8:00:00 AM
Who
needs advice on growing sweet potatoes right? Wrong… there are many people, who
are doing it incorrectly and could increase their harvest and the quality of
their sweet potato with a few tips.
If
you grew up in Africa, you probably already know that sweet potato – unlike
their Irish potato cousins, are easy to plant, need little looking after and
deliver high yields.
Contrary
to popular belief, sweet potato can also grow very well in sandy soils – making
it easier to harvest them. Still, you can plant them in most soils, even in
heavy clay.
How
do you do it?
Step 1
Prepare
your field in early summer. Loosen it deeply and sprinkle one handful of 3:3:4
fertiliser for every square metre of soil, or use kraal manure, at four
handfuls to every square metre. Mix the soil thoroughly and rake well.
Step 2
Buy
healthy, new shoots from a registered dealer and cut them into 30cm pieces.
These are called slips.
Step 3
Make
ridges and furrows 1m apart. Plant the slips on the ridges 30cm apart. Two to
four buds must be covered by soil. Firm down the soil around each slip.
Step 4
Water
the slips and weed regularly. Keep a look-out for pests and control them with
the correct chemicals or organic remedies. The sweet potato weevil is the most
common pest you are likely to find.
Step 5
It
takes five months until harvest. The longer the sweet potato tubers are in the
ground, the higher the vitamin content and the larger the sweet potato tubers.
Cut off the vines and leaves when they become a yellowish colour. Carefully dig
out the tubers.
Storing sweet potatoes
Wash
the tubers and leave them to dry outside for several hours. Then move them to a
protected place to cure for seven to 10 days. This allows the skin to toughen
for long storage.
Ideal
storage conditions are 10°C to 16°C with 60% to 70% humidity. With proper
curing and storage, sweet potatoes should last for several months.
sweet potato casserole, sweet potato recipes, sweet
potato pie, potato soup recipe, potato recipes, sweet potato nutrition, roasted
sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes, how to cook sweet potatoes, how to bake sweet
potatoes, sweet potato pie recipe, mashed sweet potatoes, sweet potato recipe,
sweet potato soufflé, sweet potato calories, bake sweet potato, sweet potato
casserole with marshmallows, sweet potato casserole recipe, sweet potato chips,
baked sweet potato recipe, sweet potato pancakes, bake potato, sweet potato
soup, candied sweet potatoes, sweet potato hash, sweet potatoes recipe, sweet
potato vine, how to make sweet potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, potatoes recipe
No comments
Post a Comment