Crop rotation in sweet potato production

For sweet potatoes, crop rotation is a must if you want a healthy harvest and more yield.

Crop rotation is the practice of growing a different plant after the growing season of a particular crop. For example, you can grow sweet potatoes on your field this year, and then grow cabbage next year. Crop rotation is vital for several reasons.

Different plants have different nutrient needs. The nutrient requirements of sweet potatoes are different from that of other plants. If you continue to grow sweet potatoes in a particular place continuously, the soil will be quickly depleted of the nutrients that sweet potatoes consume the most. If you rotate sweet potatoes with vegetables that have a different nutritional need like cabbage, the soil will have enough nutrients for sweet potatoes when you plant them again.

Sweet potatoes are semi-heavy feeders. To retain nutrients in the soil, you should grow vegetables that are light or medium.

Plants in the family legumes, which are also can fix nitrogen into the soil (with the help of rhizobium bacteria). Legumes rotated with sweet potato crops will restore the nitrogen levels.

Sweet potatoes are susceptible to a wide range of diseases. If you regrow them after a harvest disaster (i.e. diseased sweet potatoes), you will regrow more diseased sweet potatoes.

When you plant an entirely different crop (from a different family), the population of bacteria, fungi, or other pests that infected your sweet potatoes will reduce because these organisms will not be able to find a compatible host.

Sweet potatoes should not be regrown in the same soil continuously for years. To retain nutrients and control pests without using inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, you should practice crop rotation.