How to Grow Red-Skinned Potatoes? The Latest Planting Techniques and Methods Tutorial
The red-skinned potato originated in South America and now has a certain planting area in southern China. Red-skinned potatoes are pink in color, rich in trace elements, and full of nutrients. They have a series of benefits such as antioxidant, anti-cancer, and blood pressure-lowering effects. Moreover, their taste is more glutinous and mealy than ordinary potatoes. So how should red-skinned potatoes be planted? Below, the editor brings you the planting techniques for red-skinned potatoes. Let's take a look!
1. Soil Selection and Land Preparation
The primary requirement of red-skinned potatoes for soil is to ensure it is sufficiently loose, because the tubers of red-skinned potatoes are relatively large, and their oxygen consumption will also increase. Therefore, the soil must be soft enough with strong permeability, and the soil pH should be controlled at around 5.2-7.8; red-skinned potatoes have relatively strong salt-alkali resistance. So when choosing soil, we must ensure high terrain, soft and deep soil, and good drainage and irrigation. Then carry out land preparation; the depth of land preparation must not be less than 25 cm, and do a good job of pressing to preserve moisture, improving the soil's permeability and its ability to retain water and fertilizer.
2. Seed Selection and Sowing
During land preparation, sufficient base fertilizer must also be applied. The base fertilizer should mainly be fully decomposed farmyard manure, with the amount per mu controlled at around 2500 kg; it should be sprinkled evenly for sufficient nutrition. After land preparation, select red-skinned potato seed tubers with no surface damage, no pests or diseases, and high yield, and place them indoors half a month before sowing so that the seed tubers enter dormancy for sprouting. After sprouting, sowing can begin when the soil temperature rises above 8 degrees. The sowing time is around Qingming Festival. Pay attention to controlling the sowing density and sow on ridges. Do not sow too densely, to prevent plants from shading each other and affecting light absorption.
3. Water and Fertilizer Management
Red-skinned potatoes have a relatively large water demand and need to be watered more than 5 times throughout the whole growth period, but attention should be paid to the amount and method of watering, mainly using small-drop drip irrigation. Water promptly after the seedlings emerge to promote seedling growth, then do a good job of watering during the budding stage, flowering stage, and other stages with large water demand, to avoid water shortage affecting the growth of red-skinned potatoes. Timely topdressing is also needed. Red-skinned potatoes have a large demand for potassium, so when topdressing, increase the proportion of potassium in the fertilizer and control the amount of nitrogen to prevent excessive vegetative growth. The main topdressing periods are the budding stage, tuber formation stage, and tuber expansion stage; these three periods are when red-skinned potatoes have the greatest nutrient demand.
4. Field Management
Sufficiently loose soil with strong permeability is very helpful for the growth of red-skinned potatoes and the formation and expansion of tubers, so cultivating and weeding are very important. After the seedlings are fully established, we should carry out the first weeding, because at this time the seedlings are not large and weeds are easy to spot; shallow hoeing is enough to achieve the goal. Then when the seedlings grow to about 24 cm, carry out cultivating and weeding again to promote the growth of red-skinned potatoes and accelerate tuber development. The flower buds of red-skinned potatoes are of no use, and during the growth period the aboveground plants will also compete with the tubers for nutrients, so we should also promptly remove the flower buds to promote tuber growth and reduce nutrient consumption.
We should pay attention to the timing of flower bud removal. When about 28% of the plant's flowers are in full bloom, the flower removal work should begin. Doing this about twice a week can effectively increase the yield of red-skinned potatoes. The yield of red-skinned potatoes is closely related to our management, so before planting, everyone must master the management techniques well to improve their planting benefits. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you all for reading and supporting!