Sweet potato help.

[Smart Red]

Okay, here is what I have growing on the kitchen window ledge.

I've read the growing directions. I've watched the planting video on PBS for growing them in Wisconsin. I've never grown them in my garden before.

What do I do with the sweet potato in its current stage? How do I get the slips started growing off the mother spud? WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Yes, I know it is actually a yam, but ya'll know what I mean. I wanna try my hand at growing some this year.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I hope that is a sweet potato. Yams are tropical, I can't grow them here, too cool. I'm not sure exactly what a yam looks like but that sure looks like a sweet potato to me.

Don't do anything rash. Leave those slips where they are for now. Put the sweet potato in water. You can submerge part of the slips, they will form roots and start growing quite long. Remember they are a warm weather plant, keep them and the water warm. They need light too.

This is from a couple of years ago, about a month after I started them. They eventually formed vines a few feet long, way too long to plant in the garden. I cut them off into about 12" lengths, stripped the bottom leaves, and stuck them back in the water. They rooted and sent out new sprouts. I had all kinds of slips to set in the garden. Don't be afraid to cut them
back if they get out of control. They will simply send out new sprouts at a leaf node.

They are a warm weather plant so give them heat. Keep them warm. You'll have a challenge in your climate and short growing season, but if you can manage that, sweet potatoes are about as easy as you can get. They are hard to kill and can be very productive.

 

[journey11]

You can put the end in water like Ridge's above, or plant shallowly in a container with potting soil, or wait until they're about 6" long and twist the slips off and put in a little water to root. Keeping them in the window is a good idea. The slips get thin and lanky if they don't get enough light. When you plant them, be sure to hill up your rows like a foot high so the soil will warm faster. Don't get in a hurry to plant them. They'll make bigger tubers if you set them out when it is going to stay warm in June.

 

[Smart Red]

Thanks to you both. I've had tubers such as seen in the photo before, but never made it to the next step successfully.

Thanks ridgerunner. I thought what we call sweet potatoes are really yams. I could certainly be mixed up.

 

[buckabucka]

As others stated, you need either damp sand or water to get some roots started. When you pull the slip off the potato, it is okay (preferred, for me) that it does not have a large ball of roots or long shoots. Just don't put it outside until the weather has settled, and keep it well watered for the first week.

I have put out slips that have just one tiny hair-like root. For the first few days, it looks like nothing is happening (except maybe death) and then it takes off.

This year, I'm trying out two new varieties, Bradshaw and Violetta, which may or may not be successful here (although they will be in a hoop house with black plastic).

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are certainly not alone. Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family, yams are related to grasses or lilies. Sweet potatoes are warm weather plants but yams are more tropical. I've tried googling the yam plants to see what the growing plant looks like but I don't trust the results I'm getting. Too many look too much like sweet potatoes. There are a lot of different varieties of both yams and sweet potatoes. They both come in a variety of colors.

The story I believe is that we were growing two different kinds of sweet potatoes way back when, a hard kind and a soft kind (whatever that means), and the African slaves called the soft kind yams since they resembled the yams they were used to. The name stuck. The USDA even went along to differenciate between the two, though they now require "sweet potato" to also be on a can of "yams". Think of the candies yams you see at the store.

Dad used to start sweet potatoes by digging a hole maybe a foot deep, put in a layer of fresh chicken manure, put a layer of dirt on top of that, lay out some sweet potatoes, then cover those with decomposed sawdust. He's get all kinds of slips. My brother and I have both tried that though brother used fresh horse manure instead of chicken. Brother got nothing, I got a few slips but they were so late in the season I didn't plant them. I'd started some inside as insurance and I'm glad I did.

Last year I started some in a coffee can like I normally do but I also just laid one on top of the bookcase on a tile to protect the wood. Both gave me slips, though the one out of water did not do much for roots. I stuck them in water to get roots started.

Roots aren't all that necessary on the slips when you plant them. I prefer roots and up north where you are you probably need them for a quick start. It's hard to kill a sweet potato but I seem to have a certain talent. Occasionally one I set out will die, not always sure why. I've been known to cut a piece off of another, strip off the bottom few leaves, and just stick that in the ground. If you keep them damp for a couple of weeks they'll set roots and with my growing season, produce. They are about the easiest thing to root from a cutting that I've ever seen.

 

[so lucky]

I too have stuck fresh cuttings in the ground and successfully grown sweet potatoes. When I set mine out in the garden, regardless if they have roots or not, I cover the plant with a plastic pot for about a week....maybe 5 days. That prevents them from getting transplant shock, and keeps plenty of moisture around the plant for the first critical days.

 

[Smart Red]

Thanks for the info. I am feeling more confident.

 

[catjac1975]

Okay, here is what I have growing on the kitchen window ledge.
View attachment 11272
I've read the growing directions. I've watched the planting video on PBS for growing them in Wisconsin. I've never grown them in my garden before.

What do I do with the sweet potato in its current stage? How do I get the slips started growing off the mother spud? WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Yes, I know it is actually a yam, but ya'll know what I mean. I wanna try my hand at growing some this year.

I would not waste my time Red, they need a lot of heat to get to a good size. If you don't grow the shortest season crop for northern growers you will not get a crop. I get my slips from Steele plant co. They are a lot of work in the beginning-lots of weeding until the vines fill in. Most years I get a good crop but the fickle weather sometimes gets in the way.

 

[buckabucka]

Oh, I don't know, @catjac1975 , I think it's worth a shot, unless one is really constricted for space. I plant mine in black plastic, -no need to weed and the added bonus of heat. But the real prize is when you dig them up at the end of the season, -expecting nothing, but rewarded with a few large sweet potatoes!