Topic: Sweet potatoes

[Squashfan]

Hi everybody,
Dunno why I'm writing this when I still have to get my tomato seedlings started!  :P I'm using pregnancy as my excuse for the late start to my seed sowing this year. It's a feeble excuse but the one I've got...
Sweet potatoes - has anybody tried growing them from supermarket offerings? If so, what is the method?  ??? Many thanks for advice and tips on this. Cheers, Sue

[Barnowl]

I started one from the local greengrocer last November as an experiment and it developed slips quite happily in a galss in the kitchen,  but too early to plant.

[cambourne7]

I have one on the window still which has yet to start creating slips :-(

[manicscousers]

got three halves in jars on the windowsill, one with a couple of roots, one with nothing and one with loads of roots and one big slip and a few started.cut in half, stick toothpicks in around the edge and put a third in water(the cut edge)..hope this makes sense, doesn't to me but I'm tired

[chuff]

I started one from the local greengrocer last November as an experiment and it developed slips quite happily in a galss in the kitchen,  but too early to plant.

How do you make sweet potatoe slips

[manicscousers]

slips are just the name for the little plant like things that grow out of the little holes or eyes around the top of the sweet potato, they will grow up as the roots go down in to the water

[caroline7758]

Cambournne- snap! It's been there about a month now. :(

[carolinej]

I've had one in a glass on the kitchen windowsill for about 3 weeks now. There are a few thin roots appearing. I have to keep changing the water though, as it smells like a sewer every few days!!

cj :)

[hazelize_uk]

i'm sure i saw someones very impressive photos of exactly how to support them in jars and all the roots dangling in the water with nice shoots 'slips' sticking out all over the place! it was fairly recent so i'd do a search as there were lots of ideas on it i remember reading it  :D

[manicscousers]

I've had one in a glass on the kitchen windowsill for about 3 weeks now. There are a few thin roots appearing. I have to keep changing the water though, as it smells like a sewer every few days!!

cj :)

I haven't changed the water since january !!

[carolinej]

I dont know what I am doing wrong then, but it really stinks after a few days :o

cj :)

[Leonnie]

There is more info about growing sweet potatoes in this thread

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,91/topic,27895.0

I have pasted below something I wrote for a couple of other forums

******************************************************

Growing sweet potatoes is becoming more popular in the UK now that we have been experiencing warmer summers and there are varieties of sweet potato available that are better suited to our shorter summers. I have grown sweet potatoes successfully for two years, this will be my third year growing them and I'd like to share my experiences with those who wish to grow this vegetable.

The variety of sweet potato that I grow (T65) has been bred and selected for our shorter summers, the flesh of the tuber is more creamy in colour than the orange colour of tubers bought in supermarkets, and has a nicer flavour in my opinion.

Sweet potatoes are grown from shoots or "slips". Slips are produced by submerging part of a tuber into a glass or jar of water. Use matchsticks to suspend the tuber if necessary. I start my sweet potatoes off in this way around the end of January to mid-February leaving them in a bright and warm place.


Photo used with permission from Ani at Allotments4All Forum

After a few weeks the tubers will start to produce slips and fine white roots will begin to grow below water level. Keep the jars topped up with water so that they don't dry out. When the slips are about 4" or 10cm long gently twist them off the tuber and place in a jar of water. There will be no roots attached to the slips at this stage. After a few days in water the slips will produce their own set of roots. When they have a healthy set of roots pot them individually into a small pot filled with potting soil. Leave the tubers in their jars of water, as you twist off the slips more will be produced.

Keep the potted on slips safe from frost and still in a warm place. Once they are showing signs of continuing growth start to harden them off gradually as the last frost date for your area starts approaching. Sweet potato plants will not tolerate frost at all so keep them well protected.


Sweet potato plants showing healthy growth and ready for hardening off.

Prepare the ground where you plan to grow your sweet potatoes. It is recommended to grow them under black plastic for added warmth but this is something I have never done. Find the warmest and sunniest position you have. They can be grown vertically up a wigwam or trellis but I allow mine to trail along the ground. Sweet potatoes like similar conditions to potatoes, well drained soil with a little manure mixed in and they will need moisture to swell the tubers. Try to avoid fluctuating moisture levels otherwise you may get tubers that have a rough surface or they may have a tendency to crack. I plant my sweet potato plants approximately 40cm apart in two stages: A few go in just before the last frost dates for our area, but they are covered with cloches to protect them. And the remaining plants go in after the last frost dates for our area. Last year there was very little difference in size and quantity produced between the two plantings.


Sweet potato plant protected with a cloche.

Keep them well watered and weed free during the summer months. They may take a while to get going but they will soon find their roots and start trailing quite quickly. You can pick some of the young shoots and use for greens. I haven't tried this yet so can't comment on what they taste like.


Sweet potato plants beginning to trail. In this patch, approx 2m x 2m there are 9 plants.

Leave the sweet potato plants in the ground for as long as you possibly can, they need approximately 110 days between planting out and lifting. Most of the bulking up in tuber size is done in the last few weeks so having just a couple more weeks in the ground will make a difference. Lift them just before the first frosts are expected. When you lift them be very gentle as the skins are delicate and will bruise easily. Also be careful you don't put the fork through the tubers when lifting them.


First lifting in Mid-September.


Tubers from the remaining plants lifted first week of October.


The largest tuber at nearly 10" in length

Leave the tubers in a warm humid place (airing cupboard) for a couple of days or in the warmest room of the house for up to a week so that their skins can cure. Then store them in a dry and cool place ideally around 10C. Remember to reserve a few tubers for producing slips next year.

There are few pests and diseases to watch out for in the UK. Last year some of my sweet potato tubers were damaged by wire worm but there was no slug damage. In crop rotation plans you should avoid planting sweet potatoes following from root crops. For companion planting marigolds are considered a good companion and carrots, beetroot and potato are considered bad companions.

There are many ways to cook sweet potatoes but my favorite is to bake them wrapped in foil, when ready add a thingy of butter and freshly ground pepper. Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of carbohydrate and have a low glycaemic index. Foods with a low glycaemic index cause a slow and steady rise in blood sugar levels which is preferrable to high glycaemic index foods that cause a rapid rise in blood sugars often leading to cravings and overeating. Low glycaemic index foods are particularly suitable for diabetics. Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin C and E which are antioxidants that help to fight heart disease and some cancers.

Article produced by Leonie. Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

[manicscousers]

leonie, where do you get your potatoes from? m  ???

[carolinej]

Thanks Leonnie,

that was really informative. I didnt know they could climb. I will build them a wigwam. Do they flower?

cj :)

[Leonnie]

I first bought slips from T&M (I think) and then produced my own from the saved tubers the following year and this year. Someone was saying at another forum that there's a variety called Kumara which is sold in supermarkets here, it's a New Zealand variety so may be better suited to our climate than other supermarket varieties. I'm not sure, but if you're going to try a supermarket potato then that's probably the one to look for.

Caroline, mind didn't flower, I don't think our season is long enough.

[STHLMgreen]

Leonnie,

Sweet potatoes are maybe my favourite think to come out of the ground. And while I wouldn't try growing them while we're living up here, I liked reading about how it was done.

Thanks for sharing your know-how.

[manicscousers]

brilliant, clear instructions, leonnie, that'll help me, wish I'd found this site last year.. ;D

[Kea]

It might have been me saying that Kumara might be better suited to the UK climate.
The Maori's bought it with them when the migrated from Polynesia south to New Zealand
 in about 900ad so it's been selectively breed from then to grow in the cooler climate. It doesn't grow in the South Island of NZ but I think that is because of the very low humidity rather than summer temperature's as it's just as hot in the south.
Where I live now in Cambridgeshire the humidity over summer is comparable to the Kumara growing areas in the North Island, which is why I think it would grow well here. I don't like other types of sweet potato and only eat Kumara. My English husband while visiting NZ with me at first refused to eat Kumara because he didn't like sweet potato very quickly changed his mind, it is now one of his favourite vegetables.

I should add that I haven't tried growing it yet but intend to have a go this year following the istructions for growing sweet potato above.

[Leonnie]

Thanks Kea, yes it might have been you I was thinking of who mentioned Kumara. It will be interesting to see how that variety grows for you in our climate. How do they differ to the ones here, I mean in taste? The variety I grow is a creamy flesh colour rather than the orange that you buy in supermarkets and it has a different falvour which I think is much nicer. It will be interesting to know if Kumara is more like the ones I grow rather than the supermarket bought (orange) ones.

Philcooper.....please empty your mailbox, I can't pm you because it's full :)

[Kea]

Kumara tends to either have creamy-yellow flesh or sometimes creamy-orange but they all have purple bits in the centre and it always seems to me the more purple the better the flavour.