Topic: Help with sweet potatoes please!!

[cookie]

After having read all the info about growing sweet potatoes on the wiki thought I would give it a try. Bought an organic one, and placed it in a jar of water,(half in , half out),left it there for a month, and nothing has happened, no shoots at all. Has anyone had any success growing them? Help please!! ??? ??? ???

[Tora]

I was just reading Bob Flowerdew's book and he says sweet potatoes from supermarkets are often sprayed with chemical that inhibits sprouting. He recommends scrubbing sweet potatoes clean before trying to get them sprout.

That was all I can think... Also I think they need a warm place to sprout.

[MikeB]

Hi Cookie, It took over 2 1/2 months before I saw any action on my sweet potato, it has now taken off with a good root system and the shoots are growing well.  Mine was brought from a supermarket.

[Anne Robertson]

They can take ages to appear and I would do more than one potato as some only produce 1 or 2 slips and some 5 or 6. I have pulled off 3 so far and put them in water to produce their own roots and they are now potted up in compost and doing well. Don't know when to plant them out though.
It's much cheaper than buying the slips, I paid £9.99 for 10 last year and I've got 14 for under a pound this year but I guess I will have to wait for the harvest to see the best value.