Why do freshly dug sweet potatoes have eyes? The harm of small insects to sweet potatoes

It is very common to have insect nests on sweet potatoes. Judging from the current market sales, sweet potatoes with insect nests are still relatively popular among the people. Compared with those sweet potatoes that are bright and intact, sweet potatoes with insect nests can only indicate one problem, that is, the dosage of pesticide used is relatively small, and some even do not use pesticides at all. People eat sweet potatoes still for the sake of health.

Why do freshly dug sweet potatoes have eyes?

There are many underground pests that can cause insect nests in sweet potatoes, and the most common ones are white grubs, mole crickets, or ground maggots. I asked the elderly at home if ground maggots are white grubs. After looking at the pictures, the elderly at home said no, the foreheads of ground maggots are not golden yellow, and they are generally large underground maggots. These pests will eat the underground tubers of sweet potatoes and cause serious insect nests in sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes cannot avoid being harmed by underground pests during the growth process. Sometimes, the sweet potato seedlings may be bitten by underground pests that happen to pass by just after being planted in the ground, causing the sweet potato seedlings to die. Sweet potato underground tubers may also be harmed by underground pests during the swelling period. For example, after taking a bite, they will move to other places and continue to bite other sweet potato tubers instead of eating them all together.

The sweet potato tuber only needs to be bitten by underground pests once, and generally a hole will be left behind. This hole will gradually form a worm nest as the sweet potato underground tuber grows. Of course, the worm nest of the sweet potato bitten by the underground pests will also rot partially, but later on, as the sweet potato underground tuber grows, the sweet potato skin bitten by the pests will heal and grow to form a worm nest.

The harm of small insects to sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes infested by these small insects have many obvious small eyes on the outside of the tubers. When the tubers are cut open, they are filled with white or brown insect feces, which have a foul odor and bitter taste. They cannot be eaten or fed, and can also cause bacterial infection, inducing sweet potato black spot disease, soft rot and other diseases. After harvesting, sweet potatoes infested by these small insects are prone to rot in the cellar when stored, so attention should be paid. When sweet potatoes in the field are infested by these small insects, the yield can be reduced by 30-50%, and in severe cases, the harvest may be completely lost.

How to choose sweet potato varieties

There are many sweet potato varieties that are very smooth and have certain regularities in appearance and size. These are new sweet potato varieties. Planting them can effectively prevent problems such as spots and pinholes on the surface to a certain extent. For example, Qin Hongshu No. 8, Sushu No. 8, Jishu 22, Jishu 6-8 and other varieties.

Among them, the sweet potato variety Jishu 22 is good, with superior quality, neat and beautiful potato shape, smooth potato skin without cracks, chestnut flavor, sticky and sweet, and fine and glutinous meat. The most important thing is that the yield of fresh potatoes is very high, and the yield per mu can reach more than 6,000 kilograms.

Sushu No. 8 has strong resistance to black spot and stem nematode diseases, leaf wilting and drought. Its potato skin is smooth and purple-red, and the fresh potato yield can reach more than 10,000 kilograms.

Qinshu No. 8 has long spindle-shaped tubers, smooth and without grooves, and purple-red skin. It is resistant to black spot disease and has a production capacity of more than 10,000 jin.