What is the best time to plant sweet potatoes?

I. When is the best time to plant sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are best planted in spring each year. If you want to raise seedlings in early spring and harvest sweet potatoes ahead of time, you can raise the seedlings in a hotbed or a small plastic arched tunnel, and transplant and set them out once the sweet potato seedlings have grown 2 true leaves.

II. How to plant sweet potatoes

1. Land preparation and fertilization

Sweet potatoes like to grow in deep, well-drained sandy loam. During the growth and swelling of the plant's tuberous roots, they need a moderate amount of nitrogen fertilizer and more phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Be careful not to over-fertilize, otherwise the soil will be too fertile, which easily causes excessive vegetative growth of the sweet potato stems and leaves, while the fleshy roots instead do not swell easily. Usually before planting, the soil can be deeply plowed 20-25cm, and 5000kg of barnyard manure and 25-50kg of compound fertilizer applied per mu.

2. Sowing and raising seedlings

Sweet potato seeds are relatively hard. To improve the seed germination rate, you can soak the seeds to promote germination before sowing. Put the seeds in clean water and soak them for 10-12h, then take them out and place them in moist paper towels until most of the seeds show white sprouts, then sow. Usually around Grain Rain, sow the seeds in holes in the field, placing 1-2 seeds in each hole, with a row spacing of 50-60cm and a plant spacing of 35cm for each sweet potato.

3. Management after planting

After the sweet potatoes are planted, thin and fill in the seedlings as they grow. Once the sweet potatoes have all emerged, apply a topdressing of manure water once. When the soil is slightly dry, carry out cultivating, weeding and earthing up. When the main vine of the sweet potato has grown to 18-24 leaves, pinch off the growing tip. During the growth period of the sweet potato, also remove the side vines and keep only the main vine. Usually the sweet potatoes can be harvested 5-6 months after sowing.