That's good to know. I've been tempted to try it.

I've grown them in my zone 5 garden..even had some monster sized ones! I made a raised row, probably 8-10 inches high, then covered it with black plastic. Cut slits in the plastic to slip the plants through, and mulched with a thick layer of grass clippings. You could probably use landscape fabric, too. Probably would be better, as it would let more water through. We had an ubelieveable bunch of sweet potatoes that fall. Happy gardening to ya!

Thanks for the tips.Last year i used peat on my sweet potato slips, i got high yealds but they were not as big as the supper market but very tastey. Next year i will do a raised row and plastic cover that sounds like a good idea.I start them in Jan to get big slips 2ft length and make sure they are properly hardened off on my balcony before i take them out to the garden. Someone at the comunitie garden used like a putting green. It looked like an astro turf. i think it was more to keep the weeds down than to heat the soil. Happy Gardening

Sweet Potato. Started my slips for the 2005 season on Dec 12 2004 i want big slips. last year i started them 07 Jan. I trying two types the copper skin and orange inside, and another type with red skin with white inside. they are now in canning jars filled with water and toothpics holding them up will let you know my progress.

End of Jan. and some roots have started. Can see them in the jar. Happy New Year

Do you just use sweet potatoes from the grocery? I'm too cheap to purchase ones through mail order. Too spendy!!

Thanks for posting your progress. nice to hear something is growing in winter :-)

Yes grocery store Sweet Potato`s is the one`s i use for this project.

Great. I've been planting grocery store regular potatoes with good success; maybe I'll try the sweets. Thanks

Start them now they take a while for the Sweet Potato to get rooted in water, if you can get some roots then transfer to pots full of dirt.

This sounds like a fun thing to do. After transplanting into the outside garden, how long do you figure it will take until a harvest?

The roots grow underground and then about Aug. the leaves take off. Late Sept Harvest time.

Hey all,

How many potatoes do you get from one slip? I'm new to potatoes, and to northern gardening. Does each potato provide one slip?

Happy Winter,

Feegle

I got about 9 slips from one Sweet Potato, i have started mine in the middle of Dec., last year i got it started in the middle of Jan, i wana get some stong slips for the garden my 9 Sweet Potato slips out produced the 20 regular potatos (Kenebecs and Red Cheifton) the Sweet Potato take a bit longer but its more satifying.

That sounds great! I was just lurking on the Winter Gardening forum. OHMIGOD! I am sooo excited about it. There is very little room in my house for seed flats, so the Winter Gardening thing sounds great. That will let me give my limited space over to projects like the sweet potato. smile! I was so worried that having moved up to Canada from Maryland I would have to curtail my outdoor gardening all winter. Instead I'm discovering whole new avenues of gardening! (I'm sure my poor houseplants are breathing sighs of relief. I've been bugging them non-stop since I got my bulbs in.)

So how do I do it? I take a sweet potato and...
do I cut it up? stick it in a jar like an avacado seed?

I don't see "eyes" on the sweets the way I do on the whites.

Thanks for your indulgence,

Feegle

do not cut up the sweet potato feegle it wont work, remember that sweet potato and regular potato are not grown the same way and are not related the sweet potato is from the morning glory family, regular pototo growing is in a differant forum altogether

Okay, right!

I know I'm (VERY) late starting this, but if you can just bear with me...

You start the sweet potato in a jar like an avacado seed. Right? And after the roots appear you transfer it to potting soil. So far so good?

I'm still confused about what happens next. I don't really understand what a 'slip' is, or how you separate the multiple slips you get from the original potato.

Please help!

The sweet potato is put in water and then small roots apear and you might notice a few slips(Leaves) that appear on top. When this happens transfer to dirt. Then what will happen the Slips or leaves grow. After the slips get long cut them and transfer those to water to root when they root harden them off and they should be ready for the garden.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Feegle

I stumbled across this thread looking for a supplier for sweet potatoes and have had an eye-opening experience. YEAH! Feegle, I have grown sweet potatoes in my zone 5B garden for four years. (Not last year though, moved the garden) and I was advised just to plunk them in some soilless mix and put them on the window sill. Eventually they sprout, but they do need to be started early. Now that being said, I have started them as late as early April. They did OK that year but no monster potatoes. Good luck

Thanks for the info!

"No monster potatoes", but some potatoes? Happy little sweet poatatoes?

Feegle

Ok, i am very new to this whole thing. Now i know how to start slips. What does it mean to harden it off?
How long should they be before i cut them?
Do you use anything besides normal water to root the slips and potatoes? Rooting hormone?

Thanks all i can't wait to grow sweet potatoes.

Q

I want to try sweet potatoes next year. I planned on growing them in a garbage can. Please someone tell me: How long should the slips be? a foot?
When I cut the slips off do I take some of the potato with it?A chunck?
How many potatoes do you get from a slip?
How long do they take to grow?
Thanks so much, Juanita