My orange-flesh sweet potato tubers crack and some get weevil holes. How do I manage soil moisture and the weevil so tubers stay marketable?
Tuber cracking is usually caused by uneven soil moisture, a dry spell followed by heavy irrigation or rain makes tubers swell suddenly and split. Keep moisture steady, especially in the bulking stage, and grow on well drained ridges. For sweet potato weevil, the key practices are: plant clean weevil-free vines, earth up regularly so tubers are not exposed at the soil surface, avoid leaving cracks in the ridge that let the weevil reach tubers, rotate away from sweet potato, and harvest on time rather than leaving tubers in hot dry soil. Remove and destroy crop residue after harvest. If you consider any insecticide, use only a product labelled for this crop and follow the label and pre-harvest interval, and ask your KVK for the current recommendation for your area.
Earthing up was the game changer for me in Anantapur. Once I kept the ridge closed and the tubers fully covered, weevil damage dropped a lot. Also do not delay harvest in dry heat, that is when they get in.
Crop rotation helped me too. When I grew sweet potato on the same plot every year the weevil built up. After I moved it around, damage fell.
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