Sweet potato, also known as sweet potato, was introduced to the mainland by the Cantonese "Chen Yi" during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, which is rich in nutrition and has strong adaptability to the environment, and is now widely cultivated in the north and south of the mainland. So when will sweet potatoes be planted, and how can they be planted with high yields?
First of all, let's take a look at when and how are sweet potatoes planted?
Sweet potato is a warm crop, and when the average temperature of the day is stable above 15°C, the potato seedlings can be cut and transplanted to the field. The agricultural proverb says that "when you plant sweet potato seedlings in the valley rain, you can harvest a big basket of them", and the average daily temperature in most parts of the mainland has met the growth of sweet potato seedlings in the valley rain solar term, so we can plant sweet potatoes after the valley rain.
The agricultural proverb says that "if you don't plant potatoes in the summer heat, you will suffer in vain when you plant potatoes", which means that we don't want to plant sweet potatoes after the summer season, this is because sweet potatoes are afraid of frost, and the plants will wither and die in case of frost, and the sweet potato growth cycle is long, and the sweet potato planting too late will cause the tuber of the sweet potato to not expand sufficiently, and the yield of sweet potato will be relatively low.
As the agricultural proverb says, "Sweet potatoes are planted late, potatoes are like sheep's beards", when the soil moisture is suitable, the earlier the sweet potato is planted, the better, so that the tuber of the sweet potato can be fully expanded, and the yield of sweet potatoes will be greatly increased.
So how to plant sweet potatoes? In most cases, people will cut the potato seedlings to about 20 centimeters long, and then tilt them to 45 degrees and bury them in the soil, leaving two or three leaves at the top, so that they can obtain a higher yield; today I want to teach you a good way to plant sweet potatoes, that is, to adopt "boat bottom cultivation", this cultivation method can not only increase the length of potato seedlings (about 30 cm), but also is conducive to sweet potato layered tubing, sweet potato yield will be significantly improved; sweet potato adopts "boat bottom type cultivation" The depth of the soil is 7~10 cm, the plant leaves two leaves and one heart, and the part buried in the soil pinches off all the leaves.
A handful of sweet potatoes with ash form a large pile
The "ash" here refers to plant ash, which means that we must learn to apply plant ash when planting sweet potatoes, which is very conducive to high yield of sweet potatoes.
Grass ash is the ash left after the plant burns, when we cut sweet potato seedlings, you can sprinkle a handful of plant ash on each plant, plant ash is rich in minerals, the highest content is potassium (potassium 6% ~ 12%), it can be said that plant ash is a natural potassium fertilizer. Sweet potato is a potassium-loving crop, potassium can promote the synthesis and transport of plant photosynthesis, and the addition of plant ash to sweet potato is very conducive to the expansion of potato pieces.
Secondly, sweet potatoes like to grow in the soil with large porosity, and the loose soil is very conducive to the expansion of sweet potato tubers, and the grass ash has the effect of loosening the soil, and planting sweet potatoes with plant ash can effectively improve the yield increase potential of sweet potatoes. Thirdly, planting sweet potatoes with plant ash can also reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases, the skin of sweet potatoes will be smoother, and the yield and quality of sweet potatoes will be greatly improved.
So if you want to have a high yield of sweet potatoes, what are the other tips for increasing the yield?
1. Deep ploughing of the soil. When planting sweet potatoes, we should choose loose soil, rich in organic matter in the soil, the agricultural proverb says "to have sweet potatoes to eat, the soil should be a foot low", that is, we should turn the soil deep before planting sweet potatoes, which is conducive to the expansion of underground potato pieces.
2. High ridge cultivation. When planting sweet potatoes, we should avoid waterlogged depressions, because soil water not only tends to cause plants to grow, but also easily leads to potato rot, and the respiration of sweet potato roots will also be affected.
The agricultural proverb says that "deep water fish farming, high ridge big potato", we should plant sweet potatoes with high ridge cultivation, ridge cultivation can not only prevent sweet potatoes from waterlogging, at the same time ridge cultivation can also improve the temperature difference between day and night of the soil, which is conducive to the accumulation of photosynthetic products, the yield and quality of sweet potatoes will be greatly improved.
3. Scientific fertilization. As the old saying goes, "there is no harvest in water, more harvest and less in fertilizer", sweet potato seedlings can be cultivated and topdressed after 20 days to promote the vigorous growth of seedlings; when there are cracks in the ground, it means that the underground potato pieces are expanding rapidly, and the plants have the largest water demand for water at this time, we can use 15 kg of plant ash and 300 kg of water per mu for irrigation, or 3 kg of potassium sulfate per mu with 200 kg of water along the cracks for irrigation, which can effectively promote the expansion of potato pieces.
4. Control Wang. Planting sweet potatoes we must learn to control the prosperity, once the sweet potato plant grows vigorously, there will be only stems and leaves but not tubers, and the size of sweet potatoes will be relatively small.
First of all, we do not apply nitrogen fertilizer when planting sweet potatoes, partial application of nitrogen fertilizer can easily lead to the vigorous growth of sweet potatoes, and the fertilization line is mainly potassium fertilizer (sweet potatoes are chlorine-resistant crops, we do not apply potassium chloride or chlorine-containing compound fertilizers);
So when to harvest sweet potatoes? Sweet potatoes are harvested too early, and the yield will be relatively low if they are harvested too late, and they are prone to frost damage, and the agricultural proverb says that "the cold dew is early, the winter is late, and the frost is the right time to harvest potatoes", and it is the best time to harvest sweet potatoes when the frost falls (mid to late October).
In summary, it is not easy to grow high-yield and high-quality sweet potatoes, but as long as you master the above methods, you can grow a large and high-yield sweet potato.