Fertilizing potatoes is crucial; how do you apply phosphorus fertilizer well?

Summary: Potatoes have a high fertilizer demand; how should you fertilize potatoes?

Potatoes are tuber crops, and throughout their growth process the most important thing is accumulating starch, protein, sugars and other substances. Therefore, rational fertilization and getting the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other elements right are the key to increasing both the yield and the quality of potatoes. So how should you fertilize during potato cultivation, and especially how should you apply phosphorus fertilizer? Let's take a look together below.

The fertilizer requirements of potatoes.

To achieve high yield and good quality in potatoes, you first need to understand their fertilizer requirements and apply fertilizer according to need, so that you both increase fertilizer use efficiency and achieve the goal of high yield and good quality. Potato seedlings generally do not need a very large amount of fertilizer; the demand for fertilizer reaches its peak starting at the tuber differentiation stage. Potatoes are a high-starch tuber plant with the greatest demand for potassium fertilizer, followed by nitrogen fertilizer, and the smallest demand for phosphorus fertilizer.

Potassium fertilizer can promote the accumulation of starch and vitamins in potato tubers, and a lack of potassium fertilizer easily causes stunting and wilting of the plants, and can even cause blackening of the tubers that affects their edibility. Therefore, potatoes have a relatively large demand for potassium fertilizer. At the same time, trace elements such as boron and copper are also indispensable. Potato fertilization requires heavy basal fertilizer and little topdressing.

Because the tubers of potatoes are an important site of organic matter accumulation, they are relatively suited to sandy loam soil, which is favorable for tuber enlargement. At the same time, farmyard manure helps improve soil permeability and promotes the growth of the potato root system and tubers, while excessive application of chemical fertilizer can cause soil compaction, which is unfavorable for tuber enlargement. Therefore, basal fertilizer should mainly be farmyard manure, combined with chemical fertilizer.

Key points of potato fertilization and the characteristics of phosphorus fertilizer application.

How should phosphorus fertilizer be applied? Phosphorus fertilizer can increase the starch content and yield of potatoes, and it can also strengthen the seedlings. An insufficient application rate easily leads to hollow tubers, hardening, and difficulty cooking soft, affecting tuber quality and even reducing yield. Generally speaking, soils in the north are commonly deficient in phosphorus, so attention should be paid to applying phosphorus fertilizer, but it should not be excessive either. Generally, when applying basal fertilizer, phosphorus pentoxide is applied together with organic fertilizer.

The specific application rate should be determined according to the potato production volume; generally, producing 1000 kg of potatoes requires applying 1.8-2.2 kg of phosphorus pentoxide. In addition, during topdressing, according to the condition of the potato plants, spray 50 kg of a 0.3-0.5% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution onto the leaves as a foliar topdressing.

Key points of potato fertilization.

The amount of basal fertilizer applied accounts for 2/3 of the total fertilizer applied during the entire growth period of potatoes; generally, farmyard manure is the main component, applied at about 2000 kg per mu, combined with 40-60 kg of a high-nitrogen, high-potassium compound fertilizer. For later topdressing, note that potato seedlings have a relatively large demand for nitrogen fertilizer; generally, 5-8 kg of urea is applied as topdressing, which can be watered in, and after potatoes flower, nitrogen fertilizer is generally no longer applied as topdressing, to avoid excessive vegetative growth of the plants. In the later stage, if the plants show deficiency symptoms such as premature aging and yellowing, foliar spraying can be used 2-3 times, with a total amount not exceeding 1 kg.

It should be noted that potatoes are a potassium-loving crop, while in ordinary fertilization people generally focus on applying nitrogen fertilizer and phosphorus fertilizer, resulting in too little potassium fertilizer being applied and affecting potato yield. In addition, when applying potassium fertilizer to potatoes, it is best to choose potassium sulfate or potassium dihydrogen phosphate, to avoid applying chlorine-containing fertilizers that affect potato quality. During fertilization, attention should also be paid to balanced fertilization; for example, a boron deficiency easily causes tuber cracking, copper can promote plant respiration and photosynthesis, and an appropriate application rate can increase potato yield and improve the drought resistance of the plants.

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