Such A Familiar - Not A Familiar Sweet Potato, Or That The Colorado Potato Beetle Does Not Eat. Photo

So sweet potato. About him as an outlandish vegetable write in all newspapers and magazines related to agriculture, extolling the qualities of this culture. But the fact that sweet potatoes in the south of the former USSR are not new, only experts know. Back in the 30s, it was grown on an industrial scale in the territory of Uzbekistan, including research work in this direction. Thanks to scientific research, varieties have been obtained that can grow in central Russia. So, for our scientists, sweet potato is not news, but for agriculture it is an unrealized opportunity.

According to their characteristics, our potatoes are not even close to sweet potatoes, the starch content in sweet potatoes (30%), sugar (2.5-7.8%), the calorie content of the latter is 1.5 times higher, but about the content of proteins and easily digestible albumin acids do not even have to say. Sweet potato is very beneficial in terms of planting material consumption. Sweet potatoes need approximately 100-190 kg / ha, while potatoes - up to 3 tons.

This vegetable has extremely great vitality, is well accepted and does not require special care. One of the main advantages of sweet potatoes is that the plant is not affected by the Colorado potato beetle, which makes it possible to grow environmentally friendly products without the use of various chemicals.

Surprisingly, the conservatism and stupid passivity of our gardeners, farmers and new agricultural entities are striking. So what is the reason why the sweet potato does not take root. And everyone stubbornly continues to plant only potatoes, while receiving small yields, if not scanty. Maybe the reason is people's ignorance of where to get material for planting sweet potatoes? Or the complexity of the technology of its cultivation?

But in reality, everything is not as complicated as it seems. First, at the end of September and at the beginning of October there is more planting material than is needed.

First of all, these are stems that cannot be used as feed for livestock, they do not need to be thrown away, cuttings are done. During the winter months, it is possible to produce seedlings for any planting area. At the same time, tubers should not be overlooked. If you use 2-3 tubers, then during the winter you will be able to grow seedlings for a plot of six acres.

The next advantage: if you use a 70 x 70 scheme when planting, approximately 196 sprouts are needed per one hundred square meters. It is not difficult to grow such a number of plants. By the way, the sweet potato has a rather exotic bush and, growing it at home, in the winter, we will get a wonderful winter garden.

But, nevertheless, one of the main conditions for growing sweet potatoes is the cleanliness of the site from weeds and frequent watering. Autumn is the period of harvesting sweet potato seedlings, for this we cut the sweet potato stalk so that cuttings with three buds remain, immerse the cuttings in water. The water should cover two buds. After the cuttings have taken root, this usually happens after 10 days, we transplant them into pots or into any other containers suitable for growing seedlings, with ordinary soil (soil layer no more than 10 cm). Water periodically during the cold winter months.

When cuttings give too long shoots, they must be cuttings, but this can be done no more than three times per winter. Planting in open ground, done in a heated ground, is done in the same way as with tomato seedlings. Planting sweet potatoes in open ground occurs at the end of April and until mid-May, in constant warm weather.