Sweet Potatoes

Marie,  Go to the first page where there is more discussion.  We just do the best we can.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice haul, John! And I eat the skins for sure, of all taters.

I sometimes eat them, but would feel a lot better about doing it if they were from my garden rather than the supermarket. Crazy stuff has been sprayed on crops for more than half a century by now, and it's not just farmers introducing toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater.

Ah!  Thanks Sanderson.

John, You win! This is my first one.  

Hope there's more at the bottom.

Marc Iverson wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice haul, John!   And I eat the skins for sure, of all taters.  

I sometimes eat them, but would feel a lot better about doing it if they were from my garden rather than the  supermarket.  Crazy stuff has been sprayed on crops for more than half a century by now, and it's not just farmers introducing toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater.

Marc, I agree with you. And apparently potatoes are really bad as far as cultivation practices. They treat them for fungi, plant them, then spray to kill the tops back to make it easier to harvest. I try to buy the Simple Truth version if they have them at my Krogers, but not always available. I have some left from my garden, but plan to double or more the potatoes! They are a staple.....

I am planting sweet potatoes as a ground cover (it's a very nice looking plant) and of course for their wonderful yummy goodness as well!

One thing I learned this year, I planted them underneath a cottonwood tree and then on a hillside away from invading roots.  The later produced much larger potatoes in much less time.

I am giving up on all my under tree plantings next year.  I give in - the trees won, LOL!

I grew just one leftover sweet potato and I also thought it made a very good ground cover plant also giving food. 

Next year  intend to plant them a lot earlier so as to get bigger potatoes.  I think the potato leaves will go nicely mixed in with nasturtiums as their leaves seemed to grow at the same time and the nasturtiums give a lovely splash of long-lasting colour.

Sweet potatoes - my little helpers    and mighty harvest of 43 ( ).  Can't wait to do it better next year!

Nice haul, Sanderson! And cute helpers as well! Delicious eating ahead!

That is a lot of sweet potatoes.  And they look to be fairly big and not skinny.  Did you just have two totes.

The whole lot weighs 2 pounds! Fingerlings. The totes spent a couple of months in increasing shade.

For any new gardeners, I just want to say that this embarrassing harvest is what I call a future success. That is, yes, I can grow sweet potatoes in totes. Next year I will make sure to give them what they need, enough growing months with good sunlight. Can't wait. In a couple months I will be growing starts.

You are right, sanderson, if it does not work very well, try something a little different.

I am sure  you will have an improved harvest year as expect to by planting earlier.  I must say the leaves do make a nice ground cover and will not take over as they die with the cold. I am considering planting the side of my driveway with them and people will never know that they are sweet  potatoes.

This is my first post, and this will be my first year trying SFG! I am really excited and gathering together my supplies. I want to grow sweet potatoes because they are my daughter's favorite food. I think she will enjoy growing, harvesting and eating them! I didn't find any advice on how to grow them in the book. How many square feet do they need? And how deep? I am actually doing container gardening for this first year, since that's what I have and I am spending so much on Mel's mix. I have some large livestock troughs that I am planning on using and trying to figure out how much soil to put in them. Also, what would you recommend that I use for mulch? Thank you for taking the time to read this and respond!

joy.cheri  
from Kelejan  

I have not grown sweet potatoes myself but try using the SEARCH box at the top left hand of this page in type in sweet potatoes.

A list thread will come up and the fifth one down may be of help. Sweet Potatoes.  Click in the little grey box marked 1 and the first page will come up. I have not read it but there are three pages of comments.

In any event someone will come along who has grown sweet potatoes and will help you out with any questions you have.  Good luck.

Welcome to the forum!!! I know that there has been a few topics about sweet potatoes. You can use the up left corner search box and search sweet potatoes in the forum. As for your question about mulch I think any type that is readily available in your area would work. Good luck and please post pictures we love them here.

Welcome joy.cherie, from Ohio!  I don't think I have enough growing season to grow sweet potates here, but maybe I'm wrong.  Potatoes, however yes!  

Lots of info on the archives about sweet potatoes, they are a bit challenging I think....but well worth it!  YUM

Glad you found us, post often!  And Pictures please!

Joy cheri, Welcome to the Forum from California! I merged your Sweet Potato topic with an older Sweet Potato topic.

Remember the little fingerling sweet potatoes the grandsons harvested?  Well, they are sprouting now.  Each has several slips.  Do I bury them as they are?  Or remove all but one or 2 slips? Sprouting end up?

Hi Joy.cheri. Welcome from Atlanta, GA! We're glad you're here.

We grew both potatoes & sweet potatoes in the same 2'x8' box. It was about 16" deep. We grew them just like regular potatoes and they did quite well. We alternated Mel's Mix & pine straw as they grew.

Sanderson, it's my understanding that you can root the slips and plant those. But I'd say just do like regular potatoes & cut them up with a couple of slips each...

Thanks for adding my comment to this thread! I am planting in feed troughs about two feet deep. Do you think 16" was enough or could they have used more depth? I'm thinking about filling up to 20". Also how many square feet per plant? Thanks again!

I have grown sw. potatoes in a reg. garden and now a sfg. Oh, I really love them. And, yes, they can be grown in a cool or short season area.
The reason you should plant only the slips(not the whole potato or cut up pieces) is if a fungus or disease has gotten into your potatoes, it will not be transferred to the slip.
Sw-potatos love heat. To extend the season, or raise the heat so yours will grow, put down black plastic, and plant the slips in sm. holes in the plastic. This will raise the heat of the soil. If the spring or the fall is just too cool, you can make a tent of sorts to warm up the vines.
Sw. potatoes are different from white potatoes. The will grow approx. 3 potatoes from each vine.  They will not grow more potatoes just because you pile the dirt higher. They will grow in 6 inches of mm. If the vine roots as it crosses the soil, it may grow some more potatoes but they may be very skinny. I use scissors to cut the vine, in  between the rooting, and the vine is tricked into thinking it is the only vine/roots on that plant.
Treat them like a tomato plant. They like highly acid soil (love those pine needles!)

I don't know if sw-potatoes have joined the group of veggies at the grocery that are GM-genetically modified. A normal person cannot buy the seeds, but if we eat veggies from the store, oh well!. Only way to know for sure is to grow your own.

I got most of my info from this site and just trial and error- just don't let an armadillo dig up your bed.
http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/pages/sweetpotato_catalog.html
 Good luck!!
Jo

Re-reading this thread it reminded that I did plant one sweet potato last year, one that was decaying in a paper bag.

It produced some lovely ground cover but I got a measly two as small as my thumb.
I now now not to plant then in June but a lot earlier.


Looking at the pictures, it looks to me that they are kind ofan  orange colour. In my grocery store they have two piles of tubers, marked as sweet potatoes and the other as yams.  They assure me that the dark ones are yams and the light ones are sweet potatoes.  Can anyone enlighten me as I never know which is which.  I like the orange ones best and that is what they serve up as sweet potatoes fries in the local  restaurants and pubs. Very expensive, too.

Potatoes - 4 per square foot.  Sweet potatoes - ??.  16" is fine for both.  For potatoes, you start shallow (like at 6") and add more mix as the plant grows taller until you have the full 16".  For SP, plant the slips in the final height of Mel's Mix.

Other comments??  Do I have this right?

Littlejo, I love the San Hill Preservation catalog! What a wonderful selection of seeds.

AM shared this link with me.

https://www.growveg.com/guides/how-to-grow-sweet-potatoes-from-slips/