Sweet Potatoes

Jo-Ann,
That 8-24-24 is a 1-3-3 ratio (using the "8" as the least common denominator). I think if you can search for something close to that ratio, you can fairly triple it.

I think...

Linda

We need rain badly, even when it rains all around us it doesn't rain here.

I know that Hi-Yeild sells super phosphate as well as potash seperately so I think the important # is the phosphate as it promotes root growth...

The tubers I have planted in my cold frame are coming on pretty good if we could just get out of this crazy yo-yo weather pattern ..I raised a lot of vines last year but the weather was so hot and dry the roots just didn't get big enough could be this hard rocky ground think I will put mine in a new raised bed

my sweet potato slips are big enough to set out and i do not have a raised bed ready woe is me

Well, it's better than getting them frozen, which is what happened to mine. I even covered them. Sigh. I'm still watering them, hoping they'll come back, but my hopes are dimming.

I think slips are pretty delicate; once they're gone they're gone. The first time we ordered some we didn't realize that they needed to be planted RIGHT AWAY, and by the time we opened the package all we had was a soggy mess - which is why we ended up buying Maple Leaf from the farmstand down the road. Couldn't believe how inexpensive they were, too.

I find it easier to order them rather than raise my own which goes great some years and not as good some other years. I got mine from Steele Plant Company and I get mine on May 17 or 18. This year it was May 18th and I was looking for them to arrive. I had my ridges all ready and left them in water overnite and they didn't miss a step.

Did I mention that the local cottontails love sweet potato slips? They chewed (and apparently ate) all my slips to the ground. Since then I've had about 8 of the slips recover and start putting on a few leaves. Of course, they are widely scattered in the area where I originally planted. I may try to move them while they are small... hopefully the rabbits have moved on. I do know that my dogs are catching (and eating) the small ones. I told my daughter-- "That's what dogs do. It isn't wrong or bad that they catch and kill things." That should at least help control future generations.

David

I have too have everything fenced or the rabbits and the deer wouldn't let me have a garden. I fenced the rabbits out before the deer.

We have fencing AND a barn cat, which helps with the rabbits I'm sure. I know that for a brief period when we were without a cat we had a muskrat eating up all the plants in our pond!

I may actually get some sweet potatoes after all! Since some of the plants regrew and some of the plants from last year volunteered new growth, I was able to transplant or recover 20 plants. Hopefully I will be able to keep the rabbits away...

set out some runners yesterday at several locations from starts I grew in a homemade grow bed made from a plastic barrel now just need to make a bed just for sweet taters

OK you folks from the South, we up here can no longer get the ORANGE potato which I all my life have called Sweet Potato. We now can get RED, which I always called yams, and think they are watery. Now we get RED or WHITE. Don't know where the white came from, but I understand that you all grow the orange??

The most commonly grown sweet potato variety is Beauregard, I think. It is dark orange o the outside and bright orange on the inside. Sweet potatoes come in a variety of colors.

Sweet potatoes are not related to yams. Yams are African and much larger, not as sweet and usually white on the inside (although there are other colors, like purple.) Even though the sign at the grocery store may say "yams," it is unlikely you'll find them unless you are in an ethnic market catering to either African or Caribbean customers.

But people in the south call sweet potatoes "yams" all the time, too.

This message was edited Nov 22, 2013 12:16 PM

Our favorite sweet potatoes are Maple Leaf. Their leaves look like their namesake and they're dark orange and very sweet. Unfortunately voles like them too.

Agree: I don't know whether you are asking for skin color or flesh color. Orange fleshed sweet potatoes are the majority found in the super markets. Today Beauregard is the most popular, but you may also find Covington or Carolina Ruby all have red skins and deep orange flesh. Popular a few years ago were Centennial (Orange skin-orange flesh) and Jewel ( copper skin- orange flesh). Carvers have tannish sking and light orange flesh. At one time yellow fleshed varieties were popular and grown commercially in New Jersey and Maryland. These are drier than the orange flesh varieties, but to get them you will probably have to grow your own. Most readily available are Nancy Hall and O'Henry. Of course Sandhill Preservation has a vast array of varieties.

OK, do any of you know anything about the white skinned? I do not know the color of the flesh as I just got them yesterday and won't cook them until day before T'giving. I believe these are the easiest to grow in the North. Think they have replaced the bulk of the orange skinned in the markets up here. I am so sorry to lose the Orange skinned and flesh ones. Those were the best for years. But, will certainly try the whites for now.

Will let you all know how they turn out. Thanks for all of your information.

All the white skinned varieties that I know about have white flesh. Most of these are almost as dry as an Irish potato.

Oh wonderful. Thanks,

I raised a variety from Sand Hill that was called Ivis I believe...much better than White Triumph or Chokers. It was very smooth, uniform, and the tubers were on the smaller side. Only problem was that they lacked good sweetness and therefore they tasted like Irish potatoes.

We have had a super season for the Sweet taters up here in SE Oklahoma I don't reall have a good spot for them but the best spot in my yard was in the Hugelkulture bed I put in last winter the down side of the Hugelkulture bed was that I could not keep myself from adding plants as the seasons progress and I wound with an over crowded bed ...Note to self less is more..Yeah like that is gonna happen LOL

I wondered how that little bed had done! My dau asks me when I am goin to quit stuffin her beds with plants she isnt sure what are. chuckl.Glad that bed did ya right.

Mother Earth rewarded my first efforts to grow Sweet Potatoes with 91, from 6 slips! I bought "Ginseng" slips from Southern Exposure Seeds, and they are just FINE! Some are HUGE, all are bursting with incredible flavor. I've made four pies from the little ones so far...what a successful experiment. Can't image why I would ever stray from SSE now...

Gracye, what zone are you? I am thinking of trying them, there are a couple for short season varieties, and was curious about when do you order from the Southern Exposure Seeds. Do you place your order now for next spring? I couldn't find it on their site. Thanks

I am in Zone 7a. Southern Exposure tells you when you'll get delivery for your zone! They are new to me, about two years now, and I am just going through the whole growing year, this Spring. They have not come out with the 2014 offerings yet, I see.
They have some COOL things, like their growing advice/charts, and that garden planner...think I'll take the plunge with that planner.
Look around the site - you'll learn alot, and it'll make you feel more secure about your choices. It did for me, as I made a BIG STEP away from my father's ole selections, which are now mainly owned by Monsanto :(.

I have to add...right at this minute, I have 8 HUGE Sweet Potatoes roasting in the oven. I like to roast them in some oil, wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum, for 2 hours or more. They kinda carmelize this way.
Then I let them cool off, slip the paper-thin skins off, and mash and freeze them.
No problem having sweet potato pies or casseroles with the great crunchy oatmeal/pecan topping...and so healthy! What a joy, this gardening love of ours!

Gracye, that's a great way to preserve sweet potatoes if you don't think they'll last in the basement. I should try that. What's your recipe for sweet potato casserole with oatmeal/pecan topping? Sounds delicious!

Yes, that sounds delish. I would like to hear it too.

Awe, you all flatter me. I just throw stuff together, like my grandmother did, and it turns out just fine!
Just get ye a cookbook from your church, or find one in an antique shop (that's the treasure trove of old local cookbooks!), and have at it!
You can take the recipe of some type of fruit crumble for your topping. Substitute away! I use ground pecan meal for part of the flour...
Then, look at what recipes call for when making puddings from scratch. Again, substitute away! Except for eggs. Get them organic, and from your local farm market if possible.
I have a secret for anything sweet potato, however. I use just a DASH, and I mean NO MORE, of organic black walnut flavoring. Oh my! Have fun!
Just ate one of those sweet potatoes I roasted. It has gotten sweeter! Can't touch it with spices or God forbid, sugar.
Since this is my first year of growing/harvesting, I am kinda winging it. I just believe in Murphy's Law, and would surely hate for my sweet potatoes to go bad after all that great growing and now bragging...lol!

Gracye,

Oh, you are one of those huh? LOL, I think that attitude rubs off on people. If you use those instructions many times pretty soon you are one yourself.

A friend said for Jalapeno Pepper Jelly, a bowl of this and 2 bowls of that and 3 bowls of sugar. LOL, it is always amazing to me when things turn out as good as they do.

I've never heard of black Walnut flavoring. Will see if Penzys have it. Would never find it up here. Thanks, Jen

Hello Jen, Black Walnut flavoring is VERY RARE. There are various types, though, when you DO find it. Amazon or eBay has it.
That pepper jelly is a great glaze on ham loaf, or baked ham...I am an artist, so life is FULL of experiments and substitutions! Enjoy!

I looked at Penzeys and they have the Black Walnut Extract (I think extract). Also Black Cherry and others that sound really cool.

I have been eating sweet taters all of my life and for my taste the best eating is the Garnet or other of the Jewel family Just starting to find the Garnet slips here in Ok.

Those sound like pretty long growing seasons Grits. When I looked at the Southern Seed Exchange, the only ones I think we could grow up here were in the oranges. Those are the ones we used to be able to buy up here. And I love them. Someone in the family here, and I am not going to mention any names, lol, like Bob, bought white ones. Can't remember who but someone on here said they taste like dry Irish potatoes. LOL, doesn't sound very appetizing does it? I cooked the ones that were more reddish, so guess I will have to eat the whites for Christmas.

The thing that really scared me about growing sweet potatoes is the harvesting, of all things! SESE (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange) said: "Cure by keeping them at 90 percent relative humidity and 85°F for seven to ten days. A furnace room or space heater can provide the right storage condition."
90% humidity? YIKES! THEN, 85%? DOUBLE YIKES!
Out of desperation, and not having any root cellar or basement (water table is way too high), my dear husband and I toted all 91 of those sweet potatoes upstairs to our attic. No other place to store them, honestly.
All is fine.
My uncle, who has gardened forever, says that, after the first frost, you should remove the vines, and leave them in the ground. And, he should know...next year, I'm going to try this with a couple of mine at least...he said that the death of the vine goes into the roots, which is NOT what we want.