[Kristen]

I have one in a pot (sorry, purchased [the shame!], my Mother Tuber is still sitting in a glass of water the the slips are only about 1/2" long as yet ... I started late)

On one side of my greenhouse I have sweetcorn planted. They are loosely planted (2' apart), and should be all-done and harvested by mid-July

I was thinking of planting in the middle of them so that the runners can trail along the ground and run up the Sweetcorn plants as they die off.

Is it that simple? or do I need to be aware of some things for later on?

How far away from the plant will there be tubers? (I'm thinking of where I plant it so as not to interfere with crops I want to sow from August onwards (for overwintering)

[Trillium]

While sweet potatoes have some different habits than regular potatoes (eg they way they need to be 'chitted'), they grow similarly. Most of the potatoes will be in an upside down 'flowerbunch' cluster under the main stem. But they do pull nutrients from a broad area with feeder rootlets. The leaves will spread over the ground for some distance all around the plant in ideal conditions. Not sure if they like to crawl up things as the leaf cover is to keep the roots at the right temperature. Although its root growth is similar to potatoes, it takes much longer to mature than regular potatoes.

But July in the UK is a bit late for planting them as they need 4 months of warmth. I can't stress this enough. If you can take your pot indoors in September to finish them off, you'll be okay. But if they must stay outside, you'll get only a few useable tubers and lots of 'finger' babies that aren't useable. An insulated coldframe would likely be better than open ground or a crowded greenhouse.

If you don't have luck with the potatoes this year, keep the mother tuber watered all winter and it will keep producing 'slips' for next year when you can get them planted earlier. They're incredibly slow to start up unless you have real heat for them (like, +30C). If kept watered, the mother tuber can last up to 5 years.

[Kristen]

Many thanks Trillium.

The plant I bought has been potted on, and the runners are now about 3' long, and I will plant out in the greenhouse tomorrow - so hopefully its got enough time I'll leave the mother tubers in the glass (until my wife tells me she's bored of having them on the kitchen windowsill!)

Given that it is grown "like a Potato" ... should I earth it up? or will be tubers form on the "roots" without me having to earth up?

[Trillium]

No earthing up at all - the potatoes stay under the soil, but some mulch is good to moderate soil temperature.

[Thephoenix572]

I planted two in a greenhouse and three on a polytunnel through black plastic and they all seem to be thriving