 times 50% carbendazim.

2. Soft rot

[Symptoms] Diseased tubers become soft and rotten and watery, which farmers call “water rot”, and the tuber flesh becomes pale yellowish-white and gives off a fragrant alcoholic smell.

[Control] Soak tubers 1 to 2 times with 500 to 700 times liquid of 50 to 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder, with good results.

3. Root rot

[Symptoms] When the root system is infected, dark brown spots form; when leaves are infected, they appear wilted; when tubers are infected, deformed tubers form.

[Control] Spray twice with 700 to 1000 times liquid of 50% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder, with good results.

4. Sweet potato weevil

[Damage] Adults gnaw on young buds, stems and vines and the cortex of leaf stalks and bite and feed on the tuberous roots, affecting yield when severe.

[Control] In the early stage, you can use Nongdile diluted with water to pour over the potato heads, or spray a mixed liquid of 600 times trichlorfon plus Kungfu.