Old Sweet Potatoes

[so lucky]

I still have sweet potatoes left over from the 2014 harvest. They have lost some moisture, but many are starting to sprout. They were in a loosely covered box, so I don't know how long they have been actively growing.

It was some of these that I took out and put in water a couple months ago to grow for slips for the garden. Their growth has been very slow, and they are not real green and lush. I am jut wondering if the age of the potato has anything to do with the slowness of growth. There are lots of roots, just not a lot of top growth.
These are Beauregard, by the way.

I am not happy to learn that the largest locally-owned garden store here is now selling sweet potato slips in nine-packs, not bare root bunches of 25, like they used to. So from a practical ($$) standpoint, it makes more sense to start my own.
What are your thoughts about using 18 month old potatoes for starts?

 

[Smart Red]

I know nothing about growing sweet spuds other then mine are looking good and I am itching to get them into the ground, but:

IMHO, if the potatoes are sending out sprouts they should be just as good as any other sweet potatoes that are sending out sprouts. The sprout means there is enough food in the potato to generate and feed a new crop until the slip's own root system kicks in.

My slips seem to be growing slowly as well -- not that I know how quickly they should be growing. I cut the long sparse top leaves off and mine are developing leaves and stems lower on the plants, exactly as I expected and wanted to happen. The cut-off tops I stuck into the soil in hopes of getting them to set roots as well.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In the right hot climate sweet potatoes can be perennials. I'd expect yours to grow and produce perfectly well. In a white potato the age can matter but I don't think it will matter at all in a sweet potato.

Red, this is what mine looked like about a week ago. One of those vines was over three feet long. I cut them into sections where I stripped the bottom two leaves and left the top two and stuck them in water to root. I know I keep repeating myself but they need warmth. I don't know if your soil is warm enough for them to root or not. Aren't you using black plastic to warm the soil? People are planting sweet potatoes here but I'm holding off for another week or two. My growing season is long enough I don't have to be in a hurry, unlike some other people. Besides, our lows are in the mid-40's, unseasonably cool. It's nice to work outside without sweating though. Good luck with yours.

 

[so lucky]

Yes, IMHO it's still too early to set them out. We are having that cold spell that @seedcorn spoke of a couple of weeks ago. Lows in the mid 40s, which is too cold for sweet potatoes to be set out. It seems like so many things are early this year due to the mild weather. We should remember that we always get slammed in May.

 

[Smart Red]

Mine are still in the sun room, but I am itching to get them out. Yesterday I found. . . GASP. . . aphids on three of the slips. I didn't know there were aphids in the sun room. It's been years since I found them on an over-wintering pond plant and imported some Asian Ladybird Beetles from my BFF's house up the road to take care of them. They went outside for a good washing and shaking before I brought the slips back inside.

With all the seedlings in the sun room, aphids are the last thing I need.

 

[Devonviolet]

My slips are coming along nicely. Still not ready outside, to plant. So, am happy to have them still on the sweet potatoes, and just starting to root.

The ones (3) with green leaves came from our local Brookshire's Grocery Store. The one with burgundy leaves, is organic, and came from Costco. The organic Costco sweet potatoes are always such a beautiful rich, orange color & are nice & plump & sweet. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of SP I get from them!

Some of the sprouts got rather long, so I cut them off & put them in water earlier this week. They already have roots!
These are the Brookshire's slips:

These are the Costco slips.

I know they are small. I really just wanted to see how quickly they would root out.

 

[so lucky]

Those all look great. Much healthier than mine. Maybe I'll go buy a couple of big SPs from the grocery. Or just wait mine out.....