Sweet potatoes

Tbites 5/25/2011, 9:48 am

Hello ,

Some of my sweet potatoe slips were starting to get quite tall and getting edema so I transplanted them into small pots last night since it's still too cold to plant them out. I read somewhere that water roots are different from soil roots so I transplanted straight into the soil mix they'll be growing in. I watered with very diluted fish emulsion but they look wilted. Is this normal ? Any suggestions ?

Secondly, which part of the sweet potato needs sun ? The vine or the base ? Reason I ask is that I plan on growing them in a laundry basket (lined with weedcloth) since I'm out of wood for boxes for this year. Only a small area of my garden gets a decent amount of sun. The place I want to place the laundry basket is next to a 4' chain link fence I plan to use as a trellis, but the trellis faces south, meaning the base of the plant will eventually be shaded.

All thoughts welcomed, thanks

littlejo 5/25/2011, 5:00 pm

Hi there,

Roots that are grown in water are brittle and may bruise some when you put into dirt. They will be fine in a few days.
The vine of the plant needs the sun, but warm temps are needed by the plant.
The taller/longer your vine gets, it will get more pliable, so it can bend down to find the dirt, to make more roots.
Jo

**Furbalsmom** 5/25/2011, 5:17 pm

Tbites

Did you cut the slips from the sweet potato and then root them in water, then transplant to MM? I only kept my slips in water a few days (maybe 5 to 7), until they developed a few roots then transplanted to MM. When I followed this method, I had very little transplant shock,

Or, did you cut the slips from the sweet potato and then translant directly to MM? I did not do mine this way, but since the slips have no roots yet, I would think it would take some time before they grow roots and are able to take up any nutrients.

The leaves are what use the sun, but the soil needs to be warm.

Tbites 5/25/2011, 6:36 pm

I was starting to think I posted in the wrong section

That's what I was thinking about the vine, it'll reach for sun itself, I'll just cover the laundry basket with black plastic to keep the soil warm and let the vine shade it. (IF... it gets over the current wilt)

Furbal to the rescue again !!
I rooted the sweet potato in water, twisted the rootless slips from the top and potted them directly into soil mix. (Not MM though, mix of compost, peat, perlite and sand )

".... would take some time before they grow roots and are able to take up nutrients" I'm not a very good gambler. I think I'll pull one of these limpy slips out of the soil and root in water.... and see which one recovers. Thanks for your help

sceleste54 5/25/2011, 7:43 pm

I put chunks of sweet potato in water, waited for them to root and sprout slips, and then planted the whole chunk in the garden. So far they are looking good.

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