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sweet potato

• Message 1. 

  Posted by hicklingj (U13928931) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011

  Has anyone grown sweet potato, I wondered how easy they are to grow as they are quite expensive to buy the plants and I'm not sure if it would be worth growing.
  
  Many thanks
  

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• Message 2

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  Posted by Kleftiwallah (U13700999) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011

  I'm having a go for the first time this year. If you Gurgle there are oodles of sites telling you what to do. It is quite unusual. Cheers, Tony.

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• Message 3

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  Posted by realfood (U13916672) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011

  If you are in the warmest part of the UK, you may be successful, but for most of the UK, it is probably not worth the effort except as an experiment.

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• Message 4

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  Posted by hicklingj (U13928931) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011

  We are in Bromley. Last year the weather was fantastic but never really sure what it is going to be like this year

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• Message 5

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  Posted by cool_breeze_uk (U14359426) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011

  Sustained warmth is key, so if you haven't got a spare greenhouse border or polytunnel I personally wouldn't bother. It's another one which isn't really suited to our climate. I tried okra for the first time last year. I had one plant out of six grow enough to set fruit, but then of course the summer turned wet and cold as it so often does, so I got three fruits in the end haha. Made a nice change but thats about it.

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• Message 6

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  Posted by calculad (U3607616) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011

  They are expensive to buy, but you can propagate from your harvest to save money next year or do what some people do and buy a sweet potato and propagate your own.
  The disadvantages of not starting with purchased slips is that I was told that the potatoes are sprayed with an anti sprouting agent.
  I bought slips and now propagate from a few saved tubers right now.
  
  The disadvantage I found with my first slips (little cuttings) is that they arrived too late to give the plants the long growing season they need.
  It's very easy to propagate but i won't waffle unless you ask.
  K
  

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Kleftiwallah (U13700999) on Wednesday, 12th January 2011

  I have heard (from the same gurgle source) that you can remove this anti sprouting coating by giving the sweet potato a good scrubbing with warm water. Cheers, Tony.

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• Message 8

  , in reply to message 6.

  Posted by hicklingj (U13928931) on Wednesday, 12th January 2011

  I would love to know how you propogate these.
  Having grown them how much produce do you get?
  Where is the best place to grow them?
  We have an allotment and my Grandaughter just loves sweet potato, my daughter is very keen to make sure she eats the best possible produce and there is nothing better than home grown
  Many thanks in advance
  Jo

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• Message 9

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  Posted by hicklingj (U13928931) on Wednesday, 12th January 2011

  Thanks for you advice Tony. Still not sure if I am going to grow them yet?
  But will keep everyone informed if I do
  

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• Message 10

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  Posted by calculad (U3607616) on Wednesday, 12th January 2011

  Propagating you own sweet potatoes.
  
  OK here goes.
  I used to do the trick of suspending tubers in water, but to be honest I found plonking them in a pot of soil or sand or compost works just as well. I use pretty much the same strategy to propagate ginger and lemon grass. I have tried dark, light conditions, covered, uncovered. They all grew.
  Even the tubers that rotted because I kept them too wet grew good shoots.
  
  I save a few tubers over the winter (indoors)
  Pot them up half buried like a boat in moist soil, compost or sand.
  A bit of warmth speeds things up.
  2-3 weeks shoots appear at soil level or just below. (the plant suppliers call them slips)
  6-7 weeks some are big enough to cut (they also form roots around the join).
  Cut off the shoot with a sliver of the parent tuber and a few roots and then re-pot.
  Plant in final position warm enough outside and when roots appear at bottom.
  
  Last two summers (on Isle of Wight) have yielded about half the weight that a normal potato yields per plant outside. Also grew in greenhouse with slightly better results.
  They don’t grow as big as supermarket mutants, but I eat mine in their skins so no waste.
  Some get a bit of slug damage, but you can save those for next year.
  They can go pretty deep if the conditions allow it so dig them up carefully.
  Mine went down about 2 feet but I have heard tales of them going a lot deeper (a la Bob Flowerdew on GQT).
  
  
  These plants are really tough (apart from the cold) and want to grow, so I reckon there are many variations that would work. I think they would benefit from rich soil..
  E.G. I left some tuners in pots and they did all the above but I didn’t cut any shoots/slips off. I just left them. They completely filled the pot with long thin sweet potatoes and were only limited by the size of the pot.
  
  All of these came from 6 slips that I bought for £1 each, and I would recommend anyone to do this. I believe the original types were T65 and Beauregard.
  Good luck although you won’t need it. Please post results good or bad.
  
  My only failures were bought tubers from a supermarket which I did scrub. They all failed to shoot.
  Any questions love to help, but I’d better stop now.
  K
  
  

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• Message 11

  , in reply to message 10.

  Posted by hicklingj (U13928931) on Sunday, 16th January 2011

  Thanks so much for your advice, I think I will give it a go.
  Will let you know how I get on and probably be asking more questions if you don't mind.

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