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Post by brownrexx on Jun 4, 2019 18:09:10 GMT -5
Hubby asked me to plant a couple of sweet potato plants just to see how they grow.
I have never grown sweet potatoes although I do grow other potatoes.
I can buy slips from my local greenhouse but I know nothing about growing them.
What do I need to know?
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jun 4, 2019 19:35:58 GMT -5
I assume that you are going to buy slips. Hill up a row, make a hole to put the slip in , fill it full of water, stick the slip in, pack the dirt around the slip, keep it moist for the first week or so. Pick a variety of sweet potato that will mature before first frost. That can vary from 90 to 120 days to maturity. You can get that info on the Sandhills Preservation web site.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 4, 2019 20:22:22 GMT -5
Well, I will say that I was growing them here long before most knew that they could be. That was 1966 when only mail-order supplier was in Puerto Rico. We didn't know what we were doing but got sweet potatoes! And, received 40 Covington and 9 Bonita yesterday. With that,....
Soil: Loose and deep. Till 6" and then mound 6" more in a row. Some use black row cover to warm the soil but it can become a vole motel, not good!
Fertilizer: Low on nitrogen but high on potassium is best. A 1-2-3 ratio is perfect if you can find something like that. (Hint, Tomato Tone is close.) That's added in the first tilling, not the mounded material.
Planting: Had a jerk tell me to send the slips back as they didn't have roots. No matter the length, at least 50% into the soil. If there's a leaf in that 50%, pull it off. They slips just need to find damp soil to start making roots.
Spacing: Newest varieties have been developed to have the tubers formed in a tighter cluster like a bunch of bananas. Just a couple inches means a huge increase per acre. Beauregard has been the #1 commercial variety for years and 18" or so was standard. Covington has now taken over that spot and 15" applies to them. Either of those also need 6' between rows. I've had Beauregard run 8' or more while Murasaki won't slow down at 10'. Bonita and Covington run about 6'.
Varieties! For me, it would be Beauregard and Covington for usual purple-skin, orange flesh. Centennial and Georgia Jet do fair but have problems with quality. (Thy like to crack.) Vardaman and O'Henry need two more weeks that we can give them. Bonita and Murasaki are the best white-fleshed varieties for here. All of those mentioned would do fine in Zone 6.
Do not let the vines root. If they do, they'll try to make tubers there and stop sending aid to the main roots. Some commercial growers will go through and flip one side completely over to the other to avoid that. (Should not be a problem but good chance to know everything.) We've had deer eat them back to 3' and still have huge tubers. Sometimes less vines mean bigger tubers but don't go pruning to see if it works.
And a family story here. Every year our extended family has Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts. I've been bringing mashed sweet potatoes for years. With multiple varieties involved, a different color each time. Last year, a boy who just graduated high school a few days ago stopped in line and asked if the sweet potatoes were from my garden. I said that they were and he scooped out a heaping portion!
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jun 4, 2019 21:54:55 GMT -5
Jewel is my favorite for taste and production here. They are a medium time span to harvest and I don’t know how long you have until frost.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 5, 2019 11:37:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the information but I stopped at the green house today and disappointingly they are out of slips. Darn I waited too late. Hubby only wanted to try maybe two plants so it's not worth ordering and paying for shipping
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Post by paquebot on Jun 5, 2019 15:12:03 GMT -5
If you happen to have a WalMart nearby with a garden section with plants, they sell 6-packs of Beauregard. When they first started here, they would have one tray and maybe sell half. This year they started with 6 trays and were down to to 3 6-packs yesterday. Gardeners are beginning to learn that sweet potatoes are not just a South thing.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jun 5, 2019 16:17:41 GMT -5
Just for next year, go buy some at Whole Foods. Ordinary grocery stores spray them with something to prevent sprouting. You can also try them and see if you like the texture and taste and avoid losers that way. This year Paq is right, they even sell individual plants at my grocery store across the highway along with pots of herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and flowers.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 5, 2019 22:58:19 GMT -5
Ask about how to make slips around January. If I'm still around, I'll tell you how to get $20 worth of slips for less than 50¢. May even double that like I did this year. Got slips off a tuber last year and let it go dormant. Got just as many the second time.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by paulf on Jun 6, 2019 9:32:18 GMT -5
Duck Creek Farms in Oklahoma has a very good rep and a nice website for sweet potatoes. They can get the slips or plants to you quickly. Sand Hill Preservation always did a nice job, too. It is not too late to begin. My problem was with voles wanting to make homes in the tubers at my home garden. I have a brother-in-law who plants about half an acre so I just let him do the work for me. Like everything else, home grown tastes so much better than store bought.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 6, 2019 14:24:29 GMT -5
If you happen to have a WalMart nearby with a garden section with plants, they sell 6-packs of Beauregard. Great advice paquebot, I just went to Wal Mart and got a 6-pack of Beauregard plants for $3.48! They had at least 3 flats of them. I never would have thought about going there and the DTM is 90 days. I have about 120 days until frost so they will be going into the ground today.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 6, 2019 15:48:27 GMT -5
Super!! You've got all of the information needed to plant them. No excuse now to not expect a good harvest. Probably not like some that we posted on Facebook a couple years ago. Sometimes they forget that they are supposed to make a cluster of tubers. Had one Covington make only 2 tubers. One was 6# and the other 4#!
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 6, 2019 16:42:11 GMT -5
This is fun. I have never grown sweet potatoes before and I like trying something new. I was not expecting to have 6 plants but I have enough room so it's not a problem.
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ceresone
Junior Member
Posts: 33
Joined: June 2017
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Post by ceresone on Jun 6, 2019 17:44:26 GMT -5
Just don't plant in a 4' deep raised bed ! Broke the sucker in half before I could get it all dug !!!
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Post by carolyn on Jun 6, 2019 19:27:49 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips paquebot!. I planted mine in black plastic mulch today.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 8, 2019 20:21:29 GMT -5
My six pack of plants turned out to have 7 plants so I got them all planted in the garden yesterday.
My next question is what is the difference between sweet potato slips and the sweet potato plants that I just bought at Walmart?
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jun 8, 2019 21:00:26 GMT -5
Slips aren’t growing in a little dirt clod.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 10, 2019 11:04:48 GMT -5
Right - slips don't have roots. The plants from Walmart are probably just-rooted slips. Slips root quickly and easily as long as the soil is moist when you plant them, so buying rooted plants puts you only slightly ahead.
Whether you buy either slips or rooted plants it's important to get them planted out ASAP so the roots can develop properly.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 10, 2019 15:37:55 GMT -5
As an additional bit of root formation my slips take a roundabout trip. They begin somewhere in the South and to a semi-commercial grower in NJ. Then they are sent from there. When they arrive in NJ, they have not had time to develop roots. During the time to get from NJ to WI they develop roots ½" or longer. All they require is to remain damp.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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