Anybody familiar with the sandhill preservation site? They have an excellent guide to SP culture, the best I have read. The guy there is likely the most expert grower in the country as well has having easily the most complete collection of heirlooms, all listed with useful descriptions.
I am growing what I think is Korean purple - purple skin with dry white flesh, quite sweet. Short season and prolific. I also have Frazier white, Oklahoma red, Amish red, and a couple others. Havn't tried many of the others yet.
Beauregard's main claim to fame is being very prolific, and well-adapted to a wide range of climates. I believe it is considered so-so for eating quality.
-
DoubleDogFarm
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 6113
- Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm
I just took a quick look at the Sandhill Preservation site. It looks like they've been having some supply and demand issues this year due to the weather. If anyone wants to get slips from these folks, it'd be a good idea to get your order in early.
None-the-less, they appear to be a quality place to order from. The sweet potato page looks to have some good information on growing them, so I'll have to make a note to go back later.
DDF, I'll admit, the price does seem kind of high (just my guess, haven't seen any other supplier's prices), I think it's well worth it as they say they have organic certification and don't spray their plants. There is a limit of, I think 250 per person, which should be plenty for most. Anyway, you can always start your own slips once you grow your first crops.
They also don't start shipping until May 25 (someone please correct me if I got that wrong), so that may be a downer for folks who wanted to get their plant in before that time. However, they have a great selection and some nice assortments, so it may hurt to get them a little later since you can always start your own slips whenever you want once you harvest the first crop.
Thanks for the resource
.
None-the-less, they appear to be a quality place to order from. The sweet potato page looks to have some good information on growing them, so I'll have to make a note to go back later.
DDF, I'll admit, the price does seem kind of high (just my guess, haven't seen any other supplier's prices), I think it's well worth it as they say they have organic certification and don't spray their plants. There is a limit of, I think 250 per person, which should be plenty for most. Anyway, you can always start your own slips once you grow your first crops.
They also don't start shipping until May 25 (someone please correct me if I got that wrong), so that may be a downer for folks who wanted to get their plant in before that time. However, they have a great selection and some nice assortments, so it may hurt to get them a little later since you can always start your own slips whenever you want once you harvest the first crop.
Thanks for the resource
.OK, I just did a little more digging and it turns out that the Sandhill Preservation limit was 200 slips per person....still plenty for the average gardener. Also you could only order assortments for 2010. Things may change by next year, though.
The prices I originally though were high are actually average. After looking at several other sites, they all seem to be the same, give or take a few dollars.
The prices I originally though were high are actually average. After looking at several other sites, they all seem to be the same, give or take a few dollars.
Sweet Potato Slip Sources:
[url=https://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/]Steele Plant Company[/url]
[url=https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/pages/sweetpotato_catalog.html]Sand Hill Preservation Center[/url]
[url=https://www.tatorman.com/]George's Plant Farm[/url]
[url=https://www.mericlonelabs.com/]Mericlone Labs[/url]
If anyone has more to add, please do so
. These just seemed like some of the more prominent ones.
[url=https://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/]Steele Plant Company[/url]
[url=https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/pages/sweetpotato_catalog.html]Sand Hill Preservation Center[/url]
[url=https://www.tatorman.com/]George's Plant Farm[/url]
[url=https://www.mericlonelabs.com/]Mericlone Labs[/url]
If anyone has more to add, please do so
. These just seemed like some of the more prominent ones.-
Hispoptart
- Senior Member
- Posts: 224
- Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:46 pm
- Location: Rangley, CO
of course by they time the slips arrived they were almost dead, so I am sure that had something to do with it. Was hoping to see some pics of every ones harvests.-
gixxerific
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 5889
- Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
- Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B
Here is my measly very embarrassing harvest from my smaller patch. There were 4 maybe 5 plants in there. I only got one BIG one and that is almost too big. The rest are a joke. Not sure what happened. Not sure if any of them are even edible.
I did notice a few came out and were white, they looked like regular potatoes at first. Not sure why they were rotting and composted.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/DSC04185.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/DSC04184.jpg[/img]
Go ahead and laugh, I'll be in the corner crying.
I did notice a few came out and were white, they looked like regular potatoes at first. Not sure why they were rotting and composted.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/DSC04185.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/DSC04184.jpg[/img]
Go ahead and laugh, I'll be in the corner crying.
-
engineeredgarden
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 426
- Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 11:51 am
- Location: NW Alabama
BTW, it's pretty easy to start slips in quantity, if you have tubers of the desired varieties.
As explained at the SP site, its best to use small slips with few roots, taken off the parent tuber and set straight out at the correct time. That is generally later than people think, around here it is last week of June or even first week of July.
As explained at the SP site, its best to use small slips with few roots, taken off the parent tuber and set straight out at the correct time. That is generally later than people think, around here it is last week of June or even first week of July.
Gix, I'm not laughing at all....that's a great harvest. All those little ones, just toss 'em all in a pot and cook and serve with butter and brown sugar.
Those big ones are nice, but that giant one is awesome. You could cook that thing in the oven in a roaster pan!
Syther, I hear you about the slip-starting. They say you get get up to 50 slips form one sweet-potato! However, I think that's exaggerating a bit.
Looking forward to more harvest pics.
Those big ones are nice, but that giant one is awesome. You could cook that thing in the oven in a roaster pan!
Syther, I hear you about the slip-starting. They say you get get up to 50 slips form one sweet-potato! However, I think that's exaggerating a bit.
Looking forward to more harvest pics
.
Glad you liked itfarmerlon wrote:Nice list, thanks for the info.garden5 wrote:Sweet Potato Slip Sources:
[url=https://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/]Steele Plant Company[/url]
I will try to give the folks at Steele Plant some business, since they're located in my State.
. An interesting source that I listed was Mericlone Labs. They are the last one listed.
Their slips are twice the price of others, $.99 a slip, but they say they offer the best quality you can get.
They do what's called "meristemming" and heat-treating. I'm not absolutely certain, but I believe they grow the potatoes, select the best ones, grow slips from them, then take a tiny, tiny piece from the meristem (no idea where that is) and place it into a sterile test-tube where they grow it into a new slip. Now, these slips are supposedly 100% disease-free and will grow better potatoes.
Next, they take these slips, grow them out in a green-house, and then sell them.
It sounds like an interesting concept. You can read more about it [url=https://www.mericlonelabs.com/themeristemmingprocess]here[/url] Also, some of the links on the left will show more detailed info about the steps in the process.
What do you think?