Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Information and discussion for successfully cultivating potatoes, the world's fourth largest crop.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old September 16, 2019   #1
GoDawgs
Tomatovillian™
 
GoDawgs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b
Posts: 1,685
Default Sweet Surprise!

Back in May when I planted five or six hills of sweet potatoes (cutting back this year) I had one slip left over. I didn't have the heart to toss it (packrat syndrome) so I stuck it in the end of another bed and put a trellis there for the vines to climb. Just a toy. The trellis on the far end of the bed, Aug 25th.



Two weeks ago I noticed what looked like a sweet potato trying to push up. It's just to the left of the black plastic.



Yesterday I got curious so I cut down the vines, removed the trellis and started brushing soil away from the sweet potato which became several sweet potatoes!



After the fork was used to loosen everything up, it turned out there were five potatoes in there, including two huge ones!




This is the largest one, 2 lb 5 oz. The other biggie is just 2 oz less and the third biggest one is a bit over a pound.



They are now in in the shed, in a peach basket which is inside a plastic trash bag to cure for two weeks. There are several holes punched in the plastic to let excess humidity escape as the sweets cure.

I'm glad I didn't toss that slip!
GoDawgs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 16, 2019   #2
GrowingCoastal
Tomatovillian™
 
GrowingCoastal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC
Posts: 1,253
Default

Wow! Impressive.
GrowingCoastal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 16, 2019   #3
Nan_PA_6b
Tomatovillian™
 
Nan_PA_6b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 3,194
Default

Little investment, lotta return.
Nan_PA_6b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 16, 2019   #4
GoDawgs
Tomatovillian™
 
GoDawgs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b
Posts: 1,685
Default

I'm thinking about digging the intended hills later this week. I wonder what's there....
GoDawgs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 17, 2019   #5
sdambr
Tomatovillian™
 
sdambr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 421
Default

Wonderful!
__________________
Sue

"There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle."
Albert Einstein
sdambr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 17, 2019   #6
SQWIBB
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Philly 7A
Posts: 739
Default

That is awesome!
SQWIBB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 8, 2019   #7
GoDawgs
Tomatovillian™
 
GoDawgs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b
Posts: 1,685
Default

Until I saw Durgan's post about digging sweets I had forgotten that I dug up the five hills here on Sep 23. Fourteen pounds so that makes twenty when adding in the ones from the trellis.



Now... the compost pile behind the house is mainly kitchen scraps with leaves and/or straw layered in there. It is covered with sweet potato vines. Since I have no idea when some throwaway tatie started growing, I think I'll just let it go until just before first frost before tearing the compost pile apart to find out.
GoDawgs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 9, 2019   #8
Nan_PA_6b
Tomatovillian™
 
Nan_PA_6b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 3,194
Default

Seems your 'throwaway' was more productive than your 'official' plants. Can't wait to see what the compost plants yield!
Nan_PA_6b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 9, 2019   #9
zendog
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: VA-7a
Posts: 121
Default

Great taters. I grow my sweet potato vines as a sort of living mulch under my tomatoes, peppers and okra. It really helps suppress the weeds and keep the soil cooler and moister in the heat of summer. But the downside is I don't want to dig them until I'm ready to pull the "main" plants in the bed at the end of the season and right now I know there is some sort of critter snacking on at least some of them in one of the beds. Ugh.

I'm glad to see your results with the trellis since I've often thought of growing some of my sweet potato vines vertically as well. I had read somewhere that when vines put down roots at various places along their length, they put less energy into feeding the potatoes at the hill since their existence has the insurance of the other roots along the way. Sort of like a damaged fruit sometimes ripening early, possibly as a survival strategy so that the seed inside is mature earlier.

Anyone else do any testing of this.
zendog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 9, 2019   #10
GoDawgs
Tomatovillian™
 
GoDawgs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b
Posts: 1,685
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by zendog View Post
...I'm glad to see your results with the trellis since I've often thought of growing some of my sweet potato vines vertically as well. I had read somewhere that when vines put down roots at various places along their length, they put less energy into feeding the potatoes at the hill since their existence has the insurance of the other roots along the way...
An excerpt from sweet potato growing instructions from the Sow True Seed website, addressing vine length:

"...but if you want big tubers, you’ll need to keep the vines snipped back to within 3 feet of the mother plant. Keeping them regularly pruned also allows for easier harvesting as it’s easier to find where you originally planted. It’s not a waste though, sweet potato greens are delicious!

"Occasionally you may lift the long vines to prevent adventitious rooting at their nodes. Where the plant roots it will attempt to grow more tubers, taking much needed nutrients and energy away from the main crop."

https://sowtrueseed.com/blogs/garden...sweet-potatoes

I never trimmed the trellis vines but just kept guiding them in and out of the trellis. That's why I was surprised to see those biggies! But then, the vines never pegged down into the ground to sap energy so that's maybe why.

One other good site link I have for sweet potatoes is Sand Hills Preservation center:
https://www.sandhillpreservation.com...ng-information
GoDawgs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 9, 2019   #11
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

Been looking at both threads diligently.
Sweet potatoes are fun.
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 10, 2019   #12
SQWIBB
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Philly 7A
Posts: 739
Default

Wow, very impressive.
Does anyone "root" cuttings from their initial plants and overwinter?
SQWIBB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 10, 2019   #13
GoDawgs
Tomatovillian™
 
GoDawgs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b
Posts: 1,685
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by SQWIBB View Post
Wow, very impressive.
Does anyone "root" cuttings from their initial plants and overwinter?
I don't overwinter vine cuttings but I do start my own slips using a couple of sweets from the previous year.

There's a good You Tube video by Deep South Homestead on starting slips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAkfXmNv_7k
GoDawgs is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:01 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★