Is It Time For Sweet Potatoes?

[so lucky]

Is it time to start the sprouts growing yet? I can't remember from year to year how long it takes to grow the slips from potatoes.
This may be a silly question, but does it matter if you use small potatoes for slips? ( Will larger potatoes yield larger potatoes?)

 

[Ridgerunner]

It's time. I started mine a few weeks ago, late February, but I normally start mine early. Just find someplace warm and get them going. If the slips get too long for you just cut them back to above a leaf. They will send out a bud and keep going. You can also put what you cut off in water and root them. Half of mine last year came from rooted cuttings.

The sweet potato slips grown from tubers are clones of the parent plant. The small sweet potatoes are going to have the same genetics as the large ones. If the little ones had big brothers (or sisters) under the same plant, the slip will produce a variety of sizes of tubers. In theory it doesn't matter but I normally choose some bigger ones that fit in my coffee cans.

When Dad started his he normally used fairly thin long ones and we had plenty of good sized sweet potatoes. Dad would dig a hole maybe 3' square. put a few inches of fresh chicken manure in there, cover that with a couple of inches of dirt, then lay the sweet potatoes out, crowded but not touching each other. Then he's add three or four inches of dirt on top of that. He did that in the same spot every year and used some rotted sawdust in the dirt so it was really rich and light. I tried that last year but did not get any slips in time to do me any good. They grew but were just too late, I got a few small tubers from them, not large enough to make it worth it.

Something I learned this morning, technically the sweet potatoes are not tubers. They are just an enlarged root. I'll still call them tubers since I think we all know what we're talking about.

 

[Carol Dee]

DH was going to order slips from a seed catalog and was alarmed at the cost! Can we start them from tubers? ( I think I heard it can not be done with grocery store sweet potatoes.)

 

[thistlebloom]

DH was going to order slips from a seed catalog and was alarmed at the cost! Can we start them from tubers? ( I think I heard it can not be done with grocery store sweet potatoes.)

@Carol Dee , I'm the last person to give advice about SP but I do know that store bought ones can sprout. Maybe it depends on the stores supplier? But I have sprouted them in a window just for the pretty foliage, so if you have one hanging around it would be worth the effort to see.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've done it with store bought sweet potatoes before but that was with potatoes from a "natural" food store. I don't know if they treat the "normal" supermarket sweet potatoes with something to inhibit sprouting or not. That's probably like everything else in life, some do and some don't. So maybe try it but don't count on it.

Part of the problem in doing that is that there are a tremendous number of different varieties of sweet potatoes. Some will do well in your area and some won't. The majority of sweet potatoes sold in "supermarkets" are Beauregards and those should do well in your area but it is highly unlikely the big supermarkets will know what variety they sell. Still, if they look like Beauregards the odds are decent that they are.

Carol I think the odds of it being pretty successful if you try that are pretty good, but it is a risk like everything else in life.

I tried something different this year. I normally put a sweet potato in a large coffee can in water on top of a bookcase. Hot air rises, sweet potatoes need tropical heat, and it is pretty warm up there. I did that, but I also just laid another sweet potato up there not in water, just laying on top of some tile to protect the wood. Both are sprouting quite well.

Carol, when I order slips through the mail I use Steele in West Tennessee. I don't know how their prices compare to what you've seen but I've been please with them.

Thistle you are not "the last person to give advice about SP". You are one of the first. Many people have not yet replied to this thread. And you offered real experience, which is helpful.

 

[so lucky]

Well, I don't know much either, but I have had pretty good results sprouting store-bought SPs.
Some of the ones I grew last year are starting to sprout. I may grow some of those, and also get a great big one to sprout, also, from the store. Then I will compare the resulting size produce! (If I can keep them apart)

 

[Carol Dee]

I've done it with store bought sweet potatoes before but that was with potatoes from a "natural" food store. I don't know if they treat the "normal" supermarket sweet potatoes with something to inhibit sprouting or not. That's probably like everything else in life, some do and some don't. So maybe try it but don't count on it.

Part of the problem in doing that is that there are a tremendous number of different varieties of sweet potatoes. Some will do well in your area and some won't. The majority of sweet potatoes sold in "supermarkets" are Beauregards and those should do well in your area but it is highly unlikely the big supermarkets will know what variety they sell. Still, if they look like Beauregards the odds are decent that they are.

Carol I think the odds of it being pretty successful if you try that are pretty good, but it is a risk like everything else in life.

I tried something different this year. I normally put a sweet potato in a large coffee can in water on top of a bookcase. Hot air rises, sweet potatoes need tropical heat, and it is pretty warm up there. I did that, but I also just laid another sweet potato up there not in water, just laying on top of some tile to protect the wood. Both are sprouting quite well.

Carol, when I order slips through the mail I use Steele in West Tennessee. I don't know how their prices compare to what you've seen but I've been please with them.

Thistle you are not "the last person to give advice about SP". You are one of the first. Many people have not yet replied to this thread. And you offered real experience, which is helpful.

THANKS, we are going to try. I will also give Steele a look see.

 

[baymule]

The first year I grew sweets was a great success. I started a store bought potato in a jar of water.