Internet, blogs, gardening articles, youtube videos - you name it - each and every one of those sources mentioned that when I hang a sweet potato in water, it will take a maximum of five to six weeks to shoot out slips. Well, here is mine. Guess how may weeks it took?
It took about four month (about 16 or more weeks)!! Those who can make them sprout in 5 weeks must be master gardener (even if they don't know). But, in the process I learned two important things. First, keep on changing the water at least once a week; the potato gets all the nutrients, it requires, from the water. If water is not changed on regular basis, the potato will not have any more nutrients to absorb from the water. Secondly, put the potato in a semi-dark room (a north-facing room which has all the curtains closed all the time throughout the day) so that the room is airy but with very muted (light) lights. If you put your sweet potato under a grow light, it is never going to sprout; you can take my words on it as my sweet potato did nothing for the first 5-6 weeks when it was under grow light. One of you (either Organic Garden Dreams
or HolleyGarden) told me to put it away in a darker place. I did so and voila within couple of weeks it first shoot out a long root. Now all these.
Pretty soon I will be planting it out. But now I am in a dilemma - plant it in container or in garden. Many you-tube videos show how sweet potatoes can be grown in containers. But, then I have come across an article which says that sweet potato needs to be planted in soil and its vines should be allowed to lie along the soil; apparently, the vines latches on to the soil by sending out roots; and wherever it does that it produces sweet potatoes. If that's the case and I have 13 sweet potatoes (I ordered 12 more from Burpee!!) to grow, then I think I can supply all of you with sweet potatoes assuming I am successful :-) as one potato produces huge number of potatoes. If cured properly, sweet potatoes can be stored (at around 50 degree Fahrenheit) for at least a year. Wow! in that case sweet potato can indeed become a staple diet during winter months when not many vegetables grow.
Anyone has any experience growing sweet potato? Please let me know about your experience.
You must be the master gardener because I tried to sprout sweet potatoes and mine rotted :(
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that Julie :-(. Did you use a whole potato? I forgot to mention it but if you cut a sweet potato and try to use it, it will rot. Better luck next time .
DeleteI think Christina must have helped you with rooting of your sweet potato, as I've never done this. But, I did grow sweet potatoes last year, and the vines did root in the soil, but I didn't know that had anything to do with production. However, I did have plenty of sweet potatoes (I planted about 12 slips), and yes, they have kept in my garage all winter. Cure them first for a couple of weeks or more inside. (Mine got sweeter as time went on.) Good luck! It was a lot of fun digging them up and finding buried treasure!
ReplyDeleteHi HolleyGarden thank you :-). Yes, isn't it fun to hunt for those sweet potatoes, potatoes, jerusalem artichokes. It's really like finding buried treasures.
DeleteI grew sweet potatoes in containers last year and it worked really well. Just make sure you get a deep container since they need room to grow the potatoes. I bought my slips from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Hooray for having grown your own slips. :o)
ReplyDeleteHi Casa, thank you :-). It's nice to know where to buy slips from. Burpee is going to send me big potatoes and I have to bury them in the soil!! I always thought SP needs to be grown from slips. Let's see what happens. So, I will keep SESE in mind for next year.
DeleteWell done! I have read it's not easy!! I have no advice for you as I don't grow it, but good luck :)
ReplyDeleteAngie, thank you :-). Yes, I found out in a hard way that it requires lots of patience in cold countries like us.
DeleteNice going...I have grown them in grow bags and they grew nicely but my growing season is too short to get as many as I would like. I got my grow bags at Gardener's Supply.
ReplyDeleteDonna! thank you :-). Great to know where to buy grow bags. I searched for them on internets but could not find anything nice or affordable. I will try GS.
DeleteI've grown sweet potato both in the ground and in containers. Both work well. I find that they produce their largest tubers around the roots from the initial planting and then smaller ones where the branch has rooted into any soil. I would say if you have a really long growing season (over 6 months) then plant them in the ground with a view to getting more sweet potatoes where the branches root into exposed soil. If your growing season is shorter then containers will be fine as you get the biggest crop from the initial roots anyway. Which ever way you try though with 13 plants you are going to end up with vine everywhere!
ReplyDeleteSweet potatoes grows very well in containers. I done it before many times. In fact my sweet potato harvest from container were more than the ones planted on ground.
ReplyDeletehttp://kebunmalaykadazangirls.blogspot.com/2012/05/purple-skin-sweet-potato-propagation.html