Hello to the Group,
A conversation has taken place among fellow gardeners,concerning the growing
of Sweet Potatoes in the UK.
Has anybody grown them successfully,and how did you do it?
Peter

On 7 Apr, 18:33, "Peter Donovan" wrote:
Hello to the Group,
A conversation has taken place among fellow gardeners,concerning the growing
of Sweet Potatoes in the UK.
Has anybody grown them successfully,and how did you do it?
Peter

What you dont do is to plant the tuber as you would an ordinary
potato, instead you have to get it to throw shoots which you then
remove and pot up.]
Once these are rooted well you plant them out.

A google search would have led you straight to http://www.barfoots.co.uk/page63.html

David Hill
Abacus Nurseries.

"Peter Donovan" wrote in message
...
Hello to the Group,
A conversation has taken place among fellow gardeners,concerning the
growing
of Sweet Potatoes in the UK.
Has anybody grown them successfully,and how did you do it?

If it helps I know The Beechgrove Garden is going to be doing that as one of
their projects for this year, maybe BBC1 Scotland will have some info that
could be helpful if you email them?
--
Rhiannon_s
Due to it's large carbon footprint the light at the end of the tunnel has
been turned off.

Can you buy some there that have been raised in the UK?
Some sweet potatoes require a longer growing season than others. Do you
have a green house or a room on the south side that gets sunshine during the
day? If so you can start and raise them there, or move them outside.

I put my sweet potatoes in a plastic flat container that holds water (one
potato will product anywhere from 3 to 10 "slips" each). I lay sweet
potatoes in it and add an inch of water. Within a couple of weeks they
start growing "slips" (little plants that come from the eyes of the potato).
I have started the "slips" on top of my refrigerator. This year I have them
on a small table in a room that is dedicated to grow our plants in until it
is warm enough to move them outside. (We turn the light on at 7:00 in the
AM and off at 7:00 PM.) You will have to add water as needed to keep the
roots wet. I do this around the first of march to be planted outside near
the end of April or early in May. Then they are ready to dig in September,
but before the first frost. When the slips are 8 inches long, you can pick
them by holding the potato down with one hand while pulling up with the
other in a twisting motion. Then you can plant them or pull the bottom
leaves off and stand them in a container of water for a few days until they
have put out some roots. I usually will pull the larger ones and put them
in a can of water, and within a few days do it again until I have enough to
plant in my garden. After planting them outside, they normally will droop
for several days, but 99 percent will come out of it and do well.


You don't have to water then a lot, but watering must be constant. You cant
let them go for several weeks without water and then start watering them
again. That causes them to crack while still in the ground and they will
start growing again. I water mine every 2 or 3 days if the sun had dried
out the ground and we don't get any rain.

If your growing season is not that long in the UK, you can plant them in a
container of dirt and leave them inside until all danger of frost is past.
Then you can move the containers outside and grow them in the container
until time to harvest. Here in Kansas I have planted them around the middle
of May and harvested them the middle of September and received a fairly
large harvest. I planted a couple of rows and put the left over slips into
plastic 5 gallon buckets or used tree containers purchased from a green
house.

After you harvest the crop (before they get frosted) you will need to "cure"
them. To do that, I wash the dirt off of them and lay them on paper not
touching each other in the warmest room in our house. I leave them there
for 10 to 15 days, before moving them to the coolest room in the house.
Curing them causes the starch to turn into sugar. Do not put them in your
refrigerator. Temps below 55F (13 C) will cause them turn back to starch
after which, it cannot be corrected.

If you have any other questions, contact me directly.

Dwayne (from Kansas)




"Peter Donovan" wrote in message
...
Hello to the Group,
A conversation has taken place among fellow gardeners,concerning the
growing of Sweet Potatoes in the UK.
Has anybody grown them successfully,and how did you do it?
Peter

"Peter Donovan" wrote ..
A conversation has taken place among fellow gardeners,concerning the
growing of Sweet Potatoes in the UK.
Has anybody grown them successfully,and how did you do it?

At the second attempt, last year, we did grow them successfully and got a
good crop although they were badly eaten by slugs just like our normal spuds
would be if we didn't grow resistant varieties. The first attempt a few
years ago failed due to the late arrival of the slips from the supplier.
We got the "slips" (rooted cuttings) from Thompson and Morgan but I
understand you can get them by inducing growth from a sweet potato and
taking cuttings just with like a dahlia. It needs to be done asap to give
them as long a growing season as possible.
It was noticeable that the red skinned white fleshed ones grew significantly
bigger then the yellow fleshed ones yet both varieties were supposed to be
good for UK growing.
They all seem to like a deep friable soil with a good warm summer and plenty
of moisture.
And, they do run everywhere, other plot holders thought we were growing
convolvulus to take over the world! :-)

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

Thanks for all your sugestions I will keep you posted as to the results that
I get
Peter
"Peter Donovan" wrote in message
...
Hello to the Group,
A conversation has taken place among fellow gardeners,concerning the
growing of Sweet Potatoes in the UK.
Has anybody grown them successfully,and how did you do it?
Peter