Growing sweet potatoes

[Annadl]

Hi everyone

Someone told me about growing potatoes & sweet potatoes in a tall compost bin container.  Putting in about 1 foot of soil and then the potato eyes and then waiting to see some sprouting.  When that happens to put a foot layer of dirt over it and waiting for it to grow up and show growth again.  To keep doing that until the container is full.  Once that happens to leave the top of the container exposed to sunlight and let it grow.

When the time is ready to start digging out the spuds from the top and removing layers as one goes along.  Eventually when you get to the bottom there should be some really big spuds down there. :o

Has anyone heard of this or done this before.  I haven't read about it and wanted some more info.

Thanks for any replies in advance.

Anna

PS:  I am a medical scientist and like to get lots of info and see evidence first  :-\
But then I do like to experiment. :-*

[Annadl]

[wardy]

Lots of us grow spuds in containers or tubs etc.  You are on the right lines there and you could plant some up now for Christmas (spuds that is)

Sweet potatoes are a different kettle of fish and the growing regime for them may be different as I don't think they are members of the potato family and they are grown from slips.  They are not native to this country so have a search on this forum about growing tips for those

Wardy

[westsussexlottie]

There are several threads of discussion on this - search for sweet potatoes.
I have successfully grown sweet potatoes from slips grown off of supermarket potatoes. Full instructions are on the other threads - but you are at the wrong time of year to be considering this at the moment as they need a long time with hot weather to mature successfully.

[Annadl]

Thanks, I am in Australia.  I thought late winter was the time to start them.

How do you grow the slips in the first place?  Can't they be done in a container?

The discussions I have read talk about purchased slips, and I don't think we get them here.  I did a search on Australian Gardening and still haven't come across what I am looking for.

But this site is great :)

Anna

[Moggle]

Hi Annadl, it will probably depend on where in Australia you are, as the climate varies so much. Late winter in Brisbane will probably be fine for sweet potatoes, but in Tasmania (where I am from), where they just got snow last week, it would be hopeless!

There was a recent discussion in the 'basics' board about growing sweet potatoes, you could try looking there for more info.

[MikeB]

Hi Annadl

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.

MikeB

[jamesmiddz]

I do like my sweet potatoes and you all have got me all fired-up about growing them - shame it's August and way too late in the year :(

Next year perhaps...I will keep you posted how things go. By the way - the sweet potatoe is of the same family as Convulvulus - Ipomea. It does climb as such - from what I have seen of it - it seems to have a similiar habit to the none-climber french bean.

I recently left a sweet potatoe for too long and it started to 'chit'. It was covered in eyes, so I'm sure we can get a good crop out of one. My parent always used to grow their root veg via slips rather than sets - always seem to have a great crop.

[hopalong]

I visited RHS Wisley today.  They have sweet potatoes growing in their Trial Beds, through fabric. After starting them off under glass in May they planted them out in June and kept them under fleece until July. They seem to be doing quite well but not brilliantly - not much better than mine, in fact. Not surprising, considering the summer we've had. Anyway, let's have another go next year!

[debster]

i have some growing in the garden, are people gonna dig them up or what, how would you know under normal conditions that they are ready to dig?

[Eristic]

Any sweet potatoes growing in the garden need to be left as long as possible and protected from frost until it just gets too cold and the plant dies. Growing them outside really is a gamble with the English climate, sometimes you win, often you lose. For this reason I am growing mine in deep buckets to enable me to bring them into the polytunnel before the frosts hit them.

[Jeannine]

I found they were very small in containers eristic, what size did you manage to get. XX Jeannine

[Eristic]

Mine are still growing like mad both in the polytunnel and outside. I don't plan to tip them out till close to Xmas. The buckets I'm using are extra deep ones that had commercial washing powder.

[thegreatgardener]

I grew them once in a container  the diameter was over 3/4 m.

[debster]

so should i leave mine until the frosts threaten and then dig them up in hope they might have produced a small tuber or two ?

[hopalong]

so should i leave mine until the frosts threaten and then dig them up in hope they might have produced a small tuber or two ?

You could try putting a polytunnel over them for the autumn.  I'm planning to do that, together with a thicker mulch.