Key Techniques for High-Yield Cultivation of Potatoes with Rice Straw Core Padding

1. Variety selection

For fresh potato vegetable varieties, choose Zihua 851, Zhongshu No. 3, Favorita, and other varieties.

2. Land preparation and bed making

Soil selection: Potatoes have a wide range of soil adaptability, and can be cultivated in both sandy soil and muddy land. However, choose loose-textured, well-drained, slightly acidic sandy soil with a pH of 5.5-6.5. Potatoes belong to the Solanaceae family and should not be continuously cropped with other Solanaceae crops or intensively mixed-cropped with them.

Small high-ridge land preparation: After the previous crop is harvested, use a rotary tiller to plow and break up the soil, then use a bed-making machine to form ridges and beds according to the specifications of bed width including furrow of 110-120 cm, ridge bed height of 30-40 cm, ridge bed width of 70-80 cm, and furrow width between two beds of 20-25 cm. After the ridging machine forms the ridges, finely shape the beds manually with a hoe to achieve a fine, crumbly and neat finish.

3. Seed potato treatment

Carefully select seed potatoes: If the dormancy period of seed potatoes is not broken, germination after sowing will be uneven, the emergence rate will be low, and the emergence time will be long. Strictly select seed potatoes and remove diseased and rotten potatoes. Healthy seed potatoes have complete tubers, no pests or diseases, no injuries or freezing damage, smooth skin, and fresh-colored young tubers. Tubers with cracked skin, deformities, distortion, pointed ends, disease spots, frost damage causing stiffness, and degenerated tubers should all be eliminated.

Seed potato cutting: Before sowing, slightly larger seed potatoes need to be cut into several pieces for planting, and small potatoes should also be cut once at a place without an eye, because after cutting, oxygen can smoothly enter the potato through the cut surface, thereby accelerating enzyme activity, breaking dormancy, and promoting uniform germination. The cut pieces should preferably be small seed potatoes of 20 g-25 g. When cutting, cut diagonally or longitudinally from the umbilical end toward the top according to the arrangement order of the eyes (be careful not to damage the eyes), so that each seed potato piece is allocated top eyes.

Seed potato disinfection: When cutting seed potatoes, place a basin of disinfectant solution nearby (0.1% potassium permanganate or 75% alcohol or 0.5% formalin solution). After cutting each seed potato, the cutting knife should be placed into the disinfectant solution for disinfection once. After cutting the seed potatoes, soak the cut seed potatoes in 0.5% formalin solution for 20-30 minutes, then remove them and pile the seed potatoes up and cover them with plastic film.