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EXTEND YOUR SWEET POTATO
HARVEST WITH CLIPPINGS John from Fort Walton Beach shares this great idea for saving money on sweet potato slips. It’s also a wonderful way to extend your sweet potato harvest for those who have already ordered and planted sweet potato slips. John writes: I enjoy reading your articles, and in reading your article on growing sweet potatoes I noted that you only mentioned growing the plants by buying sweet potato slips (sprouts). Perhaps you know this and elected to not mention it in your article, but there is also another way and much less expensive way. Instead of buying a lot of slips, just buy the least amount you can and plant those early. Then when the vines start to run, just cut off a small section of the vine, which has 3 to 5 or so leaves on it. Then just lay it where you want to plant it, and take a forked stick (your finger will work but why bend over) and press the middle leaf of the cut vine into the ground an inch or two with the two ends of the cut vine with a leaf or two sticking out of the ground. Then add some water. (If you plant following a rain or irrigation, you can skip hand watering) The vines will root in just a few days and you probably will not notice the difference in yield from this method and store bought slips. The vines root easily this way with near 100 percent taking root if the ground is kept moist. When I was young and growing up on a farm, we raised sweet potatoes commercially and used this method for probably 95 percent of our planting. Incidentally, I went on line and reviewed several sites on growing sweet potatoes and not a one I read mentioned the method of using cut vines. However, in talking recently with a relative who has grown sweet potatoes commercially, she verified that the cut vine method is simple and she thinks produces the same yield as using slips. Also, just as we did when I was growing up, I “turn” my vines often so I can hoe or weed and mainly to prevent the vines from rooting away from the main root. This is to focus all the vines energy to the main root. |
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