Ornamental Sweet Potatoes get them Growing

It is time to get those potatoes out and get them growing. Some of you have learned to dig up what ever potatoes grew from your OSP and save them. If you haven't we will give you all the info you need so that next fall you can try it yourself. It is a lot of fun and a great way to save$$. Please feel free to pass along your growing tips. If you have started some growing we would love to see how they are doing and how you are growing yours. Also we would love to see OSP growing in your gardens where do you plant them and what type of combos do you use them with.
OSP Blackie

Critter has written a great article on growing OSP. She gives clear directions on how she grows them along with several pictures. I would suggest you start by reading her article. Here is a link to her article.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2801/

Many people have never seen and OSP flower. Quite often they don't bloom well or the blooms are hidden under the foliage. I tend to think of OSP as mostly a foliage plant but they do get very pretty Morning Glory like blooms.

Here it is Feb/March and we are talking about starting our OSP but it really starts with the Potatoes, tubers or thick roots that you have saved last Fall. I plant my OSP in pots and in my window and deck boxes. I general wait till close to or just after the first frost to harvest my potatoes. General I stop watering and let them start to dry up and die back just to make it easier to dig them out and separate other plants like the tuberous begonias or tuberose that I sometimes use as companion plants. You can take cuttings of your OSP to bring in and root to keep over winter in the house and you will want to do that before the first frost. So the question is what will I find under that dirt and what should I keep. I guess technically they are all potatoes but I'm not quite sure. I find full size potatoes, what I call tubers are somewhat potato like but long and skinny, then there are what I call thick roots. You want to save all of these as you would be surprised what might produce starters for you.
This picture gives you a good idea of the three different types and the containers I use for starting them.

If you have Tri-colored OSP I suggest that you take cuttings and try to over winter those. For some reason I have not had good luck with the Tri-color potatoes they don't seem to grow true. They will produce starters but the coloring isn't the same. I have read how you should wash your potatoes, inspect for damage and powder with an anti fungal before storing. All very good suggestions. I knock the dirt off and toss into brown paper bags and store them on a shelf in a an upstairs bedroom. One year I collected the potatoes in a 5 gal bucket and somehow never did get them cleaned and put away. They just sat in that bucket in a corner of the mud room all winter and all of them were just fine. So it doesn't matter if you are well organized or a bit like me saving these potatoes from year to year is pretty easy.
I like to use long shallow pans to lay my tubers in and I find that takeout containers work very well. In this pic you can see some of the tubers and thick roots starting to put out starters or slips.

This is great! I bought a purple skinned SP at the Asian grocery and am hoping I get a purple leafed sprout from it.

Sally I will be looking forward to see how that progresses. Last year LadyG gave me an Ace of Spades. I got 2 potatoes from that and already have a dozen starters rooting in a glass of water and more coming on.
Here is one of my deck boxes. There are Morning Glories, Geraniums, Dusty Miller and OSP Blackie and Margarita. This was taken before they started to spill over the edge.

Looks wonderful, Holly. I'm glad that you started this thread.

Holly, the Blackie that you gave me bloomed too. I had it growing in one of my porch boxes on the deck railing.
OSP makes a great spill over plant for combination planters. And with all the colors they can tie together and set off the other plant in the container. They can also be used as an annual ground cover, but some say they will root and spread all over the place. But in our area I would not be worried as they will freeze out over the winter months. But then if they spread and root that might just give you more potatoes to dig and store for next year.

Saw a lot of OSP growing in the ground in the South. They used them a lot around the golf courses with Cannas. I thought that was pretty funny as I quite often put them in pots with cannas. LOL
Here they are in a display at a Nursery/Garden Center

They just light up that area, don't they.

Here is one in my combo planter.

HollyAnn, what is the tall plant with blue flowers behind the potatoes?

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=7590230

donnerville, I don't know what they are. That was taken at a Nursery in S.C. I tried to blow up the picture so you could get a better look at it. Kind of blurry but it might help. I can post it on the Plant ID Forum if you would like.

Earlier on I stated that "You want to save all of these as you would be surprised what might produce starters for you".
Here are a few on the smallest potatoes sprouting for me. I actually have one that is just a bit smaller that is starting to put out tiny buds. The fatter one on the left has several starting. Who knows how many plants I can get from these small potatoes!

I have mine in water now. Holly your last post is so true, bought in my containers last fall to clean them out, but could not deal with them due to the broken wrist. When I cleaned out the pots just last week I found quite a few healthy tubers. Yea! for the tough OSPs

Great Ladyg, I have been thinking I should have a pot upstairs with tuberose and Blackies in it. I must go and look.

HollyAnn, thank you for blowing up the photo. Cannot tell what the plant is. Maybe it doesn't grow up here. It is a very pretty plant anyway.

You have done an impressive job with the sweet potatoes. I have never bothered to lift them every year. I will give it a try this year.

First I want to thank you all for your pictures and comments. Last fall was the first I ever saved roots. I shall now get them out and give them an overnight soaking in kelp tea as a growth stimulator. Then into pans and such as you have shown or suggested.

As an aside........I had a deep red leafed one that grew perfectly with no known insect damage. The other was a light green leafed sweet potato. It always had bunches of small to finger sized holes in its leaves. I never observed what the critter was that did this all summer. Seemed strange to me that it was mixed in with and right beside the red.....yet the red showed no damage. What the heck might this have been? I saw no slug tracks at all.

I get those in mine too Doc. I attributed them to Japanese Beetles although I never actually saw the beetles eating them.

Beetle can be easily seen and controlled. We had no beetle to speak of this past summer. Did not even have to spray my roses last summer.

Doc, I found these on my dark OSP last year i had holes also. They looked like scale at first on the leaves, but they move. Hard to see on the leaves, so flat that they just blend in. I was going to asked for an ID last year but did not get to it.

We never cease to get an education on this site. LOL I doubt that I would have seen them because without really thinking to much I was thinking snails and offering Escargo to no avail. It is hard for me to get down on hands and knees with a glass like I used to. They look like something Neem Oil would smother. Mean sneaky little critters! Note to self: Go preventive with Neem Oil this summer. Second note to self: Keep Merit 75 WP in mind to get them in the trenches before they emerge.

Doc, The OSP was in a planter on my deck railing. Like you I would not have been able to spot them if they were on the ground.
I have a kneeler with hand holds to help myself up when I'm planting in the garden otherwise the paramedics would receive a 911 call for woman down. LOL

Holly and Lady, I'm following this thread in the hopes that I'll have some OSP to overwinter next year. Sort of like studying toddler care before any news of the blessed event!

LOL Stormy

LOL Stormy, doing your home work I see.

Just remember that the tri-color OSP vine do not do well, I don't think anyone has had much success with them, even me.

Well, Critter kept a Tri-colored OSP alive for quite some time taking cuttings from it. Then she handed it over to my not so tender care. It ended up in the room of death were the spidermites got it. Maybe next year I will try taking cuttings from one and over winter cuttings. It is the only way I know to keep them going.

Holly, the cutting you gave me at the seed swap that the cats nibbled on os doing ok. I have a couple tiny leaves developing and it is out of reach of the cats.

Great, They are pretty tough. Give it some time and after it puts out some longer shoots you can cut them just below a leaf bud and they will root. You can get several starters off that one piece.

Ditto on the Tricolor... you can propagate it from cuttings, but I've only ever gotten green-leafed plants from its tubers -- pretty in their own right, but still.

Sally, Really I don't understand it at all. The other ones come out true so why wouldn't the Tri-color. Could you ask Lari-Ann? I would love to have it explained to me.

Maybe we're just failing to perform the Rainbow Dance as the sprouts emerge...

LOL, I think I have an old rainbow afro wig somewhere maybe if I put that on when I water them it would help? LOL
I also wonder how commercial growers propagate them? I think I'm going to move a bunch of them into pots today. This year I would like to try and keep better records on how many I propagate and I think I'm going to plant a few down in the new bed I put in last year and see how they do in the ground.

If your garden soil is structured, amended and fertilized as well as your potted plants there should be better growth because of not being pot bound. This assumes equal light and moisture maintenance.
This applies to all plants not just ornamental sweet potatoes.

Now for goodness sakes how does one get rid of a gazillion well rooted and poted ornamental sweet potatoes? Note to self. Don't save all those roots. One or two will be more than enough next year.

LOL Doc, I was wondering if you were in Hbg for the State Wrestling finals?

Our season ended at the Regional Meet just before the finals. The lad that handed our grandson his butt ended up sixth in the State Friday. Nice to know the defeat was at a very high level and not an accident along the way. The other lad that beat the grandson ended up in the twenty numbers somewhere. The grandson had out pointed that lad three times in the course of the season. Andrew was seeded #2 in the Regionals and ended up forth. Three boys in the Region moved on to the finals. We are pleased with the season.....his freshman year wrestling varsity. No freshman has ever made the state finals from our school.

Well done. Since I knew he was a freshman I wasn't sure if he had made it to states yet. Possibly next year will see him there.

Great job. He made you a proud Grampa I'm sure. Looking forward to next season.