Five key measures for high-yield sweet potato cultivation
Select fine varieties with high-quality sweet potato slips. High-quality slips can not only improve the survival rate of transplanting and promote early tuber formation, but also significantly increase sweet potato yield. Generally, they can increase yield by more than 10% compared with weaker slips. When purchasing sweet potato slips, three aspects should generally be considered: appearance, height, and weight. High-quality sweet potato slips generally have large and thick leaves, dark green leaf color...
Select fine varieties with high-quality sweet potato slips
High-quality sweet potato slips can not only improve the survival rate of transplanting and promote early tuber formation, but also significantly increase sweet potato yield. Generally, they can increase yield by more than 10% compared with weaker slips. When purchasing sweet potato slips, three aspects should generally be considered: appearance, height, and weight. High-quality sweet potato slips generally have large and thick leaves, dark green leaf color, the top three leaves level and even, thick stems, short internodes, 3-5 nodes, plant height 20-30 cm, no aerial roots, no pests or diseases, and a weight of more than 500 grams per 100 slips.
Focus on the application of potassium fertilizer
Sweet potato is a high-yield crop and has a large fertilizer requirement, especially a large potassium fertilizer requirement. The fertilization principle is an appropriate amount of nitrogen fertilizer, with phosphorus and potassium combined, mainly potassium. For medium-fertility soil in western Guanzhong, generally apply 10 kg of urea, 50 kg of superphosphate, and 20 kg of potassium sulfate per mu.
Advocate ridge cultivation
Ridge cultivation makes the soil layer loose, strong in air permeability, raises soil temperature, increases surface area, promotes rapid swelling of sweet potatoes, and at the same time can improve potassium absorption. Generally, for small ridges with single-row cultivation, the ridge spacing is 70 cm and the ridge height is 15-20 cm; for large ridges with double-row cultivation, the ridge spacing is 85-95 cm and the ridge height is 25 cm.
Use plastic film for timely early planting
Timely early planting with plastic film can effectively extend the sweet potato growth period and make full use of the growing season to increase nutrient accumulation. In western Guanzhong of our province, the time for spring plastic film cultivation must not be earlier than early April; too early will encounter low temperatures and other abnormal weather effects.
Improved horizontal planting
With improved horizontal planting, the sweet potato slips have more nodes buried in the soil and more tuber-forming nodes. At the same time, nutrient and water consumption is low, the seedling recovery time is short, and the transplanting survival rate is high. The method is: first dig a hole, then pour in water, then insert the slips. After inserting the sweet potato slips straight down to a depth of 5 cm, lay them flat and bury them, with a soil covering thickness of 5 cm, leaving the top three leaves exposed.