2 May - Sweet Potato Experiment

My Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) slips have arrived!. I got them from T&M as I had a £10 voucher so it made them a reasonable cost. If it works out okay, I will probably do my own slips next year using the following method:

1) Cut a bought organic sweet potato in half.

2) Place each half in a jar with half of the potato below the water and half above.

3) Use toothpicks to hold the potato in place.

4) Put them on a window ledge or on top of a radiator.

5) Once sprouted, separate them into plantable slips by taking each sprout and carefully twisting it off.

6) Lay each sprout in a shallow bowl with the bottom half of the stem submerged in water and the leaves hanging over the rim of the bowl.

7) After a few days roots will emerge and you are ready to plant.

My wife put them straight in a glass of water (following the instructions provided) and then the next evening I put them in some Vegetable Patio Bags I acquired last year. I had 3 x 60 litre bags with handles and a couple of soft plastic containers decorated with tomatoes. I've nearly half filled them with moist compost and put 2 slips in each bag.

I've got them in the greenhouse as it sounds like they need plenty of heat and 110 days of growing time. I got 5 'Beauregard' Improved and 5 'T65'. You're supposed to pot them up individually but I haven't got the space - hopefully they'll be okay. I reckon I need to put more compost in as I read the length of the stem to the base of the leaves needs to be covered. I've folded the bags down and I plan to add more compost as they grow.

We only recently discovered the delights of Sweet Potatoes a few years ago so it seemed daft not to try and grow them.