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When, (or if?) to plant sweet potatoes for the fall
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Posted by frdnicholas Albuquerque NM (My Page) on Mon, Jun 23, 08 at 10:21
| I live in downtown Albuquerque, and have a yard with full sun. I am thinking about planting sweet potatoes for the fall and was wondering about the timing. Is it possible to do this successfully? Is there anything I should know about planting these? Can I buy sweet potatoes in the store and plant the eyes, or should I root half the potato in water first? I would greatly appreciate your expertise on this. Thanks. |
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RE: When, (or if?) to plant sweet potatoes for the fall
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| Please don't count this as expertise--just one season's experience with sweet potatoes. I planted some last year near the end of July (also downtown ABQ, morning sun) and by frost had a number of fingerlings. I just set an entire potato in the soil--the eyes had already sprouted, and the potato leafed out in a matter of days. Somewhere or other I've read that it's not a good idea to cut up a sweet potato and plant the eyes like you would a white potato--don't remember exactly why, but fungus or bacteria or rot or something like that played a part. For what it's worth, the leaves of sweet potatoes are also edible--they taste a little "starchy," but they make a fine addition to a salad and are packed with vitamins. If you don't get actual potatoes, at least you can have some dark leafy greens! They're also lovely plants--worth growing on their own. |
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