sweet potato, how to make slips?

[2cents]

I started the sweet potato in water on a window sill.
There are 5 shoots 1 to 4 inches long and several more small buds.
If I remove the long shoots to make slips, Will the other small buds on the potato then grow to make more shoots?

How do I remove the shoots, just cut the stem or cut some potato with the stem? Then root in dirt or in water? If dirt what is best practice? And when to harden or what?

Last year I planted the whole thing and did fine. But figured I would get more production If I planted more slips/shoots. Or am I over thinking this one?

[applestar]

Hey, I'm about to go out to plant some of MY slips before it gets too hot today. My first year growing these, but I simply PULLED them off the potato -- no futzing with a knife or whatever -- just a steady downward pull. Most come off with a sort of a callous/skin off the potato. I then just tucked them in the same jar as the mother potato and the roots started growing. I'm pretty sure it would be better to put them in soil as I've often heard that water roots and soil roots are different, but I got lazy. (So I'll just try with the water-rooted slips this year.)

After a while, the slips AND the potato grew so vigorously with so many roots I was sure I'd never untangle them, that I started keeping a 2nd jar of water next to the first. And yes, the smaller buds/shoots will shoot up one after the other. My slip jar is now FULL of slips and roots. I have more slips than I could possibly plant.

[!potatoes!]

I just stuck a whole sweet potato in soil, not wanting to mess with having to transition from water to soil...nothing happened in about the first month-and-a-bit, so after reading that they want it to be quite warm, I transferred the whole pot up into the attic (which tends to get up into the 80's during the day)...they started coming only after I went to the farmer's market specifically looking for slips (feeling threatened?).

I have since pulled the whole tuber out of the soil a couple times, and have only disconnected the slips that have already developed roots, I've got ten in temporary hardening-off pots, at least one more coming...if it wasn't raining today, I'd be planting them, too.

been thinking about ways to streamline the process - they slip fairly readily in water but don't necessarily make dirt-roots? maybe start them in water and then transfer the whole mess to soil before disconnecting the slips? either way, I'm happy with how mine are going. last year I discovered a renegade sweet potato in the corner of the pantry in...probably late june or early july. it had sprouted and I was feeling experimental, so I popped the whole thing into a (mostly shaded) planter on my porch. grew pretty well, and in addition to perking the original tuber up a bit, I got one not-quite-centimeter-in-diameter new tuber...I figured that in better light, from earlier, and with no older seed-tuber to be putting starches and water back into, I'd see better production. I guess, as usual, I'm pretty much trial-and-error-ing it...and I'm comfortable with that.

[applestar]

Here are photos of the slips. Heart-shaped leaves are Hannah and pointed leaves (can't remember what they're called! ) are Garnet. Garnet slips growing under the waterline already had masses of roots.
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image4280.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image4279.jpg[/img]

Obviously, Hannah's roots have become COMPLETELY tangled. Better to take them out and separate them BEFORE this happenes. I planted 6 slips for now and potted up 10 in 4" pots of compost and sand. Once the lettuce are out, I can plant some more, others I'll have to find homes for.

They're are so pretty I think I might just plant them in other parts of the garden just to enjoy the leaves. I saw some ipomoea plants when I was looking at annuals, but WHY would you go and buy them when you can just grow your own?

Oh, and the mother potatoes are still growing MORE slips!
BTW -- I noticed that once you pull the slips off the potato, the slip concentrates on growing roots and stops growing shoots/leaves. Little slips on the potato under the waterline was doing that as well. It seems to me that it's better to let the slips grow using the mother potatoe's nutrients BEFORE making it grow roots if you want good sized slips.

[2cents]

Thanks for the replies.

Okay mine are no where near as big. And the mother tater has few roots growing out the bottom and none on the sides.
I took three shoots off, 2 pulled(little skin?mini root buds? came withit), and one cut the stem(nervous it was so close to the next shoot not to do damage).

I decided to split the difference, set the ends in peat pellets(one inch expanding type) and put all three in one cup of water. Looking at applestar photos, I'll separate into 3 cups so I don't get the root tangled.

Is this your 1st time growing sweet taters? How has production been before?

[applestar]

I have mine on a sunny SE window. Last few days, it's been SO HOT the windows were left open all day and night (night temps as low as high 50's, mostly 60's) as well as pretty fierce cross breeze, so I think they've been getting "hardened off" to some extent.

When it's hot, the slips on the mother potatoes shoot right up! Also, like I mentioned in another post somewhere, the other jar with Mother Hannah in it not pictured here was slipped inside a black plastic nursery pot for extra heat in April. That seemed to help a lot. Mother Garnet has been sitting pretty, surrounded with my red holiday light soil -- in this case water -- warmer.

[2cents]

It has been very warm these last few days 80s. Could I put Mother tater outside during the day? Would that cause the shoot to grow faster?

[applestar]

I think it would work -- mine are sitting out on the patio table since yesterday... but I may have to bring them in tonight since forecast for tomorrow's high is only 60ºF. Just watch the water levels especially if growth accelerates -- I have to top off with 1~2" every day.