A Complete Guide to the Key Techniques for Autumn Potato Cultivation

The tuber-forming period of autumn potato cultivation falls in the cold season, so the varietal characteristics are not prone to degeneration. In the past it was mostly used for seed-potato cultivation, but it has now been expanded and has become an important seasonal vegetable.

1. Seed potato selection. Seed potatoes should be harvested tubers with good varietal characteristics, no signs of degeneration, good performance in all respects, and a moderate size, and they should be sprouted in advance. They can be cut into pieces or planted whole. Because autumn temperatures are high, planting cut pieces makes them highly susceptible to disease, causing rotten pieces and dead seedlings and affecting both yield and quality, so this practice is now rarely used in production, and whole-tuber planting is the most common.

2. Sprouting treatment. To break dormancy and promote sprouting, hormone treatment must be carried out first. Because whole tubers have an intact skin for protection and do not readily absorb gibberellin, a higher concentration of the solution should be used: for varieties with a short dormancy period, soak the seed potatoes in 2-5 PPm gibberellin for 0.5-1 hour, then remove them and immediately bury them in a wet sand bed to sprout.

The sand bed should be set up in a cool, shaded, well-ventilated place. Spread 10 cm of wet sand, then alternate one layer of seed potatoes and one layer of sand, arranging 3-4 layers. After 10-15 days, when the sprouts have grown to about 2 cm, they can be planted; or it is even better to leave them unplanted for now and place them under diffused light to green up for 2 days before planting.

3. Planting. For autumn planting, it is necessary both to water appropriately to lower the temperature and to consider drainage to prevent waterlogging. To create a field environment with lower soil temperature, the method of shallow planting with large ridges is generally adopted, that is, planting shallowly and then earthing up into large triangular ridges. The ridge bottom is about 40 cm wide and the ridge is 30 cm high. The tubers must be planted using the large-ridge method, with about 12 cm of soil covering the seed potatoes. Such large ridges, when planted on the shady slope, have the advantages of preventing exposure to the scorching sun, facilitating drainage, and preventing the soil from compacting after watering; they also help lower the temperature, conserve soil moisture, and allow air movement. Planting density: 60 x 20 cm for cut pieces, 65 x 25 cm for small whole tubers. Planting is best done on cloudy days; when planting on sunny days, avoid the hot midday period.

4. Field management. After planting, water continuously to keep the rows and ridges moist until emergence. Because autumn sunshine is short, which is suitable for tuber growth, the plants form tubers early and are not prone to excessive vegetative growth, so management should focus on promoting growth. In the early stage, water little and often, apply topdressing early, promote early branching and rapid growth, and combine this with intertillage weeding and earthing up in stages. In the later stage, as temperatures drop, reduce irrigation and gradually increase the thickness of the earthing-up soil to protect against cold and protect the tubers. By early to mid-November, after the stems and leaves are killed by frost, harvest.