Topic: Sweet Potatoes

[mc55]

Hi everyone - busy digging my new allotment in preparation for my first growing season, and have sooooo many Qs.

Does anyone have experience of growing sweet potatoes ?  I adore them and I want to plant lots, but I'm not sure if I plant them outside like normal potatoes, or whether they need to be inside the greenhouse  ???  Will I be able to get them from my local garden centre, or will I need to go to a specialist supplier ?

btw - been reading all the garlic info and just wanted to check something - I've been advised to plant some on the shortest day and then harvest on longest - does this sound about right ?

Cheers
mc

[MikeB]

Hi mc and welcome.

The growing of sweet potatoes was covered on august 16th in edible plants.

Quote

I got this from the university of Illinois site, hope it helps

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case5/activities.html/

To grow a Sweet Potato Vine
Sweet potatoes in the U.S. are grown mostly in the South. They are planted in the spring by "slips." These are the small rooted pieces of the vine that grow from the "eyes" or buds of the potato.

The sweet potato produces vine-like stems that resemble the philodendron plant. Place the sweet potato in a container of water. Keep the top 1/3 of the potato exposed by placing toothpicks into the sides. The pointed end should be down in the water. In a few weeks a vine with several stems will begin to sprout. The stems are weak; tie the stems to a stake.

Sweet potatoes like a bright, sunny location and require care like green house plants such as ivy.



Fertilize about once a month.

If the sweet potato vine gets too long, cut it back a few inches to force the vine to get bushier. The tip of the vine that was pinched off can be rooted in water or moist soil.

Your sweet potato vines can be planted outside in late May to produce sweet potatoes that can be dug and eaten in the fall.
 
Hope it helps

MikeB

[Robert_Brenchley]

October's often thought to be the best month for planting garlic, but the sooner you get it in the better. It needs some cold weather to make the bulbs split, otherwise you can end up with a single large 'solo' bulb.

[John_Pearce]

Tried growing sweet potatoes from slips (Marhsalls) this year.
Even under plastic they seemed to be quite slow growing in our cold climate (London), but the few small tubers I did get were wonderful tasting if a bit small.

Make sure you plant them out late, hardening them off from a greenhouse to cold frame for a good month after rooting them in large tubs.  They need to have a good root build up from the slip before they get exposed to the cold weather it seems from my two batches (the first almost all succumbing to a cold night of about 5°C).

John

[Jessie]

I also grew slips ordered from Marshalls this year, they didn't look like much above ground but I got quite a few smallish tubers which are lovely eating. The slips arrived quite late, I think it was the middle to end of June. Next year I want to produce my own slips from some saved tubers from this years harvest and start them off earlier under cover of plastic or possibly a double layer of fleece. Definitely feel if I had got them started earlier they would have produced bigger tubers. Here's a photo, 2p coin for scale, these are from one plant if memory serves correctly.

[the_snail]

Sweet potatoe. Member of the Bindweed Family. Convovulacea, I think is spelt like that.

My advice would be to treat them like a runner bean. Make a wigwam structure and plant them in high humus or manured siol and pland in mid may or when first hard frosts have abaited. Fed Regularly during the summer to help with top growth. Feed with a good balanced fertalizer. I would suggest Blood fish and bone in the spring 1 week before planting then when growth is active fertalize with a balanced liquid feed during the summer. This should ensure a quick and healthy growth and repectable tubures.

I have never grown these but that is what I would do I I tried which I might do next year.

The_Snail

[Jesse]

I checked my sweet potato tubers today and they're starting to sprout. This is great news but I'm worried they're sprouting too soon, how can I slow them down, if I pull the slips off will they sprout some more?