…… Growing Sweet Potatoes

packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Well since I'm not able to eat potatoes anymore :sht: I'm eating a lot more sweet potatoes and yams. Last fall someone named off a product that's supposed to get the ground quicker and hotter so that the sweet potato harvest is larger.

What is the name of that film and where does one buy it?
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
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Solar Film/mulch from Johnny's Selected seeds is what I used to grow them here in our Zone 5 gardens...

Summerthyme
 
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tnhillbilly

Senior Member
Don't know that it will help you but it lets me brag a little. I have used wood chips about 6 or 8 inches deep fed with nitrogen applied in January. No tilling but planting directly in the wood chips. I have been doing this about 4 or 5 years, sort of my version of Back to Eden gardening. I planted 10 sweet potato slips last year. When I harvested I had about 150 pounds, one potato weighed 13 pounds, and several in the 7-8 pound range and of course many smaller ones from there.
 
Raggedyman

Raggedyman

Res ipsa loquitur
packy
BLACK 4 mil plastic sheeting - 10 x 25 pkg at LOWE's or home desperate . . . cut your holes 18" apart down the center line - don't let the vines grow off the plastic it's all you need
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
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Raggedy... normally, I'd agree, but to grow sweet potatoes as far north as Packy or we are isn't easy. The stuff I recommended is different from "plain" black plastic in that it's slightly transparent, so it transfers the sun's heat to the soil.

You can walk barefoot on the solar film on the warmest days... try that with regular black plastic, and you'll burn your feet!

I use regular black plastic a lot, but for melons, peppers, tomatoes, or other heat lovers, you can't beat the solar film.

Summerthyme
 
L

LC

Veteran Member
You might also want to go to the Sandhill Preservation web site and read about Glenn Drowns experiences raising sweet potatoes in your area.
 
Freeholder

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
Glad to see this thread -- we can't eat regular potatoes anymore either (which is really too bad, because they grow well here, even are raised commercially). I think I'll have to raise sweet potatoes in tunnels, because our nights are cold all summer -- we can even have frost at any time during the summer. But the solar film should help, too.

Kathleen
 
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