Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi Ian,
I have been reading some of the old threads about growing Sweet Potato slips and came across some interesting info from you. You say that you place the tubers in warm, damp compost first. Do you cover them completely, or just lay them on top?

I plan to try several methods including yours so any additonal help would be much appreciated. I was also thinking of trying one lot using vermiculite or similar.

Cheers

Mo

I've got 1 that I placed in a glass of water. It's got roots and shoots now so I'm just waiting for the shoots to get a bit bigger so that I can root the slips. Dunno if it's the right time or not, but it's an experiment! I'll do it at the right time next year if it works

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This has been on the vine before - Growing sweet potatoes. A few years ago I lived next door to a chap who grew stacks of sweet potato under large cloches. He seemed to do very well and I thought of trying them. He said it was better buying slips as reputable merchants sold hardier varieties than those sold in supermarkets. I never did try them as I had never missed them before.

Hi Maureen,
I am trying that method as well, as per Marigold's Blog. I'm not sure about timing either but I'm hoping to have some slips well rooted and ready to be planted out early in the Spring. Good luck with yours.

Mo

I grew sweet potato a feww years ago in a hydro system, but the basic principles are the same.
I just used supermarket bought ones, but chose the smallest ones I could find. Put in a small pot in moist but not wet compost, and place in a heated prop (or in a bag in the airing cupboard) until you see shoots appearing. Do this as early in the season as you dare (depending on the final growing position) as they like a long season and only start forming tubers quite late on. We then grew them on in a greenhouse, the warmere the better really - but this will be where buying proper stock will help (see Tam's post) - and in as large a container as you can, or allow plenty of space if in the ground. It grows as a vine and will climb if you give it something to go up (string etc). Two small tubers filled about 3 cubic metres of airspace and produced about 25 tubers of varying sizes, yielding about 7 kg.
Good luck if you have a go.

You mean somebody read my blog????

Am thinking of buying some Sweet Potatoes from Abel and Cole as they have them in their veg boxes at the moment (too bad I missed the free veg box offer last week!!!) and they claim to source their veg locally whenever possible. I cannot seem to find any local varieties in any stores around here. Any ideas?

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I'd be very surprised if any sweet potatoes that you bought in this country were locally grown, they're not really that good here although you can grow them with care to a certain extent. Expect that this is one of those things that A&C are shipping (rather than flying) in but you could check if it's important to you.

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Hi, Alison. Thanks for your response. I thought of writing A&C last night as I made my order, but soon forgot! I'm writing them now to check it out! I just assumed that they would be local because they only have them for a short time per year for as long as I have been watching. It's very important to me, as I don't wanna pay over £10 for slips. I added some of their shallots and garlic and that yummy cream to my basket as well because I needed to replenish my stocks to plant out this Winter and I love their Dairy products. I'll let ya'll know if I get a reply!

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Got a reply today:

The sweet potatoes and garlic were from Spain and the shallots from France. I guess that's a wee bit closer than the Organic S.P.s in Tesco that come from Israel.... And, well, I guess with climate change and all, in a few decades, they will really be in their element here. :-)

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Many thanks for all the useful replies. Sorry for the delay in responding but am deperately trying to get the veg garden back on track after a year or so of bad health.

Yes, Marigold I certainly have read your Blog and found it very interesting. The photos were especially useful. I was wondering though if there is any difference in placing the original tubers with the pointy end up or down! I am trying both ways as an experiment.

Richard, thank you for your information. Good to know that you have succeeded with supermarket tubers as this proves that it is possible and I can save myself the horrendous cost of those in the seed catalogues. I would assume that, if you save come of each harvest to grow the next one from you will end up with a plant that is perfect for your location anyway.

I've been reading Simon Hickmott's "Growing Unusual Vegetables" and he has written quite a lot on this subject. One of the intersting bits is that the Sweet Potato should not be allowed to climb because it will only make a tuber where the "trailing stems make contact with the earth, and they cannot make tubers where they are prevented from doing so". So that could explain why some people seem to have been more successful when they have just left the plants to do their own thing. He recommends planting on ridges about 12" apart and planting the plant deeply "10-12cm, to leave at least half of the plant buried".

There is also some useful detail about harvesting and "curing" the tubers so that they build up their flavour and remain dormant during winter storage.

Having read all about the sweet spud I will be taking the book up for some bedtime reading. I didn't have much success a few years ago with my Skirret but I may it try again, I found Red Orache a wonderful vegetable and an absolute cinch to grow and now I am also intrigued by the Oca, New Zealand Yam. I wonder if anyone on the forum has tried these. Will maybe do a search and see.