19 May 2018 Sweet Potato Slips

[Durgan]

19 May 2018 Sweet Potato Slips
Posted on May 19, 2018 by Durgan
http://durgan.org/2018/May 2018/19 May 2018 Sweet Potato Slips/HTML/19 May 2018 Sweet Potato Slips
Purchased ten potted purple sweet potato slips from a grower about 100 km at St. Catharines area, advertised in Kijiji at a cost of $2.00 per pot. There are few sellers of such in my area and often are just cuttings not potted to established roots.My favorite is the purple, which is not common in supermarkets. The slips are good quality. A bed was prepared for planting about 1 June.

 

[Silentrunning]

Is your growing season long enough to make sweet potatoes a viable crop or do you use them as ornamental ground cover?

 

[Durgan]

Is your growing season long enough to make sweet potatoes a viable crop or do you use them as ornamental ground cover?

15 September 2016 Sweet Potato Harvest
Posted on September 15, 2016 by Durgan
http://durgan.org/2016/September 2016/15 September 2016 Sweet Potato Harvest/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.

 

[Silentrunning]

Nicely done. I would say that qualifies as viable.

 

[Durgan]

Nicely done. I would say that qualifies as viable.

My zone 5 is marginal. If it is a cool Summer the tubers are small size. There are a few people growing them commercially, but USA competition is overwhelming and difficult to sell a large crop. The tubers are always available in all the supermarkets year around.

 

[headfullofbees]

My zone 5 is marginal. If it is a cool Summer the tubers are small size. There are a few people growing them commercially, but USA competition is overwhelming and difficult to sell a large crop. The tubers are always available in all the supermarkets year around.

Would slit plastic mulching help?

 

[Durgan]

Would slit plastic mulching help?

Plastic not worth the effort. I do mulch heavily but some years Summer is too cold.