Saving Sweet Potato

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Westi
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Welcome to the forum shawnmichael! If interested in winning with sweet potatoes giaur500 is the man to ask - always willing to share his experience although we do have to modify it a bit for the UK climate which is being really testing this year.

But like most growers we are planning days on the plot/garden over the long weekend not a day at the beach like others, since it appears mother nature is finally playing with us & not against us! For an update on my bought slips they are doing not much on top but definitely appear happy so expect roots are going down as he anticipated. I will curse them when in full flight & I run out of space trying to control the vines, but they will be forgiven if I get good sized tubers.

Ask anything on this forum & there will be someone with an interest & with experience to answer & no question is too silly. They have been there & certainly guided me from mega disasters. It appears there is not many of us but we are definitely not inclusive - just the way it turned out until the KG team updated the site to post good pics & post more!
Westi
giaur500
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In my location, spring is incredibly cold, especially May was more cold than usual. I hope weather is going to become more warm. It's almost June!
I'm really irritated so far, places where it should be cold are actually hot Siberia for example, every day +30, Russia - Moscow or Norway is also warm
giaur500
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So, after 3 weeks:

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New leaves are there, so they are still alive. Waiting for hot summer.
giaur500
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Finally getting warm weather. They grow pretty fast, although old leaves created indoors are completly burned by sun uv radiation:

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New leaves appear very fast. Not bad overall. How is yours?
Westi
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Hi Giaur500!

While mine are nowhere near the size of yours I was very excited to see new tiny leaves on them today. Nights are warmer now so I can leave both of the doors in the tunnel open & I think they approve of the extra ventilation. I will try to remember to take some pics.
Westi
giaur500
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Sure, you can share some pics. Mine are only outdoors, all of them. Night temperature.. I guess it's between +17 and +20 most the time in my case, but minimal value just before sunrise is 12-15.

Day temperatures are nice so far, 23-25 in the shadow, but sunny places are very hot.
Westi
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They aren't exactly romping away but look like they are establishing themselves & have new leaves. Tunnel temp high 20's C lowest, but mostly much higher & lowest 16C & they are in first section so ventilation is OK! I run the dripper house along the dip in the mounds I planted them on, but it is not on when I can get down to water. I'm kind of optimistic but my ultra successful crop was well more established, but it was a much better year with an earlier Spring!
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Westi
giaur500
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I have a few ones from the same variety as yours in the garden and so far, they looks similar - small and they don't reaaly want to grow. My previous pics shows purple variety, which always grows faster.

But also the same variety in a pot on the balcony grow like a crazy, climbing up:

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But on my balcony, temperature is always 35 day and 20 night, maybe that's the reason.
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Janet K. Sullivan
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Westi wrote:Today when I went into the tunnel I noted the sweet potatoes had pushed themselves out of the soil. I couldn't resist & tried to pull a couple for the neighbour & myself but no way they would budge, so got the fork out & was totally amazed at the size. In that one spot I had 4 that were over a foot long & one smaller one. I'll be interested to see what size they are where the vines have rooted but it is going to take me a while to use my 3 up. It proves they need the heat so Colin it might be opportunistic to plan some sort of clear plastic tunnel to cover them. I grew a fair crop in an old broken cold frame that I patched up with some old fridge shelves I found, but I just netted the top & on reflection they would have probably done better if I had searched around for a glass top & done some more watering.

Anyway I hope this might encourage you to keep trying - only taken me a decade & although I'm lucky to have the tunnel I'm sure you could be successful if you could try to replicate the warmth! ;)
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This looks awesome!
giaur500
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I'm getting nice progress, look here:

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giaur500
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Very hot weather every day. 30 °C day / 20 °C at night. Forecasts are very optimisc too. Sweet pototo plants grows very fast, almost all available space has been taken:

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How is yours?
Westi
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Hi giaur500!

Mine are not getting the temperature they like best, but I don't even have to water them in the tunnel as so much rain it is seeping under the tunnel cover. They are starting to vine but need the tunnel temp to stay high for longer. I constantly check the min/max when down & it drops from nearly 30C to just 20C in about an hour when a storm or wind direction changes.

Fortunate (for me) you posted. Do you feed yours? As is my way I wander onto sites & a US site recommended feeding them. I do general soil prep in the tunnel with a bit of compost top up but have never intentionally fed my previous ones. They are vining but kind of stagnant & not going rampant like they should. I don't think his is going to be the year for them as the weather is not playing!
Westi
giaur500
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I don't feed them at all. I think soil is not very rich there. I don't want to feed them unless really required, because there's a risk to get large leaves and no tubers. I don't know what to use to feed them also.
Westi
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Thank you as usual. I want large tubers as well, so no feeding for them. Cheers!
Westi
giaur500
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Well, possible you can feed them with something and it helps to get larger tubers. However, better to don't do that unless you really know what are you doing. And better don't feed than overfeed, especially with nitrogen.

As they grow fine so far, I don't want to bother with it.
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