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Post by macmex on Dec 30, 2021 13:12:14 GMT
A friend up in Michigan sent me some small roots of two new-to-me sweet potato varieties. One of them is called Vietnamese Red. I understand that it's a white fleshed variety. It's skin is red colored. He commented that smaller roots don't keep so well, so he has been eating them first. They're pretty firm and not so sweet. In some cultures this is precisely how they want their sweet potatoes.
This is how they roots arrived, back in November. They were going soft even then. So I bedded them in a pot and placed them on a heat mat, under lights. In a couple three weeks two out of three started to sprout, which is a very good thing.
Here's a photo from December 27. This one grows like lightening!
I actually broke off the long growing tip to force it to bush out a bit. I think it's going to be a long winter, keeping Vietnamese Red contained! My friend commented that this one makes a lot of vine. That seems apparent from the get go.
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Post by june on Dec 30, 2021 16:03:15 GMT
My winter hybrid seedlings got unruley, too, so I cut the runners back and made duplicates.
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Post by macmex on Jan 5, 2022 13:04:49 GMT
This one certainly is vigorous! It's growing faster than a weed. The photo doesn't do it justice. When I look at this plant, from day to day, I get the impression that it might snag unsuspecting rodents for additional nutrition. I suspect the vines are going to be monstrous. I will have to prune this one in order to contain it until planting season.
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Post by macmex on Jun 25, 2022 22:16:23 GMT
I now have 7 slips in the ground of Vietnamese Red. This is a most unusual looking plant!
Interestingly, the leaf shape has changed a bit, I suppose due to the more extreme heat that the plants are exposed to, as compared to growing under lights during the winter.
Further communication with my friend in Michigan has yielded comments about extreme vigor and that this one actually climbed structures in the garden. I'm looking forward to observing more as the year progresses.
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Post by macmex on Oct 28, 2022 12:20:20 GMT
It was a very tough summer here, not only because of extreme drought (before that too much rain) but also I struggled with some health issues and it was very difficult to work in the garden. Vietnamese Red certainly held its own, wending through weeds and the foliage of other sweet potato varieties.
Harvest has been challenging. To date I still have a few more sweet potatoes to dig. It's REALLY late!
Here's a picture of took of some Vietnamese Red roots, dug on October 23. This one seems productive, for sure. It's white fleshed with deep red skin. I'll report on flavor and texture, sometime after Thanksgiving.
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Post by macmex on Mar 21, 2023 12:56:51 GMT
I'm about to bed some Vietnamese Red roots. Last night I cooked up two of them. They looked just like the ones at the top of this thread. Smaller roots had all gone soft but medium to large roots were still good. The flesh is white, though, with some hours after baking, it has a slight greenish tint. This is almost certainly due to sugar content, much like what one sees when slicing a white peach.
The flesh is not real dry. It's not mealy either. The flavor is quite good. My personal observation is that the skin is really tough. When I grow out seedlings and find a skin like that, I don't continue propagation, as it is my personal preference to eat my sweet potatoes, skin and all. With Vietnamese Red, I find myself breaking the roots in half and then scooping the flesh out with a spoon. This works quite well and I find it a satisfying food.
The "Red" in the name is no doubt due to the color of the skin, but after storage the skin strikes me as more similar to that of a russet (Irish) potato.
Vietnamese Red is extremely rare in this country. I will grow it again, at least this year, so as to maintain its availability.
An additional note from memory: this one is is a rampant grower and obviously heat tolerant.
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