Post by macmex on Mar 9, 2021 19:13:48 GMT
With sweet potatoes the most common error anyone makes is to start too early. Sweet potatoes absolutely don't do well with cold, not even with a chill. One year I started my sweet potato slips around January 14, on our sun porch, which is unheated. We set up an oil filled radiator heater on the porch and made a tent with plastic, in an attempt hold the heat around the roots. It kind of worked. The roots did start growing pretty early that year but we had slips months before anyone in their right mind would consider planting them.
This is what they looked like by the first of March.
Now, there was no real harm done, starting so early, but 1) It cost a lot of energy to keep them warm that long, and 2) I had to make "cuts" more than slips, as some vines were over 3' long before I needed cuttings from them. So now I generally start my slips the first or second week of March. Our average last frost date is around the middle of April.
Even though I personally don't think planting that early is a good move, we have customers who want their slips early. So, I do it for them.
Interestingly, I often end up planting a row of roots, somewhere in the garden where I have space, just to supply slips for a variety which is in great demand. Of course, I only do this when nights are already warm and the soil is warm too. Those roots often produce slips within two weeks. You see, when conditions are right, sweet potatoes really sprout and grow!
In conclusion, if I were only starting for myself, I'd probably start my slips the same exact time I start tomatoes from seed but I could probably wait to start my slips until it's actually warm enough to plant slips.
This is what they looked like by the first of March.
Now, there was no real harm done, starting so early, but 1) It cost a lot of energy to keep them warm that long, and 2) I had to make "cuts" more than slips, as some vines were over 3' long before I needed cuttings from them. So now I generally start my slips the first or second week of March. Our average last frost date is around the middle of April.
Even though I personally don't think planting that early is a good move, we have customers who want their slips early. So, I do it for them.
Interestingly, I often end up planting a row of roots, somewhere in the garden where I have space, just to supply slips for a variety which is in great demand. Of course, I only do this when nights are already warm and the soil is warm too. Those roots often produce slips within two weeks. You see, when conditions are right, sweet potatoes really sprout and grow!
In conclusion, if I were only starting for myself, I'd probably start my slips the same exact time I start tomatoes from seed but I could probably wait to start my slips until it's actually warm enough to plant slips.