Any Sweet Potato fanciers in attendance?

[Slim Pickens]

Lookin for advice on varieties to grow out. Varieties that have piqued my interest are: Carolina Ruby...Murasaki...Okinawan...Ginseng... I'm not stuck on any particular variety, so if anyone has a suggestion I'm open.

 

[Creeperpark]

Japanese Purple Sweet Potato. I love them for the taste and the purple color. They do well in Carolina​

 

[Slim Pickens]

Japanese Purple Sweet Potato. I love them for the taste and the purple color. They do well in Carolina​

I'm interested in a purple variety as well. I'll have to look into that one C-park.

 

[led05]

Growing them and plenty other things; where they don’t belong, well climatically at least …

 

[Creeperpark]

Very nice indeed. I love homegrown potatoes. Yours look super wow!!!

 

[St. Phatty]

You actually dig up the ground to harvest the potatoes ?

That's sort of like WORK.

 

[Nannymouse]

I much prefer sweet potatoes to 'regular' potatoes. How the heck does one grow them up north?

 

[led05]

I much prefer sweet potatoes to 'regular' potatoes. How the heck does one grow them up north?

Not easy with 200+” snow my lady ….But you should try some Russian Fingerlings; they are dang tasty too, here’s a few I dug up yesterday, great year for them, they are huge !

Sweet potatoes growing - For starters You hope they send the slips on time! Then you cover them in fabric first month to give them jump start, problem here is the rodents LOVE them over all other root veggies… that’s why above you see them in the GH, I planted very late last year (slips 3 weeks late) but probably still got 70-80lbs which isn’t bad…

Same deal with Melons here

 

[Nannymouse]

Although i have tried, repeatedly, we have gotten ONE melon (a small fast type) in the past ten years. Also have problems with winter squash. sigh.

 

[led05]

Although i have tried, repeatedly, we have gotten ONE melon (a small fast type) in the past ten years.

Where’s there’s a will…. Maybe a way….

Also have problems with winter squash. sigh.

Whom these little guys

I get the melons the squash bit surprising; comparatively I suppose I live in the French Riviera as my moms used to say - so spoiled for sure

Happy growing got some serious IPM I’m behind with

 

[Slim Pickens]

Where’s there’s a will…. Maybe a way….
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Whom these little guys

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I get the melons the squash bit surprising; comparatively I suppose I live in the French Riviera as my moms used to say - so spoiled for sure

Happy growing got some serious IPM I’m behind with

You Sir, are my hero. If I could pick my neighbors,you'd be near the top of my list.

You actually dig up the ground to harvest the potatoes ?

That's sort of like WORK.

That's what the good Lord made containers for. Tip 'em over and pick out the bounty.

I much prefer sweet potatoes to 'regular' potatoes. How the heck does one grow them up north?

Like led5 said,you can use black plastic early on. You'd likely struggle where you are Nanny. Where we are, our season is long enough and warm enough too.

 

[Nannymouse]

Some of those squash look just like the Black Futso that i have successfully gotten a real crop of...one time in ten years, ha.

Yup, here...i do not trust the end of August not to frost...and spring time is even more unpredictable. Now, i don't even put the tomato starts outside, until June 1st.

 

[led05]

Some of those squash look just like the Black Futso that i have successfully gotten a real crop of...one time in ten years, ha.

Yup, here...i do not trust the end of August not to frost...and spring time is even more unpredictable. Now, i don't even put the tomato starts outside, until June 1st.

Look like and IS Black Futsu which is a delicious & well storing varietal - stink bugs (bmsb) love nesting & laying eggs on all squash varieties - fun fun

Redoing my one work bench/rolling table now to turn into farm stand for the girls, getting old enough now to have a clue

 

[Nannymouse]

I can grow sweet potato vines in the house, over winter. One of the store-boughts started to sprout, so i stuck it in a beer cup and tried to keep just a little bit of water in the bottom or the cup. Got tired of the aphid magnet, tossed it. But it did grow real well, indoor. The south-west side of the house has a terrible problem with aphids...in the house...every year. It's a battle, but i do find out which plants and types of plants that make good trap plants. It's sort of the same with gnats, but those little asses have been a lifelong problem, they are everywhere in the country. This is sort of a first, for me, with the aphids. I hate to bomb, have not tried hitting those rooms with a short intense ozone bath.

 

[Nannymouse]

Oh, yeah, the futsus are good keepers. I found one (we got TWO winter squash, last year) that stores even better/longer...it's one that is grown outside of Venice, Italy...you can find it at Baker Creek, name escapes me...Chiogga something? And they were very tastey, for us, too.

 

[troutman]

Fresh homegrown food is the best.

 

[troutman]

Cooking a nice rutabaga now.

 

[acespicoli]

photo from jere gettle baker creek

Molokai purple sweet potato
originally got these from Baker Creek www.rareseeds.com (no longer stocked)
Grow these in 100% leaf and grass branch biochar yard waste rich compost and they get this color of purple, black dirt
lost them in transit one year,,, so minor set back found them again on etsy of all places who knew?
also was able to grab some potato onion seed and egyptian walking onion bulbs when the commercial sites were sold out for the season.
fingerling potato assortments etc

Grew these a few years, steam them in a glass pyrex dish with a lid in the microwave, when fresh moist no need for anything flavor is amazing plain.
Have a japanese purple cut, these are a lttle different in foliage and tuber, supposed to be from Hawaii,

found out about slade farm from https://www.southernexposure.com/categories/sweet-potatoes/
Also some others I have obtained thru https://sladefarms.com/ will post some Hernandez pics come harvest time

 

[Slim Pickens]

@acespicoli You liked the Molokai then. I'd been pouring over the purples looking for a good choice as the purples can be pretty dry. I'll have to remember that one.

Might I encourage anyone interested to have a look at https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/copy-of-sweet-potato-varieties-2 for all the sweet potato varieties you could hope for. They maintain close to 200 varieties,many of which are heirlooms just like me . (they also stock the Molokai)

Sandhill also preserves heirloom vegetables of every description. I try to buy what I can there because they are (for the most part) a husband and wife operation preserving probably a couple thousand varieties (plus poultry and Lord knows what else). I can't even imagine the dedication involved to do that. I understand that on top of everything else,the husband is also a high school teacher.

Heirloom Seeds | Sand Hill Preservation Center

Heirloom seeds, organic sweet potato slips and heritage poultry. Sandhill Preservation Center has over 2500 varities to choose from.

www.sandhillpreservation.com

 

[acespicoli]

its good dont miss it
best fresh. add water when steamed if left on the counter for awhile, store in damp coarse vermiculite till ready for use stays moist, very good
no need for butter or sea salt good as is, and perfect for purple sweet potato pie
225 varieties to choose from, thats alot of taters to try thx for the link

Growing Sweet Potatoes – Mother Earth Gardener

Nutritious and high-producing, sweet potatoes are a rewarding root crop to grow.

www.motherearthgardener.com