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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2011 12:43:11 GMT -5
I want to grow sweet taters this coming year. I want to grow my own slips. What I need to know is when to start growing the slips to be ready at planting time? and when would the ideal time to plant here in middle TN, zone 7a ? thanks for any help anf information Errol
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Post by izitmidnight on Dec 30, 2011 12:50:15 GMT -5
I'm on the border of 7a/7b and we plant in June. Of course our first killing frost is usually the last of October/first of November.
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Post by txdirtdog on Dec 30, 2011 16:19:47 GMT -5
Hmmm, never planted sweet potato before. Wonder if that would translate to say an April or May planting in 8b/9a zone. May have to do some looking up.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2012 15:13:53 GMT -5
Our weather varies so bad from year to year I can't out guess it, so I've started planting my mother taters like this. dig a hole about a foot deep put in about 4 or 5 inches of horse manure usually crumbly with straw from the feed area. then cover with about an inch of garden soil then cover with about 3 inches of sand from the wash. then lay the mother taters on their sides on the sand then pile on old moldy straw about a foot deep. All this is done about now and when the shoots are about 7 or 8 inches tall its time to plant. My low temps in winter can hit mid teens on rare occasion and never for more than a day or two at a time and this has worked well for the last two years that I've been trying it.
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Post by gixxerific on Jan 21, 2012 15:26:54 GMT -5
I don't plant out till it gets warm they like the heat.
But as far as starting them. I have tried the "in a glass of water in a sunny sill" method. I would say nix that idea. What i found works great for me is to put a whole sweet potato in a 4-6 inch pot covered 3/4 of the way with potting soil. I put them on a heating mat and walla massive slips to be used. I tried both methods last year. The window sill method and the soil/heat method. The latter being started a month or so later. The soil method WAY WAY surpassed the window sill method by leaps and bounds. I had a great harvest so did my neighbors I gave slips to.
Trust me give them both a try and you will see.
I found this by accident one year when the window sill method failed me yet again. I trew a potato in the garden after it warmed up and not long after massive growth cam out of it. I wouldn't put a whole potato in the ground it was too crazy. When putting slips out cut off just a bit of spud with the slip and you are golden. I even just pull some of the slips off and stick them in. Sweet potatoes are very hardy and will take to the soil like nobody's bussiness
Good luck.
Dono
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Pharmer Phil
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Post by Pharmer Phil on Jan 22, 2012 7:37:29 GMT -5
we start tubers to produce slips early march here in Minnesota
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Post by gixxerific on Jan 22, 2012 12:36:01 GMT -5
My method really works and here is proof. The following pic is a few starts. The one in the middle was started a month or more after the water one on the left. The right one was started after the middle. You can see the water hasn't really gone anywhere while the middle one after only a few weeks has surpassed the one on the left by quite a bit. Here is another planting I did this was on a heat mat, The ones in the upper photo were moved to the heat mat eventually. Were they really took off. I wish I had a pic of when I actually harvested the slips they were everywhere and about 8 inches or better with thick stalks. They did great that season. Just thought I would share this. Dono
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izzy
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Post by izzy on Jan 22, 2012 21:49:29 GMT -5
Hmmm, never planted sweet potato before. Wonder if that would translate to say an April or May planting in 8b/9a zone. May have to do some looking up. Exactly right for timing. A word of caution, though. I planted out in mid-April. With the exceptionally warm, dry summer we had last year, I should have pulled them out of the ground no later than end of August. That extra month in the ground caused them to sprout and new babies were growing off the large mature potatoes, causing them to shrink and get spongy. More than half were a loss - but I still had plenty of nice big ones that have been good keepers. In the heat, they are "done" at 4 months. Don't know if anyone else had this experience, but I learned my lesson.
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Post by txdirtdog on Jan 23, 2012 8:58:02 GMT -5
Thank you Izzy! Good to know about the weather affecting harvest time.
Good info on the slip starting Dono. Thank you!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2012 9:02:15 GMT -5
My method really works and here is proof. The following pic is a few starts. The one in the middle was started a month or more after the water one on the left. The right one was started after the middle. You can see the water hasn't really gone anywhere while the middle one after only a few weeks has surpassed the one on the left by quite a bit. Here is another planting I did this was on a heat mat, The ones in the upper photo were moved to the heat mat eventually. Were they really took off. I wish I had a pic of when I actually harvested the slips they were everywhere and about 8 inches or better with thick stalks. They did great that season. Just thought I would share this. Dono I'm going to try your method, I dont have a heating pad,would a little green house do,mine sits in front of a south facing window.
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Post by gixxerific on Feb 2, 2012 19:51:47 GMT -5
I dont see why a greenhouse wouldn't work. The key is keeping them warm. Sweet potatoes are heat lovers. Give them what they need.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2012 19:31:29 GMT -5
wow! gixxerific, now those are some good looking slips. I have 4 taters in water since jan 5 in my workshop, which is heated all time and a light over the tater, this is the 8th of feb and they look like the one in your jar. I know it was early to start, but I just wanted to try since I have never grown them. Since I have learn that sweet taters are put out about the middle of may here then I still have time to do like yours in the pot of soil! Thank you very much, you have been a great help! Errol
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2012 19:44:26 GMT -5
Cornishwoman, I also am going to try his method and like you I dont have a heating pad for plants. But here is what I'm going to try since I already have the lights..read this, it is how to make a bottom heating source for seeds...http://doorgarden.com/02/home-made-bottom-heat-seed-starting
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2012 19:44:41 GMT -5
here is how I made a bottom heat unit. I had the rope light and the small tub, so didn't have to spend any $$ here it is with soil and potatoes here are the sprouts just 5 days later.. the soil inside stays a constant 85 degrees. I do spray mist them once aday
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2012 19:48:55 GMT -5
I have to give gixxerific thanks for the help. they sure wasn't doing any good in water! I started these in the dirt and heat the very next day after gixxerific's post, which was the 9th of feb, and now its 22 feb and I have lots of slips on each potato and some are already 4-5 inches long
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Post by txdirtdog on Feb 22, 2012 22:28:05 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2012 11:29:53 GMT -5
Hi Errol, I have not been able to log in for a while so I missed this post of yours but thanks so much,such a good idea and that site is so interesting,booked marked it for some evening reading. I'm definitely going to have a go at that.
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Post by coppice on Feb 28, 2012 12:55:48 GMT -5
I so don't have the space to plant out another tuber. An' you guys are so making me wish I did.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 29, 2012 11:09:27 GMT -5
Cant find the rope lighting I had from Christmas,will a small strip of Christmas lights work?
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billh
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Post by billh on Jan 5, 2014 11:09:11 GMT -5
I've never grown sweet potatoes before so forgive my ignorance. Can I plant sweet potatoes in a 24x24 tower like a plain old spud? Also what is the reason for starting them and then transplanting. Can't you slice and plant like you do regular potatoes?
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materman
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Post by materman on Mar 20, 2014 20:20:20 GMT -5
Here is a pic boys of a few taters I bedded down for slip production today! Should be enough to supply me with a few thousand plants give or take a few. 2 1/2 bushel of seed right there.
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Post by daylilydude on Mar 20, 2014 20:33:46 GMT -5
Here is a pic boys of a few taters I bedded down for slip production today! Should be enough to supply me with a few thousand plants give or take a few. 2 1/2 bushel of seed right there. WOW... materman, you have probably told us already, but just how big is your garden?
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materman
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Post by materman on Mar 20, 2014 20:52:56 GMT -5
I actually plan on trying to sale a few, and only plan on planting a 1000 or so for myself I have several acres of tillable ground to work with so i use it. I like to depend on what I can grow for food isn't cheap anymore, and this is one vegetable that my picky boy will devour.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 21, 2014 10:14:57 GMT -5
I've never grown sweet potatoes before so forgive my ignorance. Can I plant sweet potatoes in a 24x24 tower like a plain old spud? Also what is the reason for starting them and then transplanting. Can't you slice and plant like you do regular potatoes? I noticed that no one answered this. I'm no expert, but a few things I've learned: Sweet potatoes have a root end and a sprout end. If you look at the pics posted, each sweet potato puts out a dense group of slips in a very small area at the sprout end. (When in doubt which end is which, half-bury the sweet potato on its side.) If you plant slices of the sweet potato, some will be from the root end and be "duds" with few or no sprouts. Slices from the sprout end will produce lots of sprouts in one spot which compete with each other and don't have room to make big tubers. By rooting the slips you can space them out in the garden so each slip has room to grow and make tubers. Also, by making slips you get a few weeks' jump on the season, which is important if your growing season is short. (Most sweet potatoes need 100-110 days of consistently warm weather.) I don't know whether a tower would work for sweet potatoes. Most of them are vining plants that like to sprawl and root along their length. I don't know whether the tubers near the bottom of the tower would develop or not. The key thing to remember with sweet potatoes is not to plant too early - they will not grow in cool soil or cool weather. Usually 3-4 weeks after you plant tomatoes is good. If you wait until the weather and soil are warm enough, sweet potatoes are usually very easy to grow.
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