Anyone grow sweet potatoes or yams?

[Socalman]

We recently found a bag of sweet potatoes in a cabinet that had gone to seed. I was wondering what might happen if I were to cut some eyes and plant them here in southern California. I have NO IDEA what they need in terms of water, feeding, cultivation, etc.

Any information you may be able to provide will be appreciated!

[bacpacker]

I grow them some years. If you have deer, you will need to protect the vines. Deer look at them as a delicacy.
I'll pull some info together on them and post it up here. What type soil do you have?

[Onestep]

I have grown them here in Florida so I suspect your climate would be close.
Here's what I was taught by my 82 year old farmer mentor.
You plant the eye seeds in spring. They will grow and produce the vines. The potatoes will be small and not very productive but that's ok, its the vine ends you want for planting.
On July 4th weekend (he was very specific on the date), you will cut 2-3' sections off the end of vines. This will allow the plants to keep growing but gives you the "slip" to plant. Create a mound in your rows, about a foot tall. The rows should be about 3 feet apart. Every 2 foot, place a slip centered across the top of the row. Now with a stick (a piece of furring strips works best) push the slip down until it bottoms out. Now take a small amount of fertilizer and pour it into the hole created by the stick. Now water into the hole until it fills in with dirt. That's all you do.
Come end of October/early November, the potatoes should be ready to harvest. They can start to protrude at the surface so you'll want to harvest them asap as they can get burned when exposed.
As for the ones planted early spring, I usually harvested what I could late July/Early August. Just depends.
Keep all the small/deformed ones as well as they will be your next years seeds. Nice thing about sweet potatoes is they will keep for a LONG time if kept cool and airy.
Hope this helps.

[Socalman]

I grow them some years. If you have deer, you will need to protect the vines. Deer look at them as a delicacy.
I'll pull some info together on them and post it up here. What type soil do you have?

My soil is an enriched sandy soil. At one time the area was part of an avocado orchard. I have no idea about the ph of our soil.

[bacpacker]

SoCal, Here is some info on Sweet taters.

Information On How To Grow And Harvest Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes

By Kathee Mierzejewski

Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a warm weather vegetable. Growing sweet potatoes require a long frost-free growing season in order to do well. They do not grow like regular potatoes. When thinking about how to grow sweet potato plants, realize that these particular potatoes grow on vines.

How to Grow Sweet Potato Plants

When thinking about how to grow sweet potatoes, start out with what they call “slips”. These are small pieces of potato that are used to start the sweet potato plants. These slips are to be planted into the ground as soon as all chances of frost has left the area and the ground has warmed.

In order to grow and harvest sweet potatoes, the soil needs to be kept moist during the season where the plants sprout.

Furthermore, growing sweet potatoes requires the soil temperature to be kept at 70 to 80 degrees F. (21-26 C.). Because of the warmth required in the soil, you should start sweet potatoes about mid-summer. Otherwise, the soil won’t be warm enough for these plants to grow.

When you grow and harvest sweet potatoes, you should know that from the moment you plant the slips, it takes only six weeks for the sweet potatoes to be ready. You should plant the slips 12 to 18 inches apart on a wide, raised ridge that is about eight inches tall. You can put three to four feet between rows so there is enough space to work between them when harvesting.

Growing sweet potatoes requires minimal care. When you grow and harvest sweet potatoes, you need to simply keep the weeds down. Pluck those you see growing. It’s as simple as that.

How Do You Harvest Sweet Potatoes?

In order to harvest the growing sweet potatoes, just stick your shovel into the side of the ridge. You can feel the sweet potatoes in there and pull them out that way, being careful not to injure other growing potatoes. These are generally ready around the first frost of fall.

When you grow and harvest sweet potatoes, you will find that you have plenty of potatoes to put up for winter. They will keep in a cool, dry place. You can have fresh sweet potatoes to enjoy for a couple of months. So from now on, when you think about how to grow sweet potatoes, remember that they are not difficult, require very little care, and can yield quite a crop for the winter months.

Here is a link and it has some links embedded.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/sweet-potato/grow-sweet-potatoes.htm (http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/sweet-potato/grow-sweet-potatoes.htm)

Then there is this.



Botanical Name:



Ipomoea batatas






Plant Type:
Vegetable






Sun Exposure:
Full Sun






Soil Type:
Loamy






Soil pH:
Neutral






Hardiness Zone:
10
11
9






Flower Color:
Purple






Bloom Time:
Summer





Planting




• Sweet potatoes are grown from slips, which are sprouts that are grown from stored sweet potatoes. You can buy slips from garden centers, nurseries, or local farmers.
• You can also grow your own slips to plant in the spring. In November (this is when the best of the new harvest will be out), go to your supermarket and look for unblemished and uncracked medium sweet potatoes. One potato should yield about 12 plants.
• Store these potatoes in a well-lit room with a temperature between 65° and 70°F. Keep them there until about 90 days before the last spring frost date. They will then need to be embedded in soil for 90 days and kept continuously warm and moist.
• Use a 1-½ gallon pot for every two potatoes. Remember to poke drainage holes in the bottom of the pot and fill it with 3 inches of mulch followed by garden or potting soil. Plant the potatoes in the pot at a 45° angle so that the sprouts will grow above the soil. When the slips are 6 to 12 inches tall, you can plant them outdoors as long as all danger of frost has passed.
• After you have grown your own slips or bought them, till the area of the garden you will be using to a depth of 8 to 10 inches. Create raised beds 6 to 8 inches tall and about 12 inches wide. Use fertile, well-drained soil.
• Plant the slips 12 to 18 inches apart in the bed, after the last spring frost date. Plant the slips deep enough to cover the roots and about ½ inch of the stem. Water the slips with a starter solution that is high in phosphorous, then water generously for a few days to make sure that the plants root well.










Care




• Side-dress the potatoes 3 to 4 weeks after transplanting with 3 pounds of 5-10-10 fertilizer per 100 feet of row. If you have sandy soil, use 5 pounds.
• Hoe the beds occasionally to keep weeds down. Remember to reshape the beds with soil or mulch.
• For good harvests, do not prune the vines, because they should be vigorous.
• Remember to keep the potatoes watered. Deep watering in hot, dry periods will help to increase yields, although if you are planning to store some of the potatoes, do not give the plants extra water late in the season.




Pests/Diseases




• Flea beetles
• Sweet potato scurf
• White blister
• Fungal leaf rot
• Stem rot




Harvest/Storage




• You can start digging up the potatoes as soon as they are big enough for a meal. Often, this is three to four months from when you planted the slips. The leaves should have started to yellow, but you can leave them in the ground up until the fall frost.
• Since the roots spread 4 to 6 inches deep in the soil, a spade fork is useful when digging up the potatoes.
• Handle the potatoes carefully because they bruise easily.
• After digging up the potatoes, shake off any excess dirt but no not wash the roots.
• If you want to store sweet potatoes for an extended period of time, you must cure them. Curing the potatoes allows a second skin to form over scratches and bruises that occur when digging up the potatoes. To cure, keep the roots in a warm place (about 80°F) at high humidity (about 90%) for 10 to 14 days. For best curing, make sure that the potatoes are not touching one another.
• After curing, throw out any bruised potatoes, and then wrap each one in newspaper and pack them carefully in a wooden box or basket.
• Store the sweet potatoes in a root cellar or other place with a temperature of at least 55°F. The ideal temperature range is 55° to 60°F.
• The roots should last for about 6 months. When removing the potatoes from storage, remember to be gentle; do not dig around or else you will bruise the potatoes.

The one thing I disagree with it that I grow them in a close Zone 6/7 region. We do have to wait for warm weather to plant and make sure we harvest before frost. But still have plenty of time. I would think with a sandy soil, just add plenty of compost and maybe some rotten cow manure. this will serve to amend the soil to a more loamy type. I can't imagine you couldn't grow them.

[Katrina]

I tried a few years ago and just stuck the eyes in the ground in a corner of the yard. Got a few potatoes but they were on the small to medium size. I didn't do anything but made sure DH didn't cut them down when he mowed the lawn. We haven't planted anymore. It's one of the crops we would like to try and do again along with growing regular potatoes.
Got a question on onions, we tried growing onions and a couple of my co-workers did as well last year. We waited to pull them per instructions but ALL of our onions became like seed onions , no one this year got any good onion bulbs this year it was like they subdivided and we had tiny bulbs grouped on one stem. Any thoughts? It wasn't just me it was my co-workers as well It was very disappointing. My friend has been growing her own onions for the last couple of years and this is the first time it's happened to her. thanks

[Sniper-T]

^
my onions always turn out like that. I think my record one was still smaller than a tennis ball. Yet I know people who get melon sized ones near by. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong.

[Katrina]

Sniper, I'm talking ping pong ball and smaller sized onions in a clump at the end of the stalk. And we only planted one "seed" bulb at a time with the correct spacing in between. My friend at work said this year all hers did the same.

[Sniper-T]

yeah Kat... I know. the tennis ball one was my record, but 95% are ping pong balls or less too.

[bacpacker]

Check out this link for onions. I am gonna go with their plan this year.

http://dixondaleonions.com

Go to the learn section.

[Sniper-T]

nice resource BP...

link here:

http://www.dixondalefarms.com/learn

[bacpacker]

My bad on the link.

I ordered my slips from them this year. They look better than I usually get at the co op. Now if the ground will dry up so I can get them in.

[Katrina]

Thank you bp This will help us

[Onestep]

Best results I've had on onions were with Texas Sweets from Victory Seeds. They take a LONG time to mature, usually 180 days down here. But I've gotten them to grow as big as baseballs. I've had better luck with the seeds than the "bunches" you get from most places. Make sure you get the correct type for your area as they come in 3 different types, short medium and long day. Also, don't crowd them, they need space between them to "expand" to size.

[Katrina]

One step,
Thank you . DH thinks he may not have spaced them far enough apart enough. We'll have to re do them this year.