tgilbert
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 5:52 pm

Advice re purple sweet potatoes

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Sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes
This is my first attempt at growing potatoes. I have started with a single purple sweet potato slip from a garden shop and it has gone berserk in the raised bed.

I would really like to know where to from here? Should I be trying to get more runners to grow up the frame (which is there for my tomatoes usually)? How long before I can harvest them? How do I know when???

At the moment it is mid summer here and 30+ degrees C. I am watering the plant daily and feeding with Seasol every two weeks. Do I need to do any more than that?

Thanks in advance for the help.

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Gary350
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Posts: 7392
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I grow sweet potatoes almost every year they are so easy to grow. 1 plant often produces 25 to 40 lbs of potatoes. Sweet potatoes love it hot & full sun all day but they also do well with some shade. I usually plant 3 or 4 plants in the center of a 10" circle 3 ft apart. I turn the vines to make them grow in a circle, compact leaf concentration shades the soil to hold soil moisture and shades out grass & weeds so they don't grow. I cover the vines with soil every 2 ft this makes the vine grow roots every place it is covered with soil. The extra roots add more water & nutrients to the whole plant so you get a better potato crop. I plant about May 1st then harvest after frost kills the plant about 1st or 2nd week of November. The mother plant usually makes about 60% of the potato crop for each plant, places where the vines grow roots makes the other 40% of the potato crop. .

thanrose
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Posts: 716
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:01 am
Location: Jacksonville, FLZone 9A

The vine should stay on the ground for the most part. As Gary says, you want contact with the soil. You can prune the growth if you like, or let it trail over the sides once the container is pretty crowded. I've seen sweet potato growers for our Georgia sweets have larger containers than yours packed with good sized tubers, pushing the soil out of the container.

Some people eat the tender leaves throughout the season. As with any vegetable plant, some types are better than others. I don't know about your purple sweets.

tgilbert
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 5:52 pm

Thank you both for your advice.



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