Growing Sweet Potatoes For the Home Victory Garden

[Horsehat]

what method did you use to start your slips?

I put a bag of black cow composted cow manure in a black plastic basket like wholesale produce venders use (I lined them in cardboard to better hold the soil) and buried the cull sweet potatoes in there. Keep well watered but not to the point of sogginess. I believe less water more frequently works better than cycling wet and dry. I pulled and planted them all at once but if you had fewer potatoes to start with I believe you could pull the rooted slips and replace the potatoes into the cow manure and get more.
I have a greenhouse and started them there but you could probably build a cold frame out of wood or hay bales on the south side of a building and use that just fine.
before I did this I thought it might be a difficult process, was surprised how easy it was and how many slips they produced.

 

[mo mauser]

Steele Plant Company is selling sweet potato slips during the month of January 2022 for shipment to your planting zone later in the spring. I'm buying 50 slips of the Orleans variety (which produces more #1s than Beauregard though related) listed in a mailer I received from Steele, and also 50 of the Vardaman variety which grows no vines. They emailed an invoice which I will pay over the phone. The Orleans variety carries a small royalty fee ($3.25) since it was bred by LSU. And no sales tax! Steele's email contact information is: plants@steeleplantcompany.com
Telephone: (731) 648-5476
Their website is: https://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/our-sweet-potatoes/

I ordered these based on this thread. I tried my own slips last year from grocery store potatoes without success. Thanks

 

[Horsehat]

I ordered these based on this thread. I tried my own slips last year from grocery store potatoes without success. Thanks

Was very happy with the ones I bought from them. Have been starting my own slips from the slips I bought there for several years.

 

[Sowega86]

I ordered these based on this thread. I tried my own slips last year from grocery store potatoes without success. Thanks

We had an abundant harvest last Fall filling two large laundry baskets with a combined weight of about 120 pounds. We shared with family and friends and still have some left- that was the strategy last winter to plant more than what was needed for the holidays so we would have leftovers for the winter months. I gave them an extra week of curing in a warm utility building and they turned out to be exceptionally sweet. And for about three to four weeks after harvest, I gleaned the garden and found more potatoes where they were never planted. Either the vines set them or the roots just extended further.

This year's plan is to maximize space while increasing productivity for 2022, and hopefully save money at the grocery store on fresh fruit and vegetable purchases. I have started by removing some useless decorative fencing spanning the front side of the garden and replacing it with heavy wire fence panels from Tractor Supply to match the other sides. These are cow panels which have more horizontal wire at the bottom to keep out small animals and larger square openings going up to the top. These large openings allow for harvesting veggies through the wire.

My favorite vines produce green beans that are 5 inches long. And growing them on the fence increases yield while saving space for sweet potatoes and okra. My preferred variety is Dutch White Half Runner (a.k.a. Mountaineer). I will also try out Kentucky Blue this year which makes smaller tender beans than Kentucky Wonder. Btw, Park Seed has a variety of Romaine lettuce for spring planting that makes smaller heads in 45 days and is currently running a sale on seeds to offset current sticker shock. https://parkseed.com/mini-romaine-blend-lettuce-seeds/p/52735-PK-P1/ During these unprecedented times where shortages abound including certain seed varieties, I've made it a point to buy enough seed for several seasons to store in the refrigerator or to vacuum seal the packets with O2 absorbers.

 

[Sowega86]

Was very happy with the ones I bought from them. Have been starting my own slips from the slips I bought there for several years.

I've read the recommendation to change out the seed stock after a few years to improve the gene pool. I just decided to change varieties as I hope to increase production. For the last two years, I planted the Covington variety which I bought due to it having more disease resistance. It produces a goodly amount of large and medium potatoes but quite a few smaller potatoes. Those smaller ones are what's left now. And I filled a bucket with finger-sized potatoes which are ideal for growing slips.

 

[mo mauser]

I forgot to mention I bought the Georgia jet variety.

Also, I usually plant red potatoes the week of Valentine's but am running behind. Those should go in this week.

 

[mo mauser]

I planted 50 slips a couple of weeks ago. The deer are ravaging them. A row of 17 is down to 4. Heck they are eating the tops out of my red potatoes. Not sure the sweets will survive.

 

[Horsehat]

I planted 50 slips a couple of weeks ago. The deer are ravaging them. A row of 17 is down to 4. Heck they are eating the tops out of my red potatoes. Not sure the sweets will survive.

they love them, the foliage is over 30% protein. I quit planting them til I got a deer proof fence.

 

[Sowega86]

I planted close to 200 slips this week. I bought most of the slips from Steele Plant Company in TN and the rest I grew. I planted Covington, Orleans, and Vardaman (bush variety).

 

[Sowega86]

The 2022 harvest was a mixed bag as the Vardaman variety produced thick elongated tubers and not more rounded potatoes. And the Vardamans were very deep and consequently, many got broken during excavation. The Orleans were too few and I will avoid planting those two varieties again. The Covington variety was consistent making small roasters to large potatoes.

For 2023, I planted all Covingtons and had a very good harvest. We have had little waste and consumed fewer damaged potatoes which could not undergo curing. I began curing the 2023 crop on October 5-6, 2023, but the weather for the following week was cooler in the 60s and raining. The second week warmed up into the 80s and they are still curing now in the 3rd week as the weather is in the low 80s. I'll take them out of the barn at the end of the week. I kept a fan in the barn to circulate air flow as I found out that potatoes in the bottom of the baskets weren't drying as well.