Post by macmex on Jun 10, 2021 16:26:17 GMT
Back in the 90s I tried several times to grow the lime green ornamental sweet potato vines, which I saw in landscaping. Oh, they grew, but I don't believe I ever harvested more than a token amount of roots, only enough to regrow slips, if I should want more ornamental sweet potatoes. But the truth is, I think regular sweet potato vines are ornamental enough and I don't care to waste my time with sweet potatoes which are purely ornamental.
This year, however, a friend of mine ordered two varieties of the Treasure Island series, which I assume is a fairly new introduction. These varieties are promoted as being ornamental, tasty and productive, all rolled into one. My friend lives in Michigan and I believe he ordered them from Gurney's. They shipped small potted plants (to me, a sure sign that they aren't used to dealing with sweet potatoes, really), and, they shipped to him in March. They arrived at his house while it was snowing and he didn't have anywhere to keep them, while waiting for warmer weather. So, he shipped them to me. I have a greenhouse and live in a location with a (generally) milder climate. He had received two of each variety and told me, that if I would keep them alive and ship them back after Memorial Day, I could keep half.
They arrived alive, but not so well.
I put them in the greenhouse and kept them warm. Being sweet potatoes, they revived rapidly. Last week I shipped him back his plants, in the form slips along with his order of other varieties.
Yesterday I finally got around to planting just one of the two varieties, the Kaukura Sweets. I knocked them out of their little pots and was surprised to find some egg sized roots, already formed in the pots. I broke the stems off of the roots, planting them with barely any roots at all. (I do this because I believe they grow and produce better when planted out in this manner.)
Here's a picture of one of the plants coming out of the pot.
The pot was literally full of little formed roots!
While I love old varieties, I can see tremendous potential for this new development. Just imagine if all those ornamental plantings, in towns and cities, were replaced with something ornamental and productive of good food! This would be fantastic!
What are your thoughts?
This year, however, a friend of mine ordered two varieties of the Treasure Island series, which I assume is a fairly new introduction. These varieties are promoted as being ornamental, tasty and productive, all rolled into one. My friend lives in Michigan and I believe he ordered them from Gurney's. They shipped small potted plants (to me, a sure sign that they aren't used to dealing with sweet potatoes, really), and, they shipped to him in March. They arrived at his house while it was snowing and he didn't have anywhere to keep them, while waiting for warmer weather. So, he shipped them to me. I have a greenhouse and live in a location with a (generally) milder climate. He had received two of each variety and told me, that if I would keep them alive and ship them back after Memorial Day, I could keep half.
They arrived alive, but not so well.
I put them in the greenhouse and kept them warm. Being sweet potatoes, they revived rapidly. Last week I shipped him back his plants, in the form slips along with his order of other varieties.
Yesterday I finally got around to planting just one of the two varieties, the Kaukura Sweets. I knocked them out of their little pots and was surprised to find some egg sized roots, already formed in the pots. I broke the stems off of the roots, planting them with barely any roots at all. (I do this because I believe they grow and produce better when planted out in this manner.)
Here's a picture of one of the plants coming out of the pot.
The pot was literally full of little formed roots!
While I love old varieties, I can see tremendous potential for this new development. Just imagine if all those ornamental plantings, in towns and cities, were replaced with something ornamental and productive of good food! This would be fantastic!
What are your thoughts?
