Topic: Sweet Potatos

[palmski]

Hi last year was my first time as a lottie owner and now i am ready to try something different.

I would really like to grow sweet potato but do not know where to start.
Do these grow from seed/or do you buy like bags of seed potato
How long is there growing season?
Whats the best conditions?

Many thanks

[PeterVV]

I am not sure, but I think you buy "slips", and they need warm conditions (poly tunnel or greebn house " to grow.

[manicscousers]

lots of threads about these, here's one, if you search, there's lots of advice  :)
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,32569.0.html

[hartshay]

I grew these last year in the polytunnel.  The plants (not slips) of Beauregard grew well all season and tried to overun the tunnel.  Late October a frost wiped the top growth out.   A fair yield of tubers...however the taste was very poor and when I worked it out the cost per kilo a lot more than the shops... I will not be growing these again.   Perhaps a warmer summer or southern location would better suit them...although my outside grapes did well this year....

[birdsrfun]

Never tried this myself but apparently you buy a sweet potato from shop, preferably organic. Gently wash off any residuals and plant it in warm place. Shoots appear which you cut off when about 3 or 4 inches long. Pot up and grow on, plant out in May into warmed (ie. plastic covered) soil, and Hey Presto! will be trying it this year.

[Buster54]

I bought a sweet potato Jan 2009 and inserted 3 cut down skewers around about halfway up the potato and and sat the skewers on a pint glass,then put water into the glass so the bottom of the potato was just sitting in the water after a week or so the potato started to sprout,when the sprouts got to about 3"I pulled them of and sat them in a jar of water where they eventually rooted,trouble was when I took them to the allotment to pot them up the cold killed most of them off before I got chance to plant them in the polytunnel which I was building,anyway the few that did survive took over the tunnel for nearly 6 months and I ended up with about a 2lb of small carrot sized spuds

[palmski]

I bought a sweet potato Jan 2009 and inserted 3 cut down skewers around about halfway up the potato and and sat the skewers on a pint glass,then put water into the glass so the bottom of the potato was just sitting in the water after a week or so the potato started to sprout,when the sprouts got to about 3"I pulled them of and sat them in a jar of water where they eventually rooted,trouble was when I took them to the allotment to pot them up the cold killed most of them off before I got chance to plant them in the polytunnel which I was building,anyway the few that did survive took over the tunnel for nearly 6 months and I ended up with about a 2lb of small carrot sized spuds

Thanks Buster54 think i have changed my mind already. I will wait until i have a few yearsof general veg under my belt first

[chriscross1966]

Try one of the odder spuds first....

A quick list:
Pink Fir Apple (ancient variety, primitive shape, great taste, very late, my niece calls them "alien potatoes", store like stones, will be fine long after other varieties have broken, always tastes like a new potato, the big ones bake in about half an hour and are a cause of serious gluttony in my house),

Congo (even older than PFA, and even later, black skin shot with silver, dark purple flesh,  good taste and a good yield if you leave it in long enough),

Vitelotte (probably the same as Congo but French),

Salad Blue (Blue skin, fairly blue flesh),

Highland Burgundy  Red (Red flesh, fairly early, delicious roasted, russted skin),

Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy (all three spud colous in the skin, supposed to be good flavoued)...

the coloured flesh ones are fun to serve to guests and kids love them, ed white and blue chips for the patriotic fish supper.... the purple ones allow for the making of "goth mash" at halloween useful if any of the younger folks in your life are going through a pale phase of angst, pretension and black hair dye.... folks on this site are probably getting bored of my PFA evangelism, but for everyone that says it's a pest to clean, I'm happy to point out that it's worth the extra minute or so...
is my crop from about a 20 foot row last year... just starting to eat them now....

[saddad]

PFA's only fault in my book is because they need such a long season they often succumb to blight.. so I switched to Anya (PFA X Desiree) but it isn't as good for the taste  :-\

[pumkinlover]

But much less knobbly!
PS isn't the thread Sweet potatoes :-[

[saddad]

Yes... but it's good to go off at a tangent now and then...  :)