Straw Bale Sweet Potatoes - Four Types Grown In A Straw Bale
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2020
- I planted two straw bales with sweet potatoes this year. I'm really happy with how they did and the harvest that I got. In this video, I'll show you my harvest of the first bale. I planted 4 types of sweet potatoes in this straw bale, and I also planted a few slips right in front of the bale. I was a little surprised that the slips in the bale actually did better than the slips planted directly in the ground.
The 4 different types of sweet potatoes that I grew in this bale are Molokai Purple, Myanmar, Okinawan Purple, and an unnamed variety that I got at trader Joe's. Spoiler alert.....the unnamed variety grew some huge sweet potatoes.
Before you go, let us know what your favorite sweet potato is to grow.
Here is how I condition the bale: • Conditioning, Planting...
Here is how I prepare the bale to plant: • Preparing A Straw Bale...
Latest Garnet Sweet Potato Harvest: • Sweet Potatoes Grown I...
Harvesting Garnet Sweet Potatoes Grown in Straw Bales: • Harvesting Garnet Swee...
How To Start Sweet Potato Slips: • How To Grow Sweet Pota...
Harvesting Several Types of Sweet Potatoes: • Harvesting Purple Molo...
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I garden in zone 6b, in the state Kansas. I would love to hear from you, so feel free to comment, make suggestions, ask a question, give tips, tell about your garden, or even offer constructive criticism.
Thanks for watching!
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I got excited at
that huge clump.
What variety!
Molokai Purple, Myanmar, Okinawan Purple, and an unnamed variety that I got at trader Joe's.
@@MidwestGardener
I was shocked
at the volume
and variety.
That's what I want.
Thanks!
@@degraham9198 You're welcome!
How beautiful ! The bail is a show stopper ! Love planting sweet potatoes
Thanks a bunch! They did well enough that I'm already looking forward to trying it again next year.
I want to go harvest all of my sweet potatoes now! Very nice harvest!
Thanks Rose! I hope you get a bunch!
Awesome harvest Jim. Have a great weekend and stay safe. 👍🏻
Thanks David! I hope you're getting some nicer weather like we are here. Stay safe!
Good morning Jim. I can see some advantages to growing in the straw bales. Who knows maybe I'll give it a go next Spring. WOW the Trader Joe is huge. Well done. Best wishes Bob.
Good morning Bob. Thanks! Yep, that one from Trader Joe's really grew some big ones. I have a few more of that type that I planted in the ground, but I haven't harvested those yet.
This is a wonderful video. I really liked it that you said the dates that you were showing. That's good information!
Thanks a bunch! Glad it was helpful!
Great harvest! We are also growing in sweet potatoes in hay for the first time this year. We will be harvesting them soon. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! I hope you have a great harvest!
Amazing Harvest 😊. Congrats :)
Thanks! We were happy with what we got.
Wow, that one is so huge. Because you have great mulch... and healthy soil too...
Yep, that was a big one. I'm looking forward to growing that type again next year. I think using the wood chips as mulch the last 4 or 6 years has helped a lot.
Well done Jim.
Thanks Scott! I'm looking forward to trying this again next year.
That was super nice harvest my friend 😊
Thank you! Hope everything out your way is ok. We've been getting some nice sunsets here because of the fires on the west coast.
Really like your videos man.
Thank you very much! I really do appreciate that!
Very nice harvest - that Trader Joe’s one is the biggest sweet potato I’ve ever seen!
Thanks Sasha! Yep, that one was a monster. I was a little surprised when I got to that one.
I enjoy watching. 🤗
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome video, like watching a movie.
Thanks Freddie!
Fantastic!
Thanks Michelle!
As a Vietnamese we're growing a lots of sweetpotato specialy Asian sweetpotato like the ones u r growing is very heavy in starch .more so than American sweetpotato.
U have so much JOY in your voice when you're taking about your sweetpotato.ilove it. Thank you sir.
Thank you very much for such a nice comment, Mai! Yes, Asian sweet potatoes are a little different than those commonly found here. Thank you for watching!
Holy macaroni me, Angel and Kiddo even were triggered on growing sweet potatoes finally this year. Ours are looking rough and will look into them pretty soon but really had alot of ideas from this first run. Really cool seeing such a big harvest over there. That one potato could probably make 2 smaller pies or one deep dish. Fun grows. Thanks for the share!
Lol. They are kind of a fun plant to grow because the foliage looks kind of like a house plant. I hope you at least get a few to try. I grew one in a 5 gallon container, and it turned out to be a dud. I've found that certain types do better in containers than others. Any type of potatoes are like Christmas for me though.....you never know what is going to be in that package :)
That looked so beautiful! I want to do this now. We love sweet potatoes, but they're awfully expensive here, so I think I need to give this a try.
It's a fun experience....or at least I thought so. I'll probably plant a couple of bales this year.
Beautiful harvest Jim! I hope they all taste great!
Thanks a bunch! They will come in really handy this fall and winter.
Your welcome
Great harvest! Those unknown ones look really tasty by their rich color and size. I hope I'm as lucky as you were. My vines are sprawling everywhere. I even planted some in raised beds. We'll see how that works. I usually wait until after our first frost to dig mine up. It's tempting to go peek after seeing your video. Maybe.....Have a great weekend. 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
Thanks Shirley! Be sure and let us know how yours do when you harvest. You guys have a great weekend too!
@@MidwestGardener Yes. I will. 😊
Wow! You got a bundle of blessings in that straw bale! Can you reuse that straw bale? As always, i wake up to you video. I'll watch it before i get up to get ready for the day! Thank you. 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱
That's a good way to look at it.....a bundle of blessing :) You could use the bale for mulch or compost, but not much else. Thanks a bunch for watching!
Very nice taters ya got from that bale. Those trader joe ones are huge. We plan to dig ours up today to see what we got. Stay safe and have a great week!
Thanks CB! Yep, that one was a monster. I hope you guys get a bunch from your harvest! You guys have a great week too!
I don’t know if you know this but you can blanch the leaves and eat them. There’s definitely an abundance of them
Thanks! I've had quite a few people try to encourage me to eat the leaves. I really need to do that.
😋 love sweet potatoes.
We do too.
Sooo cool seeing how they grew in hay!
Thanks! Yep, they did pretty well in the straw bales.
Midwest Gardener sorry...meant straw! 😁
No problem :)
Okinawan potato are very sweet.
Yes, I've grown them.
Next time you do sweet potato try mix a little sand on a the soil. I think it will help. I seen it before on the soil the grow kind of smallish but on sandy soil they do better. And is more easier to pick.
Thanks for the tip. I'll give it some thought.
Great harvest, Jim!! These potato harvest are my favorites!
Thanks Susan! I will have a couple more coming up in a few weeks.
Thats great!!! Ill do that next year, our star went up another dollar to 8.00 a bail...and finish my first greenhouse 🙂 thank you for your great video of different types
Thanks a bunch, Melinda! Wow, I'm glad that our straw hasn't come up from last year. It's still 6 bucks a bale.....but this is wheat country. Cool that you have a greenhouse now. That is on my long list of things to do here. It's going to be time to start planning for next year before we know it.
@@MidwestGardener keep up the great work, i love your videos ! I plan on 3 greenhouses this winter...first one is great i dont have to water much, its very humid in there and very warm its 10×30
I really appreciate that, Melinda! Sounds like you have some room to work with. You can do a lot of good with a 10x30 greenhouse. Enjoy!
Nice. I planted 4 hay bales that were in a square with center area full if wood chips and soil and planted with melons. My hay bales were practically falling apart when I planted but got dry and harder when I harvest. This left few sweet potatoes and no really big ones when I harvested. Think ill do raised bed next year!
Interesting. Thanks for sharing how yours did.
Wow! I have so many leaves not much happening Underground. I did find a purple Molokai that I steamed lightly and put in the blender. Then I added it to sourdough pancake batter along with some grated ginger. Top them off with toasted pecans mixed with a little coconut oil or butter, would be delicious. Cinnamon, sugar a bit of salt. My purple pancakes were really delicious!
Thanks for sharing your purple pancake recipe. Sure sounds good to me!!
@@MidwestGardener yes, I was a bit disappointed my my kids are all grown up though. If you ever wanted to try them yourself, I'm sure you or your wife could just look up a recipe for sweet potato pancakes or pumpkin pancakes. Thanks for the video. I'm going to be on the lookout for the Trader Joe's purple sweet potatoes.
@@justbeachy2031 I made a purple sweet potato pie last year, but I never thought of pancakes. Good luck finding the purple sweet potato at Trader Joe's. I don't go there very often, but that was the only one I've seen, and it was a very small one. I think I just got lucky that time.
Great if possible make vedio on how to prepare beds before harvesting🙏
I'll keep it in mind for this year.
Tons of biology on the ground. This heavy mulching and no till gardening is way to go :)
That's true. It's like it's own ecosystem.
Thanks for the videos, I appreciate how your descriptions get right to the point. Do you ever eat the greens? I’ve read that sweet potato greens are edible and nutritious.
Thanks a bunch Steve! I've been told by lots of folks about the greens. I intended to try them this year, but never got around to it. My wife doesn't cook much anymore, and even though I thought about it quite a few times, I never got around to it.
OMG Yes! They are great, and Very, very nutritious. Tasty too.
The leaves of sweet potato can make a healthy salad,,the young one leaves,,
That’s lovely I’m sure to try growing some myself. Thanks for the inspiration.
You're welcome, Laura! If you give it a try, I hope you do great with it! This year, we had great luck with our Garnet Red Sweet Potatoes, and that Purple variety from Trader Joe's. I'll be posting a video later this morning that will show some of the ones we harvested from our straw bales.
A lot of produce from a small space my friend:))
Hey...good to see you! Doing the best we can. Hope things are going well up north!
@@MidwestGardener Doing my best Bob Dylan...Keep on keeping on:)
Going to try growing in straw bales next year.
Have a QUESTION, do you can any of your tomatoes, if so, what varieties do you like for canning?
New to your channel, enjoying it!
Hi Cheryl. I'm glad that you are enjoying my channel. I appreciate the support! We haven't gotten into canning yet, but we sure are thinking about it now that we see what can happen with this pandemic. The straw bales have worked better than I expected on the sweet potatoes. I think it must be the looseness of the straw that allows them to grow bigger. Both bales did well.
You can run the PLU number on the internet and it will tell you what variety it is.
Too late this time, but thanks!
I just harvested my sweet potatoes too! You make me want to try straw bales. How much watering did you have to do for them?
I had 3 dripper on that bale. I think they were 2 gallon per hour drippers, so they would have gotten about a gallon of water a day out of each dripper. I had them on the same line that waters my banana trees. They get water every day too during the heat of summer. I was pleasantly surprised by how the bales worked for sweet potatoes. As of now, I plan to try it again next year.
You can eat the leaves and it very nutritious too.
I've heard that, but believe it or not, I still haven't gotten around to trying them yet.
👍👍👍
Great video! What in detail do you do with these to allow them to cure? Thank you!
Depending on the weather, I put the sweet potatoes in either our shed, or our detached garage to cure them.....for about 10 days.
Doamne dă-mi sanatate sa cultiv si eu !
I hope you are blessed with good health for many years to come.
The sweet potato leaves are just as tasty. Tastes like sweet spinach.
Thanks. I've heard that from so many people now that I'm going to have to give them a try next year.
Cook them if you have a sensitivity to oxalate. These leaves have very high levels of this toxin. Probably as high as spinach, and you will get VERY sick if you eat lots raw for prolonged periods. They are great for goats, rabbits, pigs, though.
@@CarnevalOne Thanks for the tip.
its still to early to harvest, but plan in the straw .,.,. wow
Thank you!
How did you get this straw bale ready for planting? I would love to see your process. TY
Here is how I condition the bale: th-cam.com/video/tredysH3-ck/w-d-xo.html
Here is how I prepare the bale to plant: th-cam.com/video/eUgUH2n9Xdk/w-d-xo.html
How To Start Sweet Potato Slips: th-cam.com/video/n9ZIzs9PmIg/w-d-xo.html
Once you plant the slips in the straw bales, how often do you have to water them, if at all? Thanks, this was awesome to watch and very inspiring to give it a try!!
I don't have to water them as often in the spring when it's raining more often, but in the summer after it gets hot, they get a little water every day.
@@MidwestGardener thank you. On to a new planting adventure!!
@@dib496 You're welcome.
Wow! Amazed at the Trader Joe's sweet potato harvest. I know you don't have the name of the variety, but what color is it on the inside and was it labeled organic? It looks absolutely Frankensteinian next to the other varieties.
The Trader Joe's sweet potato is purple on the inside. I don't remember if it was organic or not, but the sweet potato that I bought was much smaller than the ones I grew.
@@MidwestGardener Thanks! Going to try this with some of the purple ones from Trader Joes then. I like the straw bale method you used. If you have a planting video for the slips feel free to post it!
I don't have one on planting the slips, but I do have some on preparing the bale to plant, and conditioning the bale. As for planting them, I basically just stick them in a hole in the bale and water them. I can send links to the other videos if you want.
Where did you get those okinawans?
I got those from Baker Creek.
Beautiful, do you ever sell your slips?
Thanks! No, I don't sell anything.
Youre welcome. I'm trying to find Okinawan slips but can't seem to find them any where
@@offiegalehaughton8427 I've only seen them at Baker Creek, but I haven't really looked for them elsewhere.
Hi! I’m in Kansas also and doing back to eden. Any tips on plants I could grow during a Kansas winter?
I don't really have anything that grows during winter, but I always try to have a little cilantro in the ground in the fall. It's pretty hardy and usually makes it through the winter just fine. Of course, I plant garlic usually in October and it stays green most of the winter and starts growing as soon as the ground warms up a little.
Midwest Gardener thank you for the reply!
@@jblue9313 You're welcome!
I'm full of questions! Where do you get your straw bales? And after harvest, can you still use it for mulch over winter for something like strawberries, or is it too decomposed? How do you cure them? And which of these sweet potatoes stores the best? Also, looks like you could use some rain! (we sure could too.)
I'm not sure about the rest, but here's his bale conditioning video. th-cam.com/video/tredysH3-ck/w-d-xo.html
I get the straw bales from a feed store that isn't that far from where we live. Yes, the straw can still be used for mulched, but it is about half broken down. I cure them in our shed and our detached garage. That is why I try to harvest before the weather turns too cold for good. As far as I can tell, they all store pretty well. Yes, we need some rain here, but it looks like we will have to wait a while longer.
Did you add compost or anything else to the straw when you planted them?
I conditioned the bales first with high nitrogen fertilizer. Then, this year I used mostly homemade compost on the bales because I didn't want to go out and buy soil because of the pandemic. I did a video on conditioning the bales if you want to see that, I can give you a link.
@@MidwestGardener Should I try to coat the straw with the compost throughout the whole bale. What kind of straw should I look for in the store?
I use wheat straw. This is how I condition the bale and prepare it for planting. I think I used some rejuvenated soil in the video.
Here is how I condition the bale: th-cam.com/video/tredysH3-ck/w-d-xo.html
Here is how I prepare the bale to plant: th-cam.com/video/eUgUH2n9Xdk/w-d-xo.html
Why you not eating the leaves yummy cook it with garlic stirred fried sweet potato yummy
I know.....I really need to do that.
I try growing potatoes and sweet potatoes in straw snail's and pill bugs ate most of them
You must have really had them bad. We had a bunch of pill bugs, but once the sweet potatoes started growing well, they didn't seem to slow them down much. I'm assuming they ate yours when they were first planted.
@@MidwestGardener not so much as the plants itself but the potatoes when i dig them up potatoes had pill bugs and snails inside whole all in the potatoes
Oh, wow. That sure would be disappointing. Sorry to hear that.
Do you have to harvest all at one time? By that I mean can I pick a few when I want to eat them…and not all at once where they might go to waste….
Also, I’ve not looked it up yet. But what’s involved in “curing” a potato?
You don't have to harvest them all at once if you don't want to. I cure them in our outside shed. Ideally, you would want to have 80-85°F temperatures, and 85-90°F humidity. I don't have a good way to achieve humidity that high, so I concentrate on the temperature. I try to harvest my sweet potatoes when the temperature is going to be ideal, or close to what I need.
@@MidwestGardener I have a green house I think the humidity would be high in there. But if not for sure I can bet the heat would be. We live in a hot area of the USA. It’s already 90 today!!
@@MidwestGardener thanks for the tips
@@melallred6523 You're welcome!
i thot they needed to cure to firm the skin for storing. friend told me not to leave some of the dirt and not wash til i use them.
Yes, they do need to cure. I cure ours about 10 days to 2 weeks.
Still young need more months before harvest
We didn't have more months. Cold weather was coming.
Some rodent-ish thing got into my potatoes & sweet potatoes ... really decimated them 😭 ... but I was able to harvest some. I'll build a box that I can protect next year.
I'm sorry to hear that about your sweet potatoes. I know that has to be very disappointing.
You can eat the leaves
Thanks! Yes, I've heard from quite a few people that say they are good.
I need the leaf of the sweets potatoes leaves please send to me in England
Sorry Jane. I don't do that.
What kind of straw is this?
It is wheat straw.
@@MidwestGardener ty, do you think pine straw would work ok? It is abundant and cheap here. Wheat straw is double the price.
@@Seashell832 I'm not sure. If it's a lot cheaper, I think I would try a bale just to see.
No nutrients ?
Just plant in straw ?
Here is how I condition the bale: th-cam.com/video/tredysH3-ck/w-d-xo.html
Here is how I prepare the bale to plant: th-cam.com/video/eUgUH2n9Xdk/w-d-xo.html
Your "unknown purple" was a Stokes Purple Sweet potato.
Thanks! I've seen Stokes, and these look a little different.
@@MidwestGardener Wow, they look like the Stokes I got at my local Trader Joe's. I wonder how much attention these suppliers pay to accurate labeling???? I have seen sweet potatoes with some pretty ridiculous "names" at some stores.
@@tvideo1189 That is a good question. I'm not really sure about that. I'm sure to some folks a sweet potato is a sweet potato.
I am guessing your in the southern hemisphere
I'm in Kansas, right in the middle of the U.S.
@@MidwestGardener I know this is off topic, but how is life in Kansas?
I've lived in Texas nearly my entire life and am looking to move.
It's too hot here, and I want to get a house with no neighbors in sight.
All the good real estate appears to be in Missouri, but Missouri is known for its hate groups and intolerance.
My coworker told me that Kansas is suffering from some financial & infrastructure collapse.
What has been your experience living in Kansas if you don't mind me asking?
@@kitsurubami Well, since I've lived here all my life, I can't really compare it to anywhere else, except for maybe Tennessee. My oldest son lives there, and he really likes it a lot more than Kansas. It can be pretty hot here in the summer some years. We had one year about 9 or 10 years ago that had over 50 days that topped 100 degrees. It's probably not as extreme as Texas though. It can be awfully windy here too. That is probably the thing we like least about Kansas.
@@MidwestGardener thank you!
@@kitsurubami You're welcome!
Lazy way to plant sweet potatoes
Yes it is :)