More sweet potatoes!

9 years ago

Yesterday I planted some more sweet potatoes.
I have prepared a second, one hundred foot row for sweet potatoes.
20 - Grand Asia
5 - Red Wine Velvet
5 - Ula
5 - Cordner Red
5 - Ozark County

Ula (might be spelled Uala, as that is Hawaiian for "purple) is a Hawaiian variety, given to me by Ron Cook, a neighbor. Ron is the originator of Heavy Hitter okra. Anyway, Ula is a purple (inside and out) variety from Hawaii. It is exceedingly sensitive to cool/cold temperatures. The first time I picked up a couple of plants from Ron I went from his potting shed to the car, and drove about 3 miles to my house. It wasn't lower than 45 F outside, yet the plants wilted and died by the next day. When I finally put slips out, we had night time temps drop into the upper 30s, within two days. All my other slips were okay. But Ula died to the ground. So, the lesson I take from this is that, with Ula, one should be extra careful not to plant out until temps are quite warm. The plants, are growing like wildfire now.

Really, I think Gary (DuckCreekFarms) would agree, there is little reason to plant out sweet potatoes until temperatures are truly warm and stable. The little growth one might gain by planting early will usually be offset by setbacks brought on by cold spells. This would be true of any sweet potato.

Almost two weeks ago I received and planted 13 slips of Oklahoma Red, from Sandhill Preservation Center. They are doing fine. But it will be a bit before they start showing a lot of growth. I predict they will produce quite well.

June and even early July are still plenty early to start some sweet potatoes. I know both Sandhill Preservation Center and Duck Creek Farms generally have plenty of slips (at least some kinds) at this time of year. I can't remember whether Duck Creek Farms does specials. But I know Sandhill Preservation Center does. I've received a couple of slips of a couple of varieties, for only a "couple of dollars," in the past, by waiting until July. That's a great way to gain new varieties for grow outs in the coming year. I just grow them now and save roots for the coming spring.

Okay, I have to get going.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Comments (9)

slowpoke_gardener
9 years ago
George, I have some space coming open and your post make me think that maybe I should put in 6-8 sweet potatoes in the open spot. Can I cut runners off my Beauregard and plant them? I planted Beauregard and an ornamental in the same bed, it looks as though the ornamental may over-run the Beauregard. I would hate to loose my crop just because I wanted the bed to look nice.

Larry
wulfletons
9 years ago
Oh, George, you are bringing back such good memories. We spent our honeymoon in Kauai, and every day we bought some of those delicious purple sweet potatoes from the farmers' market and ate them for dinner. While I'm sure the fact that we were on our honeymoon made everything taste a little sweeter, we STILL both remember how good those potatoes were and we talk about those potatoes more than we talk about anything else from Kauai!

Krista
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Macmex
Original Author
9 years ago
Larry, you certainly can make cuttings from your existing planting. You don't even have to wait for them to grow roots. Just snip and plant. Keep them watered for about a week, and you're good to go.

Krista, I too have some good memories of purple fleshed sweet potatoes. I lived, with my family, in Mexico, for nearly 14 years. During the last 8 plus years we lived where I could grow sweet potatoes. I obtained starts of Red Wine Velvet (our family's heirloom) from Sandhill Preservation Center. But I also set about finding native Mexican "varieties," growing, and collecting them. I put "varieties" in quotation marks, as the locals hardly thought in terms of "varieties." The purple skinned, white fleshed "variety," which was the most common, was called "camote morado," meaning "purple sweet potato." But they also had a rarer purple fleshed sweet potato. I obtained a start after a couple of years search. I was able to grow it for several years. But when we returned to the USA I couldn't bring any sweet potato material back (by law). So, I lost several varieties which I really liked.

George
chickencoupe
9 years ago
Mine are doing great. These guys are really tough. I had to clip some leaves off. They looked mottled, but I haven't seen a return. We had rain and a long stretch of cloudy days. Even some of my sunflowers are dying from wilt. But those sweet potatoes are stout!

My son keeps asking about sweet potato pie. I hope they make good pie, because he can't wait!
Macmex
Original Author
9 years ago
Bon,
I'm so glad yours are doing well. They are definitely a "feel good crop," in that they generally thrive in our conditions and produce, even in difficult years. I forget what varieties I sent you, and forgot to write it down. But I''m sure you'll get to make sweet potato pie.
Since Friday I managed to make a second 100' foot row, for sweet potatoes. Beside what I list, as planted, above, I also put in yet another 10 plants of Red Wine Velvet, 4 of Ozark County and 20 more of Grand Asia. Then, to finish things off, I obtained 7 each of Barberman and Ginseng Orange from Gary Schaum, which went into that row. I left about 16' at the end, for a cattle panel of beans or some tomatoes. Lord willing, this will be the largest sweet potato harvest of my life.

George
slowpoke_gardener
9 years ago
George, you will be an old man by the time you are finished digging those sweet potatoes.

I planted another 9 cuttings, I think I will make another 9 cuttings to plant. But I have it made this year because I was able to con my kids and grandkids in to digging mine. I will only have about 50 or 60 plants.

Larry
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
9 years ago
I planted some in a kiddie pool, but the soil we bought is not draining well and doesn't seem to have enough organic matter. I may clip the starts and plant elsewhere. What would happen if I dug up the whole plant? They are not very long, despite being in the ground about a month.
Cynthiann
9 years ago
I'm growing purple sweet potatoes that I got from Duck Creek Farms. I think it's Purple Delight. I grew them last year. They aren't as sweet as an orange sweet potato and are also drier. I made them into sweet potato pie with a graham cracker crust and my husband absolutely love them. Since they are drier the pie is firmer, not as wet as with an orange sweet potato. I had to make purple sweet potato pie weekly for him and he was a little sad when I ran out of them in February. I wish I had taken a picture of the purple pie.

This year I'm trying out white sweet potatoes. I'm real curious to found out how they taste.

Cynthia
Macmex
Original Author
9 years ago
Amy,
You might be able to transplant the entire plant. But, just to be safe, I'd recommend that you make a few cuttings at the same time. See which performs better for you.
Cynthia, that sounds WONDERFUL! I will tell you, also, that I absolutely love white sweet potatoes. I've grown Brinkley White for years. Grand Asia is purple skinned, with white flesh and it is fairly dry fleshed. But I do love Grand Asia. There are others. I used to grow Southern Queen, which was also very good. Part of the fun is trying the different varieties, as there is so much variety in texture, sweetness and flavor.
Larry, too late, I think I slipped into "old man mode" when my back started giving me trouble!

George