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What time of year do you plant sweet potatoes


How to Grow Great Sweet Potatoes

The trick to growing great sweet potatoes is to plan before you plant. Follow these recommendations for success in planting and harvesting sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are nutritious, starchy root vegetables. Sweet potato plants are in the same family as morning glories (Convolvulaceae), and are only distantly related to potatoes. Since they are not in the nightshade family (Solanaceae) with potatoes, sweet potatoes are a dietary alternative for people who are sensitive to nightshades.

Sweet potato plants are heat-loving, low-maintenance garden vegetables. They have a vining growth habit and the plants establish quickly. They enjoy full sun (at least 6-8 hours during the growing season) and thrive in loose, well-drained, nutrient-rich soils – although they will tolerate almost any planting site.

Select and prepare the planting site for the benefit of your sweet potato plants so that, come harvest, you get a bountiful crop! Here's what we recommend.

Planting Sweet Potato Plants

The best time to plant sweet potato plants is after the ground is thawed and after the last spring frost date has passed. If the ground doesn't freeze in your location, then the best time to plant is usually a month after your last spring frost date.

Prepare the soil. Sweet potatoes grow well in nutrient-rich soil, so prepare the sunny, well-drained planting site with compost or well-aged manure prior to planting. If your soil has water-retention issues, you may need to amend with coir, or coco-fiber growing medium. If your soil is compact or composed of heavy clay, it is recommended that you build raised beds or large mounds of top soil (amended if needed) to plant and grow sweet potatoes. Building up 10-12 inches above the native soil should work fine.

If you can't plant your sweet potatoes when they arrive, due to adverse weather conditions, keep sweet potato plants' roots damp and put them in a shaded place until conditions improve.

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Plant. Space planting holes at least 12 inches apart and space planting rows about 36 inches apart. This allows space for vigorous vines to grow and avoids light or nutrient competition, while also giving you room to move easily through your planting site to mulch, water, and eventually harvest.

Mulch. Sweet potato plants don't like water-logged soil, but dry soil is just as stressful. Be sure to keep the planting area watered as needed (you shouldn't need to water if there is rain in the near forecast). Apply a few inches of mulch to help retain moisture while also discouraging the development of problematic weeds.

Maintaining the Planting Site

Harvesting Sweet Potatoes

Most varieties of sweet potato will mature within 3-5 months, so, if your location is known for having short growing seasons, be sure to choose varieties with an appropriate maturity time.

Sweet Potato Varieties at Stark Bro's

Harvest-sized sweet potatoes may be found several inches below the soil surface. Carefully remove the soil from around the plant's roots and examine the tuber size. If they are a couple inches across or larger, they are ready to be harvested. You can selectively remove the sizable sweet potatoes and re-cover the plant's roots to allow continued development of smaller ones. Be careful not to bruise, scrape, or puncture the skin of the sweet potatoes as this can cause quality issues like rotting, especially in storage. Remove any excess dirt from your harvest.

To fully enjoy your harvested sweet potatoes, they will likely need a curing period to develop the sugars for the sweetness you are familiar with. This curing process is also necessary if you plan to store your sweet potato harvest for several months. For your convenience, here are some useful sweet potato curing tips.

Sweet potatoes are truly easy garden vegetables to plant and harvest. And, if you follow these recommendations, you will grow your own great sweet potatoes in no time!

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growing outside or under cover |

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Find out exactly when to plant sweet potatoes and enjoy the many health benefits this crop offers. These extremely frost sensitive plants need about 90 to 170 days to fully mature and give the bumper crop you’re after, so it's important to plant them at the right time.

Boiled, fried, mashed or baked, sweet potatoes contain an abundance of fibre, beta-carotene and a far lower GI than regular white potatoes, making them the healthier choice for your dinner plate. 

Get the timing right, and once you know how to grow sweet potatoes, you can enjoy  many different varieties that you won't be able to find in the grocery store.

When to plant sweet potatoes

(Image credit: Getty Image)

Sweet potato slips – the small shoots that grow out of the potato – need to be started indoors about six weeks before you are ready to plant them outdoors as part of your plans for when to plant vegetables. They are extremely frost sensitive, so cannot go outside until you are absolutely sure the last frost date for your area has passed. 

Check your USDA plant hardiness zone to see if they will fair well in your climate. If the temperatures in the area where you live are unpredictable, it might be advisable to grow sweet potatoes under cover in a polytunnel, or include them in the crops to grow when planning a greenhouse. 

'Sweet potato slips are best planted outdoors when the soil temperature is warm enough, above 65°F (18°C) advises Jacqueline Thorne from Highland Horticulture .

(Image credit: Getty)

What month is best to plant sweet potatoes?

The best month to start sweet potatoes will depend on the climate where you live and the last frost date.

Spring is the best time of year to start sweet potatoes, but they must only be planted outdoors once all risk of frost has passed. 

'Sweet potatoes are sensitive to cold conditions, so gardeners need to wait about four weeks after their last frost date to plant them out,' advises Melody Rose from Dave's Garden .

Sweet potatoes take between 90-170 days to mature and will need warmth to grow well. For this reason, it might be advisable to grow them under a cover to ensure you get a good harvest.  

'Sweet potato slips need to be started about six weeks before you plant them out. Bury the sweet potatoes in moist sand, compost or leaf mulch,' advises Melody. Then, place them on a sunny windowsill and only plant them outdoors once all risk of frost has passed. 

(Image credit: Getty Image)

Can I start sweet potatoes outdoors?

As sweet potatoes are warm loving plants, like pumpkins and zucchini, and very frost sensitive, you should only start them outdoors if you live in a warm region. You should check your USDA plant hardiness zone to see if they will do well in your area outdoors.

Soil temperature needs to be consistently about 65°F before you can start thinking about planting sweet potatoes outdoors. For many gardeners, therefore, it is advisable to start sweet potato slips indoors. 

(Image credit: Getty Images)

When to plant sweet potatoes in a container 

Growing sweet potatoes in a container as part of your vegetable garden container ideas is a great option if you only have a small yard or outdoor space. It also ensures you manage to harvest the entire crop and not leave any potatoes behind.

'We recommend that sweet potato are best grown in a polytunnel or glasshouse or under a large cloche, irrespective of whether they are planted into containers or soil beds,' advises Iain Thorne from Highland Horticulture. 'When grown this way, planting can begin from early to mid spring, depending on location and last frost date,' he adds.

Next job: check when to harvest sweet potatoes.

Emma received the keys to her first allotment plot in 2019 and has been documenting her progress on Youtube and Instagram ever since. As the allotment grew, so did her love of gardening and her follower count. Emma has a passion for writing and has contributed articles to Kitchen Garden magazine and Life lovers magazine, as well as starting her own blog – the pink shed . 

Growing food has become one of her biggest passions and she enjoys sharing her trials and errors with her audience in a funny, honest and informative way.

planting and care in the open field, growing from seeds, photo

Author: Elena N. https://floristics.info/en/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=19 Category: garden plants reprinted: Last amendments:

Content

  • Sweet potato pests and diseases
  • Sweet potato harvesting and storage
  • Sweet potato species and varieties
    • Sweet sweet potato

      • Today sweet potato grows only in cultivation. It is grown in subtropical and tropical zones, as well as in warm regions of the temperate zone - for example, sweet potato grows well in Ukraine, and sweet potato in the Moscow region has long been not uncommon. The leaders in the industrial cultivation of sweet potato are China, Indonesia and India.

      Planting and caring for sweet potatoes

      • Planting: sowing seeds for seedlings - in late January or early February, planting seedlings in open ground - in the second half of May. nine0012
      • Lighting: bright sunlight.
      • Soil: best sandy or loamy, high in nitrogen.
      • Watering: plentiful only in the first month after planting seedlings, then (from the second half of summer) sweet potato is watered no more than once a decade, but if it rains from time to time, then you can not water it at all. The last moistening of the soil is carried out 2-3 weeks before harvesting.
      • Top dressing: during the formation of tubers (approximately in mid-August), sweet potato needs potassium, for which wood ash is added to the soil, stirring 1-2 cups in 10 liters of water and insisting this composition for a week with occasional stirring. Under each bush contribute 1 liter of infusion.
      • Propagation: usually by tubers or parts thereof.
      • Pests: cockchafers (May beetle larvae), slugs, wireworms.
      • Diseases: black leg.
      • Properties: the plant has a high nutritional value, healing properties and is a dietary product.

      Read more about growing sweet potatoes below.

      Sweet potato - description

      Sweet sweet potato is a herbaceous vine with creeping stems up to 5 m long, easily rooted at the nodes. In height, the plant can reach 15-18 m. Strongly thickened lateral roots of sweet potato form tubers with edible yellow, orange, white, cream, pink, red and purple pulp. Sweet potato tubers weigh from 200 g to 3 or more kg. The leaves of the sweet potato are palmate-lobed or heart-shaped, on long petioles. The axillary funnel-shaped flowers with a large corolla can be pink, white or pale lilac, but many sweet potatoes do not bloom in temperate climates. Sweet potato fruit is a box with four brown or black seeds with a diameter of 3.5-4.5 mm. nine0007

      Growing sweet potatoes from seeds

      Sowing sweet potatoes

      Sweet potatoes are usually propagated by sprouting tubers, since in our conditions the plant rarely blooms and, therefore, does not form seeds. However, you can buy sweet potato seeds in an online store or in a garden pavilion and, given the thermophilicity of the crop and the growing season of its development lasting from 90 to 180 days, sow them not in open ground, but on seedlings. Moreover, sweet potato seeds have almost one hundred percent germination. nine0007

      Sweet potatoes are sown in late January or early February, but before sowing, the seeds are placed in warm water for a day, after which they are disinfected in a solution of potassium permanganate or copper sulphate. After processing, the seeds are dried.

      The substrate for growing sweet potato seedlings must be fertile and loose - for example, a soil mixture of humus, soddy soil and sand in equal parts is well suited for this purpose. Do not use garden soil for sowing - it lacks nutrients and can be contaminated with insect eggs and pathogens. The substrate before sowing the seeds must be disinfected by calcining in the oven or heating in the microwave. nine0007

      The sweet potato seeds are buried in a moist substrate by 1.5-2 cm, after which the surface is lightly compacted and watered. Then the crops are covered with a film or glass and kept until germination in a well-lit and ventilated place at a temperature of 18-20 ºC.

      Caring for seedlings of sweet potatoes

      Growing sweet potatoes in the seedling period requires, first of all, creating an optimal temperature regime for seedlings within 20-30 ºC. Water sweet potato seedlings regularly, but moderately: the plant loves moisture, but it does not tolerate liquid dirt in the roots. To moisten the substrate, water at room temperature that has been settled for a day is used. Water the seedlings only when the top layer of the substrate dries out. The room should be regularly ventilated, but drafts should not be allowed. Airing is best done immediately after watering. nine0007

      When sweet potato seedlings reach a height of 15 cm and 4-5 internodes are formed on each seedling, hardening procedures can be started, the purpose of which is to accustom the plants to the effects of natural factors. Seedlings should be taken out into the open air daily for two weeks. At first, not for long - for 20-30 minutes, but gradually the duration of the procedure is increased until the sweet potato seedlings can spend 24 hours a day outdoors.

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      Planting sweet potatoes in open ground

      When to plant sweet potatoes in the ground

      Plant sweet potato seedlings in the garden when the air temperature is firmly established at around 20 ºC, and the soil warms up to 15 ºC. For example, in Ukraine, especially in its southern regions, seedlings can be planted in the garden at the end of April, and in the Moscow region, the necessary conditions sometimes develop only in the first decade of June.

      Sweet potatoes grow best in open sunny areas, protected from strong winds. The optimal soil for the plant is sandy or loamy, with low acidity and high nitrogen content, although sweet potatoes can grow on other soils. nine0007

      Soil for sweet potatoes

      A plot for sweet potatoes should be prepared since autumn: the earth is dug up to a depth of 15-20 cm with the simultaneous introduction of humus, potassium sulfate and superphosphate. Acidic soils are limed two weeks before fertilization. In the spring, before planting, the soil on the site is loosened and enriched with ammonium nitrate.

      How to plant sweet potatoes outdoors

      Seedlings are planted in holes about 15 cm deep, dug 40 cm apart in a row at 70 cm row spacings. the subsequently formed carpet of tops and leaves will prevent moisture from evaporating too quickly. Seedlings are buried so that the two lower internodes are underground. For successful rooting, almost all leaves are removed from seedlings, leaving only 1-2 pairs of top ones. After planting, the surface of the beds is compacted, watered, and each seedling is covered with a glass jar or a transparent plastic bottle with a cut neck. When new leaves begin to appear on the seedlings, the coating is removed. nine0007

      Caring for sweet potatoes

      How to grow sweet potatoes

      Planting and caring for sweet potatoes is not difficult, and if you manage to find good seeds for the crop, then if you follow the simple rules of growing sweet potatoes, you can count on success. The main thing is to remember that you are dealing with a heat-loving culture.

      Plant care consists of procedures well known to every gardener: sheltering the beds from the cold, watering, loosening the soil, weeding, protection from diseases and pests. When growing sweet potatoes, do not allow the lashes to take root in the internodes: walk along the bed and lift each lash to cut off the resulting roots. Do not forget to pinch the tops of all the lashes in the 20th of August - this measure helps to increase the size of the tubers. nine0007

      Watering sweet potatoes

      Since sweet potatoes are drought-resistant, they need abundant moisture only in the first month after planting, but further watering should be gradually reduced to normal: in the second half of the growing season, watering should be carried out no more than once every 10 days, and if it rains regularly, then the sweet potato can not be watered at all. 2-3 weeks before harvesting the tubers, wetting the beds is stopped.

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      Feeding sweet potatoes

      Most of all, additional nutrition, namely potash fertilizer, is needed by sweet potatoes during the formation and growth of tubers - this usually happens in mid-August. It is best to use wood ash as a fertilizer: 1-2 cups of ash are mixed in 10 liters of water and infused for a week, stirring occasionally, after which a liter jar of infusion is added under each bush.

      Sweet potato pests and diseases

      Despite the fact that sweet potato is resistant to traditional pests and diseases of our climate, its tubers can damage beetle larvae, and the pest deliberately destroys or disfigures the largest and most beautiful root crops. It is necessary to stubbornly and purposefully fight the Khrushchev and their offspring, and you can read how to do this in the article posted on our website. nine0007

      Slugs are a danger to sweet potatoes during the rainy season. Place bowls of beer around the area and after a while harvest the shellfish. You can protect sweet potatoes from slugs by surrounding the bed with a shallow ditch and pouring fine screenings into it: slugs cannot overcome such an obstacle.

      Sweet potatoes can also suffer from spider mites that occupy plants in dry summers. In the fight against them, they use the treatment of bushes with infusion of henbane, hogweed, dope, onion peel or chamomile. nine0007

      One of the sweet potato diseases can affect the black leg during the seedling period, from which the stem at the root collar of the seedlings rots, and they die. To avoid disease, sow sweet potato only in disinfected soil: spill the substrate with Fitosporin-M, and so that it does not acidify, add eggshells ground into flour into the soil mixture.

      Harvesting and storing sweet potatoes

      Harvest sweet potatoes 14-16 weeks after planting, around mid-September, before frost, in dry and sunny weather. By this time, the leaves and tops begin to turn yellow and wither. Sweet potatoes dug up in wet weather will not be stored, so they must be processed immediately, like damaged tubers. The tubers are dug up with a pitchfork and left on the surface of the beds to dry. Dig carefully, as the tubers can reach a length of 30 cm. Clean the dried tubers from the ground and sort: send whole healthy fruits for storage, and damaged and doubtful ones for processing. nine0007

      Tubers intended for storage must be kept for a week at a temperature of 28-30 ºC at an air humidity of 85-90%, regularly ventilating the room. Then the fruits are put into shallow trays and stored at a temperature of 10-15 ºC for several months.

      • A proven way of forming cucumbers, which significantly increases the yield

      If you want to freeze sweet potatoes, then first cut them into slices and fry until half cooked, then put them in bags or containers, cork them, and only then place them in the freezer. nine0007

      Sweet potatoes can be stored in dried form: tubers are washed, peeled and cut into thin slices or strips like potatoes, then washed under running water, blanched for about 5 minutes in boiling water, cooled sharply in water, allowed to drain, after which the slices are laid out in one layer on a baking sheet and dried in an oven at 80 ºC, stirring occasionally. Dried sweet potatoes are cooled naturally, after which they are poured into paper bags or bags for storage.

      Sweet potatoes can be preserved. nine0072 It is cut into cubes, boiled in salted water with spices until half cooked, laid out in sterile half-liter jars, poured with boiling water, ½ teaspoon of acetic acid is added to each jar, after which the jars are rolled up, wrapped, and after they have cooled are placed in storage.

      Types and varieties of sweet potato

      Unfortunately, there is no official varietal classification of sweet potato, but there are about 7000 varieties and hybrids of the plant: about 100 varieties of this plant are grown in China alone. Varieties of sweet potato are divided into fodder, vegetable and dessert. Varieties also differ in skin color, flesh color and tuber shape. Characteristics such as yield, color and shape of leaves and the accuracy of the formation of sweet potato tubers are also important. In terms of ripening varieties are divided into early, mid-season and late. nine0007

      Dessert sweet potatoes

      Sweet sweet potatoes are high in beta-carotene and glucose - they are sweet in taste, their flesh is bright yellow or orange. These varieties need a lot of light and heat to ripen, so they do not grow as well in the middle lane as in the subtropics and tropics. The taste of dessert sweet potato, depending on the variety, may resemble pineapple, pumpkin, chestnut, banana or carrot. Dessert tubers are combined with fruits, nuts, caramel, molasses, so they are used to make sweet cereals, casseroles and other desserts. The best dessert varieties are:

      • Kumara Red is a light and temperature demanding hybrid with large bushes, long lashes and lush foliage. The tubers of this sweet potato are oblong-round, the core is a light yellowish hue, moderately sweet taste. When raw, the flesh of the fruit is slightly tart;
      • Beauregard is an easy-care, sweet and tasty variety with a high content of glucose and carotene. The plant forms compact bushes, producing even copper-colored tubers with orange flesh; nine0012
      • O'Henry is a variety of the American variety Beauregard, light cream in color with yellowish flesh, sweetish taste and dry texture. The variety is resistant to diseases and pests;
      • Garnet is an American mid-early, medium-productive variety with a reddish skin and sweet orange flesh;
      • Pobeda 100 is an early maturing productive variety that has taken root well in the middle lane. The plant forms a compact bush, its tubers are smooth, even. The flesh is orange, moderately sweet, reminiscent of nuts and banana, but these characteristics appear only after the tubers lie down for some time: immediately after digging they are tasteless; nine0012
      • Georgia Red is a productive variety adapted to the conditions of the middle lane. The plant forms a compact shrub with deep reddish leaves and round, light-fleshed, copper-orange tubers that taste like potatoes when raw, but become sweet and soft when cooked;
      • Burgundy is an early American Fusarium resistant variety with high sucrose content and excellent aroma. The skin of the tubers is dark red, the flesh is dark orange, which does not change color after heat treatment. nine0012

      Feed sweet potato

      Feed varieties of sweet potato contain less sugar than dessert and vegetable varieties. This sweet potato can be successfully replaced with potatoes. It usually has light flesh, which becomes soft after heat treatment. The tubers of fodder sweet potato are also suitable for frying. These varieties grow well not only in the south, but also in the middle lane. The most popular fodder varieties include the following:

      • White Bouquet is a high-yielding variety that forms a powerful bush with long lashes and large creamy tubers, sometimes reaching 3-4 kg in weight. The flesh of the tubers is white, reminiscent of chestnut in taste; nine0012
      • Brazilian is a hybrid that is perfectly adapted to the conditions of the middle lane, resistant to pests and diseases, giving consistently high yields. It has light tubers and white flesh with a mild taste.

      Vegetable yam

      contains less glucose than dessert but more than fodder, so the taste of its fruits resembles frozen potatoes. Sweet potato tubers have light flesh with orange, yellow or pink patches. After heat treatment, the pulp becomes tender, soft and juicy, but the tubers of most varieties are unsuitable for frying, since they have some water content. But they make an excellent puree. Of the vegetable varieties most often grown:

      • Purple is an early productive variety, resistant to diseases and pests, superior in taste and nutritional qualities to potatoes. It forms a powerful bush with dark green leaves, long lashes and purple tubers that do not lose color even after heat treatment. Almost devoid of sweetness, the pulp has a chestnut flavor;
      • White sweet potato is the closest variety to potatoes in terms of texture and taste, which is distinguished by its yield and is perfectly adapted to the conditions of the middle belt. This variety has light-skinned, oblong tubers with white flesh; nine0012
      • Japanese - an early variety with red-skinned tubers with light cream flesh, less sweet and drier than orange-core varieties, but successfully replacing the usual potatoes;
      • BIT-1 - late-ripening variety of Italian selection with white tubers and white slightly sweet pulp;
      • Bonita is a highly productive, early maturing, low-sweet, starchy variety resistant to Fusarium, with a creamy-pink skin and creamy white flesh; nine0012
      • Bushbuck is a cultivar from South Africa with pinkish crimson fruits that darken in storage. The flesh of the fruit is white with a creamy tint, slightly sweet, reminiscent of potatoes;
      • Vinnitsa pink is a very productive variety of Ukrainian selection, forming a vigorous bush. Smooth, pink-skinned tubers have excellent keeping quality. Their flesh is light, almost not sweet, in its raw form reminiscent of the taste of a cabbage stalk. Sometimes this variety is sold under the names Redgold, Gocha and Tekken, since Vinnitsa pink has an outward resemblance to these varieties; nine0012
      • Sumor is a high yielding, disease and pest resistant early variety with creamy tubers and light unsweetened flesh with an absolutely potato taste.

      In addition to those described, varieties of yam Tainung, Hanna Gold, Har Bay, Batty, Burgundy, Belvou, Baker, Butterbach white, red and pink, White Delight, Virginian, Delaware purple, Golden Bell, Derby, Jersey yellow and orange have proven themselves well , Red ginseng, Indian, Carver and many others. nine0007

      Properties of sweet potato - harm and benefits

      Useful properties of sweet potato

      Despite the fact that sweet potato contains a large amount of starch and sugar, it has a relatively low calorie content. Sweet potato tubers contain proteins, carbohydrates, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, choline, thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, vitamins A, C, PP. Sweet potato starch is widely used for medical purposes: it is used in the treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract as an enveloping, emollient, vitamin and tonic agent. The content of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) in tubers helps to strengthen the walls of blood vessels, so sweet potato dishes are included in the diet of patients with cardiovascular diseases. nine0007

      Due to the increased content of ascorbic acid compared to other vegetables, sweet potato protects the body from the action of free radicals that cause cellular corrosion, which contributes to cancer.

      Thanks to the progesterone contained in the tubers, sweet potato is a valuable product for women during menopause. And since the plant has more delicate fiber than other vegetables, eating its tubers is indicated for people suffering from indigestion. The taste of fried and boiled sweet potatoes is reminiscent of frost-bitten and sweetish potatoes, but in terms of calcium and carbohydrates, it is several times superior to potatoes. nine0007

      Sweet potato - contraindications

      Sweet potato is not recommended for gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers, as it causes irritation of the mucous membrane. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should refrain from eating sweet potatoes. Some people may develop an individual intolerance to sweet potato.

      Literature

      1. Read related topics on Wikipedia
      2. Peculiarities and other plants of the bindweed family
      3. List of all species on The Plant List nine0012
      4. More information on World Flora Online


      Sweet potato is not a potato: growing is both easier and more profitable!
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      About growing sweet potatoes • Diary of a gardener.

      The Mitlider method in action. nine0001

      Growing sweet potatoes in 2010, we collected a large amount of materials that can be useful to everyone - both those who are just going to try to grow this crop, and even those who have been growing it for more than a year.

      Much of the information from the article has never been published in Russian (at least in the Russian-speaking part of the network). It would be criminal not to share them. There are a lot of interesting things!

      What will we talk about

      • Sweet potato in a nutshell nine0010
      • History of cultivation in the USSR and Russia
      • Sweet potato varieties
      • Culinary properties
    • Is it worth it to take up cultivation
      • Global culture
      • Sweet potato in the Russian climate
    • Growing preparation
      • How to get sweet potato
      • Planning
      • Seed
    • Growing
      • General seating pattern
      • Despite the cold climate
      • Nutritional deficiencies
      • Watering
    • Harvest
      • When to collect
      • How to properly store
    • This is interesting
    • Total

    Sweet potato in a nutshell

    I will not go into botany - enough has been written about sweet potato. It is a tasty tuberous vegetable, also called "sweet potato", although it is not a potato, and they are not even relatives. But in terms of culinary qualities, sweet potato is really similar to potatoes. More details below. nine0007

    Is this the first time you hear about sweet potatoes?

    Sweet potato is the rarest crop for the CIS, and completely undeserved. What can you do, the heavy legacy of the USSR - then only what was imposed by instructions "from above" was grown. And the leaders of the USSR... often they could launch a man into space, but fail to harvest a banal potato crop. So it happened with the sweet potato. They did not have time to introduce it under the USSR, and then there was no time ... And only now, finally, it is gradually appearing in some gardens and in the capital's stores. People began to take an interest in him. But in such things there is always a strong inertia. There is no sweet potato in cookbooks in Russian, not in most stores around the country. It was not prepared by our mother/grandmother...

    This will pass. Potatoes have been introduced in Russia for about a hundred years. People hated the potato so much that they raised potato riots, which were suppressed by the troops. And today the potato has become familiar and "native". The same will happen with sweet potatoes, only faster. Remember, for example, when you first got a cell phone ... after all, not so long ago, right?

    About varieties

    Unlike potatoes, different varieties of sweet potato can differ enormously from each other in all characteristics! Here is how sweet potatoes are classified:

    Flesh color: yellow, orange, red, purple or cream
    Texture: soft and juicy or dry and firm
    Shape: angular to conical
    sweet (that you can even make jam)

    Juicy varieties with orange flesh are popular in the USA. In Asia, preference is given to varieties with creamy or purple dry flesh and a smooth surface, which are very tasty when baked. nine0007

    Culinary properties

    Sweet potatoes are similar to potatoes and vice versa. But “similar” does not mean “almost as good, but not enough”. Please refrain from making "better" or "worse" comparisons when talking about sweet potatoes and potatoes. It's just a different vegetable, and such a comparison with a potato is no more appropriate than a comparison of cucumbers with zucchini.

    The taste of sweet potatoes is as diverse as, for example, apples. See above About varieties. We have already written about our first culinary impressions of sweet potato. nine0007

    Baked sweet potato. TASTY!

    The variety we grow is almost a "classic". It can be used in many dishes where potatoes are commonly used, and goes just as well with all foods. Therefore, the scope of sweet potato is just as huge. But some dishes work better with potatoes. And some - with sweet potato. Here you have to try - many dishes, when replacing potatoes with sweet potatoes, become unusually tasty, or at least open themselves from the other side. nine0007

    Is it worth it to grow

    Serious cultivation

    Our gardeners love to experiment with different crops. They can plant Jerusalem artichoke (although it is almost not stored), they can eat burdock roots, cook dandelion borscht, etc.

    Sweet potato has nothing to do with these "entertainments". This is a serious food crop that is grown all over the world on a huge scale. Most of the world's sweet potatoes are grown in China - 80.5 million tons per year. But China grows less ordinary potatoes - only 72 million (data for 2009th year). Here is a very interesting video about the process of growing sweet potato in Louisiana (USA) (I did the translation myself, please excuse any clumsiness):

    Sweet potato in the Russian climate

    Sweet potato is not a toy culture. Being a serious competitor to potatoes, it did not spread with us mainly because of its thermophilicity. But breeders do not stand still. Even ordinary tomatoes did not grow in the Non-Black Earth region until the middle of the 20th century. And now they are growing, and in open ground. The sweet potato has also adapted. Modern varieties ripen in 90-110 days. Sweet potato has become an acceptable crop for northern regions.

    July 16 (73 days after landing). Midsummer. The compost heap is already completely covered with sweet potato foliage.

    Is your climate close to Moscow or even warmer? Suitable for sweet potatoes! Specifically, we normally grew sweet potatoes in the north of Bashkiria. Here they already pay the “northern surcharge”. Here, the average date of the last frost is May 30, the average date of the first frost is September 10. Not the coldest region, but colder than most of the CIS. And nothing, the sweet potato grows. Here are some additional simple tricks for growing sweet potatoes in cold climates. nine0007

    Update September 22, 2011 : We have published the results of harvesting three different varieties of sweet potato in 2011.

    Growing

    How to get sweet potato

    Fortunately, there are already quite a lot of people growing sweet potatoes in Russia and the CIS. And there is always someone from your country who can send you a couple of tubers by mail. For example, residents of Russia can apply for tubers to Alexey Pavlovich Kochetkov, and in Ukraine - to Alexander Yuryevich Vorobyov.

    Alas, you will not be able to order sweet potato by mail from another country - customs does not let parcels with plants pass without a special phytosanitary certificate. nine0007

    Choose a variety that can definitely grow in your climate. Sometimes imported sweet potatoes are sold in stores, but it may turn out to be a variety with a long ripening period. In addition, store-bought sweet potatoes can be treated with substances that inhibit germination.

    IMPORTANT! Sweet potato tubers do not tolerate temperatures below +10°C, so they must be ordered by mail during the warm season. And take this into account when storing and harvesting. But the cuttings, on the contrary, are tenacious. Therefore, in the USA, sweet potato seedlings are usually sent with rooted cuttings - this allows you to start mailing in early spring. nine0007

    Planning

    Of course, first you need to decide how much you want to plant sweet potatoes. We tried planting sweet potatoes using the Mittlider method, in narrow beds in two rows, spacing 35 cm between plants. Many sweet potato growers make the distances longer, but tight planting is a feature of the mittlider technology that is compensated by better nutrition, lighting and watering. We let the foliage grow in wide mittlider passages.

    August 28 (71 days from landing). The whole ridge of sweet potato already does not fit into the frame ...

    Approximately 350 plants are placed on a hundred square meters divided into narrow ridges of Mitlider. The colder the climate, the greater the distance between sweet potato plants 1 . Therefore, in the new year, we plan to try other planting distances, be sure to describe the results. September 22, 2011 update : Landing results with other distances are already available and can be seen in this article.

    Seed

    You can simply bury a sweet potato tuber in the ground like a regular potato, but there will be little sense from such a planting. The tuber will give too many shoots, which will further interfere with each other and the yield will decrease. Therefore, sweet potato is usually propagated by cuttings. nine0007

    During the winter, tubers produce many shoots that can be cut and rooted. And plant the tuber itself for germination - it will give new shoots.

    Sweet potato tuber with many sprouts

    It usually takes 4-5 weeks from the beginning of the germination of the tuber to the first cuttings suitable for cutting. Therefore, it is necessary to germinate the tubers in advance - in order to have time to grow enough material. The length of the cuttings should be 15-25 cm, and they must have internodes in the underground part (in the internodes the sweet potato releases roots) and a pair of buds in the above ground - future points of growth. nine0007

    Growing

    General planting pattern

    We use the standard narrow beds of the Mittlider method for gardening, on which we plant sweet potatoes in two rows with a distance of 35 cm between plants. Perhaps an increase in distances will increase the yield and quality of tubers, we will study this issue later. September 22, 2011 update : already studied.

    In the classical agricultural technique 4 sweet potatoes are planted in rows with a distance between plants of 20-35cm, and a distance between rows of 0.8-1m. nine0007

    It is recommended to start planting cuttings after the date of the last frost. More strictly, when the soil warms up to 18°C ​​at a depth of 10 cm 4 . The sooner you can provide such conditions, the sooner you can start landing. For a sweet potato, this is not superfluous. For example, you can cover the prepared ridge with a film a week before planting the cuttings (more on this will be discussed below).

    In 2010, we tried to plant sweet potatoes at different times, and we were convinced of the validity of a number of rules described in the literature 4 - if the cuttings are planted in cold soil, the tubers will be long and crooked. The warmer the soil was at the beginning of cultivation, the more regular and beautiful the shape of the tubers will be.

    Sweet potatoes are fed like ordinary potatoes - 4 top dressings with mixture No. 2, to which you can add a fifth top dressing with wood ash. Sweet potato is very fond of potassium (K), and is very sensitive to sulfur (S) deficiency, so it is better to use a mixture based on sulfate fertilizers in top dressing3 .

    The variety we grow, Pobeda-100, matures in 90-100 days. In our area, the duration of the growing season is 120 days, and sweet potato has time to grow and produce a crop. But there are some tricks a gardener can use to get a bigger harvest.

    Despite the cold climate

    In most of Russia, palm trees, as you know, do not grow, and even quite the contrary. A similar situation has developed in another country - Canada. The local farmers have long been inventing ways to cheat nature. One of them, Ken Allan, wrote the book "Yam for gardeners, with special tricks for northerners", in which he advises yam and many other heat-loving crops (watermelon, basil, pepper, tomatoes) to be planted in ridges, the soil of which is covered with transparent plastic film. It turns out a kind of "greenhouse for the roots", and the aerial part of the plant remains in the open air. According to him, and according to our experience, this is really a great technique. nine0007

    Basil under film mulch on Ken Allana:

    Here is a video showing such a process of landing:

    Ken Allan makes two important comments on the use of film 2 :

    1. plastic plastic coming. The edges of the film must be sprinkled with earth so that they do not stick out. And after planting the plants, the holes should be covered with soil or sand (Ken prefers sand). He also writes: “The bed should be slightly raised so that the plastic fits well. And let the top of the bed be flat or slightly concave, with small indentations around each plant to direct the water. " In the Mittlider method, this requirement is satisfied by itself. nine0012
    2. You must use clear (not black) film. This may be contrary to "common sense", because. the fact that black color contributes to heat has taken root in our minds. Therefore, many vegetable growers mistakenly recommend black film for warming up the soil. In agricultural institutes, control experiments were carried out several times, and in each of them, a transparent film showed better results in warming up the soil than black. Transparent film is better, because. creates a "greenhouse effect" - it passes heat (note: the rays of the Sun) and retains it under it, acting very effectively. And the black film, on the contrary, does not transmit rays, and conducts heat poorly. As a result, although the black film heats up itself, it transfers only a small percentage of this heat to the soil. (Remember that the recommendation for transparencies is for vegetable growing in cold climates -

    Film mulch allows you to save moisture, warms, protects from temperature changes, makes the substances contained in the soil more accessible - all this creates comfortable conditions for the development of sweet potato roots. It is the roots of the sweet potato that are the most sensitive to cold. And green tops are hardy, and endure even short-term frosts. Warming up the soil with the help of a film allows you to start planting sweet potatoes at the same time as potatoes - in early / mid-May (in our area), and collect a larger and better harvest (in terms of the shape and size of tubers). nine0007

    Update: we have translated an interesting article by Ken Allan, in which he talks in more detail about his tricks of growing sweet potatoes in Canada.

    In general, soil film mulch is a very popular method. For example, here is a similar video about planting sweet potatoes from Japan:

    Nutritional deficiencies

    Our soil may not be ideal, and every plant can tell us about it. Some signs of nutritional problems are the same for all plants, some are unique. nine0007

    International Potato Center - "International Potato Center" publishes a lot of interesting things about the agricultural technology of potatoes and sweet potatoes (I remind you that in the West sweet potatoes are called "sweet potatoes", and they fall into the sphere of interests of this organization). The most useful study for me is describing the symptoms of nutritional deficiencies in sweet potatoes (as well as signs of toxicity). Here are the main links:

    looks like
    Item Symptoms
    Aluminum (Al) excess
    Bor (B) deficit, surplus
    Calcium (Ca) deficit
    Copper (Cu) deficit, surplus
    Iron (Fe) deficit
    Magnesium (Mg) deficit
    Manganese (Mn) deficit, surplus
    Molybdenum (Mo) deficit
    Nitrogen (N) deficit
    Phosphorus (P) deficit
    Potassium (K) deficit
    Sulfur (S) deficit
    Zinc (Zn) deficit, surplus
    Total soil salinity what

    There are many photos and verbal descriptions in English at the links. If photos alone are not enough, and you do not understand English, use the Google Translate online translator. nine0007

    Our sweet potato grew well on standard Mitlider mixes, but there was a sulfur deficiency, and it appeared even in the cuttings, before planting in the ground. Once again, I advise you to make sure that there will be enough sulfur in your plant nutrition. In our experience, for mittlider blends, "sufficient" means "at least 5%". If the sulfur content is below 4.5-5%, sulfur starvation begins. With an increase in the sulfur content, it quickly passes.

    Watering

    Sweet potatoes love water. Yes, he is tenacious, he can endure heat, drought. But if you need not a flower bed, but a crop, water it. The first 40-60 days after planting the cuttings are especially important. If during this period the water supply was normal, later the plants will be able to tolerate periods of drought, although they will still affect the yield 4 .

    Harvest

    When to harvest

    Sweet potatoes are usually harvested as soon as the leaves have fallen off from the first frost. And this must be done quickly, preferably in warm weather, in order to prevent the tubers from freezing. We did not wait for a long time, and dug up the tubers as soon as the weather forecast began to promise an early cooling below 10 ° C.

    How to store it properly

    The video on growing yam in Louisiana (see the Worldwide Culture part) already covers the basic storage methods. Briefly about them again. nine0007

    Sweet potato tubers are easily scratched during digging. These scratches and abrasions affect the shelf life. By creating certain conditions immediately after harvest, you can help the tubers quickly heal all wounds. This process is called "curing", and allows the sweet potato to be stored for a very, very long time even in the simple conditions of a home apartment.

    Industrial 4 , treatment starts 1-2 hours after harvest and lasts 4-7 days at 30°C and relative humidity 90-95%, with intermittent ventilation. If the crop was harvested during the warm season, the treatment is faster.
    The sweet potato is then sent to storage where the temperature is maintained at 13-16°C and the relative humidity is 85-90%. In such conditions, sweet potato neither freezes nor germinates, and can be stored for a whole year without loss of marketability.

    Cured sweet potato tuber 5 months after harvesting

    Under domestic conditions, such parameters cannot be achieved, and we did not particularly strive. We simply packed the harvest in bags with small holes for ventilation, and kept it there for a week, opening it every day for ventilation. And indeed, after a week, all the scratches and bruises (and we, due to inexperience, made a lot of them) were perfectly overgrown with new skin. It is now the middle of winter, and the tubers are healthy and strong. nine0007

    This is interesting

    Rather, this is interesting to me, but maybe it will be useful for you to know.

    Sweet potato is very rich in carbohydrates and β-carotene (provitamin A) , and produces more "edible" energy per hectare than wheat and rice 5 . Everything goes into business - both tubers and leaves - for animal feed, the production of starch, flour, sweets and even alcohol.

    Colorado potato beetle does not eat sweet potatoes. After all, sweet potato is not a potato, and does not even belong to the nightshade family. Of course, he has pests - but they are more of a "general plan" - beetle, moles, etc. root eaters. By the way, sweet potato secretes unusual droplets of liquid, like nectar, at the base of the leaves. I don't know why they are needed - maybe they attract predatory insects, or maybe they repel pests. But I noticed many times that wasps (predators) are constantly spinning around the sweet potato, patiently inspecting every leaf, every twig. nine0007

    Sweet potato blooms with short daylight hours - 12 hours or less 6 . And when it grows in northern latitudes, it usually does not bloom at all (although there are exception varieties). Without tricks, it often blooms only in winter if you grow it at home. Many even mistakenly believe that it does not bloom at all. But this is not so. Breeders creating new varieties need flowers and seeds. And they have learned to artificially induce flowering sweet potatoes. There are many ways, including lighting control (to reduce daylight hours), treatment with flowering phytohormones, and even grafting onto local, wild morning glory varieties. After all, sweet potato is a distant relative of our ordinary, wild bindweed. If you graft a yam vine to morning glory that blooms in our latitudes, it will also bloom. nine0007

    Diseases. To obtain healthy seed material, the desired variety of sweet potato is subjected to a kind of “steaming in the bath”. The plant has been grown for a long time at very high temperatures and humidity, almost at the limit of its vitality. This destroys many pathogens and inhibits the development of viruses. Then they take several cells from the tip of the so-called. apical meristem - shoot growth points, and disease-free offspring are grown from it. In this way, it is possible to maintain high yields of industrially grown varieties. nine0007

    In the US, there are excellent varieties of sweet potatoes, such as Georgia Jet and Beauregard, which are excellent for northern climates, producing very marketable tasty tubers and with a short ripening period. And, alas, it is impossible to order them - they will not go through customs. (Update from 08/18/2011: we still managed to get them)

    Summary

    This article was written more for myself, in order to somehow systematize all the accumulated links and notes. We hope it will be useful to someone else. The sweet potato is a wonderful vegetable and deserves its place in our diet. We are very glad that we started growing it! :) nine0007

    Update: In 2011, we conducted a series of experiments to find the best agricultural technology for sweet potato, preferably convenient for a wide range of vegetable growers. You can get acquainted with them in the articles: