Spring Potato Planting Methods: Getting These Five Points Right Is Key
The potato is the fourth most important food crop in the world, after wheat, rice and maize. It is rich in protein, amino acids and a variety of vitamins and minerals. Spring is a good season for sowing potatoes, so how do you plant potatoes in spring? You need to get these five points right!
1. Sowing time
Potatoes are generally planted around the end of March each year. You need to wait until the soil has thawed and the soil temperature is around 18°C before planting. The exact sowing time also depends on the geographical environment and climate type of each region.
2. Land preparation and fertilisation
Choose fertile soil with a deep, loose ploughed layer and good aeration, which is also one of the necessary conditions for a high yield. If it is slightly acidic sandy loam, clear the stubble and deep plough before sowing, with a ploughing depth of 20 cm. While turning the soil, apply 2000 kg/mu of decomposed organic fertiliser, and at the same time, according to the soil moisture, apply more than 20 kg of compound fertiliser (with a nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium ratio of 1:0.5:2).
3. Seed potato treatment
Select suitable fine varieties and carry out sprouting treatment. Spread the seed potatoes out under diffused light, keep them at 15-20°C, and sow once short, sturdy sprouts have formed directly; before sowing, dress the seeds with plant ash plus chlorothalonil plus Xin Gaozhi Mo (new high-fat film), to help the cut surfaces heal as quickly as possible, reduce seed rot, increase potassium, and prevent disease.
4. Reasonable close planting
Plant at a reasonable density according to the variety and soil fertility. Plant early-maturing varieties a little more densely; plant late-maturing varieties a little more sparsely. Form ridges on flat ground or by breaking down the original ridges and then re-forming them, with a ridge spacing of 80-90 cm, single-row cultivation, a plant spacing of 15-20 cm, and a soil covering thickness of 10-15 cm. Keep 4000-5000 plants per mu. After planting, spray Xin Gaozhi Mo (new high-fat film) on the soil surface in good time to keep warmth and preserve moisture, prevent the soil from caking, and improve the emergence rate. After emergence, cultivate and earth up in good time, mainly to weed and loosen the soil, and earth up a little soil around the roots of the seedlings. At the same time, spray Xin Gaozhi Mo to prevent pathogen infection, improve resistance to natural disasters, increase the intensity of photosynthesis, and protect the young plants so they grow strong.
5. Field management
Loosen the soil, earth up and form ridges in good time, and water, cultivate and weed, and fertilise reasonably at the right times. At the same time, spray Di Guo Zhuang Di Ling at the right times before the potato flowers, during tuber formation and during tuber bulking, to effectively control excessive growth of the above-ground stems and leaves, accelerate the extremely rapid bulking of the underground tubers, enhance resistance to insect pests, and ensure high quality, high efficiency and a bumper harvest of potatoes.
6. Pest and disease control
At sowing or before tuber formation, apply 3-4 bottles/mu of phoxim to control underground pests, and spray Xin Gaozhi Mo at the same time to improve the effectiveness of the pesticide; at the same time, for pests and diseases such as aphids, the 28-spotted ladybird, early blight and late blight, spray the corresponding pesticides for control according to plant protection requirements, and also spray an 800-fold dilution of Xin Gaozhi Mo to consolidate the effect.
In addition, when planting potatoes in spring, choose early-maturing or mid-early-maturing potato varieties that are high-yielding, disease-resistant, of good quality and good eating quality, according to the local climate characteristics.