Friday, September 26, 2014

Sweet Potato Harvest





A reader I will refer to as EC had sent me a couple of emails with recommendations for how to handle my little Sweet Potato crop and a couple of useful links on the subject as well. After the last email just a day or so ago I decided now might be the perfect time to go ahead and get the harvesting out of the way.

Why? Well the curing process is suppose to run at about 80 degrees for a few days to let the Sweet Potatoes cure properly and by good luck we are forecast to have that for the next week or so. As cool as it's been this Summer I cannot really count on those temps ever coming back once October hits in a few days so I thought now was the time.




I started out with four little Sweet Potato plants back in early May and two of them were completely killed by rabbits. The remaining two finally began spreading out over the above pictured 8'x4' raised bed and the vines rooted themselves to produce what you see in the top picture.

I am not experienced with growing Sweet Potatoes but that looks like a pretty good yield for only two plants and a small raised bed. I put the fork down next to them for scale but some of those tubers are friggin HUGE.

In reading the info sent by EC I found out that Sweet Potatoes should not be allowed to remain in the ground once the soil temp falls below 55 degrees which usually happens about the first frost. While I can usually count on not really having a frost until at least the end of October around here this year has been cooler than normal and with some night time temps already dipping into the 40's I thought it would be a good time to go ahead and get it out of the way.

The curing period lasts a few days and should be set at around 85 to 90 degrees with high humidity. By harvesting them now I should be able to hit these temps and humidity levels easily by placing the potatoes in my work shop as it retains heat pretty well this time of year.

During the process the starches will change into sugars and a scab-like skin will form over any nicks and dings. The outside layer of skin will turn into a waxy substance called suberin that seals the potato like a plastic bag and holds out moisture.

A few other things I noticed about growing these plants for the first time. They vines really cut back on the weeds inside the bed. The only weed that appeared to be able to grow within the Sweet Potato bed was the thrice damned Johnson Grass roots. These plants proved very low maintenance, I watered them a good amount but only because the sheep water trough was right there by the bed so I didn't have to make any special plans to keep em moist. Had I had a larger area the initial two plants would have spread, rooted and produced much more than the little bed I left em in. If I move up the harvesting period they might make a good field crop for over Winter stock feed as well as long as you turn em over when temperatures allow for proper curing.

Of course the final test will be finding out how they taste after curing.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


17 comments:

  1. Oh My Gosh.... I want, I want, I Really, Really Want! Super yummeh. I can see one of those baked up, and slathered with lots of butter....
    Enjoy those bad boys...

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    1. I would gladly give ya some JuGM. A couple of them were just about as big as my head.

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  2. I haven't had any success in growing them and really can't find plants for sale here. My attempt at starting my own failed so you harvest from two plants looks really good to me. I do love baked sweet potatoes and they would be a wonderful crop to be able to grow. I will try again after seeing your results.

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    1. Sf - Well I was amazed at the size of some of them. If they can be used as fodder I will be even more amazed. I am also going to check out the calorie count on them because even if I don't like the taste the ease with which they grew and yield is making me think they might be a damned good survival or grid down addition to my garden.

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  3. PP,

    There is nothing better than home grown veggies. Your potatoes look good, are you ready to bake some of these babies? Will your wife be making sweet potato pie?

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    1. Sandy - We are certainly going to partake of them this year. The qualities they showed is making me really look at them as a permanent addition.

      My son accused me of growing Cow Embryos when he saw them.

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  4. Yama, yama, yama, brown sugar and sweet cream butter....enjoy

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    1. Rob - I see myself learning to like these int he future :)

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  5. PP - that looks like a good haul but i have no idea as i have never grown them...just, well, plain don't like them. i would rather save the room for REAL potatoes. irish cobblers, brown russets and red chieftains - oh ya baby! congrats tho, buddy.

    much love. your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Kymber - I am not sure they will grow that far North. While I cannot argue that nothing beats real live Irish Taters the size of these guys is making me look at them as an addition. Not just for the garden either the yield per plant seems pretty impressive.

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    2. I agree with Kymber, they look and taste nasty.
      Mrs. PP

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  6. Good bit of information there. Ovrr here I think we have to grow them in the greenhouse unless you live in the south. I'd love to have a crop of them though, maybe if I get another couple of large greenhouses I'll be able to have the space for them. Anything that stores well is a good food for our life style.

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    1. Kev - well apparently if you cure em properly they store for months and months quite well. Seeing if I can get a good cure and make taste good is important but looking at the yield and ease it was growing them I am thinking emergency collapse animal fodder as well. Apparently the vines are edible as well.

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  7. Sweet potatoes do extremely well for me in NC - 8 plants brought me around 100 lbs of potatoes this year. And like you, I love that they are "self-weeding", and for me, don't need to be watered. I grew them in nooks and crannies this year, and pretended they were decorative plantings!! I use them in chili, soups, pie, and this year we are enjoying sweet potato jerkey.

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    1. Kate - The only drawback I saw, and it is more a draw back on me then the plants, was that I didn't want to weed eat around the raised bed and destroy the vines :)

      Lets just hope my curing method works.

      Thanks for commenting!!!

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  8. They seem like a pretty tough plant. Seen a solar farm planted on an old sweet potato field, and they still kept coming. A big staple food around here.

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