Information and discussion for successfully cultivating potatoes, the world's fourth largest crop.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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7 Sweet Potato Varieties
Orange Covington - Outstanding taste and production, probably the best orange Vardaman - tastes good, roots are on the skinny side. Hernandez - tastes good, long season, slow slip production Beauregard - Early, Nice taste and texture, some roots are malformed Copper Jewel - Some big early roots, taste is good Baker - Great taste, does not grow well in my soil, plenty of tubers that grew deep and didn't size up Topaz - Excellent sweet potato. great taste and texture My rating 1 Covington 2 Topaz 3 Beauregard 4 Copper Jewel 5 Hernandez 6 Baker 7 Vardaman Dropping Hernandez, Baker and Vardaman Adding Bayou Belle and Bradshaw The big surprise were the white ones. I had no idea the white sweets were so complex and interesting. I use to think people were nuts when they said they preferred the white ones but not anymore. White sweet potato review later |
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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Some more information on Topaz sweet potato.Excellent variety you have probably never herad of. A search only reveals this link.
https://www.researchgate.net/publica...;_Sweet_Potato Using key phrases from this document was able to find Topaz in other variety trials. https://www.semanticscholar.org/pape...85d9b/figure/0 https://www.semanticscholar.org/pape...85d9b/figure/2 As you can see, Topaz won almost every trial for yield and was judged best baking sweet potato. The only reason it was not more popular is probably because it was released about the same time Beauregard was. |
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#3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Greenville, SC
Posts: 122
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I grow Vardaman because it is a bush variety. Can you recommend any other bush varieties? Thanks much
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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I have not grown any other Bush Variety, but I have grown Copper Jewel which is semi-bush. It is ivy leaf and not to bad. Something like Covington will take over.
From Sand Hill Website This is our criteria that we use to classify the varieties’ growth habits. This is from data gathered at our farm taking measurements from the location where the plant is growing to the distance the vines cover on one side of the plant. Very vigorous - vines go to 12 feet or more. Vigorous - vines usually go from 8 to 12 feet. Vining - vines go from 6 to 8 feet. Semi-bush - vines go from 4 to 6 feet. Bush - vines are less than 4 feet. https://www.sandhillpreservation.com...ng-information Bradshaw is ivy leaf semi bush and supposed to be very good and is from your state and being offered at a great price. 12 slips, 15 dollars and that includes shipping. Good Luck https://heavenlyseed.net/product/bra...weet-potatoes/ Last edited by seaeagle; January 28, 2024 at 12:36 AM. |
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Brownville, Ne
Posts: 3,291
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I really need to attempt sweet potatoes again. Last attempt was many years ago... thanks for the nudge.
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there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes. |
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Greenville, SC
Posts: 122
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Thanks, Seaeagle!! I have ordered from Heavenly Seed before, but not recently.
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: washington
Posts: 498
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Thanks ,I just ordered Bradshaw from heavenly seeds!
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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You all are very welcome. Just clicked on the Heavenly seed link and see a slight price increase and now phone orders only. I guess lots still read Tomatoville. Biscuit, that is a long trip for plants. but sweet potato plants are tough.
Good Luck to everyone! |
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#9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: washington
Posts: 498
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I just placed my order on internet and got a confirmation so all is good,they charged Shipping but it says free shipping so I emailed them and waiting for a response.
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#10 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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Hope you get the issue resolved. If you don't receive a response you could call the number listed on the sweet potato order page. |
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#11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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White Sweet Potato Review
White sweet potatoes in my soil and climate do not taste like Irish potatoes O'Henry - I got 3 potatoes from someone who bought them dowm in Southern Virginia. I think they were treated with something because they took forever to start growing slips. Planted in July about a month behind everything else. They grew fast and were nice straight and perfect plump roots. This is a mutant of Beauregard but has much nicer tubers as Beauregard has some malformed tubers. High production as you can see in the Virginia trials in the link. It beat everything in yield even the orange ones cranking out a thousand bushels per acre in multiple locations. Taste is good and great texture. https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/server...a3cdae/content Delaware Purple - This one was the only really dry one. Bot the taste was excellent and will grow again. Fills you up fast White Queen - Uniform tubers although a little odd shaped. Big and early and looks to be productive although I only had two plants. All of these with the exception of O'Henry were part of a variety package I got on Ebay at a very good price. Taste is very good and all except Delaware Purple have moist creamy texture Sumor- This was the forth one I tasted. I had already decided not to grow this one next year. All I read was dry, bland, the taste was similar to an Irish potato. Not in my garden as it was sweet and creamy and moist and the best tasting yet Seems a little later than the prior 3 but productive. Again only 2 plants. White Triumph - Only 2 plants but doesn't seem productive and a little late. But this was the best tasting of all Growing all of these again and adding Nancy Hall |
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#12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3
Posts: 3,231
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Can you describe the general difference between taste of a white and an orange sweet potato? Would it be obvious in a taste test with your eyes closed? I had never even heard of white ones, so this is really interesting to read about.
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Dee ************** |
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#13 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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The orange sweet potato is generally sweeter than the white sweet potato. Describing the taste is not easy and why very few websites attempt to do so.This is from the Sand Hill website who by the way know more about growing different varieties than anyone on the planet. SWEET POTATO DESCRIPTIONS We try to limit descriptions about flavor as flavor varies depending upon the individual and also upon the soil type and the climate where the variety is grown. My sweet potato tastes and Linda’s are not the same. I like dry and firm sweet potatoes with a slightly sweet taste. Linda likes smooth, moist and very sweet flavor. Your best bet is to keep trying different varieties until you find the one that fits your taste buds. Here is a video about the science of sweet potato flavors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoOhYMCObO8 For the sweet potato varieties I have tasted, yes it would be an obvious difference, especially when comparing to a variety like Covington which is as sweet as candy. This is an excellent thread on different tastes of sweet potatoes and how one person's favorite is another person's worst . I love all those sweet taters, just some better than others. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/13...g-sweet-potato Well that was a long answer but I cannot help it. I got the sweet potato fever ![]() |
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#14 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3
Posts: 3,231
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Thank you, all good information. You are lucky to live in a zone where sweet potatoes grow happily!
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Dee ************** |
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#15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hampton, Virginia
Posts: 1,433
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I wish I had more room to grow Sweet Potatoes.
I need more land, Amen!!
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May God Bless you and my Garden, Amen https://www.angelfieldfarms.com MrsJustice as Farmer Joyce Beggs ![]() |
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