It's Ornamental Sweet Potato Time

Last year I posted a thread about growing OSP. There turned out to be quite a bit of interest in growing them. At the end of the season I saved several potatoes and tubers both Blackie and Margarita. I packed most of them up in boxes and stored them in my parents basement. But several of the Blackies never got that far. These never got properly put away and were sitting loose in the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket that I used to collect them. The bucket was set down in the corner of a storage room. Yesterday while cleaning up I found these, they were starting to grow. So I guess I will take the hint and give them a little light and water and I will be stopping by to check out the ones that were properly stored. I'll be posting more pictures as they grow and would love to hear from others and see how yours are growing.
Here is a link to last years thread. Warning it got to be a pretty long thread starting out with the growing process I used, pictures and ideas for planting and a lot of discussion about different type of SP and OSP.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/694728/

Well it's been 9 days and I'm getting some action from my tubers.
Altogether I had 14 tubers in that bucket that were showing some signs of life. Of the 14 they are all showing some growth. Interesting though some are pushing leaves and some are pushing roots. The ones with the most and biggest leaves seem to have the least root growth and the ones with the most root growth seem to have the fewest and smallest leaves. This is a shot of the ones with the most leaf growth.

Here is a close up. Interesting color, too. Some of the leaves are much darker than others I wonder what I will end up with. Also my DIL collected a few seeds from the Blackies last year and has taken them home to germinate if she has any luck with them I'll post pictures.

I collected some seeds too and am currently trying to get those buggers to germ LOL I still have one in the GH I overwintered that is going quite nicely....about 20 inches of leaves now....is there a way to divide the tuber or are cuttings best? Thanks

When my starters get to be about 4 inches long I gently pull them off the tuber and move them into a rooting jar. I can get quite a few from each tuber. I had one potato last year I think I got close to 30 plants from it.

wow _ that many! you are good girl! well then tomorrow I shall try it....when you say rooting jar is there anything special you do besides a jar and water...I hate to be obtuse but since you had such a plentiful crop I would really love to do that also...thanks for any tips you can give me!

Deanna

Huh - I'll have to dig mine up - I just brought the whole pot into the house for the winter and kept them going until I had to leave town for a month and they didn't get watered.... grrrr....

oh that stinks! perhaps the potato will be ok and not rotted...and you can revive it with some TLC! )~

Nope, Just a couple of small jars and plain water. I have a couple of crystal toothpick holders that I like to use for my small cuttings. Also a few small interesting shaped jars that had jelly or mustard in them. The jars I use are only about 2 to 3 inches tall. I will probably be pulling the small starters off the tubers in the next day or two some of them are close to 3 inches now and I want them to be about 4 to 5 inches long when I pull them. This tuber is only about 5 inches long and has 4 separate starters growing with several little nodes that will become more starters later. That's one of my small jelly jars less than 3 inches high with a 1 1/2 inch mouth. I try to only have about 1/3 of the tuber in the water and keep as much as possible out of the water that way I get more starters. My experience is that the nodes that are in the water become roots and the ones that are out of the water become starters.
Pagan, I wonder if you just water that plant if it will start to grow again. I have tried several times to pot up my tubers and see if they would grow for me but it never works. They look good and have some roots going in so you would think they would grow like a bulb would but they never do. I wonder what kind of potatoes or tubers you have growing in the bottom of that pot. If you dig up the plant post a few pictures.

Holly, those are lovely, what wonderful color. Are these regular sp's or just grown for ornament? I'd love to have some. :) I love that deep reddish purple color!

Doccat, They are ornamental sweet potatoes which are grown mostly for the attractive leafs. Although I understand you can eat them but they don't produce a lot of potatoes. These came from my Blackies and I am waiting to see what color I will get from them. The first year that I tried this I grew Margaritas (lime green) and they grew true to the original plant. This is the first year that my Blackie tubers overwintered and I am waiting to see if they grow true. The leaf shape is there and some of the dark coloring is also there guess we will see if they continue to darken as they mature. I will be more than glad to share plants come spring. Are you coming to Critters seed swap on the 23rd I am planing to bring some of my tubers and starters to the swap?

I am coming to the seed swap and I'd be thrilled to get starters of those. Thanks so much! I don't have much to trade, as I'm just starting all over again. I do have some veggie seeds I'm sorting thru. These small seeds and I are having problems.....LOL

That will be great to see you. Don't worry about the swapping. Mostly there are a lot of extras going round and plenty of seeds. It isn't so much of a one to one swap as it is a sharing. You know Gardner's just love to share their plants. I'll set one aside for you.

Thanks again, I'm really getting excited about the RU. It will be my first and I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone. :)

when you pull the starters off do you put them in water, soiless mixture or straight into a potting mix?

I put them in small rooting jars filled with plain water they root very easily you should see some signs of root growth in about 3 days. Then after I have some nice root growth I move them into those small 6 cell packs with a little potting soil. Most of those I give away. The ones I will keep for my self will get moved up to a 4 inch pot when they are too big to keep in the smaller cell packs. I'll keep them in the 4 inch pots till I put them out into my window boxes.

Were do you buy the potaoes to start with?
Thanks,
Mickey

Mickey, I'm not sure if anyone sells them. You might find someone who saved theirs like I did that has extra to share. Mine were saved from last year. In the spring you can buy plants and then at the end of the season in the fall you dig up the plants and there should be some potatoes or tubers. You save those and you can start new plants the next spring. I haven't gotten all my saved ones out of storage yet so I don't really know what I have to share and I don't think I could ship the tubers in this cold weather. I will share plants in the spring possibly I could send you a few plants this spring to grow for next year. D-mail me and I will put you on my spring list.

Holly - thanks for all your valuable information on the sweet potato's! I appreciate your help.

Deanna

It has been two weeks since I started and I have 15 starters that have been harvested from 5 of my tubers. This picture shows the difference in the different tubers. Only one of these I would really call a potato. They were all started at the same time and given the same care, lighting and water. Some have large starters, some much smaller and some are just starting to produce. The difference in the root structures is just as varied. Right now after harvesting the first 15 starters I can tell that there will be more than 20 more coming and that is just what I can see right now.





This message was edited Feb 16, 2008 12:03 PM

I'm very please with the color, too. Looks like these are going to be true to the mother plant as they age they get darker. You can see the ends of the starters where I pulled them lose from the tuber. I don't cut them or break them. I kind of wiggle them and pull. Much like pulling out a lose tooth and they kind of pop off.

They are lovely. I just love that coloring!

You will be getting some of those on Sat. I am bringing all 15 plants and anything else that is big enough plus most of the tubers. You will really have a good time. I went for the first time last year to the swap at Harts house and it was so much fun.

Thank you, I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone. :)

holly last year a local nursery landscaped with them and they were so pretty --i bought 2 and they did pretty well but when you (i assume it was you) mentioned digging up the "potato" i was all excited that i could do that and put it aside in my garage like i did the caladiums--when i dug there was not a potato to be found--just regular roots--why do you think that was? i tried to root a stem but for some reason i just couldn't get it to root

Oh I can immagine how disappointed you must have been. I really don't know why. Other than Ornamental are bred for the leaf not potato production. Not all of mine get potatoes and I don't get a lot from the ones that do. Last year out of the tubers and potatoes I saved only 1 potato produced any starters. It was a Tri-color that had been given to me. None of the red tubers that I had gotten from the Blackies did anything. I almost didn't bother to save the long red tubers this year because I wasn't sure I could get plants from them. Boy I sure am glad that I did because this year they are doing wonderful. We saw a lot of them used down South in large landscapes several golf courses had them growing with Cannas. I wonder if they leave them in the ground and they just regrow in the spring?
This link will take you to a picture I took at a S.C. Nursery last summer isn't this really beautiful.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4221516

If I remember correctly, someone in the last thread said theirs were perennial in So. Caro, or Georgia. I thought perhaps I'd leave some in the ground this year, near the house to see if they make it...

i pulled mine up--maybe i should have left them--we do get a few freezes tho--i like the bright green --and since they use them here so much i think they must be somewhat draught resistant--the dark purple is pretty too--i think they would be nice in a veggie garden--sort of filling in between the veggies

My Logees Greenhouse Cataloge lists them as hardy in Zone 10.

thanks--i will not feel bad for pulling mine up!

Holly, I wonder - I've noticed that Logees is reeaaaallllly conservative with their zone requirements - is it just me?

Pagancat, I'm not sure. I'll do a search and see if someone else has a different Zone listed for them. I have never pushed the Zone listings. I do have some protected spots but since I live on the top of the hill with a pretty good winter breeze I haven't really tried. Most of my wind protected spots are out of the sun so I don't think of them as good candidates for experimenting either. Micro climes can really push your personal Zone up. I keep seeing some Zone 5 plants that I would really love to have and I may have to try one of these days. I love the Encore Azaleas and they have a Zone 5 listing.

Just saw this pop up in the most recent threads/post area and I had to come and check things out. I haven't gotten to read all the posts yet, but I will. I remember last year's thread and it did go on for a long time...it was SO much fun!

A couple days ago we were in WM picking up some produce and I saw some sweet potatoes and looked them over. I was going to grab a few for starting some vines, but they were pretty picked over and icky looking. I'll have to go looking again soon. This was such a fun and easy project last year and I think I ended up with nearly 20 vines...all light green though.

Thanks for the reminder on starting these!
Heather

DG Plant files show them as Hardy to Zone 8. I found several for sale with a Zone 9-10 listing and several other searches describe them as Annuals or Tender Perennials depending on which one you read. If I lived in a more southern location I think I would at least try leaving a few in the ground and see what happens.

Will they take full sun in the summertime?

they are in full sun here and do fine

Holly AnnS

Just came back to the propagation forum.
But I am slightly puzzeled. I had two Blackies growing by our flag pole. The tubers ( roots ) were a creamy white. I haven't started to try to get them to sprout yet. It is just about time though. I am wondering what I will get for color this year. Just have to wait and see I guess????
What is your thought.

Sorry I've been missing. Computer problems.
Pagancat, I grow mine in both full sun and shade. I have deck boxes on the south side of the house and they are in the sun all afternoon and also on the north side where they only get morning sun. They have done well in both locations but they do seem to need more water than some of my other plants in the boxes. They are always the first to wilt.
Rand, So far I have gotten Margarita and Blackies to grow true from the original plant only the Tri-colors didn't grow true for me last year. I did a search to get some more info and the search said the same thing. Blackies and Margaritas grow true Tri-color "may" revert to green. Which is what happened to the Tri-color that I grew last year.
Funny though all my Blackie tubers and potatoes are red in color. Let me know what you get.

Will do Holly Ann S!
It just threw me when I saw that yours were red.
So far I only have one sprout started. But then the house gets rather cold at night. Trying to save on propane.
I will probably have to give them a little more heat and moisture, to really get them going.

Holly I can't believe the size of that one tuber... it's huge... last year was my first year with these... i did save them.. and going to give this a try... wish me luck

do you guys just throw away the potatoes after they go through this process or can they be replanted?

Allison