Running Down the Sweet Potato Truck

The first plant I remember having in my room as a child was a sweet potato plant. Every time my Grandmother made something out of sweet potatoes she’d cut the top off the tuber, stick toothpicks in it and sit the bottom in a little bit of water. Within a few weeks there would be pretty green foliage. Within a couple of months there would be this beautiful vined plant that sprawled it’s way across a table or down a bookcase.

Many years ago I bought some sweet potatoes and tried to grow them like my Grandmother did. All they would do is rot. I finally gave up after failing for over a year. It wasn’t until last year that I found out why they failed. Pretty much all potatoes you buy now in stores have been irradiated, even organic stores.

A few days before Thanksgiving I was driving down Main Street in Summerville and happened to glance down a side street. At first what I saw didn’t register. It wasn’t until a quarter of a mile later that I realized that the truck had “just dug” sweet potatoes!!!! I immediately made the first turn I could find and zipped my way back to the street I saw the truck on and it wasn’t there! I spent the next 15 minutes zigzagging my way down side streets looking for the truck. I finally spotted it and started honking my horn and waving my hand out side the window. The guy in the truck looked startled when he finally stopped I guess he though I was a cop or something .. he was relieved when I didn’t get out of my car flashing any badges. I can just imagine what was going through his head .. this is going to be a good sale .. this lady really wants some sweet potatoes … He whipped back the tarp covering the sweet potatoes and cheerfully pulled out a basket for me to put my potatoes in. I carefully picked out three and said “how much? He shook his head and scratched his head and with a laugh said a dollar fifty.

Anyway .. these sweet potatoes have sprouted and some are at the stage where they change their looks everyday. They still have a ways to go before they match the splendor of the ones I remember, but I’ve got a good start.

X

I remember growing sweet potatoes in water. It was fun!

LOL I can picture you racing around trying to catch him ! Grandaddy had a garden so that's why it worked for my grandma. Even Mom did when I was a kid it but back then guess they weren't irradiated like you said. Thanks for the information and saving us the waste of time trying it ourselves from sweet taters in the store! We did avocados too just for the plants.

I've grown lots of avacados from the Hass avacado seeds. They are about 8 months old now .. just sorry they arent' hardy in my my zone cause I love avacados. The thing about sweet potato plants is that you want to keep them in water and not soil .. if you put them in soil they try to grow more potatoes.

I used to grow carrot tops too. I haven't tried that in a long time. I am really delighted with how well my sweet potatoes are doing .. they all have new growth on them and do well in bright indirect light. I just wish I could have found them earlier, they would have made great presents. I've got mine in tea cups .. old vases .. and old bowls.

X

when i see sweet potato vines at the garden store are they something different--they look different from you picture and mine didn't grow any potatoes but that's what they are called--your plant is really pretty and i remember growing them too when i was little

Jeez! Even organic stuff Irradiated !?! Drat! Thanks for the tip, I was going to do this with my grandaughter this year.
I'll keep my eyes peeled for a potato truck....lol..funny story, but when you want something done right you gotta go to extraordinary lengths sometimes!

We used to grow windowsill vines from the sweet potatoes too. Always great fun for kids to watch the sweet potato and carrot tops turn into mini gardens. We'd be right there with you chasing down the farm truck is that was the only way to get real, unprocessed produce.

Do you have a local farmer's market where you can buy sweet potatoes?
When you buy directly from the farmer, you are less likely to run into these types of issues.

It was my understanding that by law, irradiated food cannot be sold as organic. That being said, now that the demand for organic and pure food is growing in leaps and bounds, some companies are using underhanded tactics to capture that market share. We subscribe to the Organic Consumer Associations newsletter to stay informed and try to buy most, if not all, of our food from local sources.

If you are interested, here are links to information on food irradiation and some possible action steps that consumers can take to help make sure that irradiated food is labeled as such so that we have a choice in what we buy:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/irradlink.cfm

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Irrad/irradfact.cfm

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/irradiation/

I bought sweet potatoes from 3 different stores that only sold organic produce. I was never able to get one to sprout so I figured they had been irradiated too.

X

http://www.loe.org/images/070629/Radura-Symbol.gif

^ That's the Radura symbol that's supposed to be on the item when something's been irradiated. I never would have thought that was what it meant if I had seen that image on something I was buying. And I'm sure I have seen it but didn't know that's what it meant. Looks almost flowery to me. Glad I read those links garden mermaid. Thanks for posting those.

Anyway ... one of the pieces I rooted is growing very fast .. the others are a bit slower. I love the red veined leaves. The really nice thing about these plants is that they do very well under flourescent lighting, so they make great office plants.

X

And they are very tasty to stir fry when the vines need to be trimmed back.
Here are some recipes for cooking sweet potato greens:

http://www.somethinginseason.com/2006/09/sweet-potato-leaves-yum.html

http://marcsala.blogspot.com/2006/06/unusual-greens-part-3.html

http://albioncooks.blogspot.com/2006/07/african-stew-with-sweet-potato-leaves.html