What are the potato planting and management methods?
How should potatoes be managed when growing them? Please help explain. The following potato planting and management methods can be used for reference: (1) Check seedlings and fill gaps. After the potato seedlings emerge completely, check the seedlings promptly, and replant missing seedlings in time to ensure a full stand. The method of replanting is: when sowing, densely plant the extra seed tubers at the edges of the field to use for...
How should potatoes be managed when growing them? Please help explain.
The following potato planting and management methods can be used for reference:
(1) Check seedlings and fill gaps
After the potato seedlings emerge completely, check the seedlings promptly, and replant missing seedlings in time to ensure a full stand. The method of replanting is: when sowing, densely plant the extra seed tubers at the edges of the field to use for replanting. When replanting, if there are diseased or rotted tubers in the missing hills, first dig out the diseased tubers and the surrounding soil before replanting. When the soil is dry, dig holes, water them, and apply a small amount of fertilizer before planting the seedlings, so as to reduce the time needed for the seedlings to recover and restore growth as quickly as possible. If there are no spare seedlings, you can select hills with multiple seedlings from the rows of emerged seedlings in the field, break off the extra seedlings from the base of the mother tuber, and transplant them to fill the gaps.
(2) Cultivation and earthing up
Cultivate and loosen the soil so that the tuber-forming layer is loose and aerated, which is good for root growth, stolon elongation, and tuber enlargement. If the soil surface crusts before emergence, loosen the soil to help the seedlings emerge. After full emergence, carry out the first cultivation in time, to a depth of 8-10 cm, and combine it with weeding. 10-15 days after the first cultivation, carry out the second cultivation, which should be slightly shallower. At the bud stage, carry out the third cultivation, shallower than the second. Combine this with earthing up, with the thickness of the earth not exceeding 10 cm, to thicken the tuber-forming layer, avoid exposing the tubers, and prevent a decline in quality.
(3) Topdressing
Potatoes take a relatively long time from sowing to emergence. After emergence, apply a sprout and seedling fertilizer early using clear manure water plus a small amount of nitrogen fertilizer to promote rapid growth of the young plants. At the bud stage, combine with earthing up and apply a tuber-forming fertilizer once, mainly potassium fertilizer together with nitrogen fertilizer, with the amount applied depending on the plant's growth vigor and appearance. After flowering, generally no more fertilizer is applied. If nutrient deficiency and premature aging appear later, phosphorus and potassium or trace elements can be used for foliar spraying.
(4) Pest and disease control
Potatoes have many diseases. Common diseases include viral disease, late blight, bacterial wilt, ring rot, scab, and wart disease. Late blight mostly occurs during periods of heavier rainfall and around the flowering stage of the plants. Therefore, pay attention to early control with Bordeaux mixture or ridomil. At present, chemical control of bacterial wilt is relatively difficult. The control methods mainly include rational crop rotation, selecting disease-resistant varieties, and using small whole tubers as seed potatoes.
The main pests of potatoes include ladybird beetles, cutworms, aphids, white grubs, mole crickets, and so on, which can be controlled with pesticides or by manual capture.
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