sweet potato plants

[LadyPlod]

Hello, been given some sweet potato slips and saw Joe Swift on Gardener's World grow his up canes, but can't see anything about growing them like this anywhere else. Does anyone have experience of growing sweet potatoes and how did you do it? Don't know what conditions they like either.
Thanking you kindly!

[terrier]

The roots like to be in moist well drained soil and they require a VERY long growing season if you want them to produce edible SP's of any size. As they are grown normally in warmer climates, they won't like living in Cheshire too much so keep them in a greenhouse or at least clotches. I'm growing some in large pots in a plastic 'tent'. Also the leaves are edible as a cooked veg but as yet I havn't tried them to see what they taste like.

[LadyPlod]

Thanks Terrier, like the big pot and plastic tent idea and now thinking that they might be happier growing indoors instead of my windswept lottie! When you say VERY long growing season, would we be talking 10 - 12 months?

[Rhona]

I've always wanted to try sweet potatoes - eat loads of them and very expensive if you buy organic (just got 3 from Waitrose for £1.99!) I'll be following your progress - don't have room this year unfortunately. Good luck!

[Alison]

There are loads of other threads about this but basically you can grow them in this country but they're not easy or remotely prolific. I've tried them under black plastic in the garden and even in a warm year it's a no go but you can do quite well in pots which you can carry into the greenhouse etc when it gets a bit cooler and get quite a few from. Don't let them get any frost tho as they go to mush.

[terrier]

Here's an article I found about growing SP's in UK.

Growing sweet potatoes
Versatile and increasingly popular, sweet potatoes are well worth trying outdoors in milder areas - or in a glasshouse or polytunnel elsewhere

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a scrambling, tender perennial closely related to morning glories. Grown as an annual, the tubers are harvested in early autumn and can be eaten straight away or stored at 10-15°C (50-60°F) for a few weeks.

Recommended cultivars
Although it is possible to grow plants from supermarket tubers, it is more reliable to buy cultivars sold for growing in the UK, which are hardier than most selections. Those well suited to our climate include pale-fleshed ‘T65’ and golden-fleshed ‘Beauregard Improved’.

Cultivation
Plants are ordered as cuttings or slips, delivered from late April onwards. Pot the cuttings immediately on receipt into small individual pots of multipurpose compost. Should the slips be unrooted, simply cover the pots with a clear plastic bag or place in an unheated propagator until roots appear.

Grow the plants on in a frost-free, well-lit spot until early June. In mild regions, sweet potatoes can be planted outdoors after a period of hardening off. They require a highly fertile but light, preferably sandy, soil. If your soil is not naturally sandy or free-draining, plant into ridges 15-30cm (6-12in) high, spacing plants 30cm (12in) apart, with 75cm (2.5ft) between rows.

Ideally, plant under a cloche or fleece tent. Alternatively, grow in a glasshouse in large tubs, growing-bags or the glasshouse border. Whitefly and red spider mite can cause problems on foliage under cover.

Sweet potatoes crop best at temperatures between 21-26°C (70-80°F). Keep well watered, feeding every other week with a high-potassium liquid feed.

Harvesting
The leaves of sweet potato can be eaten like spinach and harvested at any time. Tubers take from four to five months to mature; they can be lifted from the end of August, or wait until the leaves begin to yellow and die back a few weeks later.

Hope that's usefull.

[LadyPlod]

LOADS of help, thanks everyone. Right then, I'm going to keep the sweet tatties as a large pot plant indoors, will make an interesting talking point! We eat tons of them but I am resigned to not being able to provide for the family. I shall post my results (whether I get any or not!) whenever they happen.
Thanks again,
LP