Sweet potato help.

[Smart Red]

I would be using the place landscaping cloth so they should get plenty of heat early in the growing season.

 

[secuono]

Can you not just plant the whole thing of quarter and plant like potatoes? If not, why not?
I have a sweet potato that's starting to put out shoots, too. But way tiny ones, nothing like SmartRed's racing sputnik. lol

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can if the growing season is long enough, just make sure you have an eye on each piece, same as white potatoes. Wisconsin is not known for having long growing seasons. For me, I can get several slips off of one of those quarters. It's more efficient for me to use fewer potatoes to get the plants I want.

As usual there are different ways to do this.

 

[so lucky]

I'm wondering if it would be advantageous to have the black plastic (or black landscape cloth) in place a couple of weeks before planting the slips. Maybe the ground would be nice and warm by then.

 

[Smart Red]

So lucky, that was my intention exactly. Warmer than usual soil to plant in and warming black to keep it warm. That should give the slips a good start.

Actually, I was even planning to cover the bed with clear plastic and make a mini-greenhouse until the full heat of summer arrives.

 

[buckabucka]

Sounds like a good plan @Smart Red . I had success with the mini greenhouse method before we built the big hoop house.

 

[catjac1975]

So lucky, that was my intention exactly. Warmer than usual soil to plant in and warming black to keep it warm. That should give the slips a good start.

Actually, I was even planning to cover the bed with clear plastic and make a mini-greenhouse until the full heat of summer arrives.

When you first plant the slips they look very close to death and then they bounce back. The one thing about the slips that you have started is that the potato is likely treated with growth inhibitor. The slips make be fighting against that. There is an old thread that describes how to get the slips going from one of our experts. I will look for it. I have never had good luck starting slips.

 

[catjac1975]

Here's an old thread-there are a lot of them on sweets.
http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/sweet-potatoes.15502/#post-183114

 

[secuono]

So, I just realized the store has yams and sweet potatoes mixed up together....Accidentally bought one of each. SP is the one growing, so I guess it's ok.

 

[aftermidnight]

For years I thought the yellow ones were sweet potatoes and the orange ones were yams, you can thank the supermarkets for that, they are still labeled that way up here. I've never seen or eaten yams. Apparently from what I've read some yams can get quite big and over 100 pounds.
Annette