First year for sweet potatoes

[HunkieDorie23]

I finially got some sweet potato slips. They weren't very good so the feed store gave me a discount. I have 5 of them. I started them in a 5 gallon container, I wasn't sure it they would all make it and they are all putting on new leaves and it has only been two days. Will they be OK with 5 in a container or do I need to do something?

How many sweet potatoes does a slip produce? Should I get 5 five gallon containers. I only have two. I have a couple of two gallon, will those be big enough?

 

[Carol Dee]

I have never grown sweet potatoes, but figure they should be very much like regular potatoes. Which I have always had planted in ground. (So I am no help there.) I think you are going to want some more buckets. DH is a comercial/indusrial painter so we always have too many buckets around l'd give you some if you lived close. I don't really think 2 gallon will be big enough. Good Luck and I will be watching to see how they do.

 

[catjac1975]

They are not at all like white potatoes. They are not planted deep. They rather spread out like roots and then the roots thicken and become sweets. I have found they need a lot of water up north in Massachusetts. I have only grown them in the ground. They should be 18 inches a part so you may have then too close. There are sweets recommended for the north. The others need too long a season for me. Do not get curious and dig them too soon. They take a long time. I plant them mid May and harvest at the last possible time in fall before a freeze. They can produce 1 or a 4-6. Depends on the season. Are you considered north? I think you have hotter and longer summers than I do in Massachusetts.I have not found a good way to store them to make them last over the winter. The whites last all winter.

I finially got some sweet potato slips. They weren't very good so the feed store gave me a discount. I have 5 of them. I started them in a 5 gallon container, I wasn't sure it they would all make it and they are all putting on new leaves and it has only been two days. Will they be OK with 5 in a container or do I need to do something?

How many sweet potatoes does a slip produce? Should I get 5 five gallon containers. I only have two. I have a couple of two gallon, will those be big enough?

 

[lesa]

I grew them in containers last year, and have them planted in the ground this year. I think if you separate them out into two 5 gallon containers, you should be fine. They certainly didn't grow like crazy for me... The leave are attractive (and edible) and they are a fun novelty.

 

[retiredwith4acres]

We have a couple hundred plants out in the ground. They do like room to grow. We made large ridges to plant them in and still probably got them too close. As was said before, plant in May and dig right before or day after first frost. The sweets stored better for us this year than the whites. I put them in the garage in crates with a quilt over them and still have a half crate left. Our whites lasted about a month in the basement before starting to sprout, too warm. Remember that sweets are harvested differently also. You actually wash them and let them cure in sun for a few days before storage. Good luck!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't grow them in containers but grow them in the ground. I suggest getting as big a container as you can find. The roots can get really deep. They usually handle dry conditions really well since their roots go so deep.

Those vines will run everywhere. Give them a lot of space. I have not measured it but I'd say mine will form a solid mat withing 5 or 6 feet of the plant. The actually keep a lot of weeds down once they get established by self-mulching.

Interestingly, if you look at different extension websites about sweet potatoes, you get a pretty wide variety of how far apart you should space them in a row. I've seen anything from 6" to 18", but 9" to 12" seems to be the most consistent recommendation. These are generally for commercial operarions.

 

[ducks4you]

MidAmerican Gardener (Formerly "Illinois Gardener") talked about them last week. No, while potatoes are a different type of vegetable than sweet potatoes. They recommended "Beauregard" as a good first-timer sweet potato to grow. They need lots of room, but some people grow them just for the climbing vegetation and are surprised when they dig them up in the Fall.
In zone 5/6, where I live, you can start them as late as July 1st, but I'm getting mine next week.

 

[Just-Moxie]

This is our 2nd season growing sweet potatoes here in SC. They went wild last year, and took over 2 rows on each side of their own. So, this year, we have planted them up front in their own spot, to be used as ground cover. Then, in October when the leaves die off, we can dig them up and store them. We have been enjoying them all winter, although it has been quite challenging to come up with recipes. We just don't want baked or candied sweet potatoes every week.

 

[retiredwith4acres]

Moxie, have you sliced the sweet potato as french fries, tossed with olive oil, and baked at 425* for about 10-12 minutes. Almost like french fried without the bad oil.

 

[Just-Moxie]

Moxie, have you sliced the sweet potato as french fries, tossed with olive oil, and baked at 425* for about 10-12 minutes. Almost like french fried without the bad oil.

I used to do that all the time, but with my new DH...(we just married on April 20th, 2012), he is allergic to olive oil as well as many other oils, and foods. I have to cook carefully with him, as I have seen him suffer from eating something that he was allergic to.