Must Know Sweet Potato Growing Tips

General Production Requirements

· Sweet potato is very sensitive to frost and cold. It requires hot days and warm nights for optimum growth, with mean monthly temperatures of 21°C to 29°C.

· Popular varieties are Lukulu, Mulungushi, Kalungwishi, Lwangwa, Lunga, Kafue and Chingovwa.

· Sweet potato requires 4 to 6 months to produce economic yields.

· A well-managed sweet potato crop should yield 5 to 7.5 tons per Lima (20 to 39 tons/ha).

Land Preparation/Soil Type

· Deep, loose well drained loamy soils (does poorly on clay soils) with a pH range from 5.5 to 6.5 are ideal for sweet potato.

· Effective rooting depth is 60cm. Deep plough field and harrow to a 60cm fine tilth seedbed.

· Sweet potato is relatively tolerant to drought but cannot withstand waterlogging; therefore vines must be planted on 30 to 50cm ridges to avoid waterlogging. Preferred soil moisture is 60 to 75% of maximum water holding capacity.

Planting

· Plant 30 to 40cm long healthy vine cuttings at spacing 25cm between plants and 90cm between rows to give a plant population of 45,000 plants /hectare.

· Recommended time of planting is January.

Fertilizer Programme

· At planting apply Veg Mix C 6.5gm /plant (75 kg/Lima) – 5cm away from the plant and 5cm deep.

· 40 days after germination top-dress using Veg Top 32 2.5gm/plant (30kg/Lima) - 5cm away x 5cm deep on an overcast or rainy day to ensure adequate moisture for dissolving of fertilizer in the soil.

Management Practices

· Weeds compete with plants for nutrients and space; they can reduce yields by more than 25%. Keep the field free from weeds at all times.

· Rodents, Leaf miner, Nematods, Weevils, Hawk moth larvae and Red spider mites are common pests while Virus degeneration is the main problem. Post-harvest tuber rot of uncured tubers can cause a great loss.

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