saving sweet potatoes for next year plants

I want to save just a couple of sweet potatoes for seedling starting next year. I have some that I purchased from a street side vendor -grown in NC...but are they like the ones you buy at the grocery that are really meant for plant production ?

charlotte

No way of telling. But most grocery store sweet potatoes will sprout fine. As long as you are not concerned about knowing a cultivar name. Stick a small one root end down in a jar of water and you will soon know.

I dont care a toot about a specific cultivar but I do want a plant that will "do well" in my area.
These sweet potatoes were "grown in NC" and I got them in a big box at a roadside stand.

Would you think they might , produce a good plant...since I will be using a plantlet from the bulb as opposed to using a "seed" from a hyrbid plant ?

Also,,,how do I "store" them over winter and keep'em from rotting ?

Relax, all sweet potatoes are hybrids. Any cultivar grown commercially in the southeast should do well in your area. All are started from "slips" grown as sprouts from the roots ( sweet potato). Since the slips are clones of the mother plant, they will be replicates.

Sweet potatoes store well. Their requirements are dry area, that does not go below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. For a handful, put them in a paper bag in your pantry.

Thanks a "sweet" bunch. I will try to save 3 or 4 of these and not eat them all :)

Hey Charlotteda;
Neat home page!

Once again Farmerdill to tha rescue!
55 degrees Fahrenheit optimum.

If I may, perhaps I can shed some light.
I love those things!
_________

Much from this source:
http://ivella.com/produce.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/vegetables/sweetpotato.html

This field is in North East Tx:
http://www.ivella.com/produce_gifs/spField.gif
Similar fields in tha Carolinas.

Loading from tha field:
http://www.ivella.com/produce_gifs/loadingTaters.gif

Mexican helper making tha load ready ta travel:
http://www.ivella.com/produce_gifs/spToTravel.gif
______________

I may have missed something here.
Don't know!

These particular potatoes are Beauregard.
Same difference as to Jewel & many more.
Over tha years_Since 26 year ago I have haulded many.
520,000 pounds minimum.

Tha other day, still beat down by hurricane Rita, heat & all!
Heard a cool front was coming in.
Damage to all our bldn & one whooped old man had ta go!

See pic!
Nite-time is cool time......
Started at night and finished @ night.
400 mile and holding.
Love them sweet taters.
______________

Left in a cool dark place they are good, and better if ya did it right.
One year later works!
Peace. Happy eating.
Gardening too!

WOW !!! Thats alot of taters !!!


I did notice that my box said "treated with botran"...that may not be good ?

Botran ( Dicloran) is a broad spectrum fungicide used to treat seed sweet potatoes to prevent the introduction of Rhizopus rot, Sclerotial blight and scurf into the field. I don't know why it would be used for post harvest of food stock.
http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/fung-nemat/aceticacid-etridiazole/dicloran/fung-prof-dcna.html

sounds weird I know....maybe my potatoes are just in that box...who knows when you buy roadside..

Thanks for this thread, I've grown them up north here with success, but always bought slips through the mail. Now maybe I can start my own.
Andy P

Haha weird is what I hear sometime!
Although we have a produce stand of sorts I have sold from the road side many times in tha last 25 years plus.

We haul uncovered when weather permits.
You would laugh to see tha various means people use to get our attention, from blinking lights to frantic waving, pointing soforth.

Question is;
Do you sell those, how much?
-
We have a one bushel, 1/2 bushel, peck & half peck baskets stacked inside tha truck.
Also the regular plastic bags for the peck size and down.
-
For a 1/2 bushel your normal large paper sack from any store holds it perfectly.
___________

We certainly don't carry scales with us.
In reality, they arn't needed anyway!
One bushel of taters weighs 50 pounds if level. Large medium or small.
Count down by size for others. Haha, try it! 1/2 comes in at 25 pounds.

Tha Weird Part lol.....
We let the customer pick their potaoes because, where one thinks tha big ones are best, an equal number think otherwise.

Smaller amounts are poured in tha plastic bags.
Half bushels are a little different.
-
We have a holey bucket lol.
With tha bottom cut out it fits inside that large grocery sack quite nicely.
Taters pour right in.

This was taken 11/18/04
Notice tha dirt.
Most usually blows away but these were dug not long after a rain.

You really wanted to know all this huh !

[edit here]
For slips or jus growing a sweet potato vine _/ this link:
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case5/c5hgi.html




This message was edited Oct 14, 2005 4:31 PM

I'm hoping some kind soul might send me a few "seed" tater sometime over winter...

My mother had a green thumb when it came to houseplants, and I would remember her taking tooth picks, sticking it in the sweet potato then sticking the toothpicks in a glass or jar of water so just the root would be in the water. We then would have vines all over the house.

My question is, then could these be planted in the garden in the spring?

Annie

This message was edited Oct 14, 2005 7:39 PM

yes

Does anyone know if sweet potato will grow in zone 11?

Our grocery store sells sweet potatoes but they are actually Yucca which tastes nothing like a sweet potato but does resemble them until you cut them.

I remember I found a recipe for sweet potatoes, apples & cinnamon and ran to get the taters only to be so disappointed when I cut it. Yuccas are tasteless as far as we are concerned.

Everyone said it was too hot for corn down here and ours is doing great.

If someone thinks they will work and can send me a started I will more than happily pay the postage.

K

Sweet potatotes are actually a tropical plant which should do fine in the Caribbean. Lots of them grown in south asia. They are perennials in frost free areas. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/publications/vegetabletravelers/sweetpotato.html

Not related to growing sweet potatoes, but I found this article on storing them in the freezer: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/recipes/sweetpot.html

"Baking/Storing Sweet Potatoes
COMMENT ABOUT SWEETPOTATOES:
I would like to tell you how I store sweet potatoes. I wash and dry the sweet potatoes then I grease them with Crisco or lard. Then I place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F. until done. Oh, yes, you should prick them with a fork or knife so they will not explode. "

"Let them cool and wrap each one with Reynolds wrap (not the heavy duty) and place in a plastic bag and freeze. They will keep almost forever. When ready to use, just remove the number wanted and run hot water over them. The peeling will come off easily. Then prepare just as fresh boiled. They can be heated in the microwave and will be like fresh baked. "