Sweet potatoes

lora

Is it possible to grow these in this country ?

alanobrien

Certainly is, T&M sell slips you can find them here;

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/search.html?section=all&search=sweet+potatoes

lora

Thanks. I saw Beauregard advertised in D.T. Brown catalogue at £10.95 for 10 slips. They said could be grown outside in mild areas or fleeced elsewhere. I just wondered if anyone had been succesful as it is a bit of an outlay.

ALIBOBSY

I think "Mum of 4" prepared her own slip from a supermarket sweet potato and grew her own, not sure how they did though, look for her thread on planting plans, think she talked about it on there.
My understanding is you put the potato half covered in damp compost and the "slips"-little shoots will grow up towards the light.
Think you can also do it by putting it half in water as well?

ali x

Vixie_Pixie

ooh i will be keeping an eye out for that too as i would love to have a go at growing these. Its a shame they are a bit expensive through t & m..:( Love the idea of using a shop bought sweet potato!

alanobrien

lora wrote: »

Thanks. I saw Beauregard advertised in D.T. Brown catalogue at £10.95 for 10 slips. They said could be grown outside in mild areas or fleeced elsewhere. I just wondered if anyone had been succesful as it is a bit of an outlay.

Ahh i see, well in that case yes i have. I did a lot of research a while back to find a variety that grew well in the UK and the best i found was T65, took a while to find it but lots of places sell it these days and it certainly grows well for me.

conradmum

I've managed to get a sweet potato to sprout by putting it in some damp sand in my propagator. It's a bit hit and miss, though. I think I tried with three and one of them just rotted. From memory I got 7 or 8 slips from the other two, which I broke off and potted up when they were about 2 inches long.

The thing with sweet potatoes is heat. They love it and grow really well in a humid greenhouse. You need to train them up canes or else they waste energy by rooting into the ground wherever the stem touches.

They're very decorative. They have a beautiful purple flower very like a morning glory.

Vixie_Pixie

How many did you get? Did they grow fairly big? and most importantly did they taste good??

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing

conradmum

Vixie_Pixie wrote: »

How many did you get? Did they grow fairly big? and most importantly did they taste good??

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing

It was a few years ago but from memory I got four or five tubers per plant - maybe a couple of pounds worth - but it was about 6 years ago.

They tasted lovely, exactly like shop bought ones, but fresher and juicier.

Vixie_Pixie

Cool! I'm def gonna have a go at growing these on our allotment. It gets pretty hot down there in spring/summer and with a greenhouse, conditions should be ideal.

Again, thank you for sharing!!

conradmum

Vixie_Pixie wrote: »

Cool! I'm def gonna have a go at growing these on our allotment. It gets pretty hot down there in spring/summer and with a greenhouse, conditions should be ideal.

Again, thank you for sharing!!

Good luck! If you want to pm me as you go along feel free.