Sweet Potato Harvest Question

I want to dig a few sweet potatoes to take to Bud's daughter. I dug 5 out yesterday then quit because I was afraid I'd hurt the plants. The soil is very easy to dig in, I used my hands to dig yesterday. There are lots of huge potatoes under the vines plus lots of small ones.
Here is a photo of one of the sweet potato rows. Originally the rows were 30' long and on 6' centers. The sweet potatoes have taken over two additional rows and are heading for two more. They've rooted to the ground in several spots.

My question: Can I dig some more sweet potatoes without hurting the plants?

Calalily what are you feeding those sweeties!!?? They are gorgeous! What kind are they? Linda

Linda, I'm not sure what kind they are, I bought some sweet potatoes at the grocery store and liked them so I put three tubers in water and kept rooting the sprouts. I must have gotten a hundred plants from those tubers!

The raised bed was prepared with composted horse manure/grass clipping mixture with alfalfa pellets, greensand and dry molasses added. The entire bed was mulched with partially decomposed grass clippings. The gardens have an irrigation system that comes on at 4:00 am for 2 1/2 hours twice a week. (can be adjusted for more or less as needed).

Calalily - sounds as though your spuds are in sweet potato heaven! Your potato patch is bigger than my entire garden! I planted two bush type: Vardeman and Puerto Rico (sp) they are more "well-behaved."

Calalily: I would not dig them at this stage, but you can gentle scratch around the plants and remove some of the larger roots. As long as you don't do any damage to the major roots, the plants will keep on trucking.

Thanks Farmerdill. I was hoping you would come along with advice. The plants I stole from yesterday still look fine today. I'm glad to know it was okay to do that.
It's been a long time since I've grown sweet potatoes. How do I know when it's time to dig them?(if it's too much longer, I may not be able to find the rest of my garden!) We don't normally get frost.
Honeybee, I think I will try bush type next year.

If you don't get frost, they are actually a perennial. so you can take out the vines when you get tired of them or just keep robbing them.

Calalily

Looks like you did everything right.

I have just came in from planting my last 13 slips that I received in today's mail from Sandhill Preservation. These 13 gets me up to 28 plants for this growing season. The slips I set out before are really starting to take off.

According to the instructions I got today from Sandhill, roots along the vines at leaf nodes should not be allowed to grow since this can have neg effect on production. They recommend when this happens to gently lift the vine at the point where the roots are growing pulling them out of the ground. I dunno. It's just what I read. I can't imagine a farmer with 500 acres of sweet potatoes having the time or resources to spend to check for rooting vines.

After seeing the picture of your vines I can only wish for such success.

You set high standards!

Jerry

Thanks Farmerdill. I hope they don't take over the whole garden!
Jerry, the vines have rooted all over the place. I don't know if it's hurt production; when I stuck my hand in to check for roots to steal there are lots of them under each plant and they are good size. The vines have intertwined with the melons next to them and the melons seem to like the shade. There were carrots on the other side and they're still there, somewhere. The only casualty was cilantro and I still find one surviving from time to time.

Farmerdill et al,
Please explain "and on 6" centers" for me. Does that mean that the little Hill that's formed from making a trench is 6" high or 6" wide? I suspect you'll say that the "center" is the width of the hill on its top. Sort of like walking on the flat tops of the levies in New Orleans?

Please let me know.

TRock,
Glad to see somebody else is still planting sweeties in the heat.

I don't really have any idea about "and on 6 inch centers". If we are talking sweet potatoes they need some room to roam, even the "bush" cultivars. I use lists 12 inch wide and about 4 inches high, altho some wet areas use higher lists. A list (just in case) is an elevated row. In the olden days we threw them up with a two horse plow, today I use a disk lister. The rows need to be 42- 48 inches apart. Depending on conditions and growth habit of a particular cultivar, I space the plants 12-18 inches on the list

Yep. I believe a "list" and a "center" are the same thing.

Depends, I use centers to specify plant spacings. Example I plant full size watermelons on 10 ft centers, meaning the lists are 10 ft apart and plant spacing is also 10 feet. Sometimes it is used simply for the distance between rows or lists but usually only for plants that are space hogs. Melons (Cucumis melo) I plant on lists 8 ft apart and space the plants at 5 feet. May be used in square ft gardening ( which I have not experienced) because it is such an intensive planting scheme. In that case you could specify 6 inch centers meaning the plants are 6 inches apart each direction.

Gymgirl

These last slips I planted are early (90 days) season heirloom varieties. I might be a bit skeptical about planting out slips from grocery store sweets this late.

A question for all you sweet potato growers out there, what is a good way to keep an heirloom sweet potato over winter to have a start for slips next year?

Thanks,

Jerry

Frost will kill sweet potatoes. After the first light frost in your area - dig your sweets immediately!

Honeybee, we don't have frost.

Hello Susie!
Great looking garden, Susie. So what does the dry molasses do for your garden? And where did you get it?

Hi Kell, long time no see!
The dry molasses helps the beneficial microbes break down organic matter into usable nutrients for the plants. I think they(the microbes) also help feed the earthworms, but I could be wrong about that. It helps keep fire ants out because they don't like molasses. I get it at the feed store or at Tractor Supply, much cheaper than buying it at the garden center.

I miss you! Glad to see you are doing so well!

I wonder if I can find some here. I have heard of people using it before. I just love additives. LOL

Kell, do you have Tractor Supply there?