I am trying to grow sweet potatoes this year. Research has told me that I needed to grow slips from a Sweet Potato and then root and transplant them into the soil in spring. I have been doing this and they seem to be coming along. Have a bunch of roots on the bottom and slips growing out of the top. However, something that is concerning me is that the potato is going soft in the middle and seems to be rotting. Anyone know if this is normal?
Then find a window with more light ! I have grown them in my kitchen window but remember sweet potatoes are fall crops so even if you start late its fine ! You don`t want to harvest till at least one frost has passed and another after you dig them and lay them to dry ! We never picked sweets till after frosts since the cool weather is what makes them sweet !
This will be my 4th year planting sweet potatoes. In January I put a sweet potato in a glass filled with water and I keep it constantly at about a third of the sweet potato underwater. My last frost date is mid May here, so I cannot plant them outside until then. Some of the slips in the above picture are ready to be separated from the potato and rooted. When they are about 15 to 20 cm long. I seperate them from the potato by pulling down on the stalk. Some of the slips started below the waterline, so they already have roots. These will be planted into small pots and kept inside till mid May. More likely, I will plant them out under a plastic row cover until they are too large and we are past frost times. I also have some buried in the soil as shown below. They are growing more slowly, but the room is cooler. The reason your potato is rotting may be because of the matches piercing it. Last year my potatoes in water stayed firm for months on end. I harvest my potatoes just before the first frost and I let them sweeten up for at least 2 weeks before eating. This makes them sweet too.
@Odif, that's a very nice explanation! My experience is that the slips can usually be rooted in water, if the tuber itself goes bad and the slips are big enough. More light might help if it is available.
I think the toothpicks caused the rot too ! You really do not need them for sweet potatoes ! Just stick it in a jar and keep the end in water !
I am growing slips with a sweet potato in potting soil. It is going well but I have 1 slip that is over 2 feet long and the rest are just a couple of inches. This one seems to grow an inch a day while the others do nothing much. i noticed this one is below the dirt surface. I figure it gas roots, so took a knife and cut it away from the potato a couple of days ago. It is still growing. Question is, can I cut the top off and try and root that? Will that affect the bottom part? Will cutting that from the potato the way I did help the others to grow? I also have a cold frame outside, nightime temps still at about freezing at night. If I plant that long slip in there now, will it kill it? thanks
