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saved potato tubers

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Posted by tedevore 7b Al (My Page) on
Thu, Nov 17, 05 at 18:53

This year I bothered to dug up my ornamental sweet potato tubers, and I have the soft-ball sized things in a bucket of dry vermiculite in the garage.

How do y'all get them to sprout again when it comes closer to spring?
Do you put toothpicks in them and set the end in a water mug, kind of
like you can do with an avacado set up in a windowsill?

May sound like a dumb question to those of you who grow poatoes.
Although other potatoes sprout "eyes," and this doesn't seem to be the case for sweet potato.

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RE: saved potato tubers

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Used to be that farm folks had an outside potato house where they stored potatoes, Irish & sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, etc. This might be a dug-out in the side of a hill, with wooden walls, saw dust floors and roof, usually old corrugated tin. The roof was then covered with dirt. One panel was left partially uncovered for easy access. The veggies were covered in dry sawdust or shavings. Having said that, I would suggest using the vermiculite, Keep it dry. Check on the potato from time to time to be sure it isn't shriveling. About February 1, dampen the vermiculite. Put the potato in a warm place. It will begin to sprout "slips". You can carefully remove the slips as they develop leaves. Pot them up. The potatoe will continue to produce slips for several weeks. The slips will develop into new plants. BTW, my mother said she used to harvest slips out of a potato house in Cullman back in the 1930s. She earned a dime, 10 cents, for every thousand slips she harvested. So much for the good ol' days, huh?

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