Dug up the sweet potatoes today. I had 4 slips grown from a Tesco tuber and planted out in an open cold frame on 10 June. I closed the frame when the first frost arrived a few weeks ago to keep them going but the vines gave up last week. 4 kilos altogether. Quite pleased. Will try again next year and hope for better weather!
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Wow they look great well done. ;D
Im going to see how i get on with the normal humble spud first then hopefully move onto growing sweet pots too.
I just love the taste. As jackets with melted butter yummy.
lucy
brilliant crop, don't think we got more than that from the 10 slips we bought :o
mind you, the cuttings are still going, fingers crossed ;D
Moast of my tops have been frosted now, even in the big greenhouse, so perhaps I should dig them up tomorrow... :-\
Great crop Ceres. :)
Anyone know why they grow to a different shape than the parent? All of the ones I've seen grown in this country seem to be longer and thinner. I can understand the thinner if it's because our growing season is shorter and the weather isn't so good, but why longer?
An amazing crop, Ceres, especially considering the weather conditions you fight.
Happy eating!
Great crop, given the weather. Well done. Mine were feeble by comparison. How did you do it?
Quote from: hopalong on November 04, 2008, 08:05:50
How did you do it?
I'd have to say neglect! I just remembered I wamed the soil inside the coldframe with black plastic before I planted them out but after that I did nothing else. The soil wasn't manured and they had no feeds. I'm on a very light sandy free-draining neutral soil. They got water a couple of times on the very few occasions when we had a dry spell. Wherever it was that I read how to grow them said that they need 5 frost-free months which is why I planted them inside the coldframe. They were a couple of weeks short in the end.
Thanks ceres. I suspect the answer lies in the soil.
they do definitely like sandy soil. i remember my mum grew them in a massive sand pit (in the West Indies) that us kids had outgrown no feeds or anything, the plants were simply left to there own devices and we dug the roots whenever we felt like it. granted you don't have tropical weather but i think free draining soil is beneficial.
When and how did you prepare the slips?
twinkletoes
Mid-January chose a sweet potato from Tesco - looked for one that was firm, undamaged and had lots of 'eyes'. Stuck cocktail sticks in half-way down and suspended it in a glass of water - making sure to get the stem end and root end the right way round, otherwise you get slips growing underwater! Kept it on a bright warm windowsill.
First week in April removed the first slip carefully with a little sliver of skin attached and put it in its own glass of water. I think you have to remove slips as soon as they are ready (around 3-4") to force it to keep producing them. Carried on removing slips and once they had a decent root system (doesn't take long), potted them on and started moving them outside under shelter to harden off.
Planted out on 10 June.
Quote from: ceres on November 04, 2008, 11:33:56
Mid-January chose a sweet potato from Tesco - looked for one that was firm, undamaged and had lots of 'eyes'. Stuck cocktail sticks in half-way down and suspended it in a glass of water - making sure to get the stem end and root end the right way round, otherwise you get slips growing underwater! Kept it on a bright warm windowsill.
First week in April removed the first slip carefully with a little sliver of skin attached and put it in its own glass of water. I think you have to remove slips as soon as they are ready (around 3-4") to force it to keep producing them. Carried on removing slips and once they had a decent root system (doesn't take long), potted them on and started moving them outside under shelter to harden off.
Planted out on 10 June.
Thats inspiring! - definately going to have a go next year. How much room do the plants need (spacing and height)?
Dug mine up today, 10kg from 8 slips. 5kg down on last year from 10 slips. Some good tubers upto 12 " by 2"... some had actually been damaged by slugs which is a first for me... ::)
Great result saddad! A few of mine had a little slug damage at the top end - all that wet weather probably.
GodfreyRob, they're a vine but not like pumpkins or squashes, more like ivy in habit but not so vigorous. So they don't grow very tall but they spread out a bit. I believe some people tie them in to a frame to train them upwards, I didn't. I planted mine out 18" apart on the edge of my bush fruit area and just let them wander through.
Quote from: ceres on November 04, 2008, 19:37:57
GodfreyRob, they're a vine but not like pumpkins or squashes, more like ivy in habit but not so vigorous. So they don't grow very tall but they spread out a bit. I believe some people tie them in to a frame to train them upwards, I didn't. I planted mine out 18" apart on the edge of my bush fruit area and just let them wander through.
Thanks for that info - another questions:
You put the slips in their own glass of water - how do you do that?
My local supermarket is Waitrose - does that mean I will get a better quality crop from their tubers ;)
Just put the slip in a small glass of water as if you were rooting a cutting.
I'm sure you'll get a much better class of sweet potato from Waitrose!
Why does everyone want to put the slips in water? It's tropical bindweed for heavens sake. Get the slips and pot them in compost.
They root and get away more quickly. Something to do with not being in the tropics perhaps.
But they root quicker in the compost with no risk of rotting and no setback when transplanted.
Roots produced in water are a different design to those in soil causing a delay while the plant adjusts when changing mediums, not to mention the inevitable damage that is caused when finally poked into soil. Learn to have some confidence in your own ability to take a cutting successfully.
Yeah, the slips rotted and grew really slowly and were traumatised by being potted on ;)
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