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Post by macmex on Jun 13, 2021 20:45:20 GMT
Wow! Somehow I overlooked those pictures before now! That's great!
Yesterday I transplanted all of my seedlings into their permanent place in one of my rows. Several had been heeled in, in another garden, so they would thrive and not be at great risk when my wife and I went away for a week (couple weeks ago). These had grown so much that I was able to split two into halves and double my slips for grow out. The youngest three were still in their tray. One was a very healthy size slip, all by itself. So I planted it as is.
This is a picture of that one, nice sized plant from the tray. In every case, when I encountered a mass of roots, I stripped all but a very few from the stems. This is to assure nicely formed sweet potatoes at harvest time.
The other two were so tiny, that I transplanted them into their places, taking extra care to shield them from some of the hottest sunlight. They were only about 2" tall. All in all, I ended up with seven experimental plants.
Here's picture of three of these plants' roots. It's already obvious that one is going to be purple (probably from Becca's Purple seed.) One looks like it's going to be red skinned and another, well, it's hard to say.
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Post by macmex on Jul 2, 2021 15:41:59 GMT
Lost one of the seven seedlings after transplanting. The others look good. I made a cutting of one to fill the empty spot in their part of the row. The two smallest plants are now growing quite well, taking on size. Here's a photo of one. It has a unique leave structure, which reminds me of Hopi and of Becca's Purple. We'll see what the roots look like.
Here's another which stands out on account of its leaves. The leaves are really large. Molokai and White Eclipse have larger leaves too. I have no recollection what color it looked like this ones root would be. Red Wine Velvet usually has that darker color new growth.
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Post by macmex on Aug 23, 2021 14:54:35 GMT
That last seedling pictured has grown into a behemoth plant. Here are two more photos of it. All my sweet potatoes are doing well now. We're just coming through the hottest part of the summer and I've watered them consistently. This particular plant shows quite a bit of purple in the leaves. I'm suspecting it's a Beccas Purple or Molokai seedling yet neither of those show so much purple at this stage of the game.
It also travels. This plant has taken off, invading an adjacent plot with tomatoes.
The picture doesn't quite capture the perspective of it. It really took off.
It will be very interesting to see what we find at harvest time.
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Post by june on Sept 16, 2021 14:28:26 GMT
Even though I have several varieties blooming, I have been unsuccessful getting anything to set seeds. Bees are crawling in and out and all over the blossoms--still they just fall off a few days later...and I've tried to pollinate a few myself. Unknown why its just not happening.
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Post by macmex on Sept 16, 2021 22:10:56 GMT
That's a good question, June. The little I've looked, I've seen lots of flowers and no seed pods, as of yet, on my plants. Last year was the first time I even thought to look for seed pods, so I lack experience.
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Post by june on Oct 8, 2021 15:29:56 GMT
UPDATE: I've watch carefully all summer long--lots of blossoms and lots of bees--flowers just fall off after a couple of days....now mid-Oct. I have found SEED PODS everywhere! (at least 4 or 5 varieties)...my conclusion is that the shorter days (longer nights) and maybe cooler weather? have initiated seed setting. Most are still in an immature stage.
Weather conditions seem to be perfect for morning glories to germinate--they are springing up everywhere in my garden, so I have planted a couple of pots with a few mature dried sweet potato seeds. I'll figure out how to winter them if/when that need arises.
This one is a red skin/orange flesh Korean variety (parent plant). Pollinator most likely a purple skin/purple flesh Korean ??
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Post by june on Oct 8, 2021 15:32:26 GMT
...And this one a Sweet White Japanese...
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Post by june on Oct 8, 2021 15:34:22 GMT
...and purple leaf X purple skin/purple flesh Korean.
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Post by june on Oct 8, 2021 15:39:02 GMT
My Okinawan/Hawaiian purples have just started blooming....I am waiting anxiously. I really hope they will produce seeds.
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Post by macmex on Oct 9, 2021 13:03:04 GMT
Looks like you're getting lots of seed! So far I haven't found any seed this year. I see lots of flowers and aborted seed pods, which didn't set seed. Maybe today I will get to look, other than at twilight.
George
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Post by june on Oct 9, 2021 14:29:14 GMT
Look again (closely). I'm convinced that its the long nights that starts them setting seeds. I suddenly have an abundance (after none all summer). Late digging may not benefit my roots, but is giving me lots of seeds (on several varieties)....and I have more not ready to pick.
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Post by macmex on Oct 9, 2021 16:38:11 GMT
Wow! That sure is a lot of seed!
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Post by june on Oct 14, 2021 11:13:28 GMT
George, have you dug the potatoes from your spring 'true seed' babies....any update reports?
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Post by macmex on Oct 14, 2021 12:56:14 GMT
They're at the far end of the row I'm harvesting now. Lord willing, I'll get them dug on Saturday. Am really looking forward to seeing what they produced!
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Post by macmex on Oct 23, 2021 1:52:12 GMT
Today I dug my plants, grown from seed this year. There were three distinct types. Here's a picture with representatives of each type. Maybe tomorrow I can post some more about them.
The largest plant was the one with the coppery, almost maroon colored leaves at the growing tips of the vine. You can see photos of that above this post. This plant had vines which easily ran 20' long. Everything about this plant was "larger than life." The leaves were huge, the vines themselves were twice as thick (or more) than the other varieties in my garden. I only got a few roots, and they most closely resemble Grand Asia, but they were REALLY large. One weighed 7 lb 6 oz! In the above photo, the only roots represented from that plant are the rosy colored ones at the top left. There are only two in that photo. Roots from these two plants (one a cutting of the other), I'm labeling Seedling #1.
The next plant was also large, but not that large. It was all green with no hint of maroon or red in the stems. It produced the orange colored roots. It produces A LOT of those roots. Interestingly, I didn't plant seed from any orange sweet potato. The seed had to be from Red Wine Velvet or Grand Asia, yet it resembles neither. The roots spread out about 2 1/2' from the plant. They're nice looking roots too. It'll be a while until I try any. These are going to be labeled "Seedling #2."
The third plant seemed identical to Becca's Purple. Production wasn't very high though. I suspect that planting a seedling may not get as high production as starting with a slip, but that's just a guess. This one I'm going to label "Becca's look alike."
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