Our sweet potatoes have sprouted, finally. Some of them went rotten, some of them were upside down in the water, which really slowed things down. We have dozens of gardening books, and none of them cover starting sweet potatoes! What do we do now? How big should we let the green shoots get before we pull them off? Do we pull them off clean? All advice gratefully accepted!

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

Answers

When they form roots,you can pull them off,readily. Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond,has a section on sweet potatoes,if I remember correctly. So does Nancy Bubels 'Adventurous Gardener'.Library have copies?

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

Hi David, we must be having real parallel experiences!!! Mine did the same thing. My neighbor showed me to wait until you had a nice sized shoot, I am guessing she showed me about 3 inches, then break off at the potato and insert in water until you get some nice roots. She does not even hill hers or anything and they do very well. Needs warm soil. I put the pointed side down and sure can not figure out why I am having both roots and shoots coming from the same end (underwater yet) The one potato that did that is now sending shoots up on the other end. Isn't it fun to try something new??? I ordered shoots from several different places and they were all rotten by the time they got here, and expensive to boot, so I figure if I get anything at all it will be a step ahead of where I have ever been before with them. Good luck!!! We must certainly compare notes along the way???

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

Diane, we turned them over when we got the shoots underwater. That's when they took off. The problem was that the previous posts (on CS) said to plant "pointed end down". Most of ours had 2 pointed ends! I guess "stem end up" would be more helpful.

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

David, how did you determine what was the stem end??? They both looked the same to me.

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

I lay them flat in wet sand.This is the method my menonite greenhouse owner used. When I did used to put them in H2O,I cut in half and put cut end down, on toothpicks. Shoots and roots come out all over.Whoever said otherwise?

They are ready to remove when the slips have roots.I don't remove them till I'm ready to plant them. Mine are now 4-5 inches tall ,but still need to be in the greenhouse for maybe two more weeks.But they could go out if the weather was right.

As for initial propagation Put them in warm dark( I used water heater) till roots start to form,them into the light as soon as shoots start to form. Check out the books if you can.

Some will just rot.

Put out into garden after last frost date. Diane,you would want to use a short season variety.David, and, I can grow abt. any variety. Don't know how to tell you more. Does this make sense?

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

I was in Costco the other day and saw "kiln dried yams." Really! Gave me a bit of a jolt. Does anyone know of sweet potatoes will grow in the Pacific Northwest?

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

We live in zone 10a, just about done with all of our gardening and getting ready for the bake season. :) ;-> :(

Put the pointy side into the water, using a pickle jar, change water weekly.

Shoots should be so tall that they almost fall over ~16-18"

Cut them off just (~3/8") above the sweet-tater, more will grow :) Miny root nodes will appear when they get that tall.

Stick them in frost free garden and keep soil wet for about a week.

Negelect them for 3 months and dig sweet-taters up. If you tend them they will revolt, only the negelected ones do well for us. :0)

Perry the Fuzzy, In the land of dangling chads. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2001

More details

We live in zone 10a, just about done with all of our gardening and getting ready for the bake season. :) ;-> :(

Put the pointy side into the water, using a pickle jar, change water weekly. Bottom 1/3 should be wet. You may use tooth picks or corn cob holders to support the sweet-tatter.

Shoots should be so tall that they almost fall over ~16-18", you'll know after the first when they do. Cut the rest just before.

Cut them off just (~3/8") above the sweet-tater, more will grow :) Miny root nodes will appear when they get that tall. Cut making sure you have some/most of those nodes.

Stick them in frost free garden and keep soil wet for about a week.

Negelect them for 3-4 months and dig sweet-taters up. If you tend them they will revolt, only the negelected ones do well for us. :0)

Plant allowing for lots of runners and ground cover.

Perry the Fuzzy,
In the land of dangling chads. :-) WPB, FL

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2001