My dad typically plants around 700 individual plants each year, resulting in an abundance of sweet potatoes. We store and give them away. To store them, we leave the dirt on and place them in a cool, dark area on a rack that allows airflow on all sides. This way, they last all year and even into the next harvest.
The large sweet potatoes taste just as good as the small ones. Unlike cucumbers or squash, their flavor doesn’t diminish with size.
700 plants? Wow! I usually plant 40-50 and end up giving away around a hundred pounds, with enough sweet potatoes to last until spring every year. Your dad isn’t just a gardener, he’s a full-fledged farmer! Haha.
Ugh, yes… He’s 82 and still doing it manually, though he ropes us three kids into the job nowadays. He uses a 1/4 acre lot next to the house with about 10 rows just for these. He sets up an assembly line: he uses the end of a hoe handle to make holes every 16 inches in each row, then kid #1 drops a single plant (6-8 inches tall) in each hole. Kid #2 pours a solo cup of water in the hole, and kid #3 pinches the holes closed. We can’t complain though; those sweet potatoes taste fantastic. He even submitted them to the local county fair this year, and they swept the category! Haha.
What do you use to start your sweet potatoes? We planted a sprouted potato part a few years ago, and it keeps producing every year because we can’t get them all out. Next time, I’m thinking of using barrels, but I’m sure there’s a better method to start with
Will sweet potatoes left in the ground survive until the following year? My regular potatoes that I missed harvesting all came back, and I’d love it if my sweet potatoes did the same next year too.