Detailed Explanation of Key Points for High-Yield Potato Cultivation Techniques

Potato, a perennial herbaceous plant of the Solanaceae family, has edible tubers and is the fourth most important food crop in the world, after wheat, rice and maize. The following technical points are proposed based on exchanges with a certain grower in the countryside and consultation of materials.

1 Scientific Selection of Seed Potatoes

Select seed potatoes with a clear generation number, low incidence of viral diseases and a large yield increase. The place for sunning the seed potatoes should have sufficient light and be sheltered from the wind; remove malformed, diseased, rotten and damaged seed potatoes; when the surface of the seed potatoes gradually turns green and the young sprouts protrude, cut the sprouts and sow. Keep the storage temperature for piling the seed potatoes at 20-39°C; sow once the sprouts emerge. According to the climate and soil conditions of Luoyuan, when cutting the sprouts, it is generally required that the weight of each seed piece be no less than 30g, preferably above 50g; sow when the 10cm soil temperature is stable at 6-7°C (sow around February 20); second, open furrows 15cm deep, apply fertilizer, then return 3cm of soil, then sow, cover with 5-7cm of soil, after pressing to conserve soil moisture, use 100g of 48% trifluralin herbicide per mu mixed with 30kg of water for uniform spraying, then cover with film. When the seedlings emerge and push against the film, ventilate in time to prevent scorching the seedlings..

2 Rational Fertilization

For potato fertilization, the general principle is "organic fertilizer as the mainstay, chemical fertilizer as a supplement, heavy application of base fertilizer, early application of topdressing". During the potato growing period, the greatest demand for water and fertilizer is at the flowering stage, which is also the season when temperature rises and rainfall increases, and at the same time 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 nutrient demand of the potato during its growing period 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 mainstay in fertilization; second, insist on the combined application of organic fertilizer and the three-element chemical fertilizers, among which the amount of the three-element chemical fertilizers should use 2/3 of the whole growth period amount as base fertilizer, leaving 1/3 as topdressing. For a yield of 1500-2000 kg of potatoes per 667 sq m, the base fertilizer application amounts are: 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 and organic fertilizer evenly together 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. The fertilizer requirement characteristics of potato are that it needs the most potassium fertilizer, followed by nitrogen fertilizer, and the least phosphorus fertilizer, with a ratio of roughly 2.0:1.0:0.4. The fertilization method is mainly base fertilizer, with topdressing as a supplement. According to the materials, producing 1000 kg of potatoes per mu requires applying per mu 1500-2000 kg of organic fertilizer, 20 kg of urea (50 kg of ammonium bicarbonate), 10 kg of diammonium phosphate, 45 kg of 50% potassium sulfate, and 2 kg of zinc sulfate. Application method: mix 70% of the nitrogen fertilizer with phosphorus, potassium and zinc fertilizers and apply as seed fertilizer into the furrow (do not let it contact the seed pieces), and keep 30% of the nitrogen fertilizer for topdressing.

3 Clever Use of Soil Fertility and Space

To adapt to the characteristics of robust potato plants, luxuriant vegetative growth and good individual plant development, the ridge surface width of film-mulched cultivation plots in Zunhua City is 70cm, with two rows planted, a small row spacing of 35-40cm and a plant spacing of 25-27cm. The cultivation density is 4000 plants per mu; the specific situation should be determined according to variety characteristics, soil fertility, fertilization level and temperature conditions. If fertilizer and water are sufficient and the temperature is high, the ridge spacing should be widened and the plant spacing appropriately enlarged.