harvesting sweet potatoes

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grelli2 Norman, OK Sep 03, 2007

Hi everyone. I am growing sweet potatoesin Oklahoma (Zone 7A) for the first time. They're in a bed with tomatoes, so I am watering them and I just read that you shoudn't water them the last 4 weeks. I'm wondering if it would be too early to harvest them,and then if I could cure them outside, since they need 85 degrees for curing. Any opinions?

Kelli

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Indy Alexandria, IN(Zone 6a) Sep 03, 2007

You might check into the side of a hill of them to see how large they are now. Usually sweetpotatoes are harvested in about a month from now.
There seems to be different thoughts on curing them. The USDA says 85-90° F. and high humidity for 7 or 8 days. Some leave them outside in the sun a few days. Others say no-no to that. George Washington Carver said he laid his on screens inside in front of a window and that they kept perfectly. I am not sure that good keeping is identicale with best flavor.

Myself, I squirt them with a hose to clean them fairly good. Then I take them inside to a small room and close the door and turn the heat up to 88° and hang wet towels up and leave them in egg baskets partly covered for a week....hawh!

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Indy Alexandria, IN(Zone 6a) Sep 16, 2007

I was checking my sweetpotatoes today and noticed this large one sticking up a ways out of the ground. I dug it out and even though a mouse or something had eaten a bit of it, it weighed 4½ pounds...that's a lot of tator...a Beauregard.

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