I have a small garden so I grow my sweet potatoes in 30 gallon containers. I put three slips in two containers and four in one container. We harvested 23 potatoes over two pounds, twelve 1and a half pounders and a bunch of small ones I’m saving for next years slips. Most right a the top but we also had quite a few trying to grow from the bottom! They were in containers 123 days, we live in zone 8b, I stopped watering in early August except for really dry soil
Just pulled mine today in west KY. We are in drought and the ground was so hard I had to use my shovel so I broke a few that I will have use up quickly. Those Tators were deep! I got a good haul that should feed my family of most of the year!
Good info regarding sweet potato harvest! We planted in large bins so will dump out to harvest. First year growing them. Hopefully, our extra rain will not impact our harvest.
Jeff from East Tennessee. Trying to put a small fence inside one side of my garden. A space of 25 feet by 50ft!! I just don’t have time to reinforce my main outside fence all the way around my garden. I will start that in winter. I think this dang animal will eat my cabbage and broccoli. Not going to take that chance! Other than this setback, things are going good! Summer garden slowly fading out! Thinking of more seeding tonight or tomorrow night. It never ends. I will grow until it snows! lol!! Everybody just seed all the time. Keep on trucking. Enjoy your garden!! Thanks!!
Last year (first year growing sweet potatoes) I had foliage galore but not many sweet potatoes. Got around 35 slips from one good sized potato saved from last year (good genes?) and divided them up between 2 30\40 gal buckets and a 40 gal tote. I was a little late getting them planted so will be leaving them until the end of Sept, only about half as much foliage as last year - maybe due to being in an area that gets quite a bit of afternoon shade. Watered weekly for the first month or so, but after that only when things got really dry. Fingers crossed for a good harvest, we're a fixed income household so nothing will be wasted! Main problem (apart from quantity) is how to cure them in upstate SC (just in zone 8a) with no obvious place for curing or storage, any suggestions greatly appreciated.
I grow the Beauregard (orange flesh and skin) and Korean (antique white flesh and red skin) - those are my two favorites to eat so that is what I grow. I trellis my vines and I eat the leaves and stems during the growing season. I leave some main vine stems and leaves for the tuber health but there are many more leaves than needed for that purpose. The leaves are delicious and nutritious, both fresh and cooked. If I had a deer problem I would toss a deer net over the vines so the deer couldn't eat them but I don't have a deer problem here. I garden in northwest Florida USDA zone 8b. I can usually harvest the sweet potato roots in October or November but I can leave them in the ground much longer if I choose to and I personally have not had any bad experience from doing so which is good for me because I simply go dig out some roots when I want to eat them. I find them them quite delicious straight from the earth for supper the same night I harvest them.
@@guzinkarides3871 I make a variety of sweet potato curries with both kinds that I grow and they taste delicious in the curries right out of the ground. When I collect more than I can eat, or after first killing frost, I brush off any damp dirt on them, then I store them in cardboard boxes with newspaper in my enclosed back porch. I do agree there is better sweetness after letting the starch convert to simple sugar over a couple weeks, and I do get up all my sweet potatoes once the frost comes and kills the vines because any that remain in the ground end up sprouting the following year in the late spring if not before. Even though I practice crop rotation I usually let those volunteers grow and vine up my trellis for I love the greens they provide for my eating pleasure, I grow legumes with or following my Ipomoea crop. As I'm sure you know ipomoea, such as sweet potatoes, are part of the morning glory family.
This is the first time I have ever tried to grow sweet potatoes... I have probably done lots wrong but we will see!! My first oops was getting the slips into the ground till late.
Love your videos! Couple of questions, and maybe you mentioned it and it was missed; what would be the ideal “meal count” you would want to grow for your family? How long do sweet potatoes store for? Please speak to about curing the sweet potatoes- so many folks don’t have a clue! I planted mine in mid May here in Eastern Washington zone 6b-a7a- trying to figure out when to harvest!
Was given some sweet potato shoots from the farm I volunteer at, planted them in a raised bed and they have flourished. Haven't yet harvested but did get some beautiful purple and white flowers, don't know what that means for the future of my plant, I've heard the genetics are complicated?
Usually grow Beauregard, tried growing Covington for the first time this year. Ordered early but weren't delivered until about June 15th. In zone 8a and usually plant about a month before that, so my harvest will be closer to the end of Sept. Curious to see how they did. I always cut a couple dozen vines to root in water and transplant to a pot to keep growing indoors during winter, not for a harvest but to cut and root more slips for replanting the next year.
in one of your older videos you used alfalfa pellets ( Animal feed) to add nitrogen in your garden bed. Is this a better long term way than using a slow realise nitrogen fertiliser, or same difference? Would it work for fast crops like corn? or are you using it just to add back to the soil after a harvest? (I think they where alfalfa feed)
@@sandybottomhomestead yeah, I have to learn when to start a slip and how to. This next year will be as good as any to give it a shot. I'm expanding my garden beds and food forest like crazy.
I'm originally from the UK and see a lot of allotment gardeners in the UK are growing sweet potatoes (wasn't heard of when I lived there 25 years ago) so you should be able to grow them in western wa.
I have a small garden so I grow my sweet potatoes in 30 gallon containers. I put three slips in two containers and four in one container. We harvested 23 potatoes over two pounds, twelve 1and a half pounders and a bunch of small ones I’m saving for next years slips. Most right a the top but we also had quite a few trying to grow from the bottom! They were in containers 123 days, we live in zone 8b, I stopped watering in early August except for really dry soil
Awesome harvest, will be harvesting mine soon.
Just pulled mine today in west KY. We are in drought and the ground was so hard I had to use my shovel so I broke a few that I will have use up quickly. Those Tators were deep! I got a good haul that should feed my family of most of the year!
Good info regarding sweet potato harvest! We planted in large bins so will dump out to harvest. First year growing them. Hopefully, our extra rain will not impact our harvest.
Jeff from East Tennessee. Trying to put a small fence inside one side of my garden. A space of 25 feet by 50ft!! I just don’t have time to reinforce my main outside fence all the way around my garden. I will start that in winter. I think this dang animal will eat my cabbage and broccoli. Not going to take that chance!
Other than this setback, things are going good! Summer garden slowly fading out! Thinking of more seeding tonight or tomorrow night. It never ends. I will grow until it snows! lol!! Everybody just seed all the time. Keep on trucking. Enjoy your garden!! Thanks!!
Just stumbled onto your video because I’m ready to harvest my first sweet potato crop. 7 Covington and 7 vardaman plants
Hope you get alot
Last year (first year growing sweet potatoes) I had foliage galore but not many sweet potatoes. Got around 35 slips from one good sized potato saved from last year (good genes?) and divided them up between 2 30\40 gal buckets and a 40 gal tote. I was a little late getting them planted so will be leaving them until the end of Sept, only about half as much foliage as last year - maybe due to being in an area that gets quite a bit of afternoon shade. Watered weekly for the first month or so, but after that only when things got really dry.
Fingers crossed for a good harvest, we're a fixed income household so nothing will be wasted!
Main problem (apart from quantity) is how to cure them in upstate SC (just in zone 8a) with no obvious place for curing or storage, any suggestions greatly appreciated.
alot of foilage and no taters means to much fertilizer
I grow the Beauregard (orange flesh and skin) and Korean (antique white flesh and red skin) - those are my two favorites to eat so that is what I grow. I trellis my vines and I eat the leaves and stems during the growing season. I leave some main vine stems and leaves for the tuber health but there are many more leaves than needed for that purpose. The leaves are delicious and nutritious, both fresh and cooked. If I had a deer problem I would toss a deer net over the vines so the deer couldn't eat them but I don't have a deer problem here. I garden in northwest Florida USDA zone 8b. I can usually harvest the sweet potato roots in October or November but I can leave them in the ground much longer if I choose to and I personally have not had any bad experience from doing so which is good for me because I simply go dig out some roots when I want to eat them. I find them them quite delicious straight from the earth for supper the same night I harvest them.
If you eat them straight from the garden, do they taste like sweet potatoes? Without the curing process aren't they starchy and not sweet?
@@guzinkarides3871 I make a variety of sweet potato curries with both kinds that I grow and they taste delicious in the curries right out of the ground. When I collect more than I can eat, or after first killing frost, I brush off any damp dirt on them, then I store them in cardboard boxes with newspaper in my enclosed back porch.
I do agree there is better sweetness after letting the starch convert to simple sugar over a couple weeks, and I do get up all my sweet potatoes once the frost comes and kills the vines because any that remain in the ground end up sprouting the following year in the late spring if not before. Even though I practice crop rotation I usually let those volunteers grow and vine up my trellis for I love the greens they provide for my eating pleasure, I grow legumes with or following my Ipomoea crop. As I'm sure you know ipomoea, such as sweet potatoes, are part of the morning glory family.
@@Maggie-Gardener-Maker Good to know, thanks!
I did read that crop rotation is not necessary for sweet potatoes.
yes they will be starchy thats why we cure them.
we rotate everything. pests will set in eventually.
This is the first time I have ever tried to grow sweet potatoes... I have probably done lots wrong but we will see!! My first oops was getting the slips into the ground till late.
i hope you get alot out of your grow.
Love your videos! Couple of questions, and maybe you mentioned it and it was missed; what would be the ideal “meal count” you would want to grow for your family? How long do sweet potatoes store for? Please speak to about curing the sweet potatoes- so many folks don’t have a clue!
I planted mine in mid May here in Eastern Washington zone 6b-a7a- trying to figure out when to harvest!
Next week curing. We hope to get about 100 servings
Was given some sweet potato shoots from the farm I volunteer at, planted them in a raised bed and they have flourished. Haven't yet harvested but did get some beautiful purple and white flowers, don't know what that means for the future of my plant, I've heard the genetics are complicated?
that means your plants are happy. They are as complicated as you want them to be i try to keep it simple.
If you give those potato vines to your chickens their egg yolks will get nice and orange.
we give them half and compost the other half. they eat so much out of the garden their yolks are already orange.
Usually grow Beauregard, tried growing Covington for the first time this year. Ordered early but weren't delivered until about June 15th. In zone 8a and usually plant about a month before that, so my harvest will be closer to the end of Sept. Curious to see how they did. I always cut a couple dozen vines to root in water and transplant to a pot to keep growing indoors during winter, not for a harvest but to cut and root more slips for replanting the next year.
Great harvest and interesting analysis as well. Do you remember the number of slips you put in the bed?
32 ish
in one of your older videos you used alfalfa pellets ( Animal feed) to add nitrogen in your garden bed. Is this a better long term way than using a slow realise nitrogen fertiliser, or same difference? Would it work for fast crops like corn? or are you using it just to add back to the soil after a harvest?
(I think they where alfalfa feed)
I look at it as an amendment not a fertilizer. I still fertilize
@@sandybottomhomestead Thanks , I'm still new to all this!
I love sweet potatoes but i dont think they would grow well here in mild western wa
You never know till you try😉
@@sandybottomhomestead yeah, I have to learn when to start a slip and how to. This next year will be as good as any to give it a shot. I'm expanding my garden beds and food forest like crazy.
I planted my sweet potatoes super late but I don't think I wrote it down either. I have no idea how long they've been in the ground. 😮
I'm originally from the UK and see a lot of allotment gardeners in the UK are growing sweet potatoes (wasn't heard of when I lived there 25 years ago) so you should be able to grow them in western wa.
Date night potatoes for three? Is that a date night with a chaperone?
Always need a chaperone 🤣