Does anyone know how to grow sweet potatoes from slips? 
Sweet Potatoes?
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PeterGreenMan
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- Location: Wales UK
Does anyone know how to grow sweet potatoes from slips? -
Westi
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Hi PeterGreenMan
Look at Junes issue Pg 52/53 as it has the info you
want. Also search this site for other ways to get your
own slips from supermarket bought Sweet Potatoes.
Having an advantage of location I am putting my 19 plants
in tomorrow (from 3 bought sweet potatoes). The
smallest is about a foot long vine and the largest is well over
two foot so I am expecting good things. They are going
through black membrane on the site of my old compost
heap so soil is ready and they have been hardened off for the
last 2 weeks. Fingers Crossed!
Westi
Look at Junes issue Pg 52/53 as it has the info you
want. Also search this site for other ways to get your
own slips from supermarket bought Sweet Potatoes.
Having an advantage of location I am putting my 19 plants
in tomorrow (from 3 bought sweet potatoes). The
smallest is about a foot long vine and the largest is well over
two foot so I am expecting good things. They are going
through black membrane on the site of my old compost
heap so soil is ready and they have been hardened off for the
last 2 weeks. Fingers Crossed!
Westi
Westi
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PeterGreenMan
- KG Regular
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:00 pm
- Location: Wales UK
Hi Westi.I may have been very clever of very silly but I've made newspaper sleeves to poy the long stems into. What do you think?
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Westi
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- Location: Christchurch, Dorset
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Hi PeterGreenMan
They look fine. Mine were in pots some the size
of the one in your picture and the others as wide
but not as deep. Despite the foliage being pretty
even in growth the roots were quite variable -
some of them filled the pot and the others were
quite sparse.
When I bought slips they were a diaster - no big
leaves like yours and all slimey. They did take off
eventually but only got little tubers and mostly
twisted and mis-shapen.
Yours look like mine did a few weeks ago so are
obviously healthy. You don't say where you are
but kept warm for a bit they should take off. They
apparently need 110 days to mature so hopefully
you can get them hardened off and in the ground
in June, then we can compare results and recipes
some time in September.
Westi
They look fine. Mine were in pots some the size
of the one in your picture and the others as wide
but not as deep. Despite the foliage being pretty
even in growth the roots were quite variable -
some of them filled the pot and the others were
quite sparse.
When I bought slips they were a diaster - no big
leaves like yours and all slimey. They did take off
eventually but only got little tubers and mostly
twisted and mis-shapen.
Yours look like mine did a few weeks ago so are
obviously healthy. You don't say where you are
but kept warm for a bit they should take off. They
apparently need 110 days to mature so hopefully
you can get them hardened off and in the ground
in June, then we can compare results and recipes
some time in September.
Westi
Westi
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FelixLeiter
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- Posts: 830
- Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:18 pm
- Location: East Yorkshire
They look to be in the rudest of health to me, PeterGreenMan. Don't expect them to grow very much at this time of the year. They make the most growth as days start to shorten. Give them as much warmth as you can — really cook them — and plentiful water. It's a good idea to encourage the roots to grow straight down, as you have here, to avoid contorted tubers.
I tried sweet potatoes last year, both on my plot and in the greenhouse border. There were very detailed instructions in KG April 2008 (if you keep your old copies). They grew well and looked vigorous and healthy and, I confess, I was feeling a bit smug. Sadly, the final crop was rubbish - nothing bigger than my baby finger - eliciting much merriment from the "old boys".