Sweet potatoes

[diver]

I want t oplant some sweet potatoes on my allotment in the nw of England. Can anyone tell me how to go about it please? Do I get seed sweet potoatoes just like my normal spuds or if not, then what ...and where and ,if possible, how? thanks in anticipation

[Tigerhair]

good question - one I asked a while ago... here:

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... php?t=1021

If you have any luck, let me know, coz I'd love to grow em too :)

[Shirley]

http://www.barfoots.co.uk/sweet_potatoes.html

posted it on the other thread too.

[Tigerhair]

Ta darlin' You've made my day!!!

[Shirley]

sweet potatoes are one of my favourites - i've really only ever used them as chips, roast or baked (scrummy) - have you tried any of the other recipes?? Sweet potato Jam??

[Tigerhair]

Poo, you can't actually get stuff from barthingies... they supply supermarkets with actual product... Could I use the ones I buy in supermarkets to grow some?

[Shirley]

bob the gardener can fix it :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/gqt/fsheets ... tsq3.shtml

Bob: You can grow them successfully here but you can't just plant them like you would an ordinary potato because they don't sprout in the same way. You have to put a sweet potato in really quite intense heat. Many of them from supermarkets are treated with an anti-sprouting agent, so it's a good idea to give it a good scrub and clean it first. I put mine into moist sand, and then, as soon as the sprouts have got two or three inches tall I bring them out into the light, detach them from the tuber, and I put them into an ordinary compost and grow them on in a propagator. Once they're growing strongly, I pot them up and I keep them in a greenhouse. You must train them up strings - to give them more light and stop them rooting everywhere. They do need quite a lot of water but they don't need a very rich soil. Take some cuttings in late summer, root them, keep them indoors on a sunny windowsill through the winter so next season you'll have an even better crop than if you'd grown them from tubers

There is a fact sheet if you visit the link.

[Tigerhair]

Shirlz... you are a treasure... thanks for that!!! Sounds like a lot of work, and I think I'd have to grow them in big containers in one of the greenhouses... perhaps they aren't worth it after all!?

[diver]

thanks for all the info Shirlz2005. I have found slips for sweet potatoes in the organic gardening catalogue....www.OrganicCatalogue.com They are expensive at£10.95 but I am going to try them as I love them.

[chadspad]

My friend has just bought me some of her home-grown sweet potatoes and they have loads of sprouty things on them (looks like ginger).


(sorry photo bit blurry having probs with camera!)

She told me to just bung it in the ground and it will grow from that, thats how she did it but arent the other instructions been saying to take each of those shoots off and replant them? Isnt it also the wrong time of year to be planting them? I suppose I could experiment and just plant them anyway see what happens!

[Wombat]

Sorry chadspad me ole mate! That ain't no sweet patater, thats a jerusalem artichoke! (see the other thread)

Nev

[chadspad]

Well that would explain why it tastes nothing like the orange sweet potatoes ive bought from the supermarket!! I had no reason to doubt her when she said it was one as there had been comments on here that there are different types. Thanks for clearing that up Nev!!

[Wombat]

No worries mate!

Nev

[adekun]

I've just harvested mine, got some funny shapes...

http://www.adekun.com/garden/vegetables/sweet-potatoes

The cuttings were planted in the middle of June.

[chadspad]

They are some strange shapes eh lol but well done u!!