|
|
Post by macmex on Sept 6, 2024 17:18:32 GMT
There has been very little activity on this forum this summer. Unfortunately, that's the nature of sweet potatoes. Once planted, there's not a much left to do, except irrigate, until harvest.
I could start harvesting now but I'll wait a bit. It's always a temptation to wait a bit too long and risk damage either from cold or rodents. But right now we still have a few more weeks of what one might call hot weather. After that there's no point in leaving them in the ground.
Photos to come!
Keep us informed on your harvest!
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Oct 27, 2024 11:34:40 GMT
October 27, 2024: Due to my wife's accident, hospitalization and convalescence I am running considerably behind on harvesting this year. However, it has been unseasonably warm and rodents have held off on their attack somewhat. In the last week I have gotten some harvesting done and am beginning to pick up steam.
As has often been the case over the years, the end of my 80-90' rows, farthest from where my drip irrigation starts, has produced less than the end closer to water intake. I'm going to do shorter rows in the future. The issue isn't just water. The far end of the row is usually overgrown with weeds by mid summer. I can't keep up with weed control and then rabbits and other critters start eating the vines and roots. This year it's obvious that there were a number of rabbits out there, dining on my sweet potato vines.
Kuwahi was on the far end of the first row I started. It's leaves and vines were drastically reduced, due to rabbits. Yet surprisingly, I got a decent harvest. Not so with all of the varieties. Some produced just barely enough to grow starts for next year. Others produced a lot, especially as I headed east on the row. So far, in order West to East, I've harvested Kuwahi, Red Wine Velvet, some Japanese White (but very very little), Brinkley White, Vietnamese Orange Fleshed, #2Seedling2022, Molokai, White Eclipse, Becca's Purple and Korean Pink.
Red Wine Velvet did "okay." I've seen better from it. Grand Asia barely did okay. Brinkley White produced, but very slender roots. Looks like it didn't have time to plump up, which would be due to having its leaves and stems eaten. Vietnamese Orange Flesh (previously referred to as Vietnamese White (Orange Flesh) has reverted completely to an orange sweet potato replete with orange skin. I've seen this before with white varieties. We'll see if it has any quality to it. White Eclipse - I only put out three plants, which is risky for preservation purposes. It produced pretty well, though the roots didn't size up nearly as much as usual. They were more slender than usual. Becca's Purple - produced gangbusters! Very nice harvest with nice plump roots.
Korean Pink - I only put out 4 plants but this one also produced lots of roots which were well filled out.
This was the largest Korean Pink root of 2024.
Barberman - produced enough to save for next year and barely enough to eat. Roots had not grown very well. I planted more Barberman in my other row. It will be interesting to see how this one did there.
We also dug the roots from two ICB containers we did, as an experiment. These got planted a bit late, if I recall correctly (have to look it up). The roots were thinner than usual, for the varieties we used but they were very plentiful.The ICB containers received very frequent watering. Their planting medium was straw bale with a bit of potting soil on top. They were essentially fed hydroponically. (More on this in the future, when there is time).
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Nov 4, 2024 14:48:39 GMT
Saturday, November 2, 2024 I tackled the last half of our sweet potato harvest. Didn't quite finish and the results were mixed. The western 40% of the last row produced zero usable roots, This was in part because of rabbit and armadillo damage but mainly because the drip line (irrigation) apparently got clogged or crimped at that point. Though the plants survived they did not produce. The soil under my plastic mulch was bone dry. As I worked eastward I wondered how many varieties I would lose this year and pondered whether or not I should try to recover any. At this point, I don't know if I've lost varieties. Maybe, maybe not, Still have about 30' of row to dig.
Before I tackled the last row of sweet potatoes I had to finish about 16' of the first row. This had Old Yellow, planted in the favored position, closest to where irrigation entered the T tape. Old Yellow is known for producing large roots. It did not disappoint. I was very happy with it! This is a harvest from 10 slips.
True to form, Old yellow produced very large roots. Keep in mind that large roots are no less tender than small roots. They just need to be cooked slightly longer. Keep this in mind when the grocery store puts huge, leftover sweet potatoes on sale. They do this because most folk don't want large roots. There's nothing the matter with them though!
This variety also has the characteristic of forming almost all its roots right below the main stem. The roots, though attached at the time of digging, are easy to separate from the cluster.
More to follow.
|
|
