Growing Sweet potatoes for the first time

and I don't really know what to look for to indicate that they're ready to harvest.

As we've had such a cold and wet summer I kept them in pots in the greenhouse and at present they have lush green foliage,which looks quite like ivy.

Thanks in advance

 

Kiasmum we tried to grow them last summer. We mounded them like reg. potatoes and put black plastic around them to keep the soil warm and give the tubers a place to form. That way we did not have to add more soil as the plants grew. We waited until the plants started to dry up like potatoes do. Dug up quite a few nice looking tubers. I was so thrilled. Took them in the house and baked a couple in the oven. YUCK! YUCK! They had hardly no flavor and where even bitter tasting. I figured it must have been the soil we planted them in. So after that I haven't tried to grow anymore of them. Maybe I should try a different variety. But those where the worst ever. Hope yours turn out. Sorry for the sob story. :'(

 

What a bummer toots! I wonder if it has to do with length of ripening time? I think I have read that you harvest sweet potatoes 4 weeks after they first begin flowering.

 

Thank you Toni. I finally remembered the variety (Beauregard) and it says 100 days and to harvest when the leaves turn yellow. No sign of yellow yet so I'll wait a while-too impatient I am

Awww,don't you hate it when that happens Tooty2shoes.I'm not surprised you've been put off. I'll let you know about mine when we finally dig them up.

 

sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes have to "cure" after they're dug or they don't taste good. Dig the tubers but don't wash them. Let them lay on top of the ground for a day unless you have critter problems. Leave them spread out till they dry on the surface, put in a box and wait a few weeks before you try them.
ETA: Here's a link that says it better.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/sweetpotatoes.html

 

Thank you RH for that info and link. I will have to check it out. Maybe that is why they tasted so bad.

 

Thank you Rockhound,I haven't seen that written down anywhere else.Now all I need to remember is to do it.

 

Sweet potatoes

I intended to grow sweet potatoes this year, but I seem to have forgotten. Perhaps just as well considering how unproductive the potatoes were. Maybe next year.

 

The sweet potato is a member of the morning glory family. Last year was the first time any of my plants bloomed for me.

The first two years I planted them I planted them in black plastic. I won't do that again. The moles and voles will build a nest near the sweet potatoes. My neighbors cat could hear them and not get to them to kill them.

I always wait until the first frost kills the plants and then I dig them. They must be cured for storage.

Don

 

yes, sweet potatoes need a long curing time. thats when they develope the sweet taste. many used to plow sweet potatoes and let them lay in the field till after the first frost. they were like sugar.

 

Donm & Mart; I had never heard of leaving them cure. We had ordered our plants from a garden center. They came with planting instructions but said nothing about letting them cure after you dig them up.

Donm I use to use our grass clippings to mulch around my veggies. Then the voles moved in and where eating everything in site. I hate those little buggers. Now I use bark mulch in my garden and it sure cuts down on the vole damage. I also someday will make feeding stations with poison bate inside from the PVC pipe I bought for that purpose. Because the poison bate is inside the PVC pipe nothing else can get at it.

 

garden centers usually have no idea about the things they sell. you need someone that actually grows them to know things like that.

 

I live in a warm climate and grow sweet potatoes every year. Love them.

In April, when the soil is fairly warm here, I dig my sweet potato bed down about a foot and then loosen the soil another foot. In a space about 4' X 4' I put a whole sweet potato about a foot from each corner of that square bed. Each potato is about 6" deep. I throw some mulch in the center of the bed and water it deeply. Nothing happens for about a month and when things warm up tiny shoots start poking out of the ground.

I leave them in the soil and dig them up when the weather starts getting cool (October here). They have to be out of the ground before first frost (First week of November usually). I've never paid much attention to when they are supposed to be ready because I have a long growing season. They'll keep on going until cool weather.

I never heard about the yellow leaf idea until I read about it here today. If that's true I could be harvesting some sweet potatoes now. But, I'll wait.

I let them dry off on the porch before I bring them in the house. (Curing?) I've hosed them off before bringing them indoors. I probably get by with that because it's very dry here. The best thing would probably be to just wipe them off with an old towel so you don't bring dirt in your house.

I store mine in my back room. There's no heat back there and it stays cool all winter. Now this year, I only had four sweet potatoes left when it came time to plant. So I cut one of them in half and planted the pieces at the end of two flower beds. They sprouted and are growing great.

When you dig them, take a shovel and dig back a foot or more from the plants so you won't cut the sweet potatoes. I start with a shovel to break the soil and use my hands and a trowel to find the tubers. it always surprises me to see how many there are hiding in the bed.

I've never had much luck with slips. So I don't fool with that method. I have taken cuttings from established vines that are taking over the garden and put them in a glass of water. When they develop roots (in a few days), I've given them to neighbors to plant. Put them in wet soil, give them a shade cover for a couple of weeks, and they'll make sweet potatoes. Again, I have a long growing season.

Another thing: You'll hear that you can't plant sweet potatoes from the store because they are treated and won't sprout. Well, I've done it and they do fine (yes, the treated, not-organic sweet potatoes). However, in my experience they'll rot before they make slips.

 

I start my plants from a potato stuck in a jar of water. When the plants get big enough, I "slip" the plant from "mama" and put that in another jar and it will get roots. In zone 5 we have to wait until the soil warms to plant outside.



Don