How to Plant Spring Potatoes? Planting Methods and Key Technical Points

There are three methods for early-maturing spring potato cultivation: double-film covering with plastic film plus small arched shed, thick-film small arched shed covering, and flat plastic film mulching. Potatoes cultivated using these methods can be brought to market 10 to 20 days earlier than potatoes grown with conventional open-field cultivation.

Selecting good varieties Regardless of which covering method is used, the original seed of Dongnong 303 or Kexin No. 4 introduced from Northeast China must be used. Self-saved seed must not be used, and local seed that has been self-saved for many years, with aging varieties and seriously degraded seed characteristics, must certainly not be used. About 150 kg of seed is needed per mu. Large potatoes can be cut open for planting, with each seed potato piece weighing 20 to 25 grams and having 2 to 3 buds.

Applying sufficient base fertilizer Because topdressing is inconvenient after film mulching, fertilizer should be applied all at once before mulching. When plowing, spread 50 kg per mu of ternary compound fertilizer (containing 15% each of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). After preparing the land and making beds, apply more than 30 loads of decomposed farm organic fertilizer or human excrement and urine. The holes should be dug deeper and larger. First apply human excrement and urine into the holes, then apply a handful of livestock and poultry manure, and then cover with a layer of soil to avoid direct contact between seed potatoes and fertilizer, which would affect emergence. The remaining fertilizer can be applied in furrows between rows, then covered with soil. No further topdressing is needed afterward.