Sweet Potato Failure

The temps are finally forecast to go near freezing for us, so we decided it was time to dig the sweet potatoes. DH and I have been ill this week with a tough viral bug and I asked our son to dig our sweet potatoes for us. I do not like asking him to take time from his family to do those kinds of chores for us but he didn't complain, and stopped by last night after work and set out for the garden with the wagon and potato fork. I told him not to come in so he wouldn't catch our bug.

He called on his way home to tell us that he went from one end of the bed to the other and there just weren't any sweet potatoes there to speak of. He got one large one which had been damaged by voles, and he found four small ones about the size of a long egg. That was it. And another funny thing, the large one was a dark red color but the small ones were all yellow as they should have been. (We grew all the slips ourselves from a single Nancy Hall/Yellow Yam potato.)

This is the first sweet potato failure we've ever had. They were grown in a raised bed, not MM, but that same bed grew purple hull peas and zinnias that were just fine. I expected to have some vole damage as we had seen vole holes around the plants, but I don't know if the voles took all the tubers as they were developing or if the plants just didn't produce. Whatever the reason, it was a very disappointing harvest and I was sorry to have troubled our son to dig them.

Ander, hope you and hubby get better soon. The viral bug has been pretty nasty out here too.
How dissapointing that you did not get a nice harvest from your sweet potatoes. There is always next year.

Hey Ander....sorry you have been down and out. I sure hope you guys feel better. I am sure your son was happy to help you out.