The Great sweet potato experiment! 2010

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Trillium

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #120 on: April 23, 2010, 23:07 »
I've never tried a propagator myself but you could always try one potato next year and see how it turns out. If your shoots are coming along slowly then perhaps the location is a bit too cool for them Remember that sweet potatoes are tropical and really do need warm sunny locations, even in the house.

Today I snapped off a few shoots off the potato for planting into pots and the ones closest to the waterline have small rootlets as well as being attached to the potato. Gave that one an extra large pot as it will take off quickly.

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pairofacres

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #121 on: April 24, 2010, 10:34 »
Mine are on a south facing window sill, so they're getting as much sun as possible. Just thought an early start in a propagator might boost their early growing rate?

My healthy one is now growing shoots at a phenomenal rate. The weak one though seems to be growing leaves directly from the potato itself, rather than shoots?!

Think I'll probably try the propagator next year. I might also try immersing one on its side in a tray of water, rather than the normal jar trick to see if it results in more shoots?

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1st time veg grower

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #122 on: June 06, 2010, 16:32 »
Can I ask how the experiment is going? Where have people planted out their slips (greenhouse? plot...etc?) How are they looking?

Really want to give this a go next year as I eat no end of sweet potato so have been following the thread...only its kind of stopped...

Many thanks! ;) :)

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pairofacres

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #123 on: June 06, 2010, 16:59 »
I've got about half a dozen planted out in the allotment now, with another 3 or so slips approaching the point where I can plant them. They seem to be doing OK, but I'm not sure we'll get a long enough summer to see much of a crop this year.

sweet-potato-sm.jpg

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Trillium

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #124 on: June 06, 2010, 19:19 »
Mine are in a raised bed and are almost as big as pairof aces'. When the season just starts to cool off, enclose them in their own little polytunnel type structures to maintain as much heat as possible and they should crop nicely later.

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aelf

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #125 on: June 07, 2010, 09:14 »
Mine are still on the window sill! There is now a great root system on the 'mother potato' but it is only just pushing out shoots. I was about to give up and throw it away (the thing has been on our kitchen window for over 2 months) when I noticed very small red buds on it. That was 10 days ago and now they are about an inch long.

I have a spec ready in the greenhouse for the slips when they are big enough  :)
There's more comfrey here than you can shake a stick at!

http://www.wedigforvictory.co.uk/dig_icon.gif[/img]

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1st time veg grower

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #126 on: June 07, 2010, 15:07 »
Thanks for the replies! Am so intrigued to see how this all works out, almost gave it a go this year but wasn't quick enough off the mark. Determined to try next year though!

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noshed

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #127 on: June 07, 2010, 15:16 »
If you want to have a go now - PM me, I've got a few spare slips ready to pot on.
Self-sufficient in rasberries and bindweed. Slug pellets can be handy.

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Cazzy

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #128 on: June 07, 2010, 15:29 »
My potato sat for months and produced two tiny wee roots eventually.  The potato itself started to 'lose weight' and caved in at parts, no slips ever emerged and it ended up in the bin not so long ago. 

I'm really quite disappointed and I wonder if maybe, as was mentioned before, they had been treated so as not to sprout.

I'll try again next year and buy organic potatoes to see if that makes a difference.

What if the Hokey Cokey IS what its all about...

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butterfly blue

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #129 on: June 07, 2010, 16:33 »
I have just read through the whole thread with great interest, i shall definately be having a go for next year. Someone will have to remind me in Novenmer to start off my sweet spud  :lol:
Kelly x

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Paul Plots

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #130 on: June 07, 2010, 16:35 »
I have just read through the whole thread with great interest, i shall definately be having a go for next year. Someone will have to remind me in Novenmer to start off my sweet spud  :lol:

Ditto!!  ::)

With  a memory like mine it'll be July 2011 when the penny drops  :blink:
Never keep your wish-bone where your back-bone ought to be.

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pairofacres

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #131 on: June 07, 2010, 18:15 »
My potato sat for months and produced two tiny wee roots eventually.  The potato itself started to 'lose weight' and caved in at parts, no slips ever emerged and it ended up in the bin not so long ago. 

I did two. One did the same as yours, the other eventually produced loads of shoots. I can only assume some potatoes are better than others for taking slips from  ???

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Cazzy

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #132 on: June 08, 2010, 00:08 »
My potato sat for months and produced two tiny wee roots eventually.  The potato itself started to 'lose weight' and caved in at parts, no slips ever emerged and it ended up in the bin not so long ago. 

I did two. One did the same as yours, the other eventually produced loads of shoots. I can only assume some potatoes are better than others for taking slips from  ???

That was the sensible thing to do, I do it with everything else I plant but don't know why it didn't occur to me to do it with these.

And although I don't know whether there is a top and bottom to sweet potatoes, I always felt mine was upside down lol, no idea why, just a feeling.

Good luck with yours and I hope to see the pics when you harvest them.

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harry

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #133 on: June 08, 2010, 12:37 »
I have two in agrow bag i cut in half, one in each. Also two others in pots. The ones in the grow bag are doing well. :D
Hurray finally retired
two plots now 31A and 35A

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pairofacres

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Re: The Great sweet potato experiment!
« Reply #134 on: June 08, 2010, 18:17 »
And although I don't know whether there is a top and bottom to sweet potatoes, I always felt mine was upside down lol, no idea why, just a feeling.

There's a slight flat on one end where the stalk has been removed. My successful one was stalk upwards. The failure was stalk down. I tried both ways, as I thought it wouldn't make any difference, but have a suspicion I may have just proven myself wrong. I'll definitely make a point of making sure they're stalk upwards next year!



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