Sad gardening day

annbeck62

I harvested my sweet potatoes yesterday and there were only a handful. All summer they were doing beautifully. Researched what the problem could be and found my answer. Too much nitrogen in the soil. Definitely a learning experience. The greens are edible so it wasn't a totally wasted crop but they were growing so well I thought I'd get a great harvest. Hopefully next year things will go better.

Monek Marie

@annbeck62 As you said, at least you had the leaves to harvest.

What variety for growing length do you have> I have to grow a short season here.

A tip I use for a new crop, plant it in two places. If there is a nutrient defeciency or too much of something in one area, the other might be ok

annbeck62

@Monek Marie thanks for the tip. That's a great idea, I wouldn't have thought about doing that. I got an organic sweet potato from the farmers market then grew my own baby plants from that so not sure what the variety is.

Lisa K

@annbeck62 sorry to hear about your sweet potatoes, I would say most of us have been there with something we have tried but you have a good way of looking at it, gardening is definitely a learning experience!

monica197

@annbeck62 I am so sorry to hear about this. I was going to leave mine in for a while since they are in the potato bin, you know? I did investigate my Yukon Gold this past week and...not a single one, so I feel you pain. When I saw that I thought to myself, "Man, I hope the sweets are doing OK!" What kind were you growing. They say Beaureguard are best for our area....?

gardneto76

One of the things they say in my area is wait for them to flower. I didn’t even know they would flower, but it is a sign they are ready.The year I waited for the flowers I had tons of sweet potatoes. They year I didn’t wait, there was only a few. They are really pretty purple flowers too.

annbeck62

@gardneto76 thanks for the tip. When I researched how to know when they are ready it said when the leaves start to yellow but I don't think they had flowered yet. Will remember that for next year.

@monica197 I don't know the variety. I grew the slips from an organic sweet potato. The plants were doing great so maybe they were Beaureguard but I really have no idea.

Megan Venturella

I don’t know a thing about growing sweet potatoes and planted slips this year without preparing the soil properly. Pulled the vines out and discovered loads of sweet potatoes under my feet- no thanks to me or my good planning because I really screwed that up. But no potatoes for me this year, only cherry tomatoes, and loads of bug damage. It’s hard to take all the losses in stride, it just makes me want to throw in the trowel. But. Hopefully something else did really well for you. Where one plant fails another always seems to do well.

nicksamanda11

My garden fence broke and fell down, and my dogs got in the garden and dug up the sweet potatoes and started eating them- so that sucked😕

Alison

I've only had moderate success in growing sweet potatoes once. It's hard to get slips and they are very expensive. I tried to grow my slips after watching videos online but didn't have much luck with them either.

It's weird as I grow all of my fruit and veggies incl things like asparagus and some macadamia nuts [despite being in a cold climate and being told they don't grow here]...but I've not been successful with sweet potatoes yet.

Thomas Edison - I didn't fail. I just found 2,000 ways not to make a lightbulb; I only needed to find one way to make it work.

annbeck62

When I grow my own slips I start with an organic sweet potato. Conventional have been sprayed so they don't sprout. I find it's not hard but a little time consuming because it's a 2 step process. I first the potato about 1/2 way in water and it develops sprouts. Then I twist the sprouts off and put them in water to develop roots. Hope that helps :)