This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.
peas planted!
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Tuesday, March 02, 2010
sweet potato sprouts
I'm using my Christmas martini picks to support sweet potatoes in water glasses. They're sprouting well. They grow slowly, so I'm glad I've started early. They are supposed to be a foot tall before planting out in May.
When the slips get about a foot long. Put them in water to start the roots. If the bare root slips are harden off properly they wont suffer much stress when planted.Row covers to heat up the ground will increase the size of your tubers. From Donald
What sort of sweet potatoes did you buy for your slips? Were they from the grocery store? Did you choose an organic variety? I started some sweet potatoes late in January and got no root or slip growth- no signs of growth at all- just mold.
Amy, Half of mine are store bought and half are from my local CSA share last year. I first washed all of them well and dried them thinking this might help to remove any sprout inhibitors from the store bought ones. I've been experimenting with putting them in different places to sprout. In the end, I think it may be pretty random which actually sprout. By now, (after 1 month) half of mine have leaf sprouts and all that are in water have roots. I have tried putting them in sun, in dark, dry, in water, in the kitchen, on a window sill, in the basement, and under my 80*F fish tank. Like I said, seems random to me. I have 9 tubers, 5 have leaves or buds. If a big one sprouts I cut off an inch or so at the top and eat the rest.
I started my sprouts the day after you did. I took the sprouts off when they were about 4 inches high. I put them to root in water like Donald suggested. Once the roots were about an inch and half long, I planted them in soil. One plant is now about 8 inches tall and the other 3 are about 5. I put 4 sweet potatoes to sprout and as you can see, one did quite well, it has about 15 leaves on it. Two potatoes had no sprouts and in fact started to rot. The other produced the other 3 smaller plants. Can't wait to see the outcome this year. Sweet potatoes and artichokes are my experiments this year.
One more comment: Sweet Potatoes do not put them in the fridge. After the harvest put them in a warm place in a box. They will last for months. In the fridge it will rot them out in a week. Home grown Sweet Potatoes if grown in a home garden are more meaty and much better taste. I grew them for 5 years and one year i had a monster crop and one Potato was 18in. Couple of years i had almost nothing.Depends on the weather Pray for a hot summer.
So growing sweet potatoes is quite a bit different than growing white potatoes? Interesting
ReplyDeleteWhen the slips get about a foot long. Put them in water to start the roots. If the bare root slips are harden off properly they wont suffer much stress when planted.Row covers to heat up the ground will increase the size of your tubers.
ReplyDeleteFrom Donald
What sort of sweet potatoes did you buy for your slips? Were they from the grocery store? Did you choose an organic variety? I started some sweet potatoes late in January and got no root or slip growth- no signs of growth at all- just mold.
ReplyDeleteOooh - I want to try this! Please post more info!
ReplyDeleteThanks Donald!
ReplyDeleteAmy, Half of mine are store bought and half are from my local CSA share last year. I first washed all of them well and dried them thinking this might help to remove any sprout inhibitors from the store bought ones. I've been experimenting with putting them in different places to sprout. In the end, I think it may be pretty random which actually sprout. By now, (after 1 month) half of mine have leaf sprouts and all that are in water have roots. I have tried putting them in sun, in dark, dry, in water, in the kitchen, on a window sill, in the basement, and under my 80*F fish tank. Like I said, seems random to me. I have 9 tubers, 5 have leaves or buds. If a big one sprouts I cut off an inch or so at the top and eat the rest.
I started my sprouts the day after you did. I took the sprouts off when they were about 4 inches high. I put them to root in water like Donald suggested. Once the roots were about an inch and half long, I planted them in soil. One plant is now about 8 inches tall and the other 3 are about 5. I put 4 sweet potatoes to sprout and as you can see, one did quite well, it has about 15 leaves on it. Two potatoes had no sprouts and in fact started to rot. The other produced the other 3 smaller plants. Can't wait to see the outcome this year. Sweet potatoes and artichokes are my experiments this year.
ReplyDeleteThis blog entry is on that "pirate" garden blog. Your photos, and some really bizarre Martian text.
ReplyDeleteOne more comment: Sweet Potatoes do not put them in the fridge. After the harvest put them in a warm place in a box. They will last for months. In the fridge it will rot them out in a week. Home grown Sweet Potatoes if grown in a home garden are more meaty and much better taste. I grew them for 5 years and one year i had a monster crop and one Potato was 18in. Couple of years i had almost nothing.Depends on the weather Pray for a hot summer.
ReplyDelete