Well ... this being my first effort at growing sweet potatoes, I have been relying on youtube videos and other blogs to figure out what to do.
I purchased the sweet potato "seeds" at a seed exchange in order to grow slips. The slips are basically sprouts from the seed potato that get removed and are then rooted in water. I had the luck of running into the person I bought the seed potatoes from at a recent gardening seminar (I plan to share info on that and other seminars in other posts). She suggested it was better for me to transplant the slips into potting soil at this point as it would be easier for the final transplant into the garden space.
And that is what I did this weekend. For some ...
But just in case, I kept some of the slips in water.
I didn't used to, but for the last few years I have been potting them up into soil before setting out. For sure you can put the rooted slips directly in the garden, but I think they get off to a quicker start when potted first. I love that you have backup slips waiting in the wings!
ReplyDeleteBeing my first year, I'm going for various options! If the potted slips are OK after a week, I'll likely pot up the rest. I need at least one to work out because I promised to give one to a friend ...
DeleteThose look great, lots of healthy roots. I'm trying to root a few slips myself, I had a sweet potato in the pantry that sprouted so I stuck it in some water, it rooted, the sprouts grew, and now they are in water and starting to pop some roots. I guess I'll find out if they will do anything here in my cool summer climate.
ReplyDeleteNow that I've tried it for the first time, it really does seem incredibly simple. I guess I'll see how they actually grow when planted. How is your summer climate cool, I assumed it would be plenty hot in California?! The only reason these MIGHT work for me is that they are a short season variety.
DeleteHehe, they look good! I aspire to growing sweet potatoes one day. I was going to put up a greenhouse at the allotment to have a go but have just given the glass away....every time someone puts up a greenhouse there it gets damaged in the wind as we're on top of a hill, so I've decided it's not worth the hassle of putting up and then almost certainly getting broken. I've kept the frame to maybe grow stuff up instead :)
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