On Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:03:09 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

We even tried using our own tubers
to make slips very early for the next season, an easy process BTW,

Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:18:45 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wrote:


Mine are in a planter, and I will leave them there for a second year.

Do you need to do anything special over winter? The "how to grow"
leaflet sent with mine said that the frost would kill them off, so I
thought they were destined to become compost. If I could keep them to
try again next year, I'd like to know how to do that. If I try again,
I think I'll keep them in the greenhouse. Thanks.

Stephen wrote:
Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

Yeah, I believed that too, but Nick got ours to grow. But the ones we grew
weren't as good as the ones we bought.

Iirc, it just involved keeping them cool and dark, but I'm sure someone else
will be able to correct me.

Stephen wrote:
On Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:03:09 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

We even tried using our own tubers
to make slips very early for the next season, an easy process BTW,

Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

That's absolute balderdash, and IMO, a cynically deliberate untruth. You
can cut out the 'eyes' with a goodly chunk of flesh and skin, and if
kept warm and moist, and with a small dose of fungicide in the compost,
every one should shoot and grow.

If kept in a planter in a greenhouse, you might get a crop the first year.

I have one such planter and several sprouting slips, and my neighbour
has the rest of the slips...

--
Rusty

wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

Yeah, I believed that too, but Nick got ours to grow. But the ones we grew
weren't as good as the ones we bought.

Iirc, it just involved keeping them cool and dark, but I'm sure someone else
will be able to correct me.

I put them in one of those twelve-pot plant trays in potting compost and
left them in a sheltered sunny spot, watered them, and watched them
grow. OK, they didn't rocket-up, but all are healthy.

They're all in the greenhouse now, overshadowed by the eddoes.

--
Rusty

Stephen wrote:
On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:18:45 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wrote:

Mine are in a planter, and I will leave them there for a second year.

Do you need to do anything special over winter? The "how to grow"
leaflet sent with mine said that the frost would kill them off, so I
thought they were destined to become compost. If I could keep them to
try again next year, I'd like to know how to do that. If I try again,
I think I'll keep them in the greenhouse. Thanks.

They're in the greenhouse.

Yes, the frost will kill them, and they really don't like low
temperatures at all. Still, they'll just have to put up with the coolth
- the themostat cuts the heating in at 5° C.

If yours are planted outside, I'd dig them up very carefully, put some
compost into a largish planter ad lay the root-system on top, then
sprinkle and water-in handfuls of compost until the planter is filled.

It won't hurt to reduce the foliage/vines a bit - they wouldn't have
grown a lot during the winter, anyway. (Unless kept *VERY* warm)

--
Rusty

Rusty Hinge wrote:
Please could you tell me more about this? I'm sure the T&M literature
said you could not grow your own from tubers and that they did some
magic to make the slips they sold.

Yeah, I believed that too, but Nick got ours to grow. But the ones we grew
weren't as good as the ones we bought.

Iirc, it just involved keeping them cool and dark, but I'm sure someone else
will be able to correct me.

I put them in one of those twelve-pot plant trays in potting compost and
left them in a sheltered sunny spot, watered them, and watched them
grow. OK, they didn't rocket-up, but all are healthy.

They're all in the greenhouse now, overshadowed by the eddoes.

I don't think it's how to handle the slips that is the issue, it's how to
make the sweet potatoes sprout them in the first place.

wrote:

I don't think it's how to handle the slips that is the issue, it's how to
make the sweet potatoes sprout them in the first place.

I've never had any problem.

--
Rusty