Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

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FBeyer
Posts: 1069
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

Post by FBeyer »

http://hearthookhome.com/how-to-grow-sw ... ato-slips/

This! We're definitely doing this next summer.

BadHorse
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 4:17 am

Re: Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

Post by BadHorse »

Looks pretty awesome! Is Denmark warm enough for sweet potatoes? Kansas is quite a bit further south and inland.

FBeyer
Posts: 1069
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Re: Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

Post by FBeyer »

Meh. All I need is a see-through tarp and I've got a portable greenhouse ready for the garden beds. Yard faces directly south so there is plenty of sun actually.

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

Post by cmonkey »

DW did this for the first time this year from the sweet potatoes we harvested last year. It worked very well, just one little chunk gave us enough for 2-3 plants. We also planted ours in straw towers to make harvesting easier. We did the straw tower thing 2 years ago and we had sweet potatoes nearly the size of a football. Growing in the ground gives us potatoes that are tiny. It's amazing the difference.

FBeyer
Posts: 1069
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Re: Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

Post by FBeyer »

Thanks. I only just read that article and someone mentions at the bottom that a 'standard' potato tower growing method isn't well suited for sweet potatoes, but you can still use the tower as a large planter.

I might just have to give tower growing potatoes a shot next year. If nothing else then for the perverse pleasure of growing food in a tub.

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

Post by cmonkey »

Trust me it works for sweet potatoes. :D The only major issue is that the vines go everywhere, but they do that in the ground too. I'll put a photo up later when we harvest.

FBeyer
Posts: 1069
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Re: Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

Post by FBeyer »

Thanks. I really appreciate it.

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: Growing sweet potatoes from a single potato

Post by cmonkey »

So we harvested our sweet potatoes at the end of October and I forgot to share the photos....here ya go. :D

If I could do one thing differently it would be to build the towers in very early spring, like March, so that they could compress down before planting. Then when you plant, you could add more. Otherwise, this is a super duper way to grow any root crop because NO DIGGING. :shock: You get much bigger potatoes and no damage so they last a lot longer. We also didn't get any vole damage, because voles tend to stay at ground level!

I just used grass clipping instead of straw and it worked pretty well.

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Leaves removed.

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Wire removed and grass removed.

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