Information and discussion for successfully cultivating potatoes, the world's fourth largest crop.
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September 20, 2016 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Brantford, ON, Canada
Posts: 1,341
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15 September 2016 Sweet Potato Harvest
Posted on September 15, 2016 by Durgan
http://durgan.org/2016/September%202...0Harvest/HTML/ 15 September 2016 Sweet Potato Harvest My ten sweet potato plants were harvested. This is my first attempt at growing sweet potatoes under reasonable conditions. Eight of the plants were from slips purchased from a site on the internet. Two purple ones were from slips from a supermarket grown by myself. The supermarket slips were longer growing hence accounts for their larger production. The total weight was 31.5 pounds from ten plants or an average of 3.15 pounds per plant. With good growing conditions extrapolating my results an expectation from each plant would be about 6 pounds in a home garden. All the new tubers were centered around the planted slip in a diameter of about 12 inches. The vegetation covered a very large area and was very healthy. It was removed before digging the tubers. Some of the tubers were disfigured by an insect or rodent. This was simply cut away. The tubers were placed in a hot greenhouse and will be allowed to cure or condition for about ten days, then stored in my root cellar. One tuber was baked and is shown with these pictures. It was most pleasant to eat. |
October 1, 2016 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Omaha Zone 5
Posts: 2,514
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Fantastic harvest, Durgan. Those are monsters and look delicious. A root cellar , wow that is a privilege for year round fresh eating.
I started slips from sweet potatoes from the organic grocery store but in the heat I was too wiped trying to play catch up with tomatoes. Next year a big sweet potato patch for sure. - Lisa |
October 1, 2016 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 985
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A very nice haul, Durgan. Do you have the names of the varieties of any of them? I am pretty sure my sweet potato harvest is going to be pretty good this year too, as it was a nice hot summer.
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October 1, 2016 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Brantford, ON, Canada
Posts: 1,341
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No names. I chose the supermarket two due to their appearance. The remainder were ordered and they were all wimpy when they arrived. Upon planting 8 starting growing. As I mentioned this was my first success of significance. I will put effort into it in 2017 starting in February with the slips-chosen from the supermarket.
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October 1, 2016 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Near Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 1,940
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Those look great - we have been getting a bit of rain over the last week; once the soil dries out, I have to get around to digging mine!
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October 10, 2016 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: massachusetts
Posts: 1,710
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What are the flavor changes as they cure?
This is my first year and did not try them fresh, as "the internet" says they must be cured warm for 10 days to harden them, and then stored cold cor 30 days for best flavor. |
October 11, 2016 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Brantford, ON, Canada
Posts: 1,341
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I ate some sweet potatoes freshly dug and they were excellent. I also read the caveat about curing. It would appear to be more to improves storage life than improving taste, but my experience with sweet potatoe growing is limited.
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