Sweet Potato Planting Time and Methods Explained

Sweet potato, also called sweet potato, is one of the easiest food crops to grow, and even casual planting yields very good harvests. In rural areas, most people grow sweet potatoes mainly to feed pigs and cattle, because after experiencing the great famine of the 1960s, many people lose their appetite at the sight of sweet potatoes. Now the uses of sweet potatoes have been promoted again; sweet potato leaves are also a very delicious vegetable, and sweet potatoes can be made into all kinds of dishes, so it can be said that a new era has arrived. Today Qinnongwang shares with you the planting time and planting methods of sweet potatoes. Let's take a look.

Planting Time

Sweet potatoes are generally harvested only in autumn and winter, and they go through a long period of growth in between. For example, they first go through seedling raising, then cutting planting, and only then do they officially begin growing. Generally, sweet potatoes are sown between April and May each year, and the best sowing time is mid-May. At this time the temperature is basically stable at around 15 to 20 degrees, and sowing sweet potatoes then allows them to sprout quickly.

Planting Methods

1. Seed selection

Although sweet potato planting looks simple, selecting good seeds is also the basic condition for a high yield of sweet potatoes, and it is also the basic requirement for them to take root and sprout. When selecting seeds, we generally choose relatively large sweet potatoes. First, observe whether the seed sweet potatoes have any defects, or whether any part has been bitten by insects or rats. If not, then continue to see whether the sweet potatoes have many sprouting points and whether their vitality is vigorous. Basically, that is enough.

2. Sowing

When sowing, soak the seed sweet potatoes in a carbendazim solution for about ten minutes. This can effectively prevent some diseases and can also prevent the seed sweet potatoes from being eaten by rats before they sprout. Then it is time to sow. When sowing, we must distinguish the head from the tail, otherwise the seedlings will not emerge. If you really cannot tell them apart, you can also place them diagonally. Finally, cover the seed sweet potatoes with a layer of withered grass and rotten wood, and then cover them with a thin layer of soil. If you are worried that the temperature has not reached the requirement, we can cover them with a layer of plastic film. When the sweet potato seedlings grow to 30 to 40 cm, we need to cut them off, then cut them into small sections with three leaves per section, and they can be used for cutting planting. When cutting planting, generally keep a spacing of about 30 cm per plant.

3. Fertilizing

After planting, the first fertilization is needed. This fertilization is mainly to allow the cut sweet potato seedlings to grow new roots, so generally human excrement and urine water is applied. The second fertilization is after the sweet potatoes survive. Because the growth is uneven, they look irregular, and this time it is mainly to even out the seedlings, generally using urea. The third fertilization is a seedling-promoting fertilizer, also urea, but a little compound fertilizer needs to be added. The last and most important is the fruit-strengthening fertilizer, generally using potassium fertilizer and boron fertilizer.

4. Vine arrangement

To make later harvesting easier and to prevent unnecessary branches and leaves from consuming nutrients, we need to arrange the sweet potato seedlings in the field, straightening the sweet potato vines in one direction and letting them grow in one direction. This will make harvesting much easier later. Second, when arranging the vines, just remove some excess branches and leaves.

5. Disease prevention

What generally harms sweet potato growth are leaf roller worms, aphids, white grubs, and field mice. Leaf roller worms and aphids generally harm sweet potato leaves and affect photosynthesis, while white grubs and field mice generally prefer to eat the sweet potatoes in the field, and they will bite and damage the sweet potatoes one by one. Generally, for pests that harm branches and leaves, spraying with trichlorfon solution is enough, but for things like field mice, spraying is not very effective, so trapping is generally used. Place field mice's favorite food in the field mixed with rat poison to trap and kill them.

6. Harvesting

Harvesting generally comes around September and October. First, we need to cut off the sweet potato seedlings, then dig out the sweet potatoes. The dug sweet potatoes generally need to be stored in a cellar, otherwise the water is easily lost and they rot very easily.