Sweet potato advice???

I ordered some sweet potatoes on MAY 1st and called to cancel them a few days ago because he didn't want them anymore do to the growing season. They said too late because they are in transit now. I am tempted to keep them and try them out, they are 90 day beauregaurds. Are they really 90ish days? I can baby them from frost in september, does anyone think they would work or should I refuse the package? I've never done sweet potatoes before and would like to grow them but dont want to waste my time...

My sweet potatoes haven't arrived yet either. But I live in a warm climate. I will give you the link for instructions for growing in a cool climate. It is supposdly the heat units you can provide, rather than the actual weather in your area. Put down some black plastic to get the soil hot before they arrive, then you can make a tent for over them to keep the air around them really hot. Let us know how it goes.

Jo



http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/pages/sweetpotato_catalog.html

O I would go for it. But plan on putting some hoops over them and covering htem come September. If nothing else they are very pretty vines

It's so tough when you know growing season just started and snow is right around the corner (4 months) so I say.... Oh just go for it, plant em. At least the foliage will make you smile!

Littlejo that was a great article, I knew a little bit about growing sweet potatoes but wow, I think I am up for the challenge. Good to know the reason why they ship so late too. I am deffinately not handing them over to FIL now either, I am going to grow them them share with him if I am successful, especially since he said he didn't want them anymore. Thanks for the advice here's to trying!

I tried twice to plant slips after frost was over. They HAVE to have warm earth. You don't need a frost to kill them. Just a cool night and they are done. This is the last thing to plant in my spring garden.

Go for it. And remember, the leaves are edible. My Filipina DIL insisted on planting some for the leaves alone. So I decided to try my hand at it too. Filled one of the concrete mixing tubs with MM yesterday and planted 6. Put 2 in the former garlic bed next to a trellis. Bonnies Plants Beauregard from Lowes. I admit, I probably have plenty of time as my weather stays hot until late Sep. and first frost is not until mid Nov.

Kay

Okay, they arrived, 25 of them so maybe I will fork a few over to FIL, it says 10-18 inches apart so will 1 per square work?

I think I'd plant every 6 in. Usually 3 potatoes per slip. After the plant grows to maybe 18 in. snip it off and put in dirt. It will root and give ya 3 more potatos. You can grow on a trellis or just leave it to vine on the ground. Everywhere that it root on the ground it will make more potatoes but they will be skinny like a carrot. I think I might try eating the leaves?

Kay, do you eat the leaves raw like lettuce or do you cook them?

Jo

Okay so plant 4 per square, one more question. you just plant the slips like a flower or do you plant them like potatoes and mound them up? I will plant them tomorrow I had a brilliant idea (I hope) to plant them in an old cast iron tub and let the vines flow out to the ground so after I filled it up with mm then watered it I thought I would give it a day to warm back up a bit. Thanks for the pointers! I am also curious if you eat it like a salad or cooked?

Just plant like a flower, no mounding needed.

Jo

Cooked. She plans to add them to sinagang (a tamarind based soup popular in the Philippines) and also stir frys. I found this recipe online.

stir-fried sweet potato leaves:

Ingredients
One bunch of sweet potato leaves (volume of the untrimmed bunch was 6-10 Qt.)
1-2 hot dried red chilies
1-2 cloves of garlic
Salt, soy sauce, pepper to taste

Method

Fill a pot with water and put it on the stove over high heat. The pot should be large enough to hold the leaves, and there should be enough water to cover the leaves.
Strip the leaves from the branches. The thin stems that attach the leaves to the branch are tender enough to eat, so there is no need to remove only the leaves. Wash and drain the leaves.
Mince 1-2 cloves of garlic.
Chop the chilies fine, and combine with the garlic.
When the water comes to a boil, turn off the heat and carefully add the sweet potato leaves. After 2 minutes, remove and rinse with cold water. Chop the leaves. (This step was recommended by the cookbook to remove traces of natural slime from the leaves.)
In a large skillet or wok, heat some vegetable oil over high heat. When it is hot, add the garlic and chilies. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring often.
Add the greens, then stir-fry the mixture until the greens are tender, about 2 or 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper, soy sauce, or other flavorings to taste.

I haven't eaten them yet, so can't give you a taste endorsement.

Kay

Kay, thanks for the recipe, will have to try! I have some sw. potatoes already growing from slips from potatoes I grew last yr, that were grocery store ones, don't know the variety.

Jo

I only planted one per square... I also trellised them. I have ZERO doubt that without trellising they would have taken over the entire bed. I can imagine the vines with 4 per square... You can see it in this photo (sorry slightly out of focus), but that's an 8ft trellis. I do have to train the vines, I got out every so often and just weave them up as best I can. I'd rather get fewer big potatoes then have the vines continuing the put out new roots and getting lots of small ones. I read on a post about someone that grew them a few different ways and said that the trellised ones had the biggest tubers.

The flowers are very pretty!

Thanks for the pics carolina girl! I am planting mine in an old cast iron tub up against the rock work on the house and I don't have a trellis for them. I think the rocks will keep them warmer and will hopefully aid in production and improve the night temps for them too. I think it woulld look pretty with them flowing out of the tub and am not too worried about them rooting on the ground to much because wi live on a giant rock, not very good soil conditions here at all. I am planting them tomorrow and will update with pics from time to time. Anybody else here plant anything in old tubs, I just thought it would look cool and found out that my FIL had 2 of them behind the barn!