...to start sweet potatoes shooting? I ask because I was filling up the potato basket this afternoon and found one of the sweet potatoes has started by itself. I left it too late this year and only managed to get sweet potatoes the size of dates but I don't want to go the other way for next season!
PJW,
Go for it. Next summer can't be worse - can it?
Given that you either have to bin the shoots or plant them I think planting them is a good idea. This year has not been so clever but still rewarding. My best results were from plants grown in deep buckets.
(http://downtheplot.com/images/batatas_harvest_2.jpg)
I think I might follow your idea and plant them in something other than the ground. My plot suffers from wireworm damage and the few sweet potatoes I did get had been nibbled, some beyond use. How deep do you think the buckets should be?
The buckets I used are 14" deep and ended up with a huge wad of roots at the bottom so maybe something in the region of 18" or more would be ideal. I may experiment with shorter bottomless buckets as starters to end up sitting on top of the deep buckets.