Sweet Potato

The sweet potato I planted a few weeks back has produced a mass of shoots and also roots from the bottom of the potato.
There are also roots coming from the stems of the shoots, very similar to ordinary spuds. Some of these I have removed and potted up, really easy cuttings.

 

I had one last year thay did exactly the same thing. Unfortunately I planted it too late to see if it produced any crop. Hope you are luckier!

 

I asked a chap in work who grows a lot of veggies in his allotment if sweet potatoes could be grown in this country and he told me 'no'.

How do you start them and do they need much room?

(By the way Pete, could you pop back to 'before and after' in the gallery, advice needed for palms )

 

Well to be honest berry I dont know much about grwing them, this is my first year.
As I understand it they are grown in the tropics from these cuttings and they make a mass of foliage, and flowers similar to morning glory, to which it is related.
Dont think there's much chance of growing any potatos, its just for fun really, wouldn't mind a few flowers though, in the greenhouse.
I started mine by just laying it on the sand on the base of my propagator at about 25 C, and spraying it now and then.

 

I thought I remembered discussing them before. Here's the link:
http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000159#000000
So apparently we can grow them in this country. I didn't get any, did anyone else manage to buy some?

 

Thanks Liz, I knew it was somewhere. :D

 

well done so far Pete and good look with the flowers. :D i didnt know they were related to morning glory.is that to do with where the originate from.?Africa?

 

South America I think elainefiz

 

An update on the sweet spud, I potted it on today and there are already signs of potatos developing, who knows might get some yet.

 

That looks very hopeful, any flowers yet?

 

Looks very promising Pete. Most varieties can be successful if grown in poly-tunnels where they benefit from increased heat and humidity. However, a new disease and most importantly rot-resistant variety ('Beauregard') seems to hold great promise in southern counties at least. It has successfully undergone trials at Wisley and seems very promising where some protection is afforded. Best of all it is one of the red-fleshed varieties, which generally have a slightly higher vitamin content than the white-fleshed types.

 

No flowers yet Liz, You can bet if I get any I'll post a pic. :D
Thats intresting Dave, I didn't know Wisley had done trials of them.
Mines a Morrisons special, I'm afraid, its not a real serious attempt, believe it or not I've never even eaten one :D
Could be a crop of the future though.