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Post by Admin on Jan 14, 2021 15:31:33 GMT
For years I've grown sweet potato slips on our sun porch, which has become increasingly more of a "shade porch." The last two years I've had better results simply starting slips in trays, out in the garden, but that involves moving them in and outdoors when weather requires. My wife has wanted to build me a greenhouse and made a couple of starts on it, but our lives are so crazy busy that nothing has come to fruition. So, late last year we ordered a greenhouse from Yoderbilt . It arrived yesterday and I'm impressed!
I may end up starting even more slips, as it looks like I'll have space!
Yesterday's high was 50 F. and as the sun was setting both automatic vents on this greenhouse were open and the inside temperature was about 75 F. I need to get a digital thermometer to get a feel for how much temps will fluctuate.
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Post by macmex on Mar 9, 2021 13:07:30 GMT
Note: They fluctuate a lot. At night, without a heater, the inside temperature will reach to whatever low the outside temperature goes to. During the day, with even a hint of sunshine, the temperature will rise quite a bit. There's a significant difference in temperature from the top to the floor and sun exposure on a shelf even places a significant role. One day I left a thermometer on the shelf and came back that evening to discover that during the day it had hit 118 F! I couldn't believe it. But the other day, when I spent much of the afternoon in there, working, I found that wherever the sun touches, it feels hotter than the air by quite a bit.
I'm glad I got the greenhouse in January. It's giving me time to experiment with temperature regulation.
Right now, I find it a very pleasant place to sit, read and study. But come May and June I suspect it'll be too hot, even with all the windows open.
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Post by macmex on Apr 9, 2021 13:42:53 GMT
Here's a photo of the same shelf on April 8. I now have slips ready to go, and it's just a few weeks early.
At times I've had to run a heater in the green house in order to keep it warm enough for slip production. I'm using the heater less and less now. Day time temps in the greenhouse have reached up to 100 F, though generally I keep it down, just below 90 F, by opening extra windows.
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Post by macmex on Apr 18, 2021 11:31:06 GMT
April 17, and most slips are ready to go. Ozark County, Satsumaimo and Okinawa Purple haven't sprouted yet. The latter two got started late. I did spot tiny bugs on Satsumaimo yesterday.
Sweet potato slips grow at a very rapid rate, once conditions are right and they've "broken" from dormancy. I have only left the heater off at night a couple of times, as "toasty" is better for sweet potatoes.
Some years I'd be mailing slips already, but morning temps are likely to drop to 27 F. this coming Tuesday; not a good thing for sweet potatoes. After the middle of this week, however, I will start shipping.
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Post by amyinowasso on Mar 6, 2022 18:39:49 GMT
We always put a 55 gallon drum of water in our cheap plastic greenhouses. Supposedly the water heats up during the day and releases heat at night. It also is cool in the morning so it keeps the greenhouse cool a little longer. Does it really work? Not with the thin plastic I had. The article I read was from a man in Florida who used a whole wall of drums, maybe that works better.
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Post by macmex on Mar 7, 2022 14:34:38 GMT
Thanks Amy, I don't think I have room for enough water storage to make much difference. What I've heard seems true, that the larger the green house the easier it is to regulate temperatures.
This year I'm planning to do more of my sweet potato starts outdoors, in cold frames. They'll get a little later start but I believe I'll end up with a much larger crop of slips. There's always going to be something I can do with the green house. For one, I will do at least one tray of every variety, in the green house for earlier slips.
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Post by june on Mar 7, 2022 16:17:52 GMT
I run two very humble unheated hoop houses. They're great for fall extensions and starting spring bedding plants. They're too hard to heat and cool, so I don't keep 'year 'round' plants in them. In the summer, the plastic comes off and I use the frames for growing supports. I've just started a few bedding plants (underground--under lights) One flat here is my homegrown hybrid sweet potato seeds--I have sweet potatoes roots sprouting. I will bed some of them as soon as I get a little time...I will move them to the hoop houses in a few days--on heat cables and under row covers. I use large trash cans to help stabilize temp..also put banana peels and other stuff in the water barrels to make compost tea.
    
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Post by june on Mar 7, 2022 16:20:43 GMT
I always get too anxious and start things too early--so this year I have waited a little extra time. Oklahoma weather can be very challenging!
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Post by macmex on Mar 8, 2022 21:37:09 GMT
Yes. One year I bedded my sweets in January. What a mistake! Way way too early!
Your set up looks great!
Did any of your seedlings from colored parents show much color themselves?
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