Sweet potatoes - any advice

[OverWyreGrower]

I know these are a notoriously difficult thing to grow

Got some slips yesterday, and have been soaking them in water as advised. It then says to plant them up into little pots and keep them on your windowsill for 2 to 3 weeks before planting out into their actual positions...

Has anyone done this (and had success) ?

Does anyone have any "top tips" for sweet potatoes?

Thanks!

[roitelet]

Mine are growing well. I rooted a sweet potato and then cut the shoots off and rooted them in water before putting them into pots. They are just beginning to take off. I am going to grow 3 of them under a cloche through black plastic. Just an experiment.

The other three I am going to give to a friend with a poly tunnel and see how she gets on with them.

[Alison]

They don't really work outside in this country, it's too cold and variable. I've only ever managed to get anything off them in pots in the greenhouse. You don't seem to need a very big pot to get quite a few potatoes off them and they are easier to protect if necessary - note that if they get any frost the potatoes start to go soggy and become inedible.

OWG - I got my slips initially from T&M but they turned up very late - a good month later than you've managed to get yours - and it didn't give me much chance to get them going. Didn't have to soak them though, put them straight into compost and most of them did well. You can also take cuttings off them in late summer and keep them going in the house until next year but I did find that they attracted black flies quite terribly.

[Two_Sheds]

Sweet potatoes crop best at temperatures between 21-26°C (70-80°F). It doesn't often get that warm in the UK for more than a day or two. Greenhouse has got to be the way to go.

Keep well watered, feeding every other week with tomato food.

[OverWyreGrower]

Thanks guys!

They've been kept in water, as I've not had chance to plant them out, but have developed nice little roots!

They're off into the greenhouse to be planted out this weekend, as I'm now averaging a temp of about 19 or 20 degrees most days

[terrier]

Update please How are they coming along. I've got some going in pots in the greenhouse but the plants are VERY small, I expected a huge straggly top growth like a vine but they're more like little compact plants.

[Alison]

When they get going you get a lot of vine off them - nothing like normal pots but plenty of it!

[terrier]

I transferred them into buckets a few days ago and am now growing them with the pumpkins in a plastic tent. They seemed to grow a few inches in the first day after moving them.

[TinyT]

I pinched out one of the runners on mine (was running too far - got a little impatient at the time). Now I'm kind of half regretting it incase the plant doesn't like being pinched out! Is it usually okay to pinch out runners?

[Alison]

I've pinched them out a bit in the past, they branch out instead. You can also root the pinched out bits. Dead handy at the end of the year, as, so long as you keep them warm, you have plants ready, nice and early, for next year.

[TinyT]

Thanks Alison.

[OverWyreGrower]

Update: mine are spreading like triffids! There is loads of vine on them, they seem to be enjoying the greenhouse!