Ula Sweetpotato? for 14 mile creek

[duckcreekfarms]

I guess I need to address this thread to 14 mile creek.



I was wondering what more you can give us about the naming of Ula? I can't find any documentation about Ula. I heard that it is a Hawaiian variety that you obtained from a USDA person..... the roots I saw look exactly like the documented Molokai Purple also from Hawaii.



there are only a few sweetpotatoes that are distinct enough to identify by just looking at the roots, but I think Molokai is one as it has a very distinct characteristic. Also after talking to Macmex, the growth pattern also sounds the same. I have my root that I got in the incubator now pre-heating and it should start spouting soon. Yes, I have an old egg incubator that I preheat some of my stock and it works great to get them off to a jumping start.



Can you re-question your source for more information and see what he/she knows about it? and where the name Ula came from. It is name that they just made up because they didn't know the real name?



There is a documented Hawaiian variety called Uala, but differs in that it has purple flesh with cream skin much like the Okinawa. I used to have it but lost it. I sent some to Glenn at sandhill and I think he still has it. there is also a Hawaiian variety called Agena that I have been looking for, also with purple flesh and cream skin but so far no luck in finding it and I can't get varieties out of Hawaii......



there are already so many varieties out there with different names but are the same variety, that I hate to add more confusion. A good example is the Carolina Nugget. that I have recieved with so many different names, the most famous rename being Mahan/Mahon and now renamed to Bradshaw. 

[fourteenmilecreek]

@ Duckcreekfarms,

Sorry, the man I got the purple sweet potato from, doesn't remember giving it to me.

[duckcreekfarms]

Not too sure how to respond to that.....Surly he remembers the sweetpotato?

[macmex]

Gary, I "poked" Ron on this. Hopefully he'll get back to this soon. I am making my list for slip sales and haven't completely settled on what to call this one. I think my latest draft says "Ula/Molokai?"

[duckcreekfarms]

thanks George. I have a contact that I correspond with that does the sweetpotato research with the U of H, but haven't contacted him yet to see if he knows anything about one beng called Ula. but I hope to soon. I was in the new Sprouts Grocery in Tulsa the other day and they had a purple flesh sweetpotao. I immediately recognized it as Molokai Purple also. Unlike Wholefoods that sells theirs under a Variety Name, they just had Purple sweetpotato. Now people will be buying that one and renaming it too.....

[macmex]

LOL! A couple of years ago my daughter, who is a night custodian at NSU, brought home some light yellow tomatoes, which a professor in her building had grown. I tried one and found it to be excellent. So I asked her to inquire as to the variety. I saved seeds from the others.

It took her a couple of days to run into the fellow and she asked for me. He responded that he had purchased the plants in a big box store and that the label had simple read "yellow tomato." Argh!

[fourteenmilecreek]

Duckcreekfarms,

The man I got the purple sweet potatoes from, was just in town getting me to help him build a prototype, of a free standing, mineral injector, that I designed for an irrigation system. We were in a hurry, as it was raining, and we were needing to get it installed for a test plot at the State Capitol. The sweet potatoes were just some that were rolling around in the back of his truck. They were left over from a harvest that he had helped someone get in, they were not ones he had grown. They were in pretty bad shape, due to the conditions of the truck bed, as it was a work truck, and the spuds were only about an inch in diameter. They looked interesting, so I planted them up that Fall and kept them growing all Winter long... They were not in good enough shape make it in storage without withering away before Spring. When Spring came, I shared a few slips around with the seed savers. He called them Ula the day we were working on the irrigation, but that was a couple years ago; that's all the information I have. Although, I have heard that the powdered flesh of these potatoes are of some value as a natural dye stock for coloring wool.

[macmex]

So,... what should be be calling this one? I'm working on a flyer for sales of slips.

George

[duckcreekfarms]

I've meaning to contact Micha Anderson with the dept of agriculture and see what he knows. He is one of my biggest fans with the sweetpotatoes and stops by several times during the slipping season to pick up slips. I gave him some of my purples a couple of years ago and he took them back and passed them around and even grew some. Give me some time, I am so swamped right now. my first plant event is this satureday and every saturday from now until fall is busy with festivals and/or farmer's markets and I am running way behid as usual

[fourteenmilecreek]

Duckcreek,

It sounds like it's possible that the Ula Sweet Potatoes I've been growing are some from your farm?