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Post by macmex on Oct 20, 2016 4:11:07 GMT -6
This year I got my slips out in May, which is very good. There have been years that I was still planting slips by the second week of July. Those plants did produce enough to make it worthwhile. But the longer growing time generally does pay off with higher yields. I put in about 90' of row, and, if I count correctly, eleven varieties: Red Wine Velvet, Ginseng Orange, Brinkley White, Ozark County, Barberman, Molokai, Oklahoma Red, Grand Asia, Cook Family Heirloom, Cordner and Cordner Red. I almost lost Cordner, due to an oversight, planting it in June. And, as I started harvesting recently, I have a doubt about Barberman. What I had marked as Barberman sure looks like Ozark County! So I need to investigate. My memory tells me that Barberman is more regular shaped than Ozark County. I may need to obtain a fresh start of Barberman.
In the past I've grown my sweets without plastic mulch and T tape irrigation. Sometimes they did great, sometimes not so great. A couple of years ago I did the plastic mulch and T tape and had an immense crop. The plastic mulch tends to conserve moisture, giving the sweet potatoes more time with optimal conditions for production. I don't like plastic and I vacillate about it. This year I went with the plastic mulch. But I think my water pressure regulator got clogged, causing the back third of my sweet potato row to receive almost no water. The plastic, then, kept the plants much much drier than normal, and the harvest back in that part of the row was horrible. It was also the first time that I was truly tempted to dig sweet potatoes with a mattock! That part of the row was not only extremely dry, but also in part of the garden which has more rock than actual soil!
I had some Red Wine Velvet, "Barberman," Molokai, Gensing Orange and Cook Family Heirloom in the dry part of the row. None did very well. Cook Family Heirloom barely gave me enough roots to start over again, and that was with 8 plants!
But suddenly I came up on where the irrigation had worked. Production has improved considerably. For example, from six plants of Cordner Red I dug a bushel of roots, many being quite large. I used Molokai to separate varieties, so I dug a really great amount from two plants, in the irrigated part of the row. I started digging Grand Asia (10/19/2016) and the harvest for that variety looks like it is going to be very impressive.
Grand Asia is a red/purple skinned variety with white flesh. It is typical of some of the Pacific Rim varieties and seems identical to THE sweet potato grown in Central Mexico, which when we lived there, we knew as "El Morado." Grand Asia's flesh is somewhat dry, and its sweetness is more subtle than traditional American varieties. I find that it doesn't sell very well, when I'm selling slips. Yet, it has become one of my favorites. For one, I happen to enjoy the flavor and texture. It takes a bit of getting used to. But I really love it. Secondly, it PRODUCES! I can always count Grand Asia to stock my larder. I'm a big fan of big production. Here's a picture of Grand Asia from 2013:
And here's a picture of the harvest from six plants of Cordner Red.
Sweet potatoes are a mainstay in our garden and a family tradition on my wife's side of the family. They are a staple in our diet. Roots from our 2015 crop were still quite palatable, albeit scarce, in July of this year! And I personally ate at least one sweet potato a day, five days a week, from October until June.
In the past I've read about eating sweet potato leaves and growing tips. But I didn't take the time to try it. Now I wish I had tried it sooner! They are really good! Since September I've been including them in stews and stir fries. I even cooked up a batch and served them like spinach. They have a different flavor than spinach. But they are quite tasty, and, I hear they are very nutritious.
Did you grow sweet potatoes this year? How'd they do? Tell us about how you grow them and how you eat them!
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Post by macmex on Oct 21, 2016 6:25:34 GMT -6
October 21, 2016
Yesterday I finished digging to the point of 2/3 of our row of sweet potatoes. What I can dig in a given day is less than I generally think. First, I'm home, taking care of my wife, Jerreth, who recently had major surgery. So, I need to go back in the house and attend to her pretty frequently. Also, I try to take time to make observations and take pictures. I need to do this for my garden log and I need pictures and even some videos for our homesteading website. And, finally, I really have to keep track of my time and physical limitations! Most days I get into "a digging frenzy," rejoicing in all of my finds and constantly telling myself, "Let's just dig another one or two, ... or three plants! This is fun! I want to see what we've got!" But at the end of the day, when I face farm chores and meal preparation, suddenly I recognize that I have quite a few boxes of heavy sweet potatoes to lug in from the garden!
Having so many sweet potatoes is wonderful! I can't think of any other crop I can grow, which has more potential for actually feeding us, and which produces this amount of food for the space taken. Hauling the roots into the house, to protect them from cold and rodents is hard work. But it is also exciting, as, once in the house, they are safe and we can take stock of all the good food we have for the coming winter. Yesterday I think I finished digging Grand Asia, one of our top producers. I planted 17 plants. They did not disappoint! This year, instead of doing a dedicated planting of Molokai (another amazingly productive and hardy variety) I used Molokai to mark the division between plantings of other varieties, as Molokai's roots are completely unmistakable for any other variety I have. They're large and deep deep purple in color. If scratched, they are dark purple inside. When I get to the beginning of a new variety, I usually dig up two plants of Molokai. Yesterday's two plants of Molokai basically filled a box like what copy machine paper comes in. Here's a picture of the largest root I dug yesterday. It's Molokai and it weighed 5 lb.
Here's a picture of the harvest from just two plants of Grand Asia.
I have to admit, Molokai is not my favorite for flavor. To say this makes me shudder, as I know that some will read this and never try the variety. The reason it's not exactly my favorite, is that the deep purple pigmentation, which is so famous for being packed with healthy antioxidants, also has a flavor which I don't particularly like. For me, the key to making Molokai taste really good is to cook it really really well. I bake these for 90 minutes, until they are really soft and squishy. The long cooking best brings out the sugars. One time, at work, I was carrying a fresh baked Molokai root and, as I passed a co-worker in the hall, I broke off a piece and told him to try it. He did, and he liked it. So, don't think my assessment of flavor disqualifies Molokai. Still, it is a "special variety." I highly recommend it for production, nutrition and pest resistance.
"Pest resistance?" you may ask. Yes. in a year of bad rodent damage, Molokai came through for me like no other. You see, rats and voles don't have ovens to cook their roots for an hour and a half. So they tend to leave this one alone!
These two varieties tend to produce "monster size" roots. I love it! I know, that no matter how large, a sweet potato never gets tough or loses its sweetness. But most consumers prefer roots at the 1 lb size, which is pretty wimpy for these two. If one really wanted to produce them in just one pound and under sizes, it would be best to plant later. Sweet potatoes keep growing on the plant as long as the plant is growing. So, when a variety produces BIG roots on a regular basis, that tells me that it is, in fact, an EARLY variety. For me, if I really needed to get a crop of sweet potatoes in, and I had waited until the third week of July, one of these would be a good bet.
One time I shipped Grand Asia slips to southern Canada, because that gardener had shorter, cooler season. I wish I knew how they did. But my guess is, that if any variety would make a crop there, this one would,
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Post by john on Oct 25, 2016 17:36:16 GMT -6
Hi George, The sweet potato is one of my favorite crops to grow as well. I love all of the storage crops that will keep over the winter. Squashes, irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips etc. I have been this way since I was a kid when I used to fill up boxes with acorns and hickory nuts and pack them away. One time I filled up my desk drawer with acorns and in a few weeks these little maggot-like worms were hatching out of the acorns and crawling over my desk. ( My Mom was not to happy with me.) This year sweet potatoes did very well here in CT , as they have for the past couple of years. Our summers have been very dry and sunny. We are in a major drought and many of the crops suffered because of it. My irish potatoes were way down in yield and never sized up properly. They did not receive the necessary rain in June that makes them swell. However the sweet potatoes did not seem to mind. The yields were very good, my only problem being the mice and voles that were in record numbers this year. I had to start harvesting in early September, not even 90 days since I had planted some of the varieties. I grow a very large assortment of types, each year I order the general assortment from Sandhill Preservation Center, I observe the plants for yield and also taste. I keep the varieties I like and propagate them myself for future growing. This year I probably grew over twenty types. I have tried 'Molokai Purple' as well as 'Purple Delight'. I found the same thing, that you did. The rodents did not favor them. (especially Purple delight which grows roots all over the place.) Unfortunately, I have not found a purple that I like the taste of enough to grow it again. I grow on hilled rows without plastic, Plastic is a lot of work and I actually like to hoe. I hate to lay plastic. (I also hate trying to clean it up in the fall.) My rows are spaced 44" inches apart and plants are spaced about 16" apart. the past two years I have grown a purple skinned, white fleshed potato called 'Morado'. (maybe it is the same thing as 'Camote Morado') It is a high yielder and I like it's dry flesh and sweet texture. I tend to like the dry types but find that the white skinned types are lower yielding for me. The purple skinned white fleshed ones, seem to be much earlier and yield more for me. My daughter really likes the super moist and dark orange 'Diane". To me, the best tasting sweet potatoes that I have grown were 'Carolina Bunch' or the 'bunch Porto Rico'. Neither one attained much size in my climate. Therefore I had to weed them out of my collection. I find 'Julian' to be a good replacement with similar sweetness and taste. They are early and size up quickly for me, this year they were ready before the 'Beuregards" that were planted next to them. The negative thing about 'Julian' is that they often have sprouts on them before you even did them. So they are not quite as attractive as some of the other types. I just finished digging the last row of 'Beuregards' today. The soil was cold, so I don't know if the potatoes will be hurt or not. I am interested to find out if they will still taste O.K. As I have heard cold can damage the flavor. They did pick up some extra size by leaving them in the ground for three to four extra weeks, but any of that gain was negated by an increase in rodent damaged roots. Rodents are a big problem for me.
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Post by macmex on Oct 26, 2016 15:51:21 GMT -6
John, that's great input! There are so many varieties out there and so many micro climates and different soil types. The possibilities seem endless when it comes to trying varieties. Most people don't even recognize that there are many different flavors and textures in sweet potatoes.
Morado might well be the same as Grand Asia. It is illegal to import sweet potatoes into the USA without some kind of high government clearance. I had permits to import almost any food plant I could want, back in the late 80s through 2001. But sweet potatoes were not an option. Still, I tend to think some get smuggled into the country and passed around. The USDA might also import some and make some kind of release, from time to time. So, Morado might be from Mexico and be the same one we knew.
I'm so happy with Grand Asia I am simply not going to look around any more for anything like it. It fits my desires perfectly. My wife only wants Red Wine Velvet. I like a number of others very much. It's so nice to have variety.
I wish more people in your neck of the woods grew sweet potatoes! When I was a boy, growing up in NJ, my best friend was an old man named "Mr. Mauser." He always grew vining Puerto Rico, and swore by it. He grew a LOT of them too!
Both Sandhill Preservation and Duck Creek Farms are businesses which deserve our patronage. They preserve an amazing number of varieties of sweet potatoes, not to mention other crops.
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Post by john on Oct 28, 2016 14:23:33 GMT -6
It's true sweet potatoes are not commonly grown around here. Some people don't even know that they can grow them here. Most types I have tried do very well. The ones you grow yourself taste better than the ones you get in the store. Grand Asia sounds amazing. I bet the vining Puerto Ricos are a good eating potato. Maybe one of these years I will get a chance to try them. My daughter has horses and the horses love to eat sweet potatoes. It must be like a carrot to them.
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Post by macmex on Oct 29, 2016 6:21:52 GMT -6
John, I believe all our herbivores LOVE sweet potatoes. As I harvest I use the vines to feed our rabbits and goats. I also give some to my daughter's horses, though I go light on that. I don't want to risk colic. It's comical how I have to "sneak" out of the garden with a huge forkload of vines. It's all I can stand to support on a hayfork, resting on my shoulder. I look around and it looks like the "coast is clear." So I open the garden gate and step out, turning around to close the gate, which means the vines hanging over my shoulder swing around, often getting hung up in the gate. About this time the goats spot me and we have A GOAT STAMPEDE! I hurry to make it across the 50' space between the garden gate and the gate which opens into our driveway (and goat free territory). I fumble with the chain on the driveway gate, as I hear the thunder of goat hooves closing in on me! Sometimes I squeak through the gate and pull it too just in time, as the herd gets there and starts picking wisps of vines which got hung up as I rushed through. Sometimes, though, as I try to get through, I they get there and I start feeling the tug a they begin dismantling my bundle. Desperately I drop the bundle, flailing at the goats as I try to make space to grab it with my arms and throw the it over the fence to salvage what I can! The goats think this is great fun.
Right now I'm feeding a lot of vines to our rabbits. They eat the leaves and vines, leaving almost nothing.
I believe there are a number of Porto Rico (Puerto Rico) types still available. I'm sure that both Sandhill Preservation and Duck Creek Farms carry them.
Do you ever save roots and start your own slips? It's not hard. I need to look around on this site and see if I published something about it here. When you can do this, it's easy to ask a friend for a root at harvest time, and get your own start for next spring. Roots ship better than slips and a small root will normally produce over a dozen slips.
This year we finally got around to trying sweet potato greens as a vegetable. They're wonderful! This is an added blessing from growing this crop. In the middle of July and August, we sometimes struggle to get greens, due to the extreme heat. But this is when sweet potatoes are really taking off. You just trim off growing tips and unblemished leaves. From what I can tell, you can trim a fair amount without hurting root production. Here's a picture of the production of one plant of Gensing Orange. This is only my second year growing it. But it came highly recommended by Gary Schaum of Duck Creek Farms. Last year the rodents almost wiped it out.
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Post by john on Oct 30, 2016 18:12:56 GMT -6
That an impressive yield from one plant. A nice eating size too.
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Post by macmex on Oct 31, 2016 0:26:41 GMT -6
For some reason, I've had a much higher percentage of extra large roots this year. Wish I better understood the conditions that caused it.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Nov 22, 2016 11:04:16 GMT -6
Most of my sweet potatoes rotted in the ground this year. Last year, I had a bad vole problem, but I still had a bumper crop.
This year, I found vole damage, but only on the parts of the potatoes that were above ground, because those were the only parts that survived the rot.
Thankfully, I had a few varieties, such as Beauregard, and Cordner Red, planted off in a different spot, so I'll at least have enough for Thanksgiving dinner!
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Post by duckcreekfarms on Nov 26, 2016 14:59:28 GMT -6
I had a decent crop this year, and will have plenty for slip sales on my website..... I even had enough to take many heirloom types to the Farmer's Market last week and sold quite a few. I planted out about 60 varieties this year. My crop would have been better, but I had the worse rodent predation I have had in years. We planted the sweets near the road this year. When the farmer across the road bailed his hay, the rats ran across the road to the sweets and found a smorgasbord, so stayed and feasted. Some varieties were totally wiped out. I also had some gophers that destroyed many plants early in the season. I see where some of you didn't have problems with rats eating Molokai, but I lost nearly my whole crop this year from rats. I would think they wouldn't like them as much due to the low sweetness and very dry texture, but they liked mine (better than I do). In fact, just before harvest Glenn Drowns called, we talked and he said he didn't remember if he had even planted any Molokai. I told him not to worry as I will have enough for both of us. It's always been my biggest producer. Fortunately, I guess he found where he had planted his. I lost so much on the rows closest to the road, further out, they did better. Year in and year out, I like Redmar better. It has been so dependable in giving me a huge crop of smooth and nice shaped roots. they never get huge making mostly nice "Bakers" which is what the customer's want now days. If I was only growing a few varieties for the Market, It would be one of them. I have decided to try a new approach and add many of my varieties to my website with a feature to let them know when a variety is back in stock. If I get enough interest, I will grow that variety out. I just added Morado, since it was brought up here. I've had it in my collection for several years, but not grown it out for slips. It is not the same as Camote Mordo. I have two clones of Camote Morado in my collection. One with white flesh (purple leaves) and one with Purple flesh. gary www.duckcreekfarms.com
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Post by macmex on Nov 27, 2016 6:22:56 GMT -6
Yes, I remember prowling the markets in rural Mexico and encountering exciting "new finds." I'd encounter a tomato I never before had seen and, forgetting the cross cultural situation, I'd exclaim to the vendor (in Spanish, of course), "What kind of tomato is this?!" They'd look up at me quizzically and reply, "That's a red tomato." Sometimes (before I knew better) I'd probe further, asking, "Yes, but what variety is it? They'd look at me, probably thinking to themselves, "I guess his understanding of Spanish isn't as good as his pronunciation," and more slowly they'd respond, "It's a ROUND RED tomato...." I'd encounter variations of sweet potatoes and they were all called "Morado" or "Amarillo." Yet the Morado could have white flesh or purple flesh. It took me 5 years to come across the purple fleshed one. White flesh was much more common. And, interestingly, one year I actually had the white flesh variety throw a yellow fleshed sport. I finally got a cat, to help with rodents. To make a long story short, he's now on patrol and getting along famously with our livestock guardian dogs. Am hoping this will help next year. Gary I have a question. In 2015 I nearly lost Oklahoma Red, due to rodents. I say "nearly lost," because I did recover a "nubbin," very small piece of a root, which I then nursed through and made some slips. I planted them this spring and they produced really well. However, I've never seen Oklahoma Red look like this. It gives me an unsettled feeling that perhaps I saved "nubbin" of Red Wine Velvet. Have you found that sweet potatoes can vary in their form, from one year to another and, I assume, with different growing conditions? This year we harvested a large preponderance of HUGE roots from all varieties which received irrigation. Here's a picture of my Oklahoma Red harvest:
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Post by duckcreekfarms on Nov 28, 2016 15:27:37 GMT -6
Hi George....sorry to tell you this, but those are not OK Red. they look like Red Wine Velvet
I had really good production on OK Red this year and will give you a new start. I had tons of roots, but none of them got jumbo. Also OK Red don't form those "varicose" veins. RWV will have some red in the foliage which Ok Red never has. I had to go to the library to see your picture. My connection is so slow at home that It won't load up large pics... gary
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Post by macmex on Nov 29, 2016 5:32:54 GMT -6
Thanks Gary! That was my concern. I had never seen Oklahoma Red with that much of a blockly shape, and Glenn Drowns had already mentioned that he'd never seen Oklahoma Red produce that varicose vein type growth. No need to send roots though. Joh, one of our members already did. I do appreciate your generosity! John has quite a collection, up there in Connecticut, and offered me any of them. But I just asked for Oklahoma Red. I have struggled, these last several years, to keep up with all that I have going, and I'm beginning to turn more towards maintaining and getting to better know what I already have. Oklahoma Red really impressed me, and I didn't care to lose it. Yet I didn't feel at peace, calling this year's crop "Oklahoma Red."
My wife will be HAPPY to know that we have MORE Red Wine Velvet. That's all she wants! She can't understand why I like the others so much. I like them all. But I am hooked on the differing flavors and textures.
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Post by macmex on May 12, 2017 11:40:14 GMT -6
Well, here it is, May 2017. We still have quite a few sweet potatoes in storage, most of which are holding up quite well. This is a picture of a large Red Wine Velvet, which I baked last night. My guess is that it weighed at least 3 lb. We didn't get to eat it last night, as it took a lot longer to finish cooking, due to its size. Still, once it cooks enough to be soft, even the largest sweet potato is still tender. So, we will "whack off" chunks of this one, to serve with a number of meals!
Consider growing sweet potatoes, if you have not tried to before. They are a great way to produce a lot of very good food, which stores well, through the winter. They actually store better at room temperature than in a root cellar.
George
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 4, 2017 11:42:41 GMT -6
George,
I planted all Beauregard this year. The deer tore them up so bad I thought I might not get a harvest but now that I've got a scarecrow very near them and have been watering them regularly, the vines have grown out to about 6 feet long, rather than only two feet long when the deer were so bad.
They are blooming like crazy today!
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