Kitchen Garden Forum

I'm off to Amazon then Colin! Shall we do a forum experiment you & giaur500 & anyone else interested enough? I've got the old broken cold frame with the broken sides substituted with old fridge shelves with a top that is just mesh! A packet of seeds is not a huge investment! Could be interesting? Have you both have the space to play with this? My space is not ideal but protection from the wind will be necessary even down here in the tropical end of the UK!

Don't feel good about starting from seed, reviews not good.
Plan for this year is try growing slips from last years potatoes, plus try and find an organic one as well.
Going to plant in low cover over part of a raised bed and in bucket in green house.
Found best result last year was in bucket in a cold frame.

Soz Colin misread that!

I have one 'special' looking one from last year saved to see if I can replicate the forgotten one in the airing cupboard which I got a fairly good crop from after planting on the sprouts/slips a few times before planting out. But hedged my bets & ordered some as well. The experiment one from last years crop of bought ones, will be outside in the patched up cold frame, the invested in ones are for the tunnel! I could invest in a new cold frame but harden off my plants at home not at the allotment so it would be a waste of money, but just thinking the tunnel guys left me the scraps of the big bubble plastic & it could be handy to further patch up the old one on the allotment. Got more work to do on this as I don't have the lid frame to secure it to so watering would be difficult, but I'm sure I can sort something out.

Colin2016 wrote:Don't feel good about starting from seed, reviews not good.

5 days soaked (1 day warm water, 4 days cold water), popped within 5 days. Not soaked are still dead, but I'm pretty sure they are going to germinate too. Sprouts grow pretty fast, I'm optimistic so far (unless, that's not actually sweet potato, it's to early to be sure). We'll see what happens

I was so happy with my bought slips last year so ordered again! I've got so many of a good size & still wading my way through them & hoping as quite a few left, one will naturally start to sprout! That one will be for slips for the outside bed, the bought ones for the tunnel. Trouble is I mixed them up with the harvest so won't know if the ones that grows slips is an inside or outside one! I want it to be an outside one that has built a bit of tolerance so will be more careful this year to store them separately!

Before you ask, the outside ones were smaller but the inside ones had little babies as well!

Hi, how long does it take for the slips to start forming? I've had my halved potatoes in water for a month now and nothing's happened yet!,

Is your a supermarket one Cazz61 as I had same problem last year.

This year I brought 3 off potatoes from Bulgaria £3.90 free p&p.

The one on the right is 3 weeks old the one on the left is 1 week.

Temperature is around 26 degrees.

Fingers crossed they perform well.

Colin, those slips aren't too far off taking to create your vines!

Can I ask why Bulgarian ones? Where do they originally come from? I'm thinking if grown there which is totally possible for the big veg guys they could be hardier? All my attempts have been from total tropical places. I've gone back to the bought slips in the tunnel as not only did they grow well but stored brilliantly! J

Just went out to take a wee pic of my last 3 of the many I harvested to find the tiny one has a slip growing. It's in the veg rack in the kitchen, no heat, no attention! I've still got 2 pumpkins to use which I know will not last as long as these so prioritising! Yep the pic comes with the usual health warnings regarding anyone with a neck injury!

Actually looking at the pic that looks a different variety, but it grew from the same slips I bought! Making me think a bit? Better hardened off & thicker skin or ???? I wonder if to make up the number of slips I got a different one? Deffo haven't bought any so another mystery?

Hope to pull off the slips today and plant up in greenhouse today.

Got the Bulgaria ones due to cost (free p+p from there £4.95 here in uk) plus could not find untreated ones here.

Looking forward to getting neighbours old conservatory plastic roof so I can cover one of the beds for growing.

Good luck with your ones Westi.

Does anybody know what variety is that?
https://i.imgur.com/LbRZlhN.jpg

Leaves like curly lettuce, I've never seen it before.

Interesting, it looks a bit like a rhubarb leaf & it doesn't look like it is going to vine either. There are white tubers so has to be one of those to have the green leaf, but nowhere like the shape.

Tuber (I mean hypogeal tubers, not leaves) I used to grow slips has white flesh and violet skin, so nothing special. But I've never seen leaves like this, I think they may be eatable, taste seems to be similar to lettuce.

Afaik some varietes never vine, this one is too young yet to start vine though, need to wait and let it grow to see.

Interesting bit on Grow your own last night.
One of the presenters made a cold frame filled it with grass cutting then compost and planted whole sweet potatoes.

Good idea of adding grass cutting to increase the heat, thought they had to grown from sllps though.

But do they? That wouldn't happen in nature so maybe we are doing it wrong? The slips would grow out of the mother in the right conditions & we know we get quite a few from our techniques but do we by taking them singularly off the mother reduce their chances as they need the mother tuber like normal spuds do to supply the right nutrients for growth?

Looking forward to giaur500's response, he seems well more knowledgable! My slips look healthy & looking forward to the forthcoming temp increase to see them take off & do their thing! I hope they like the melon that has already woken up in the corner of their patch!