2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Batat (lat. Ipomoea batatas) ranked among the most valuable forage and food crops; it is a tuber plant belonging to the Bindweed family. It is often called sweet potato. South America is considered to be the homeland of sweet potato. Today, the plant is actively cultivated in the tropics and subtropics, less often in areas with a temperate climate. Sweet potatoes are widely cultivated in India, North Africa, China, America and some European countries. In Russia, the plant is cultivated in the southern regions.
Description
Sweet potato is represented by herbaceous vines with creeping stems, which reach a length of up to 5 m. The height of sweet potato bushes is up to 15-18 m. The lateral roots of the plant are strongly thickened, in the process of growth they form spindle-shaped, round or oval tubers. The flesh of the sweet potato is yellowish, light orange, white-cream, pinkish, purple, sometimes red. The tubers themselves are smooth, less often rough to the touch. There are no eyes on the tubers, sprouts are formed from hidden buds. On average, one tuber weighs 1-2 kg.
The foliage of the sweet potato is green or green-purple in color, located on elongated petioles. Flowers can be single or collected in several pieces in loose inflorescences, sit in the axils of the leaves. The corolla is rather large, funnel-shaped. Some sweet potato forms do not enter the flowering phase. In the conditions of regions with a temperate climate, flowering of plants is practically not observed. Fruits are represented by spherical tetrahedral capsules. The seeds are brownish, no more than 5 mm in diameter.
Location
Sweet potatoes are classified as light-loving plants; in the shade, tubers are not formed in plants. The optimum temperature for growth and development is 24-25C. Soils for cultivation of sweet potatoes should be light, loose, permeable, neutral, sandy and humus substrates are ideal. The culture is resistant to a lack of moisture. Clayy, waterlogged, saline soils are not suitable for cultivation. The best predecessors are courgettes, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Growing features
The culture under consideration is propagated by root tubers and tuber sprouts. Root nodules can be planted, however, in this case, the plants will not have time to form full-fledged tubers. It is best to propagate the plant with sprouts. Cutting is possible. The first method involves planting seed tubers, the weight of which does not exceed 150 g, are laid out in a container and kept in a room with a temperature of at least 23-24C.
After the tubers are laid out in a container, the surface of which is covered with a thick layer of calcined and moistened sand. From sprouts that have reached a height of ten centimeters, and planted for rooting pots filled with a mixture of sand and humus. As the sprouts grow on the seed tuber, further cutting is possible. One seed tuber produces up to forty plants, sometimes more.
Before planting rooted shoots, the soil is prepared in advance, processed to a depth of twenty centimeters, compost and mineral fertilizers are applied. The distance between the plants should be about 45-50 cm, and between the rows - at least 60-65 cm. The sprouts are planted in greenhouses in the first decade of May.
Care
Caring for the crop in question consists in the systematic removal of weeds, loosening as needed, hilling, moderate and regular watering and treatments against pests and diseases. Loosening of the row spacings is carried out 3-4 weeks after planting the plants in the ground, before the leaves close, up to four treatments are carried out. Top dressing with full mineral fertilizers is also important for the normal development of the culture; it is enough to carry out three dressings per season.
Watering is carried out at the rate of 2 liters per 1 square meter. Watering is stopped 3 weeks before the expected harvesting of sweet potatoes. Quite often, sweet potatoes are affected by various insects and other pests. Danger to plants is posed by scoops, beetles, wireworms and mice. You can fight them with the help of insecticidal preparations; after the detection of pests, treatment is carried out twice.
Cleaning
The sweet potato harvest is carried out in September. Excavation of the bushes is carried out carefully, avoiding damage to the tubers. The collection is carried out only in dry weather. Dried tubers are placed in containers or bags for storage and kept at room temperature for a couple of weeks, then taken out to the cellar.
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