Gil and Bob are correct. But the challenge is there and as long as you
don't try them, it will bother you.

First, get some that taste good. Get 2 or 3 extra ones and store them in
the coolest room in your house. About 2 to 3 months before your weather
gets warm to stay, find some plastic containers, (I use the larger flat
bottomed trays that originally were used to hold packs of small plants,
started by your local nursery) and lay the seed sweet potatoes in them.
Then I add about an inch of water to them and set them on top of my freezer
or fridge. Every two or three days I check to make sure the water level is
still OK.

After a couple of weeks you will see green slips developing. When they are
8 to 10 inches tall they are ready to pull (as long as the weather has
cooperated and they wont freeze when put into the garden). If it is still
too cold to plant, just leave them alone and keep the roots wet until it is
warm enough outside.

Find a fairly large can (I use a 3 pound coffee can either metal or
plastic), pull up on one of the slips with a twisting motion, while holding
the potato down with the other hand. When it comes loose, clean the leaves
off for about the bottom 2/3 or 3/4 of the slip and set it into the can.
Put several inches of water in the can to keep the slips alive. After a
couple of days they will start developing roots. After a week you can put
them into the ground.

I like to rake my garden area into a long row that I hilled up from both
sides. Then I smooth the top off with the rake leaving the top flat and 4
inches wide. Then I lay my soaker hose down the length of the row, and
plant my slips along the soaker hose.

After the tops of the sweet potatoes have developed, the sweet potatoes
start growing. If you don't get rain, water them every 3 to 5 days,
depending on how fast your soil dries out.

I leave mine in the ground until they are in danger of getting frosted in
fall. Then I dig them up, and wash them off. They are all good, but the
small ones taste best. My wife's aunt eats them as long as they are at
least the size of your finger. If they get frosted before you dig them, you
have to get the tops off within hours, or the potatoes will acquire a bad
taste. I have found out too late that it was going to frost, so I cut the
tops off the night before, and dug the potatoes the next day.

They have to be "cured" before you store them. That means you have to put
them in the warmest room you have for 10 to 20 days, laid out so the air can
reach them from several sides. After that, you can put them in a cool room
for storage. Never store them below 13 Degrees C. The curing process turns
the starch into sugar. Putting them in cooler storage than 13, will reverse
the curing process and it cant be fixed. I still have some that I grew in
2005 that I saved for the fair in August, and now I am leaving them to see
just how long they will last.

If you want to, you can plant some of the slips in large plastic buckets,
and bring them inside when the weather turns cold in the fall, to give them
an extra week or so to grow, but you wont get as many potatoes per slip. It
gets a little old carrying them in and out every day.

If you need anymore info, contact me directly.

Dwayne (in Kansas)










"Leslie" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of growing some sweet potatoes this year.

Do I start the tubers into growth the same way as I do the humble spud if
so how and when please.

.................Leslie