Sweet potato slips.

[harrylee]

I am trying to grow sweet potatoes this year. Research has told me that I needed to grow slips from a Sweet Potato and then root and transplant them into the soil in spring. I have been doing this and they seem to be coming along. Have a bunch of roots on the bottom and slips growing out of the top. However, something that is concerning me is that the potato is going soft in the middle and seems to be rotting. Anyone know if this is normal?

 

[Marck]

It might be rotting. Sweet-potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) and other such tubers or tuberous roots can grow in water for awhile, but they often will weaken and rot after awhile. Now might be a good time to remove some slips for rooting.

 

[harrylee]

Thanks.....I am going to cut off the long one and put in water to root. The others I think need to be longer, so will leave them for now and hope for the best.

 

[harrylee]

The above was a complete fail, the whole thing rotted, so.....
I am now growing slips with a sweet potato in potting soil. It is going well but I have 1 slip that is over 2 feet long and the rest are just a couple of inches. This one seems to grow an inch a day while the others do nothing much. i noticed this one is below the dirt surface. I figure it has roots, so took a knife and cut it away from the potato a couple of days ago. It is still growing.
Question is, can I cut the top off and try and root that? Will that affect the bottom part? Will cutting that from the potato the way I did help the others to grow?
I also have a cold frame outside, nightime temps still at about freezing at night. If I plant that long slip in there now, will it kill it?
thanks