February is the best time to sprout sweet potato tubers. We share our personal experience of growing this crop

Now is the time to start sprouting sweet potato tubers to obtain planting material. We have been growing this wonderful healthy vegetable crop on our personal plot for several years now. There are several features of the cultivation of sweet potatoes.

• First, you need to try to plant rooted seedlings in soil with a small root system (you can even without rooting). If the roots are intertwined, then the roots will grow in curves, distorted.
• Secondly, for the formation of beautiful and aligned root crops, loose soil and ridges are needed.
• Thirdly, in the second half of summer it requires a lot of moisture with a uniform supply of it.

We really liked the Vinnitsa pink sweet potato variety. It forms the largest tubers that ripen well.

This sweet potato grows well and takes root. We try to grow it with rooted cuttings (10 days are enough for rooting). We propagate it by cuttings from the mother tuber.

For rooting, we use a neutral light soil mixture, which we pour into light paper boxes with plastic liners. They root tubers quickly, literally in 10-12 days. Watering is required minimal.

When harvesting, the main thing is to dig up the tubers in a timely manner and dry them well. Before storage, sweet potatoes should lose about 5-10% of their weight.

There are several reasons for the low yield and poor presentation of sweet potatoes.

• Large losses to the yield and quality of tubers are caused by pests - the larva of the scoop and the May beetle, the bear.
• Another reason for the low yield is the planting of seedlings with overgrown roots, which, bending during planting, form deformed non-marketable root crops. The optimal root length should be 1-3 cm.
• Late planting of cuttings (after June 1) also has a bad effect on yield. Plants do not have time to form root crops due to the short growing season.
• Reducing the length of the growing season is also bad for yields.

Premature first autumn frosts have a particularly bad effect on sweet potatoes. Therefore, be prepared to cover the plantings with agrofibre (it freezes under the film). It is possible to increase the thickness of the agrofibre layer by using several layers. It is advisable to use a material with a high density (P-30 and higher).

Sweet potato or sweet potato... in the conditions of the Dnipropetrovsk region, the first signs of the readiness of sweet potatoes for digging out the harvest appeared, namely, the tops of the shoots and young leaves turn red... dug out carefully, after which they are washed from the soil and set for long-term drying under awnings... it is necessary that for storage the roots have lost at least 10% of intercellular moisture... then they will be well stored in a dry and warm room at a temperature of 12-15 degrees Celsius.

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