Sweet potatoes

[Wombat]

Still look edible to me mate!

Well done!

Nev

[adekun]

Thanks for the encouragement, not too sure what to do with the giant turd though. Perhaps frame it?

[chadspad]

My sweet potatoes, that turned out to be jerusaleum artichokes were absolutely revolting!! Think I will dig up the ones ive planted

[Wombat]

Oh! Bummer, Mate!

How did you cook them?

Nev

[chadspad]

I boiled them, then mashed them with a little pepper. I thought that would be a safe way to do it but both me and my husband had to spit it out lol. Perhaps roasting would have been better? They just seemed really watery and had no flavour!

[Diana]

Just started harvesting my sweet potatoes.

Like adekun, there's lots of different sizes and shapes, but as I'm growing them in Aberdeenshire it bothers me not!

[chadspad]

Diana - I like your end quote about laughter, very true. My African Grey parrot laughs all the time, he is copying my laugh. My friends little boy said about my parrot laughing that he was bound to copy it as I laugh all the time - I thought that was a nice thing to say about me.

Well done with the sweet pots by the way lol

[chadspad]

Ive put a sweet potato in some moist sand as suggested by Bob the Gardener abd I have a shoot growing - yipppeeee!!!!

[Wombat]

G'Day CP,

How far down into the sand? Fully covered or with some showing?

Nev

[chadspad]

Hiya Wombat,

I have to admit that its only a tiny shoot but it is a shoot non-the-less Im sure. Its on the bottom side of the potato, from one of the eyes, thats completely in the sand. Its pure white.

Youre not gonna tell me its something else are you?

[Wombat]

Nope!

I tried my usual trick of burying a (specially bought) "seed" sweet potato and planted it fully into a mix of potting mix, compost and other good stuff. Nothing ever happened and when I dug down to see what the story was it was gone, just leaving a hole. Damn thing had completely rotted away, that's why I was interested in the sand approach, I have used it propagating other things but had not even thought about using it with sweet potato.

Hmm on second thoughts, if the white thing turns into a tentacle and throttles you, you may have an alien sweet potato.......they are indistinguishable from the usual kind until they turn on their masters......

Nev

[chadspad]

LOL - I thought it could turn into some monster sweet potato worm!!

I also tried doing it by placing it over a bowl of water to see if a shoot would reach for the water but it just went mouldy and started collapsing. Its all trial and error I suppose.
When u buy the slips from the shops it would just be the skin bit wouldnt it and not the whole potato?

[Wombat]

No, I buy the whole potato........

[hedgewizard]

I think that a "slip" is generally a thin slice taken off the tuber once the shoot has formed, just to avoid the chance of damaging the shoot by pulling it off. It's probably what Gardener Bob means; you have to use a clean craft knife to avoid contaminating the cut, which is the one disadvantage to this technique.

[chadspad]

Have u managed to do it this way then?

Ive found this info too:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plan ... sweet.html

And here is a link to Thomson & Morgan who seel the slips
http://potatoes.thompson-morgan.com/product/aww3136/1

So, have I done wrong by planting the whole sweet potato in the sand then? T&M would only be supplying a small piece of the skin wouldnt they?