Sweet Potatoes

[MarkHackwell]

I have just been looking at getting some Sweet Potato plants. Has anyone ever grown them? and how did they turn out?

[Bigmallly]

Hi Mark, I've tried twice with zero success.............I'm not even tempting 3rd time lucky.

[Hayley]

I brought a sweet potato plant from b&q last year, I re potted it into a large bin and kept it in a blowaway greenhouse(the 4 shelf kind) in a really sunny sheltered spot. By the end of summer I had about 6 sweet potatoes. I've put one of them in the kitchen window to try and grow slips for growing this year and I have 2 little purple spruts so far ��

[Snow]

I grew some last year. They were reduced at B&Q late on so did not get as long in the ground as they would have liked. I grew them in a container, with a black plastic cover over the soil, and a homemage cloche. This was my crop.

Decent considering they were two months short on growth time. But it was a very warm summer, so that helped. They need it to be hot!

I dont plan on growing them this year, not enough of a return for the space.

[Kitchen Gardener]

I can't remember where I read this but the info said to buy sweet potatoes from supermarket (ones to eat). You then cut them in half and put them cut side down in a tray of water. after a while they will send out little sprouts which you then remove and plant. They need keeping warm. Not tried this but will do when I get my heated greenhouse.

[Kristen]

I have just been looking at getting some Sweet Potato plants. Has anyone ever grown them? and how did they turn out?

Strikes me as early to be getting plants - they will need a heated greenhouse (or maybe a windowsill) at this time - I'd prefer to put other must-have plants on my windowsill at this time.

I can't remember where I read this but the info said to buy sweet potatoes from supermarket (ones to eat). You then cut them in half and put them cut side down in a tray of water. after a while they will send out little sprouts which you then remove and plant. They need keeping warm.

Not sure about cutting in half, when I did it I stuck some cocktail sticks in the tuber to support its bottom-end (just) into a glass of water.

Downside with supermarket ones is that they have sometimes/often? been treated with chemicals to stop them sprouting, so it can take months before they shoot. Shouldn't be a problem if starting now though

I grew mine in the greenhouse, and I'm a bit sceptical that they will do much outside.

[goddess]

Tryin g them for the first time this year. Bought some organic ones in winter and kept them warm, it took a long time but then sprouted. I have at least 8 slips in small pots and will put them in black buckets in un heated green house in a couple of weeks. I read an article in mother nature about growing in northern climate which was interesting

[Valleyman]

Last year I grew sweet potato (I think ‘Georgia Jet’?) in a black polythene potato planter in the corner of the greenhouse. It grew like a weed and was given a serious amount of TLC given the supposed difficulty in getting them to grow well.

"Pah", I thought. "Beginners luck maybe", I mused. "But look at this thing. It's HUGE and loves it here!". The foliage finally died back and I was super excited. I even waited for a warm day to harvest so I could start the curing process for my bountiful crop.

Most. Disappointing. Crop. Ever.

Combining the roots I harvested I probably had a single mid sized potato.

I am not trying again this year. 2 more greenhouse toms have taken the space.

[batman]

I sprouted a supermarket sweet potato in a glass of water last january, and planted out some of the slips in the soil left behind by my early potatoes in late June. I dug them up when I cleared the rest of the bed for the winter. And behold! We had a few smallish sweet potatoes! In no way a good harvest, but I think we were pretty late with everything (sprouting, planting out), so I wasn't expecting much. All in all, we got about a pound and a half from two small plants.

This year, I started the sprouting process in December, and I've now got four smallish plants in pots in the greenhouse. They'll go out once the nights are a bit warmer.