Sweet Surprise!

[GoDawgs]

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!

[GrowingCoastal]

Wow! Impressive.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Little investment, lotta return.

[GoDawgs]

I'm thinking about digging the intended hills later this week. I wonder what's there....

[sdambr]

Wonderful!

[SQWIBB]

That is awesome!

[GoDawgs]

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.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Seems your 'throwaway' was more productive than your 'official' plants. Can't wait to see what the compost plants yield!

[zendog]

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.

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by zendog

...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

[Worth1]

Been looking at both threads diligently.
Sweet potatoes are fun.

[SQWIBB]

Wow, very impressive.
Does anyone "root" cuttings from their initial plants and overwinter?

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by SQWIBB

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