which sweet potato is the sweetest
- Thread starter elijahboy
- Start date
obsessed
Deeply Rooted
I will wait patiently for a response.
dickiebird
Garden Addicted
The only type I have grown are Beauregard. They are as sweet as honey and huge!!!
THANX RICH
THANX RICH
obsessed
Deeply Rooted
hey dickie, can you tell me more about how to grow them.
I want to plant a few this next spring. I would be planting them in a 8x4 raised bed. I have not had a lot of luck maintaining vining plants in the beds (cukes and watermelons) usually they completely take over and I am left with a jungle.
I want to plant a few this next spring. I would be planting them in a 8x4 raised bed. I have not had a lot of luck maintaining vining plants in the beds (cukes and watermelons) usually they completely take over and I am left with a jungle.
dickiebird
Garden Addicted
Didn't do a whole lot of anything to grow them.
Loosened up the soil to a depth of about 6", poked a hole in the ground with my finger, inserted the slip, compacted the soil around the slip and watered them in.
You're right about taking over, they vined out everywhere. Every now and then I would train a vine in another direction to keep them in check.
About Sept 1st I dug a few just to see if they had made progress and was surprised to see their size. But along with some large ones there were many small roots about the size of french fries. I mentioned this to a fellow at the feed store and he said to let them go until the first frost kills the vine but don't let them freeze in the ground.
Well about a week ago I dug another plant and this time there were many more mature potatoes with the small ones being about 3" long and 3/4" in dia. I'm going to leave them in until we get frost, unless I run out of what I've dug so far.
Hope this helps.
THANX RICH
Loosened up the soil to a depth of about 6", poked a hole in the ground with my finger, inserted the slip, compacted the soil around the slip and watered them in.
You're right about taking over, they vined out everywhere. Every now and then I would train a vine in another direction to keep them in check.
About Sept 1st I dug a few just to see if they had made progress and was surprised to see their size. But along with some large ones there were many small roots about the size of french fries. I mentioned this to a fellow at the feed store and he said to let them go until the first frost kills the vine but don't let them freeze in the ground.
Well about a week ago I dug another plant and this time there were many more mature potatoes with the small ones being about 3" long and 3/4" in dia. I'm going to leave them in until we get frost, unless I run out of what I've dug so far.
Hope this helps.
THANX RICH
Ridgerunner
Garden Master
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2009
- Messages
- 8,227
- Reaction score
- 10,050
- Points
- 397
- Location
- Southeast Louisiana Zone 9A
I've only grown a few different varieties. Georgia Jets and Beauregards have been among the sweetest of those but to be honest, it's not a trait I pay much attention to. There are several different ways to cook them. If I have to adjust them, they take real well to sugar, brown sugar, or honey. Wifezilla has a thread on here about growing sweet potatoes in a bag. A couple of posts down, she has a link to Sandhill that has a list of the huge number of different varieties of sweet potatoes they offer and gives a brief description of them. They sometimes talk about sweetness in the write-up about the different varieties.
I would not grow them in a raised bed unless sweet potatoes are the only thing you are going to grow in it. I'd expect you could grow seven or 8 slips in there, but they will take over the 8' x 4' raised bed and probably everything within four feet or so around the outside, maybe more in your Slidell climate. And anywhere they touch the ground, they set down roots.
I make a ridge about 12" high and plant the slips about a foot to 14" apart. I separate the rows of sweet pototoes from anything else by about 4-1/2 feet and still have to redirect some vines. I plant them in the ridges to make them easier to dig. In Wifezilla's thread, I posted a link to Steele. They have some instructions on how to grow them at their site. I agree with Dickiebird, once you get them started, it does not take as lot to grow them except a warm climate and it doesn't take much to get them started. Once they start vining, they grow faster than grasshoppers can eat them around here. My biggest threat was deer until I built a fence. Deer, cows, horses and probably others love them and will eat them back to the roots.
I would not grow them in a raised bed unless sweet potatoes are the only thing you are going to grow in it. I'd expect you could grow seven or 8 slips in there, but they will take over the 8' x 4' raised bed and probably everything within four feet or so around the outside, maybe more in your Slidell climate. And anywhere they touch the ground, they set down roots.
I make a ridge about 12" high and plant the slips about a foot to 14" apart. I separate the rows of sweet pototoes from anything else by about 4-1/2 feet and still have to redirect some vines. I plant them in the ridges to make them easier to dig. In Wifezilla's thread, I posted a link to Steele. They have some instructions on how to grow them at their site. I agree with Dickiebird, once you get them started, it does not take as lot to grow them except a warm climate and it doesn't take much to get them started. Once they start vining, they grow faster than grasshoppers can eat them around here. My biggest threat was deer until I built a fence. Deer, cows, horses and probably others love them and will eat them back to the roots.
curly_kate
Garden Addicted
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,452
- Reaction score
- 141
- Points
- 217
- Location
- Zone 6A - Southeast Indiana
Don't do Puero Ricans. They are a bush variety, which is nice, but the flavor is not great.
