Ipomoea production: Part 1 (Tubers)
a) Land preparation
 Clear all annual and perennial weeds by slashing, collect all the debris from the field.
Cultivate using fine tune tillers followed by rotavating the land into a fine tilth.
b) Bed Preparations, fertilizer application and drip installation
 Beds measure 30cm high, 50cm wide and a pathway of 45cm. Using a stick, draw a
narrow furrow on top of the ridge, apply DAP at a rate of 90Kg/Ha and TSP at 310kg/Ha.
Cover with loose soil and install driplines on the top. Shower with enough water until
the whole ridge is wet enough. (Rates of fertilizer, manure and other soil amendments
like lime may be subject to soil testing results).
 Apply pre-plant herbicide on top of wet ridges, sencor (2.5mls/li) + binweed (2.5mls/li)
and plant the following day.
c) Planting
 Make holes alternating between drip holes (zig zag) manner at a spacing of 10cm. Sort
out the sizes, i.e. big, medium and small sized plants to be planted in differently, do not
mix. Ensure the young plants get enough water at a day of planting.
d) Feeding
 Feeding with driplines should be supplemented with showering. Newly planted areas
should be given priority in showering. When the crop is 0-6weeks, in cold weather,
feeding volume with plain water should be 100mls, one cycle per day. Do not feed when
it has rained (either overnight or during the day). When the weather is hot, feed two
cycles a day, each cycle 150 mls; supplemented with showering.
 At 4-6 weeks, topdress with CAN. Introduce fertilizer feeding with an EC of 1- 1.3, PH 5.5,
volume of 300mls in two cycles of 150mls each. First cycle should come early in the
morning, second one slightly before noon at around 11:30 AM. At the age of 7-11 weeks,
in hot weather; feed two cycles of 200Mls each with an EC of 1.5, reducing nitrogen
content while increasing phosphorus. At this stage, in case of extreme hot weather,
shower once per week, feeding twice per day.
 At 12th week, visible tubers should be seen, feeding at this stage should be aimed at
tuber expansion. Avoid overfeeding as this will encourage primary growth at the
expense of secondary growth.
 At the age of 16-20 weeks, feed with an EC of 2-2.2 to harden the tubers in the field.
Reduce feeding volume from 400mls daily to 300mls in two cycles of 150mls each.
 One week to harvesting, withdraw any form of feeding.
e) Weeding/Herbicide Application
 After planting, herbicide can be applied in open pathways (between rows) : Herbstar
(5mls/li), Siginet (3mls/li) or Sencor (2.5mls/li) + Binweed (2.5mls/li). Weeds on top of
the ridge can be manually uprooted while loosening soil at the root zone using a small
jembe-like tool. Herbicide application can be done until ipomoea vines start covering
the pathways then can be withdrawn. When tubers have fully formed, as from week 16
onwards, use of any sharp equipment for weeding at root zone should be prohibited to
prevent any physical injury to the tubers. Weeds should be uprooted manually.
F) Pests and their control
 Serious pests include: aphids, whiteflies, thrips, leaf miners ~~ can be controlled by
application of chemicals like flonicamid, spirotetramat, flometoquin, Thiocyclam
hydroxide, pirimicarb, affifen, flupyradifurone and abamectin. Mites can be controlled
by Abamectin, cyflumetofen, bifenazate, cyenopyrafen. Termites can be controlled
using acephate, both spray and drench.
 Potato beetles, weevils, chaffer grubs and wireworms need to be monitored as soon as
roots expansion starts in the field. For safety, drench at least 3 times using Chlopyrifos
or oxamyl before harvesting; normally from weeks 16-18-20.
G) Harvesting
 Shave the upper foliage using a sickle or a sharp knife. Uproot using a forked jembe,
avoiding any form of physical bruises. The tubers should be detached, removing all
attached root hairs, then single tubers dried under a shadenet for 3 days.
Part Two: Cuttings Production
1). Bed preparation
 Beds measure 90cm wide and a pathway of 30cm. Arrange tubers close to each other,
leaving no space. Select the medium size tubers, they sprout early and uniformly. Cover
with loose layer of soil, mist with water.
2) Climate control
 Cover with milky polythene to encourage warm temperatures. Ventilate between 7-9:30
AM, mist if dry and cover when sun's temperature begins to rise. Close the milky
polythene at 10:30 AM to prevent tubers from sun burns. Be checking temperatures at
12:00 noon and 2:30 PM; open the polythenes on each occasions to ventilate them
(open and immediately start to close at the point you started to open). Failure to
balance high temperature and high moisture level will lead to high number of tubers
rotting. In cold periods, they can be ventilated and close immediately, skipping misting if
the moisture level is fair. Upon sprouting, young sprouts need to be protected from sun
burns for around one week then leave them open to harden. Such areas can be closed
around 4:40pm to encourage warm temperatures at night hence growth. Favorable
temperature is 27°C. In greenhouse, after successful sprouting: they can be left open
over the day and be closed at 4:40pm. Feeding can be done two times a week with an
EC 1.5 and PH 5.5, supplemented with showering when dry, but coordinate with
harvesting team first. Maintenance practices include removal of debris and overgrowns
especially after every harvest.
3) Harvesting
 Cuttings are harvested according to the customer specifications i.e. good quality
cuttings that are free from pests, physical/chemical damages, good sticking point.
 Covington is harvested in sizes 3, 4 or 5 while Beauregard is harvested in sizes 6, 7 and 8.
They are packed in sleeves measuring 12cm × 11cm bags, each carrying 105 cuttings
that are packed in ice cool boxes and transported to the cold store. Cuttings stay at cold
store at 6°C for 12 hours before dispatch.