Growing sweet potatoes

[Fatima]

Anyone tried and succeeded? Any tips?

I want to grow from a sweet potato, how do I get it to sprout?

Last time I tried growing SPs I bought a vine, dug it in and waited, and waited, and waited for the potatoes to sprout from the beautiful purple flowers on the vine *doh*

[becks77]

When asked about this last year the chaps on the lottie said they grew from "slips" which are bits of sweet potatoe but are really expensive.HTH

[Annpan]

I read recently that you can grow from a sweet potato but it needs temperatures of 30oC to sprout (I got the impression you could chit them like normal potatoes)

[Richard at GS]

I have grown from a sweet potato.
I put it in a 5litre square net pot (aquatic pot) though I am sure a large shallow pot would do just as well - in Coir (coco fibre) as this is freer draining than most composts so the tuber is less likely to rot, and also peat free. If using compost use the lightest one you can get and keep just moist rather than wet. Then it went in a heated propagator till shoots appeared - as Annpan says they like to be warm - or alternatively place in a bag in the airing cupboard, but remember to check on it regularly.

[Richard at GS]

Oh yes, be prepared to give them plenty of space!
We allowed 1 sq.m. for one tuber and grew it in a greenhouse, the new tubers only really set and grow well quite late in the season, so outdoors a poor season or northerly location will likely result in a poor result. We harvested 15 decent size tubers and maybe a dozen more small ones.

[Fatima]

Thanks for the info Richard, very helpful. Can I ask you more questions?

Did you use the whole potato to get shoots?
Do they shoot like a normal potato?
Do I immerse the whole thing in light compost?
Would a light sand work?

I've tried googling and there's not much info, except to put them in a jar full of water, which obviously didn't work, I ended up with a very soggy, manky SP.

[possum]

we are grwoing some at the moment
I planted them because, erm I left them in the veggie rack and they sprouted. I chopped them up and got OH to plant them. They are now all healthy plants. I have no idea when to harvest them.

[Annpan]

This should help... seems pretty good advice.
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/sweetpotato1.html

I'd love to grow them myself but alas, t'was not what Scotland was made for

[george]

I managed to successfully grow some plants.

I took a sweet potato and put it in a box of sand in the airing cupboard. When it had sprouted (about 6/7 sprouts) I cut the potato up so that each sprout was a single block and planted it then. I put them in a cloche to increase the temperature and the plants grew pretty well but that year it wasn't very warm (and I was not really in the growing area for them) so I did only get tiny potatoes.

I hope that helps.

George

[Fatima]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

I am pleased to announce that after putting my sweet potatoes in light sand and sticking them in the greenhouse that I have sprouts

[DeneciePie]

I am putting some in this year here in Central California. They like really hot weather, which we get in abundance. You might want to use black plastic or whatever to increase the soil temperature where you are gardening. Or plant in old tires, perhaps. Anything to really heat them up and keep them warm and moist. Drought again here so the 'moist' part may end up being a problem.

[Nomada]

I'm growing one as a houseplant, it's quite attractive looking. I've never thought I'd get anywhere growing them as a crop in the UK.