I tried to grow sweet potatoes one year and had no luck. I think it was due to poor soil.
I'd like to try again this year. Can someone chime in with basics (Planting tips, feeding etc,) and a good place to purchase slips?
Thanks
BB
Sweet Potato Basics
1. local feed and seed or http://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/
2, This is about as good as any planting tips. http://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/growingtips.html Sweet potatoes are not very demanding and will grow in a bout any type of soil. They are much better grown on lists and do not require heavy fertilization. Deer and rabbits are the major pests. Flea beetles will attack the plants early, but seldom do major damage.
I agree with Farmerdill...they are undemanding. I have grown them from slips on sprouted potatoes, from cut up vines grown by my kids during the winter and from purchased slips at the feed and seeds in Cleveland, GA. I suggest that you don't plant too early as the slips succumb to rot easily (they hate cold, wet soil). About the time you would plant okra or peppers is perfect. I don't mulch them, but water until established. Keep them a bit on the dry side once established and dig them in early fall. As with the young slips, the mature potatoes will rot in cool, wet weather. Dry them under cover and raised on screens/mesh. Oh, and if you do buy slips, soak them for a day or two. Good luck!
Thanks
I'll give it a shot again this year.
Do you have to hill the soil similar to Irish potatoes?
No sweet potatoes are roots not tubers. That said they do better if set on a list (mound) about 4 inches high and 12 inches across. The list helps keep the soil soft and mostly encourages root development in the list. Plants set on the flat tend to develop roots all over the place. You will see testimonials about turning the vines to prevent this. I don't and I have grown a lot of sweet potatoes over the years with out any problems of wayward taters.
No, I don't hill. I just turn and amend a little patch. Once they start to run, the whole area becomes viney and they will even re-root and make potatoes along those vines. You can help them by shoving the root nodes into the soil. I have not grown them in years because I found them difficult to store. However, they were lots of fun and attractive in the garden. If you have a sunny window, you can pot up cuttings in the fall, have them as houseplants for the winter, and start all over again in the spring! My daughter had one that grew up and over a little trellis we built around her bed (there are southwest facing windows on both sides). She decorated the trellis with momentos...beads, trophies, action figures, stuffed animals and the potato did the rest. You're inspiring me to restore my patch. Maybe others hill?
I think Farmerdill has more experience with these taters than I. Although I did mound, I still had roots all over the place. I defer to the expert here.
Great.
They do sound fairly easy.
Thanks
BB
You know, I want to try sweet potatoes, too, but I can't believe they'll grow in the rock-hard clay dirt I have. Even with decent rain in the last few weeks, it's impossible to dig any deeper than 2-4", JUMPING on the shovel. Will sweet potatoes really grow properly in that?
If not, I was thinking about growing them in some bushel baskets with potting soil - how's that sound?