What should you pay attention to when growing sweet potatoes? Master these key points
What should you pay attention to when growing sweet potatoes? Please provide guidance. For sweet potato planting, you can refer to the following techniques: 1. Site selection and land preparation. Choose sandy soil with few weeds and low salinity and alkalinity. In autumn, carefully level and prepare the land. Along with autumn plowing, apply 150-200 kg of straw and 4000 kg of high-quality farmyard manure per mu. In winter and spring, plow and harrow in time to preserve soil moisture....
What should you pay attention to when growing sweet potatoes? Please provide guidance
For sweet potato planting, you can refer to the following techniques:
1. Site selection and land preparation
Choose sandy soil with few weeds and low salinity and alkalinity. In autumn, carefully level and prepare the land. Along with autumn plowing, apply 150-200 kg of straw and 4000 kg of high-quality farmyard manure per mu. In winter and spring, plow and harrow in time to preserve soil moisture.
2. Raising seedlings
1. Seedbed construction. Use the heated kang seedling method. The seedbed area is generally most suitable at 6 sq m, but the size of the seedbed can also be determined according to the number of seedlings needed. The location must be chosen in a wind-sheltered, sunny spot. The seedbed should face south with its back to the north, with a fire door left on the south side and a chimney on the north side, so as to facilitate heat preservation, heating the kang, and warming.
2. Selecting seed potatoes. Choose high-yield, high-quality "868" sweet potatoes from another location as mother seed. Each mu of field requires 2 sq m of seedbed for raising seedlings, and 200 seed potatoes, about 50 kg, must be prepared.
3. Filling with sand and disinfecting. Spread the prepared fine sandy soil over the fire pit to a thickness of 3-4 cm. Scald the sandy soil thoroughly with boiling water to disinfect it. After the sandy soil cools, it is ready for sowing.
4. Sowing. Around April 5, stand the carefully selected seed potatoes upright on the sandy soil surface of the bed. The sowing rate is 25 kg per sq m, and the sowing density is 100 seed potatoes per sq m. Then cover the seed potatoes with sand that has been disinfected with boiling water and cooled. The sandy soil should be 3 cm above the tops of the seed potatoes. Cover with agricultural film and press the four edges of the film firmly to keep warm and retain moisture.
5. Heating. Heat the fire pit on time so that the temperature inside the seedbed under the film remains at 18-25°C.
6. Watering. After seedlings emerge, according to the degree of dryness or moisture of the sandy soil, sprinkle water on the bed surface in time to ensure the soil has sufficient moisture, so as to benefit seedling emergence and young seedling growth.
7. Hardening seedlings. According to seedling age and temperature, remove the film in time to ventilate and harden the seedlings. The temperature inside the film must never exceed 25°C. Be sure to avoid scalding the seedlings, prevent excessive spindly growth, and cultivate strong seedlings. By the time of transplanting, the leaf age should be three leaves and one heart, and the seedling height should preferably be 15 cm. The seedlings raised can be picked for 2-3 harvests.
3. Preparatory work before transplanting
1. Soil pesticide application to control underground pests. Before plowing, use 200 ml of phoxim per mu, mix with 15 kg of fine soil, and apply evenly into the field. This mainly controls cutworms, wireworms, grubs, and similar pests.
2. Land preparation and basal fertilizer application. When plowing, apply 25 kg of diammonium phosphate and 10 kg of potassium sulfate per mu. If the field was not fertilized in autumn, apply 4000 kg of high-quality farmyard manure in spring, turn it 20 cm into the soil, and harrow and level it.
3. Ridging. Ridge width 30 cm, ridge height 30 cm, furrow width 20 cm. The ridge surface width and height should be uniform and consistent.
4. Transplanting
1. Transplanting time. Transplanting can be done from April 25 to May 25, and the most suitable time is May 5-15.
2. Transplanting method. Irrigate before transplanting. The water depth should not exceed the top of the ridge. When the water has seeped down to 2/3 of the furrow surface, put on rain boots and go into the furrow to transplant, using the insertion method. That is, first pick the raised seedlings by hand, hold the sweet potato seedling in the left hand, bend the seedling about 5 cm from the plant at a 90-degree angle with the right hand, press it down 3 cm deep from the top of the ridge surface, then cover the finger hole with soil and press firmly. Irrigate again after 5-7 days.
3. Transplanting density. Plant spacing 25-30 cm, row spacing 50 cm, 1 seedling per hole, one row planted per ridge, with 4500-5500 plants maintained per mu.
5. Field management
1. Cultivation and hilling. Before budding, cultivate and weed in time, hill the soil 2 times, and appropriately increase the height and width of the ridge surface.
2. Topdressing and irrigation. At the early flowering stage, according to the amount of growth, apply 30-40 kg of ammonium bicarbonate per mu. The method is to use a small shovel to make even holes and apply it on both sides of the ridge surface 5-7 cm from the seedlings, then irrigate. At the middle stage, irrigate appropriately according to the dryness or moisture of the soil. At the later stage, it is preferable not to irrigate.
3. Foliar fertilization. If the leaves show yellowing, spray potassium dihydrogen phosphate in time, 100 g per mu each time.
4. Pinching and pulling vines. To prevent vines from rooting, pull the vines in time. If growth is excessive, pinch the growing tips to promote tuber expansion.
5. Pest and disease control. When late blight or brown spot disease is found, promptly spray 100 g of thiophanate-methyl or 100 g of mancozeb mixed with 40 kg of water per mu.
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