Topic: Sweet potato

[lezelle]

Hi All,
          I have been growing some sweet potato slips from sweet pots I grew last year. The potatoes I grew were a bit thin but I have put that down to overcrowding. I grew them from plugs I bought then looking on youtube found how to grow slips. Nothing to loose I am giving it a go. Last year was the best yet for me but I kept them in the greenhouse and with it being warm all came together. I will only put one of my home grown plugs in the 30 lt tub this time and see what happens. I will water them more as well. Will take some pictures and post them later. I am pleased with the progress but wondered if any one else has done the same thing and grown from scratch this way. I have them in jars on a window sill where they get a lot of sun in the afternoon, It has taken 6 weeks so far slow but that is down to conditions I believe. Be interested in other trials anyone has done. Happy Gardening

[Obelixx]

Some supermarket plants grew shoots last year so I planted them and trained them up obelisks.  One plant produced decent roots which made a couple of good meals.  One plant produce nothing of edible size and the roots of the third were drilled by slugs.   

I won't be bothering again.  They're cheap enough in the markets and a lot fatter depending on where they've been grown.  For some reason, the French ones are fatter than the Spanish ones.

[BarriedaleNick]

I grew a load last year - I think I got the plugs (proper rooted slips!) from suttons - 12 for 14 quid. 
I had a huge crop and I tried to make some slips from them this year but it was too late and they rotted not rooted.  I will try some growing some slips from a few I bought in the supermarket last week - if not I'll buy more plugs in. 
I like growing them but I fear last year was a one off due to the heat.

[lezelle]

Hi Ya,
         I agree they are not easy to grow hence my pleasure at getting a useable crop. Did you grow yours outdoors or in tubs? Mine were not as fat as shop bought but they were edible. I grew beauregaurd which I believe is a French variety. That is what gave me the passion to try again. I like you trained the growth up canes. If you use shop bought it could be they were treated as I was told they treat them to stop them from sprouting, I tried some so called organic ones but they just rotted. Anyway I will try and if I can grow from my own slips all the better. They do like warmth which can give problems. I have attached a photo of the ones I have got sprouting and I put a cut of pop bottle over them to help keep the warmth in. Good luck to all any happy to hear from all.

[lezelle]

Hi Ya,
        Just seen your reply Barriedalenick, Did you grow yours in tubs? I had bought slips last year and the price put me off hence I am trying my own. Good luck with the potatoes you go with and let us know how they progress. I grew mine in the greenhouse which helped but I had to many in the tub instead of giving each more room. Plus I think I may of slacked on the watering so I may grow the tubs in trays this year. Good luck

[BarriedaleNick]

Mine were in open ground on my wife's plot which has lovely open soil and I just let them trail.  A few of our Jamaican\West Indian neighbours were really surprised it worked as well as it did so we gave a few away.  I did try potting on a few of the rooted vines (if you let them run they root at the leaf nodes esp if you poke them into the soil) but they didn't make it through the winter si I am back to buying or trying to get slips of shop bought..

[Digeroo]

I grew them the previous year and got hardly anything.  They had a cloche most of the time. 

[Plot22]

I tried them 2 years running. First from I think T&M got a few  decent ones but just not worth the time or space that they take up. The following year I tried to make my own slips from both my previous crop and also supermarket bought ones. Result a complete disaster the few that grew were eaten alive by the slugs. I agree with previous comments that they are cheap enough to buy and if you did well last year it was a one off because of the weather. Monty answered some ones question about growing sweet potatoes in a Saturday paper he writes in and echoed this theme we just do not consistently have the weather to grow them.

[Vinlander]

I'm going to be contrary again:

People rave about orange sweet potatoes but they taste very similar to squash and inferior to carrots for most uses - what's the point growing them somewhere they don't want to grow?

I suspect if you went where they grow and offered good carrots in exchange for good orange sweet potato their chefs would pull your arms off.

White-flesh sweet potato tastes better than potato to me - I buy them because they make superior roasties - but most of the types advertised for here aren't white, and those that are white apparently have poorer yield.

I don't care about them not being orange - I grow English Marigolds and use the petals to colour rice and possibly protect against Macular Degeneration.

Whats the point? We can grow Tuberous Pea, Oca, Yacon, Pignuts (Bunium), Hamburg Parsley, both Chinese and Jerusalem Artichokes and even Rampion with ease (not to mention the Duck Potato if you have a pond) - why would we want to grow other continents' bog-standard stodge when we have reliable access to the range of flavours above with very little extra effort - and more importantly most of the above can't be bought for love nor money!

If you really want to find something as pointless as banging your head against the wall for 1000x the cost and effort then try Cassava or Taro. Even bananas are a better bet, in fact the delicious Custard Banana is far easier and more exotic (Asimina triloba).

Cheers.

PS. I could mention 5x as many useless novelty and substitute veg - the ones above are actually worth growing for flavour.

[winecap]

I bought a purple skinned white fleshed sweet potato from YouGarden online a couple of years back and find it tastes much better than beaureguard. I don't remember its name however, and think it was a combination of letters and numbers rather than a proper word. Anyway, I have so far managed to save a couple of tubers each year for growing slips the following spring. Looking good so far for this year. I use four large black tubs in the greenhouse, and then I interplant tomatoes in between the tubs into the border soil. I'm not sure I've yet hit on the right amount of water for them, but I find it a worthwhile and fun thing to do, especially as after the initial cost, I'm not forking out for them any more. I do find the cost of slips a little off-putting.

[galina]

Well Buttercup squash is also called Northern Sweet Potato squash because of the similar flavour.  And we can grow it relatively easily 

[BarriedaleNick]

I grow sweet potatoes because I like eating sweet potatoes and they seem to do pretty well for me - had enough to keep me going all winter with some to spare.
Of course if you don't like them or you can't get them to produce then it is pointless but I really like them and to me they dont taste much like a butternut or have quite the same texture so it is worth growing them.  Just back from Madrid and had lamb with smoked sweet potato puree - absolutely delicious!
I have had two seasons of good results and they are relatively pest free - no slug damage, no blight and they sit quite happily in the ground till late in the season.
The only thing is the cost of slips which is somewhat off putting so I am trying to produce my own this year.

[galina]

but I really like them and to me they dont taste much like a butternut

Quite right Nick,  I did say buttercup not butternut.  Sweet potato tastes nothing like a butternut squash.   

https://www.rareseeds.com/buttercup-squ/

"The nutritious starchy flesh made a perfect substitute for those Northern growers yearning for the elusive semi tropical sweet potatoes of the South. A shining example of pre-industrialized breeding, where flavor and texture are considered equally important as yield and vigor."

[BarriedaleNick]

Ah - blimey, need new specs.