Re: Sweet Potatoes

**sanderson** 12/16/2019, 6:34 pm

I harvest one tote for Thanksgiving and they were small and few. Today I harvest the 2nd tote and got a decent harvest. bounce

I just dump the totes as the SP are usually at the bottom. I have a feeling I'm getting an air fryer for Christmas.

OhioGardener 12/16/2019, 7:19 pm

sanderson wrote:I have a feeling I'm getting an air fryer for Christmas.

Trust me, you'll LOVE AirFryer Sweet Potato Fries! Sweet Potatoes - Page 8 3170584802

No_Such_Reality 12/16/2019, 11:45 pm

What method are you using to cure them?

**sanderson** 12/17/2019, 4:12 am

I don't really "cure" them. Harvest, dry off a day or 2, gently brush off Mel's Mix, put on kitchen tile floor in paper shopping bags. Wella! Wink

I will take some to my daughter and DIL at Christmas. They go crazy for the home grown SP, winter squash, summer garlic and Christmas oranges.

MrBooker 12/19/2019, 6:35 am

sanderson wrote:I harvest one tote for Thanksgiving and they were small and few. Today I harvest the 2nd tote and got a decent harvest. I just dump the totes as the SP are usually at the bottom. I have a feeling I'm getting an air fryer for Christmas.

LQQK'n good. I think next year, I'll try using taller plastic trash cans for my SP's. Mine does ok in the half barrels but a little crowded.

**sanderson** 12/20/2019, 3:27 am

How many slips do you plant per half barrel? I found that 3 slips per storage tote was better than 4 or 5.

MrBooker 12/20/2019, 8:55 am

sanderson wrote:How many slips do you plant per half barrel? I found that 3 slips per storage tote was better than 4 or 5.

I have always used 3 plants per tote. I think more plants will result in smaller fruit.

**sanderson** 12/20/2019, 7:52 pm

Thanks!

**sanderson** 4/13/2020, 4:17 pm

Does everyone have their SP slips growing? I just planted 4 rooted slips and am waiting for another 2 to grow roots. I'm in Zone 9A so the weather is warm enough to plant out everything.

TD, I forgot to remind you on April 1 to get them started. Embarassed

Suz, how about you?

I grow mine in storage totes with 12" of Mel's Mix.

Question: If planted in a SFG bed with a weed fabric or plywood bottom, how deep should the MM be?

countrynaturals 4/13/2020, 4:56 pm

sanderson wrote:Does everyone have their SP slips growing? I just planted 4 rooted slips and am waiting for another 2 to grow roots. I'm in Zone 9A so the weather is warm enough to plant out everything.

TD, I forgot to remind you on April 1 to get them started. Suz, how about you?

I have a store-bought sweet potato sprouted and rooted, but planting it isn't high on my priority list. Maybe next week.

MrBooker 4/13/2020, 7:46 pm

I have a solution to planting everything. Dig hole, drop seed and cover it, water it and harvest.
Per: Mike Bloomberg.

OhioGardener 4/13/2020, 8:20 pm

Not to worry, MrB, those that cannot plant can be taught to code. BTW, my sweet potato slips are starting to sprout, and should be ready for planting by the second week of May.

**sanderson** 4/13/2020, 10:08 pm

Okay, you two. I still need an answer about how high does the MM need to be when planting in the beds with weed fabric or plywood as the bottoms. My guess is 10-12". ?? Not for me, because I love using totes.

OhioGardener 4/14/2020, 8:37 am

sanderson wrote:Okay, you two. I still need an answer about how high does the MM need to be when planting in the beds with weed fabric or plywood as the bottoms. My guess is 10-12". ?? Not for me, because I love using totes.

My guess would be 10-12", too. My beds are 18" deep, and there is no weed fabric, but when I dig sweet potatoes they are down to about 10" or so in the soil. If the bed were less than 10" deep, the potatoes would be cramped and probably would not fully develop.

MrBooker 4/14/2020, 9:14 am

Last year I planted Sweet potato's in these 22"wide x 14" deep half barrels. I filled the pots with about 12" of MM and planted 3 plants per pot which may have been a tad over kill.

I would agree the 10-12 inches would be ok.
We buy these pots on sale for $10.00. This will be our 3rd year planting in them and they
seem to be holding up really well.

OhioGardener 4/14/2020, 9:21 am

MrBooker wrote:Last year I planted Sweet potato's in these 22"wide x 14" deep half barrels. I filled the pots with about 12" of MM and planted 3 plants per pot which may have been a tad over kill.

That is interesting. I planted them at the end of a raised bed which is 3.5' wide and I planted two slips about 6" from the out side edge on each side. So the two slips were about 2.5' feet apart. The vines drooped over the sides of the raised bed, and when I dug the potatoes they had totally taken over the end of the bed with huge potatoes.

A side note: I wonder if everyone knows that after sweet potatoes are dug they have to be "cured" before using them?

Blossom137 12/13/2020, 6:04 am

I have never grown sweet potatoes. Where do you usually buy seeds? And what kind of sweet potatoes do you grow? As I see in the pictures, it seems there are different varieties of them. Could you tell me if growing sweet potatoes is similar to growing normal potatoes?

MrBooker 12/13/2020, 10:38 am

Blossom137 wrote:I have never grown sweet potatoes. Where do you usually buy seeds? And what kind of sweet potatoes do you grow? As I see in the pictures, it seems there are different varieties of them. Could you tell me if growing sweet potatoes is similar to growing normal potatoes?

Sweet potatoes are grown from "Slips".... Here's a link on how to start you own slips.
https://simplifygardening.com/sweet-potato-slips/

A few popular varieties are Beaureguard and Georgia Jet however the Georgia Jet can grow very large, almost too large in my opinion. Sweet potatoes are grown much like regular potatoes.

I grow my SPs in six large containers and harvest enough to last us through the winter. DO NOT overcrowd them. One or two plants per container is enough. Overcrowed SPs will wrap around each other and become deformed. OBTW: I buy my slips at a local Nursery. SPs cannot stand cold weather. Even the slightest frost will kill them. Good luck.

**Scorpio Rising** 12/13/2020, 2:16 pm

Looks like they require a long growing season...I love them though!

**sanderson** 12/13/2020, 4:04 pm

Blossom, Sweet potatoes are grown from slips that sprout off a SP. I do the old fashion method of cutting in half and supporting in a jar of water with toothpicks. The main thing is to start spouting a SP early enough so that each "slip" (mini-plant) is mature enough with enough roots to be ready when the weather is warm enough. I live in a Mediterranean climate and plant slips around April 1 when the Mel's Mix is 60*F. (I use a thermometer to test the soil).

They can be grown in a container filled with Mel's Mix. I use storage totes and just tip over the totes to harvest.

dixie 12/13/2020, 8:08 pm

The boards for this box are 2" x 12" & 6 feet long.

Old timer's tip: If you want thin SP, plant your slips straight down. If you want fat ones, plant them at an angle. I planted mine at an angle. The rains in October are what "make" the SP's, so I make sure to check the beds every couple of days. And, yes, that is my front yard Very Happy

**sanderson** 12/14/2020, 1:33 am

Dixie, nice harvest!

**sanderson** 11/11/2021, 9:29 pm

November 9, I cut back all the vines. Today, November 11, I harvested the sweet potatoes from their storage totes. The think about SP is that you don't know what the harvest will be until you harvest. Razz

Husband dumped the totes for me.

Who says weed fabric prevents the roots from going through? This year I only found one on the underside of the durable weed fabric.

Mystery harvest. Not the best I've gotten, but considering I got all of these from 6 slips off one potato, it's a pretty good return on investment. The skinny ones will be sauteed with garlic and my Swiss chard. hungry

sweetcatkins 9/17/2022, 9:21 pm

First time planting sweet potatoes, and while they appear to have thrived in my Northwest Garden, I have no idea when or how to harvest them. What should I be looking for to know they are ready to be dug up?

https://servimg.com/view/20451700/1

**sanderson** 9/18/2022, 3:24 am

Hi catkins, I merged your post to the "Sweet Potato" thread, where there are 7 pages of discussion and photos.

On page 3, Yolos posted a photo of her sweet potato vines that grew up an 8' trellis. My vines are only about 5' and they just spill out of the large storages totes that they grow in. It is so hard to tell from a photo if your SP are ready for harvest. You can gently poke around and see if you feel them. Because you are further north than me, you probably have a shorter growing season. You can leave them in the ground up until the first frost and then harvest.

Does anyone else have advice?

My first harvest in 2015. They were fingerlings. Razz

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