Help! I'm not sure when to harvest my first ever sweet potatoes. They have been in the ground for nearly four months (sub tropical 10a Florida USA) and are showing above the soil. I want to get a good harvest, but I don't want pests to get them where I can't see them. Advice?? Thank you in advance.
when to harvest my first ever sweet potatoes
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This is actually the second time I posed this question. I couldn't find the other as I'm new to this group, but now I have found four very nice replies on the other thread. So, thank you for your wisdom and I will go ahead and dig one up and hopefully find a good yield.
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Gardening - first time gardener-sweet potatoes - Self Sufficient Culture
I planted sweet potato slips that I purchased back in March. They have flourished. I happened to peek under the sprawling vine and I see sweet potatoes bulging out of the soil in my raised bed. Should I harvest before pests set in? I don't want to pull them too early. The leaves are all...
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Thanks, Mandy. I dug up one of my sweet potato plants and found the weirdest mass of intertwined sweet potatoes. I watched a couple videos on how to cure them and they are now covered up in my very warm garage for the next 8-14 days.
Gardening - first time gardener-sweet potatoes - Self Sufficient Culture
I planted sweet potato slips that I purchased back in March. They have flourished. I happened to peek under the sprawling vine and I see sweet potatoes bulging out of the soil in my raised bed. Should I harvest before pests set in? I don't want to pull them too early. The leaves are all...www.selfsufficientculture.com
Here is the original thread, for those seeing this post.
@fo-in-10a , you can find your placed posts (in any thread) by going to your profile and then clicking on the number under the tab "messages". It will show you in order of most recent to oldest.
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Yes I actually wondered if that was the issue. When I prepared the bed, I hadn't planned to grow sweet potatoes so I may have put too many logs and branches in the bottom. I'm sure they had at least 30 cm, but that may not be enough.
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I think the recommended depth is at least 45cm. Not to worry, the wood will break down over time, and other things might flourish in it instead. Of course you can always keep growing sweet potatoes too, but they might not thrive as well 
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That looks to me like compacted soil issue. Remember potatoes grow well even in just straws if they can grow roots under. The fluffiest the soil the easier they grow. Mine usually grow in a soil that I can barely feel in my hand if I get a dry handful.
Whoa, Cthulhu sweet potato! That's so weird. I knew soil impaction and sticks and stones and other things getting in the way could make tubers and roots of weird shapes, but I never imagined they could end up like that. 
