Sweet Potatoes

Robbie

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Dug up my sweet potatoes the 2 orange produced about 7 kg from each plant, not sure what i did wrong with the 1 purple one i was trying for the first time thought they grow in the same conditions as the orange sweet potato or whether tassie isn't the right climate for it would anybody have any ideas on it, I grow my sweet potatoes up a trellis to save space. Oh! and i thought i would pull a carrot for dinner lol.
 

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GKW

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I like what ya did with the sweet potato trellis. I've battled that awful morning glory weed for years coming into my backyard and have been hesitant to plant sweet potato given it's growth pattern above ground....Might have to reconsider my position given your pics.
 

ClissAT

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That's a hell'ov'a haul you got there Robbie.:twothumbsup:

Some things to consider about sweet potato growth.
It can be kept pruned back short and the greens fed to goats, etc.
Doesn't need to be left to run riot unless you don't use cuttings to start a new patch each year.
Tops can be kept contained by pruning and greens thrown in the compost.
Strip the leaves from some cuttings and push into the new ground to start the new patch towards the end of the season before you harvest your mature crop.

The purple types that prefer a hotter climate will grow lots of thin twisted roots if there is too much nitrogen or generally too much fertilizer like fresh chook poo from wandering hens.
 

Robbie

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Thanks ClissAt ok so i use alot of chicken and horse manure but manly as mulch mixed with a lot of straw that maybe the problem will remember for next season
 

Mark Seaton

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Nice haul there! I am leaving my sweet potato in a while longer, Maybe till the first frost as I think I planted it too late. You never know... I actually was tasked with making the Sunday roast a while back so I bought a red and a pink sweet potato for the roast and only used half of each and cut the other half and buried it in the ground. At first I thought it had died, but then it started to grow and boy did it grow. I can only hope I get half as much as you!
20200515_155135_resized.jpg
 

Letsgokate

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I’m in SEQ and I thought sweet spuds prefer a warmer climate, so down there maybe too cold. As clissat said prune the leaved back to not only control as they can soon turn into Trifids. Also I have read that pruning the leaves makes the plant put more growth into the actual sweet spuds.

Oh and apparently you can use the leaves in salad.
 

Robbie

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I’m in SEQ and I thought sweet spuds prefer a warmer climate, so down there maybe too cold. As clissat said prune the leaved back to not only control as they can soon turn into Trifids. Also I have read that pruning the leaves makes the plant put more growth into the actual sweet spuds.

Oh and apparently you can use the leaves in salad.
Come on we aren't that far south we see icebergs float past but seriously we do have good summers temp can gets up about 28-30C deg on average not hot by your standards and we do have a shorter growing season i hill the soil up and plant into that which heats it up better.
And yes the leaves are great in salads, stir fries, steamed and in soups
 

Mary Playford

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Robbie

Very nice harvest. I think it's just the varieties, one being productive and the other lazy LOL

I have three different ones: the purple skin, white meat; the white skin, some purple meat, and the rose/gold skin, gold meat.

When I was young we grew the tan skin, white meat sweet potatoes, and the purple skin white meat sweet potatoes. I haven't seen it in Australia.
 

Vicky

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That's a hell'ov'a haul you got there Robbie.:twothumbsup:

Some things to consider about sweet potato growth.
It can be kept pruned back short and the greens fed to goats, etc.
Doesn't need to be left to run riot unless you don't use cuttings to start a new patch each year.
Tops can be kept contained by pruning and greens thrown in the compost.
Strip the leaves from some cuttings and push into the new ground to start the new patch towards the end of the season before you harvest your mature crop.

The purple types that prefer a hotter climate will grow lots of thin twisted roots if there is too much nitrogen or generally too much fertilizer like fresh chook poo from wandering hens.
ClissAT, when you say cuttings, how long would they need to be? My patch didn't really do much this year but I would like to get some cuttings going in the shade house for next year, I thought to take some cuttings and perhaps transplant the original bits that I buried in the garden and try them next year if they survived over winter.
 

ClissAT

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Hi Vicky, generally cuttings are about as long as your arm with most of the leaves removed.
If it is wet season or you have winter rain, you can just plant them in groups of say3 in the wet soil with just the top few leaves sticking out.
But if it is dry season stand them in a tall container of water until they form roots (about 2-3wks) Once they have a good amount of roots or the possibility of frost is past, plant them in the ground or where you choose.

New Guinea women build a long mound of loose soil and compost, then each week they use their digging stick to make a tunnel through the mound near the base and push in a handful of trimmed tips as long as their arm, almost right through to the other side. With the tips protruding, it's enough for the cuttings to get going considering they always have rain up there.
Down here we can only do that in the wet season unless we have a good water supply. They start another batch each week so they have ongoing potatoes throughout the year. By working their way along the mound progressively from one end to the other, they always know which is the next to be harvested. Also, they don't have to dig them up and disturb the whole plant. They just burrow in the side of the mound because they know exactly where the tubers should be.
You can do similar by starting a compost heap then adding to it each week to create a long mound. Potatoes don't need finely composted material. They are happy for it to compost around them. The only reason you might not do it that way is if you have critters that get into compost and eat it like rodents, bandicoots, rabbits, chook, etc
 
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