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Post by macmex on Apr 22, 2024 16:18:35 GMT
I haven't checked in lately because I haven't felt that I had much to say. Well, here's an update. Of all my varieties, I believe I lost Okinawa, Kaukura and Barberman. I will not be replacing that stock just because I already struggle to keep what I have. So far,I think I've gotten everything else bedded, as of this last weekend.
Every year, for nearly a decade, I've written in my notes, that I needed to bed my sweet potato roots at least a monthl later. This is the first year that I've taken my own advice. I bedded my first flat of roots on April 6. Last night/early this morning, our temps reached down to freezing for SIX hours! Fortunately, I was able to set up a space heater in the greenhouse. I checked this morning and there was a warm air rush, when I opened the door 
There's no way I would want to have planted any up till now and, realistically, not for at least two or three more weeks.
I suspect this will greatly hurt my actual sales, as most home gardeners have already been purchasing slips and planting them. Well, so be it.
This year I have two more seedling "varieties" to finish trialing. If they continue to do well and seem to fit a special nitch, then I'll name them and release them in 2025. One is white fleshed with fairly white skin. It is firm yet sweeter than White Eclipse. I have enjoyed eating a couple roots, just to know about their culinary value. This one, #1seedling2022, is a good keeper. Last year was a terrible year for me in the garden, but I get the impression that one will be very good producer when given good conditions.
The other seedling is #1seedling2022, which had red skin and white flesh. It is not as firm as #2seedling2022. It's also a bit sweeter. I only managed to harvest a few of these, so I need more opportunity to observe it and taste it. We'll see.
If you have never tried a white fleshed sweet potato, I'd highly recommend that you do. In some parts of the world white sweet potatoes are far and away more popular than orange/yellow fleshed ones. There's a reason for this.
Okay, gearing up here! How about you?
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Post by macmex on Apr 29, 2024 12:44:09 GMT
The roots are starting to sprout now; all except Ozark County and Old Yellow, though I still have plenty of hope that they will. Also, I found my Barberman roots and have started a flat of those. If I recall, they are already sprouting.
Though it's early, I planted out 7 Kuwahi slips yesterday. Because of my wife's constant help in the garden we now have almost everything ready to plant sweet potatoes. Kuwahi was the first to get bedded this year (April 6) and I have A LOT of slips already. So, I decided to plant some out.
Notice how fast sweet potatoes make slips, once conditions are right? That was three weeks from bedding to beaucoups of slips! If temps aren't right though, not only will it take much longer for them to sprout, one risks losing the roots altogether.
Pardon the mess!
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Post by communitygardener on Apr 29, 2024 15:07:50 GMT
I have many of my slips going as well. I have the varieties I got from you last year going (Becca's Purple, Korean Pink, Gunsmoke, Ginseng Orange), as well as Murasaki and a couple of varieties I picked up from the Asian food store in Tulsa. I have so many of the Becca's Purple and Korean Pink I think I will try planting some out at the community garden this week. Looking forward to the growing season!
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Post by macmex on Apr 29, 2024 18:31:11 GMT
You have made my day! I LOVE to hear that others are producing and maintaining sweet potato varieties!
By the way, I suspect "Gunsmoke" is actually "Gunlock," named for Gunlock, KY, where it comes from.
Super!
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Post by macmex on May 9, 2024 11:32:14 GMT
May 9, 2024
Update:
Most varieties are now sprouting, some better than others. Once again, even though I waited longer than in past years, it's clear that I would have been better to wait, even till the first week of May to bed roots for slips. Once temps reach the right point the roots sprout and make slips at an incredible rate. Unfortunately, if they get hit by a cool/cold night, even in the greenhouse, they can be seriously damaged.
Yesterday I was examining trays, thinking out the impending need to start sending out slips. I realized that, though I've bedding three trays of Old Yellow, I only have about THREE slips starting to poke up. This is good, in the sense that I shouldn't lose the variety, but makes me nervous, as it's possible that, once again, this variety got chilled and that the majority of the roots will simply rot in the trays. Ozark County is barely starting to sprout now. Japanese White has one root in a tray that is sprouting like crazy and that's it. Again, it may have gotten chilled... like last year. (The good thing is that I have a good supply of Japanese White roots still in storage. I'll start another tray today.) Hopi never sprouted (missed that one before). I dug into the tray and found rotted roots. I started another tray and am betting that in two weeks I'll have decent slips.
Some other varieties have sprouted like crazy. I have one tray of Kuwahi which has slips a foot long; looks like a jungle!
So, next year, I will plan on bedding slips the first week of May. Please remind me! Every year with the first warm days/weeks of March, one feels like "its' time." "Maybe I'm going to run late!" Nope, it's much better to wait.
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Post by macmex on May 17, 2024 12:10:48 GMT
Well, there was a late cold snap, weeks ago. It affected several of my trays of roots. A couple trays simply failed to sprout, even though they were sprouting when I bedded them. A couple of trays have spotty sprouting, giving only a fraction of the slips I expected. Hences, I'm basically shut down on distributing Old Yellow, for the second year in a row, and this, in spite of babying its roots and bedding THREE trays of roots, staggering them over a period of a month! White Eclipse is really hurting. I will have enough to "renew seed," and perhaps a few to distribute, but only a smattering, same with Barberman and Ozark County.
I lost Vietnamese Red (White flesh), which is the original of the Vietnamese Reds I received. Just found a couple of loose roots in the house which might be it, so I bedded them.
On the other hand, I have beaucoups of Kuwahi, Oklahoma Red, Red Wine Velvet, Brinkley White and Gunlock.
I had enough roots to start a new tray of Hopi, so I'm hoping to have those soon. (Once temps actually become stable and warm, the roots make slips at an incredible rate.)
Apart from any I completely lost, I expect to have some late slips for everything I listed on this year's flyer. We're actually way ahead on the garden this year and I have put a priority on getting these endangered varieties started, under plastic mulch with drip irrigation. So far, after that last cold spell, conditions have been fabulous for the garden. Any time now, the slips I put out will start shooting out new growth. Before the middle of June we'll have slips available off of those plants.
Yesterday I mailed out the first orders of slips for 2024. Apart from harvest, I find this to be the most exciting time of the sweet potato growing cycle. I LOVE getting them into others' hands and thoroughly enjoy communicating about sweet potato varieties and culture!
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Post by macmex on May 19, 2024 12:10:02 GMT
May 17 a friend gave me a large root of Vietnamese Red (White flesh) from stock I put into her hands last year. It's sprouting, there are no more cold spells predicted and I have it bedded. This will enable me to renew my stock and possibly, offer a few slips to customers who had already expressed interest in it.
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Post by macmex on Jun 14, 2024 13:13:09 GMT
Update: In spite of my errors, this is shaping up to be a very good "sweet potato year." On account of my wife's help, my own plantings are looking fantastic and, the greenhouse is a source of great pleasure for me.
Right now is the prime time for planting slips in much of the country. Here in Oklahoma I can plant until around the first week of July. Demand for slips is decreasing however, as it almost always does, this time of year. Most folk don't realize they can still plant.
Little by little I'm moving my trays outdoors, where i will maintain them (daily watering) until around July 8. They take up a lot of room but until then, there's still the possibility of pulling and planting slips in this region. The greenhouse is getting too hot now during the middle of the afternoon, so it's better to move them out. Still, as you can see in the photo, it's beautiful in there!
I have about 25' of row left, in which I can plant sweet potatoes. It's hard to decide which ones to put in. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do at least another half dozen Barberman, as I am pretty certain I lost Hopi. Barberman is one of three remaining copper skinned, orange fleshed varieties I have. I probably won't replace Hopi even though it's a wonderful variety.
I like every variety I have and every variety I've ever tasted but my preferences don't agree that well with the general populace. If I can choose, I most often go with a white fleshed variety or something a little drier than the standard "generic sweet potato," found in our markets. Still, my customers want these. They're good, and they're valuable. So I keep them. My wife's favorite, for decades has been Red Wine Velvet, which has nice orange, very moist flesh. However, once I introduced her to Japanese White, she has decided she likes that just as well. Another victory for the white fleshed sweet potato!
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Post by macmex on Jun 20, 2024 11:58:28 GMT
Here's a photo from my last planting of sweet potatoes 2024 (I think). This was on June 18. I put my first slips out on May 1. This photo shows the last planting in the foreground and the first planting in the background. Makes for good contrast, eh?
The interesting thing is that there will be little if any difference in yield, between these two plantings. Oh, I suspect we'll get a few more pounds off of the earlier planting, but not much more. They'll both have good size roots. The reason for this is that sweet potatoes WANT HEAT. By May 1, we have some hot afternoons, but mornings are still fairly cool. Now, our coolest time of the day is about 72 F. Afternoon temps are in the upper 90s. Pretty soon we'll be breaking triple digits on a regular basis. Provided that the plants receive plenty of moisture, they'll go absolutely wild. Most of their production is during the hot time of the summer. In fact, once we start to have some coolness at night, we might as well start harvesting. The amount of weight they'll put on, after this is minimal compared to what they'll do when it's HOT.
Here in Oklahoma, I wouldn't hesitate to plant sweet potatoes until the second week of July. Most years, such a late planting will still make usable size roots. It's still worth planting. I'm just out of space.
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