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Mon, Aug 20, 12 at 19:04
| How do I know if they are ready....?
I dont want to take them apart or hurt foliage etc I made the bins last year after reading here and watching videos.. But made them for regular potatoes....They were not successful for the reg potatoes.... So since my sweet potatoes were grown in totes... I thought I would be piggish and use my 3 ft tall bins approx 3 ft square each so grateful for my sweet last year in those two totes. yum yum... I pray I will get plenty and the critters stay away esp I was told that groundhogs will eat the foliage. Rahwaw!!!!! before I waited till almost frost. But weather was different this year An Amish guy was selling some last week..... I did find out that some vendors not esp Amish were buying from a terminal and reselling..... If I cant grow myself I still rather buy local This area unfortunately isnt as rural as it used to be. Too many farmers are dying off etc...Yuppies are buying their homes and lands, and or developers are diving up into separate tracts... my place was once lot bigger. the "kids" did not want the couple of acres or the money pit house I much rather buy from another guy several miles away... cheaper and I have walked his garden and talked Thanks Jean |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| How long have they been growing? The sweet potatoes I've grown including this year's, grow near the surface. Most of my potatoes are in clumps near where the slip went in. I can usually see the potatoes sticking practically out of the ground, or just stick my hand in and feel around on top of the landscape fabric for the 'hard' spots. My patch has been growing for about 3 months, and I plan on letting it go as long as possible. I can see one nice sweet potato by just pulling back the foliage. I have some regular potatoes that have been growing in bins for almost 5 months and I have no intention of harvesting them until they die. |
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- Posted by jeanwedding 6 ky (My Page) on Mon, Nov 12, 12 at 21:05
| most of the bins did fabulous.. got over14 pounds from the last bin planted....used my hands to get them out. dirt was a mixture of bought and compost, and pine needles,etc... I 'M REAL THANKFUL AND BLESSED..... course i watered with rainwater only..... just dont let anyone tell you it doesnot work..... second year ofdoing so.... thanks yall Jean |
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| You need to get sweet potatoes in before soil temps drop to 55 degrees. Letting them sit in cold soil is a mistake, it's better to harvest before it gets too cold. Unlike regular potatoes, sweets will start rotting if they get wet and cold. |
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| Sweet potatoes can be left in the ground until the first frost, but should come out before soil temps go below 50 degrees. They should be cured for about 10 days at 80-85�F, or 2-3 weeks at 65-75�F. They should be kept humid during curing. If you don't cure them, they won't be as sweet as they should be. |
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- Posted by dirtycoconuts 10B (My Page) on Thu, Nov 15, 12 at 18:37
| Are sweets more heat tolerant too. Or just cold sensitive. I want a starch other than plantains and I hear most tubers fail south in the wet heat. Anyone know if I could grow sweets in a crate? |
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- Posted by landscraper82 4a - ND (My Page) on Thu, Nov 15, 12 at 23:42
| Hey Dirtycoconuts... I didn't bother to do any research before answering your question, maybe I should have! Just short on time is all :) Anyhoo, I have a vague memory of reading that sweet potatoes actually originated somewhere between Central and South America...so I would be willing to bet you would be in good shape growing them where you are. Take care! |
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- Posted by jeanwedding 6 ky (My Page) on Fri, Nov 16, 12 at 18:23
| Hey, Johnfrom or anyone else whoknows, Wht does "keep humid"mean... in simple terms... I read lots on here never came across thar suggestion/ |
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- Posted by chrisb_sc_z7 7 (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 8:34
| "keep humid" means don't drag them into the air conditioning or heated space right away unless there is supplemental humidity being supplied in the immediate vicinity. I usually ignore that and leave them outside a few days for the dirt to dry so I can rub it off. Then I'll let them lay in the shade a while before bringing them in. I've seen it suggested that the kitchen is probably the best room in a typical home unless you have a cellar or basement to store them in. They apparently do like heat. We had a very hot and humid summer here in upstate SC and I had the best production I've ever had. I gave away (sold cheap) 20 5-gallon buckets and have another 10 5-gallon buckets to keep for myself. They are huge, not so many under developed fingerlings this year. Last year, I barely had 10 buckets total and many of those were very small. Of course, I also planted 500 row feet of sweet corn in the middle of July in the middle of two weeks without rain and they did awesome as well. |
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| Yes, dirtycoconuts, you can grow sweet potatoes in the wet hot heat. Down in the Redlands in Florida (Homestead) they grow the boniato sweet potato commercially. They also grow in my yard all year long in zone 10b. As for other "starches" you could try grow yucca or malanga. |
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| Our humidity has been in the single digits lately. I'll be digging in the next day or two. |
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