Well the final verdict is in on this year's Sweet Potato experiment. As most of you know I try and add something new or try a new experiment each year to see how it will fit in with the plan of sustainable small farm agriculture around here. Farming in general is of course regional regardless of scale but small organic farming seems to be even more regional in my humble opinion. Others experiences may vary I guess but I never really seem to know how something is going to turn out under my local conditions until I do it.
This year was my first attempt at growing Sweet Potatoes. Tuber crops in general here require a bit more care than I have been told they do in other parts of the country. The rainy season combined with our heavy soils tend to rot the root crops before they can get a foot hold. Prior to late June it seems the best way to grow Potatoes here is in well draining raised beds....
Readers note: Preferably well draining raised beds that look pleasing to the eye is the best option, with solid wooden sides that fit the pastoral scene of rural calmness that comes as a nice side effect to homesteading. Not round, black rubber eyesores :)
I couldn't resist a bit of teasing towards our old tire friends here folks, it was meant in jest so don't take offense.
.... So I planted four little plants of Sweet Potatoes in a bed all their own and just let em go all Summer.
I was really impressed with how they took off and the yield from the little 8x4' bed was pretty impressive.
My son accused me of harvesting cow embryos when I dug em out of the ground. To be honest I was kinda surprised at the size. I had never seen Sweet Potatoes so big. I didn't know they came that way.
Next was the drying and curing process. I almost failed this as I didn't research this part ahead of time but once you pull the potatoes out of the ground you are only about half finished. They require a curing process in the 75+ degree range for a few weeks to turn the starches inside into sugars.
Lucky for us we had a relatively warm first part of the Fall and I was able to achieve the proper storage and curing temps/conditions in my tool shed. It stays pretty warm in there until Winter hits and is fairly well insulated.
Finally right before the first cold snap we had I brought them inside to finish the process in the front room that gets the bulk of the wood furnace air.
Last night was the final test. Mrs. PP found a recipe she liked and roasted one of the big ones (cut up of course) in olive oil and oregano. It really was quite good and apparently I handled the curing process just perfectly as it had a nice sweet flavor without being unduly so or over powering like all the candied, marshmallow type recipes I had tried before.
Another great side benefit to growing Sweet Potatoes was that the vines are not poisonous and were very prolific. I fed a bunch of them to the sheep as well after reading that the vines are commonly used as fodder in other parts of the world. It also grew in so thick the super-powered weeds we have around here couldn't keep up.
Definitely a crop I am going to continue growing and push the production up on as well.
Frankly I found that I loved them and look forward to eating plenty more.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!
what growing climate are you in?
ReplyDeletedennis - according to the Missouri map I am right on the edge of a micro-climate that places me in 6b but right in the middle of a large band of 5a. I typically just go with 5a to be safe.
DeleteI am in the crossover between 2 and 3 so I think I will have to keep buying sweet potatoes. Our growing season here in Saskatchewan is a little! shorter than yours.
DeleteHow many calories would you estimate that you harvested? How many plants could you plant per person before they begin to rot in the root cellar? Long term storage? I'm not a huge fan of them, but could probably find at least a few ways to prepare them to my liking.
ReplyDeleteK - I estimated I had about 50 pounds of them total from four small plants and only three of those made it past the rabbit invasion. I read there is about 300 calories per pound in them so that's what 150K calories? Of course that's not counting the vines which can actually also be consumed by humans if prepared properly. The question of how long they remain viable in my home climate is a question I cannot answer yet.
DeleteThose are good ones, I buy sweet potatoes every week or so but they bring them in from carolina, they say the soil is better for them there but I know people grow them here. I can't find plants and couldn't get my own to start from roots last year but maybe I will try again.
ReplyDeleteSf - Ya getting these to start from roots will be my next mini-project. I picked these plants up at the local Lowes store just on a whim. Not sure if they will even sprout on their own.
DeleteYou did great! The voles ate all my potatoes this year.
ReplyDeleteMV - I been putting down chicken wire under all my new raised beds to keep the moles out. They are vicious around here.
DeletePretty funny, I am in the Carolinas and have never tried to grow them.
ReplyDeleteRuss - I never thought about growing them before cause the ones I had had before were always so sweet over sweet really.. I just decided to try em on a whim this year and I am glad I did.
DeleteI only tried to grow sweet potatoes once in MN due to what I thought was a far too short growing season, I had good luck pressing store bought tubers on their sides into damp sand (about half buried) and they formed slips like crazy. About the time I stopped gardening and became a snow bird I found this guy in Iowa. More varieties, including heirlooms, that I ever imagined, and many that will grow in cold climates. http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/catalog/sweet_potatoes.html
ReplyDeleteNS - I might have to take a look and try that site out. Thanks for the tip!!!
DeletePP,
ReplyDeleteLove growing potatoes of any kind. Can't wait until the next growing season :-)
Sandy - Me either. Only about two months left until it will be time to get seedlings started once again!!!
DeletePP - listen ya wiener (bahahahahah - never gets old!), OUR potatoes are grown in tires and they thrive! we love growing potatoes in tires!!! we're looking at possibly 200lbs of potatoes this year...it's hard to guesstimate because we leave them in the tires/ ground until late november/early december but we have been eating them since around august. not sure how many pounds of potatoes we consume in a week but we eat potatoes ALOT!
ReplyDeleteand i hate those sissy sweet potatoes - BLECK! can't stand them! so i have never tried to grow them but i am glad that you were successful with them.
not sure if this is too late or not, but if they store like regular potatoes, don't brush the dirt off of them or wash them. put them out in the sun for a full day, let the dirt dry on them and then store them in a box, in a dark, cool place with a towel over them. that's how we store all of our eating potatoes for the winter, but that is also how we store our seed potatoes for the following year.
much love, ya wiener! your friend,
kymber
kymber - So Sissy is BLECK? Hmmm I find some sissiness kinda attractive at times :)
DeleteSweet potatoes store about like regular ones, or so I have read. The curing process is a different though. Like you said don't knock all the dirt off but then they need to be kept in a warm enclosure for a few weeks to turn the starch into sugars. After that they are reported to keep for months.
PP,
ReplyDeleteI have not grown sweeties yet, but I am planning an experiment with them. My biggest problem around here is growing enough feed for my livestock. All those ever hungry mouths constantly demand more, MORE, STILL MORE.
Pigs will sell their mothers into the freezer in order to get beets and I have grown sugar beets, mangles, Lutz winter beets, and never have enough. I have fed enough winter squash this year I think the pig's meat will be orange.
I seem to have a very brown thumb about growing corn, but this summer I trucked in enough cow poo mixed with rice hulls to bury my garden deep with it. In the spring I will turn it in and plant corn. I was thinking about all that room between the rows and considering all the wretched weeds and concluded I would try growing sweet potatoes between the corn rows. Do you think the vines will climb the corn stalks??
I THINK the pigs will be happy with the sweeties, they'll get some of the corn and cornstalks. I'll get some corn. And maybe some sweeties as well. My bride loves them well, but I rarely eat them though they are palatable.
Winston
Winston - Good to hear from ya again!!! I doubt the vines would climb very far, or at least the variety I grew didn't seem to be particularly climbers but they were thick and covered the ground well so it should stop the weeds some. Also the vines are edible for animals and humans alike so you could feed em to the live stock too!!!
DeleteBeets and the other stuff you mentioned is damned good fodder for livestock too. I am eventually planning to grow a lot more stuff like that for feeding the sheep once I can get rid of the useless nag horseflesh taking up space around here.
Good experiment. I f I come across some that do well in a colder climate I might try them but the greenhouse space is too valuable at the moment to grow them - more tomatoes is what I need!
ReplyDeleteKV - I grow so many tomatoes in the Summer I am always ready to see em die int he Fall. Still don't have much room opened up for any more even if I had some :)
DeleteI have found out that after planting slips in the dirt that mulching about 6 inches deep around the bed with leaves or straw for as far as you think the plants are going to wander,4-8foot, the vines put more taters in the mulch and do not rot but grow very nice and large since they don't even touch the soil. MrKelly
ReplyDelete