sweet potato questions

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i was hoping someone could help me out with some good suppliers of sweet potatoes. also what varieties seemed to do well for other people?

i have done potatoes before and they do well in our area so i know sweet potatoes should do well too. but i just wanted to see if anyone has a recommended varieties that they've planted and had luck with in the past.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've been pleased with the service I get from Steele.

http://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/potatoes.html

I see you are in New Hampshire. Sweet potatoes are a warm weather crop. They need warm soil to grow. I suggest you look at the Georgia Jets, Beauregard, or O'Henry's as they have a faster growing season than some other varieties. You might also consider putting black plastic down a couple of weeks before you are going to plant them to warm the soil.

Sweet potatoes are different from the others you are used to. You do not plant the potato itself but set out prestarted plants called slips. I rake up a hill about a foot high and plant the slips in that. They are really tough plants. It's almost hard to kill one.

Good luck!!

 

[jojo54]

i was hoping someone could help me out with some good suppliers of sweet potatoes. also what varieties seemed to do well for other people?

i have done potatoes before and they do well in our area so i know sweet potatoes should do well too. but i just wanted to see if anyone has a recommended varieties that they've planted and had luck with in the past.

Greg Wingate of Mapple Farm in New Brunswick has slips and other interesing and unusual plants but doesn't have a website. I contacted him through email: wingate@nbnet.nb.ca.
Certified organic sweet potato slips, Egyptian onions, Jerusalem and Chinese artichokes, chufa nuts, Indian tomatillo. Free catalogue with SASE, also available via e-mail.

Last year I just used a sweet potato from the store and got 17 plants out of it. You hang it in a glass of water with toothpicks and it sprouts. You twist off the sprouts and put them in water to root. When they have roots you plant it in a pot and keep it in a sunny spot until you can plant it in the garden. There are several previous threads on sweet potatoes on here.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

i was hoping someone could help me out with some good suppliers of sweet potatoes. also what varieties seemed to do well for other people?

i have done potatoes before and they do well in our area so i know sweet potatoes should do well too. but i just wanted to see if anyone has a recommended varieties that they've planted and had luck with in the past.

Greg Wingate of Mapple Farm in New Brunswick has slips and other interesing and unusual plants but doesn't have a website. I contacted him through email: wingate@nbnet.nb.ca.
Certified organic sweet potato slips, Egyptian onions, Jerusalem and Chinese artichokes, chufa nuts, Indian tomatillo. Free catalogue with SASE, also available via e-mail.

Last year I just used a sweet potato from the store and got 17 plants out of it. You hang it in a glass of water with toothpicks and it sprouts. You twist off the sprouts and put them in water to root. When they have roots you plant it in a pot and keep it in a sunny spot until you can plant it in the garden. There are several previous threads on sweet potatoes on here.

Wow! you just answer a big question for me. Thanks.

I put a yam in water about 5 or six days ago just like you instructed. So far...nada. We call it a sweet potato, but I'm sure it is a yam. I am still waiting for it to sprout.

I have a concern...do they "treat" this type of produce so that it doesn't sprout like when it is in the store or when it is stored a little too long. When I was a kid...these thing used to really take off . They made beautiful potted plants. Since then I have tried to sprout them and nothing happens, they just rot.

 

[jojo54]

I used an orange sweet potato, are you talking about the white/yellow fleshed ones? I have never tried those.

Some of them may be treated. If you can try to get an organic sweet potato. I started mine early January last year because I had read that it would take a month before the potato would sprout but it only took a week. I would twist off the sprout and the potato would sprout again. I let some of the sprouts get larger before breaking it off and then I would cut it and get two to sprout. I put them in little pill bottles with about 1" of water in the bottom. Again it said it may take up to a month to sprout but they all grew roots quite rapidly.

I'm not starting them as early this year because I also found that they early ones filled the pot with roots. I didn't think to try to spread out the roots and those plants grew their potatoes all in the centre in a huge mess of interlocking sweet potatoes. It made it hard to cure those potatoes and also to store them.

 

[journey11]

I have a concern...do they "treat" this type of produce so that it doesn't sprout like when it is in the store or when it is stored a little too long. When I was a kid...these thing used to really take off . They made beautiful potted plants. Since then I have tried to sprout them and nothing happens, they just rot.

I have wondered that myself. I have never gotten a store-bought sweet potato to sprout. They always rot on me too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As was suggested, try an organic sweet potato or one from a "whole foods" store. A Farmer's Market would be great too but where do you find one this time of year?

Sweet Potatoes are a warm weather crop. They need to be warm to grow. Try putting it on top of your fridge or some place high (I use a tall book shelf) to get them in the warmest spot. It makes a lot of difference.

I do not root them. I feel better if they do have roosts on them, but they will grow if you just put the slip in warm ground and water it. It worked for me last year.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

As was suggested, try an organic sweet potato or one from a "whole foods" store. A Farmer's Market would be great too but where do you find one this time of year?

Sweet Potatoes are a warm weather crop. They need to be warm to grow. Try putting it on top of your fridge or some place high (I use a tall book shelf) to get them in the warmest spot. It makes a lot of difference.

I do not root them. I feel better if they do have roosts on them, but they will grow if you just put the slip in warm ground and water it. It worked for me last year.

This yam, I think it was called a Ruby "something" and it does have the very red flesh...it is from Whole foods. I just picked it up and it has little white dots or pimples on the bottom. These are hard and not soft like a mold or something. May be this is the start of roots.

I am going changing the water and I will try to change it every few days. It is up high by the window...but I will put it on the frig. :bee

 

[ducks4you]

DD inadvertantly grew one on the counter of her kitchen of her apartment, away from any windows. It sprouted leaves and lived for MONTHS, while it ate away at the sweet potato flesh. (Sounds like a horror movie!)

 

[Ladyhawke1]