[casper]

Hi I have tried to grow sweet potato tubers unsuccessfully, neglected some in my kitchen vegetable basket and when I got them out yesterday they had lovely purple shoots with green leaves, have bought sweet potatoes for ovet 10 years and never seen shoots like this, can I do anything with them, they were in a sunny spot in my kitchen, do I need to keep them there?

[mumofstig]

If you have space you could pot them up, and keep them growing ready for next year, a bit late for planting out this year, and expect any crop.

Mind you, I've never heard of anyone getting a decent crop from them anyway 

[3759allen]

put the slips into water for good root growth, then pot up or just keep topping the water up. they should last like this until next year.

i've got some in the poly tunnel that i planted out a couple of months ago, still pretty slow to grow but they are now getting there.

it's a bit of an experiment to see if it's worth doing next year, i will post results when/ if i get any.

[casper]

Yes thats a good idea, I like experiments, I am soon getting a greenhouse, so do you think if I pot them and keep them frost free snd watered over winter I may manage not to murder them, 

[JayG]

A few years ago I grew 2 plants in a 60L bag of used compost (with the tops rolled down, so probably 2/3rds full, and with added fertiliser.)

They did reasonably well in the GH, and may have done better still with a bit more TLC, which they didn't get because I'm not really that fond of them ('twas just an experiment!)

They do need a long growing season and plenty of warmth, so I think most people would struggle to grow them outdoors in the UK, and I doubt very much whether you could overwinter them in an unheated GH.

[3759allen]

so far all the ones i have potted up want to crawl, which is a bit of a problem if you need to keep them on a window sill for 10 months.

i would suggest putting them in jam jars of water (one slip per jar), just keep the jars topped up with water. leave them on the window sill over summer, when the overnight temps drop put them on the mantle piece or similar over winter.

hopefully they won't get carried away too much until you can plant out next year.

[casper]

As my son sufers the rare disease Phenylketonuria, normal potatoes have to be fed to him in measured quantities as they are naturally high in protein, however sweet potatoes can be fed to him freely, so we go through tons of them, we grate them on homeade pizza to look like cheese, stick them in soup, we grate them into veggie chilli, would really love to grow them, I will keep them on my bedside table in jam jars if I have to, wont they rot or go smelly??

[Beetroot Queen]

As my son sufers the rare disease Phenylketonuria, normal potatoes have to be fed to him in measured quantities as they are naturally high in protein, however sweet potatoes can be fed to him freely, so we go through tons of them, we grate them on homeade pizza to look like cheese, stick them in soup, we grate them into veggie chilli, would really love to grow them, I will keep them on my bedside table in jam jars if I have to, wont they rot or go smelly??

Love the replacement cheese on a pizza idea I may try to tackle one for florence just got to keep the tomato to a minimum too.
I really want to have a go with sweet potatoes so I am watching closely.

[casper]

Yes sweet potatoe and oregano are nice together on pizza defo try it, yes I tried to grow tubers last winter and ended up with a mouldy potatoe in a glass, was chuffed to see tubers