When to Plant Taro? Growing Period Days and Planting Management Methods
How many days is the growing period of taro? The general growing period of taro is 210 to 240 days; for late-maturing varieties, the growing period is 270 to 300 days. From this, the growth cycle of taro is very long. Would you like to learn about taro's planting methods and management, and when to plant taro? Let's take a look together below.
Taro is generally planted in February. During the growth process, taro usually has five leaves, with old leaves and new leaves mixed among the five leaves. In the first three to four months of planting, taro will slowly grow taller, and then in the next three to four months it will slowly become shorter. The cultivation period will differ depending on the planting method. Under conventional farming methods, the cultivation period is about 8 months, while if organic cultivation methods are used, the cultivation period will be extended to about 10 months.
During the planting process, how do we judge the growth status of taro? Generally, the current size of the taro can be known from the thickness of the taro stalk (the ratio of the two is about 1:1). In addition, taro often suffers from the harm of many diseases and insect pests. A common disease such as blight mainly has the symptom of leaves rotting; and common insect pests are the shrimp-shell hawkmoth and the tobacco cutworm, whose larvae gnaw on taro leaves and taro stalks. The control method is to use sex pheromones to attract and kill male adults. In terms of fertilizer application, because taro has a high fertilizer requirement, it is recommended to apply a small amount many times, and it is suggested to apply topdressing every week. When taro is planted in the later stage, attention should be paid to its characteristic of reduced water demand. At this time, the water in the taro field must be drained dry to avoid damaging the taro corms.
If the taro planted is water taro,attention must be paid to the harm of the golden apple snail. The golden apple snail will directly gnaw on the stalks and leaves of water taro. The control method can use tea seed meal for control. Its principle is to kill organisms in the water through the saponin produced by tea seed meal (the disadvantage is that it will also kill other innocent aquatic organisms at the same time).