Last night at Benny’s tea at his parent’s house, they had steamed sweet potato. I thought it was pumpkin and boy I was nicely surprised.
So who has grown it in the by gone years????
I’m going to grow it when it’s seasonal here…….. a new food to grow and eat……sweet:D
Tips and tricks greatly appreciated.
Lucky1 said:
Last night at Benny’s tea at his parent’s house, they had steamed sweet potato. I thought it was pumpkin and boy I was nicely surprised. So who has grown it in the by gone years???? I’m going to grow it when it’s seasonal here…….. a new food to grow and eat……sweet:D Tips and tricks greatly appreciated.
g’day
i have grown them and i can recommend them – high yielding, delicious, crisp and save money.
you plant a pack of small tubers from the stupidmarket. dig trenches and plant like spuds – about 400mm apart in august.
they take 5-6 months and grow very deep in the soil. so you need to double dig to get them out.
sunny position and they need normal watering.
Thanks Pepe…. are they long keepers???
For 1 person…namely me. How many would I plant out???
Lucky1 said:
Last night at Benny’s tea at his parent’s house, they had steamed sweet potato. I thought it was pumpkin and boy I was nicely surprised.So who has grown it in the by gone years????
I’m going to grow it when it’s seasonal here…….. a new food to grow and eat……sweet:D
Tips and tricks greatly appreciated.
My grandparents grew enormous ones in an old chook pen and trained the dog to help dig them. :)
pepe said:
Lucky1 said:
Last night at Benny’s tea at his parent’s house, they had steamed sweet potato. I thought it was pumpkin and boy I was nicely surprised. So who has grown it in the by gone years???? I’m going to grow it when it’s seasonal here…….. a new food to grow and eat……sweet:D Tips and tricks greatly appreciated.
g’day
i have grown them and i can recommend them – high yielding, delicious, crisp and save money.
you plant a pack of small tubers from the stupidmarket. dig trenches and plant like spuds – about 400mm apart in august.
they take 5-6 months and grow very deep in the soil. so you need to double dig to get them out.
sunny position and they need normal watering.
A lot of people wait till one sprouts and then just plant a cutting.
They do need a fair bit of room.
After all those postings Bubba…… got any thoughts on how many I should plant for myself and maybe the odd give away????
Lucky1 said:
Thanks Pepe…. are they long keepers??? For 1 person…namely me. How many would I plant out???
they store well. so i buy a small bag of smalls – probably 1kg – and plant a row about 4m long.
pepe said:
Lucky1 said:
Thanks Pepe…. are they long keepers??? For 1 person…namely me. How many would I plant out???
they store well. so i buy a small bag of smalls – probably 1kg – and plant a row about 4m long.
Do you have any photos of your sweet spud??? That way I could see what I am doing to be egg-specting from when I grow them…..ta
Lucky1 said:
pepe said:
Lucky1 said:
Thanks Pepe…. are they long keepers??? For 1 person…namely me. How many would I plant out???
they store well. so i buy a small bag of smalls – probably 1kg – and plant a row about 4m long.
Do you have any photos of your sweet spud??? That way I could see what I am doing to be egg-specting from when I grow them…..ta
As in the ground growing:)
a piccie from january 08.
it grows like a vine – up a trellis. most people grow it as a sprawling plant – like watermelon.
pepe said:
a piccie from january 08.
it grows like a vine – up a trellis. most people grow it as a sprawling plant – like watermelon.
Oh wow! I am so glad I asked and you popped the photo up. Nothing like I thought it would be. hhmm have to put some thought into where I am going to plant it.
Lucky1 said:
After all those postings Bubba…… got any thoughts on how many I should plant for myself and maybe the odd give away????
If they’re as prolific as my grandparent’s were, 1 or 2. If they’re as bad as mine were don’t even bother. LOL
Bubba Louie said:
Lucky1 said:
After all those postings Bubba…… got any thoughts on how many I should plant for myself and maybe the odd give away????
If they’re as prolific as my grandparent’s were, 1 or 2. If they’re as bad as mine were don’t even bother. LOL
http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-sweet-potatoes.html
We have a whole bunch of plants in the ground, can’t recall how many… They grow a little crazy up here, and we haven’t actually dug any up yet… we got three sweet potatoes last time in a shady crappy spot, but those we missed deeper down have re-shot. We also pruned the tree to get more light….
Maybe soon we can harvest?
Hey L1. I reckon it’s best to have a dedicated sweet spud area. Use it for a few years or so and then move it. Or grow them in a container. They can be difficult to remove as any bit of roots left in the ground will probably regrow. I had a few mini tubers from a previous crop in a polystyrene box just sitting on the ground under a tree. It’s now a sweet spud patch as i removed the box with some effort and the roots are growing below it into new plants. It’s quite prolific.
Once they get growing, they may try to take root along the runner. You need to lift the runners where they are in contact with the ground occassionally to prevent this or it will reduce your crop.
They also seem to do well with a complete defoliation once a season. A fat little wallaby used to do mine. Chooks seem to like the leaves so maybe they could be let loose on them once in a while. They’re quite an attractive plant i reckon and very easy to grow. Treat a bit like regular spuds, not too much water and plenty of goodies and you’ll get a bumper crop.
You can plant 300mm long runners with all the leaves removed. (Leave the growing tip) Cut a shallow trench, lay the runner in it and cover, leaving the tip exposed. Water in and forget for a while. Or you can plant tubers, even from the supermarket, just take the ends off a tuber and plant, like a spud. Don’t overwater or they may rot unless your drainage is really good.
You can also grow a runner in a bottle of water as an indoor plant. Not too bad. Same as before, remove the leaves, drop it in a bottle and away she grows. Do this also if you get some runners but don’t have a spot prepared yet.
My fav is the orange sweet spud. There are a few others including a white one with purple flesh but i find them a bit bland and dry.
Thanks Longy………… I’ll print your info off for the growing season:D