Planting Sweet Potatoes

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Planting Sweet Potatoes

The sweet potato is very nutritious and isan important food in many tropical regions ofthe world. It is rich in vitamin C and containsmore vitamin A than most other vegetables.

An acre of sweet potatoes requires 10,000to 12,000 plants but 100 to 200 plants will pro-duce an ample supply for the average family.Plants can be purchased from a nursery, orgrown at home by sprouting four or five sweetpotatoes in a shallow pan of water.

Planting and Culture: Sweet potatoescan be grown as a garden plant over a widearea of the United States. They prefer a sandysoil, but can be grown in a heavier soil if it isworked five or six inches deep. Ridging is alsonecessary if optimum size and quality are to beproduced.

Start preparing ground for sweet potatoesduring April. Make a furrow long enoughto accommodate the plants you need with 12-to 18-inch spacing. Place an inch or two ofwell-rotted compost or manure in the furrow.Then ridge up the soil on top of this band ofhumus. Ridges should be at least ten incheshigh to prevent roots from growing too deep foreasy harvesting.

Don't set out the plants until about amonth after the average date of the last frostin your area. Sweet potatoes are members ofthe Morning-glory family and are very sensitiveto frost. Use a rounded stick, like a broomhandle, to push the roots of the plants four orfive inches deep. Water plants after planting tosettle the roots.

The area around the plants should be keptfree of weed growth until the vines themselvesshade out weeds. Don't worry too much aboutdrought, because sweet potatoes like hot, dryweather.

Harvesting: Dig the potatoes with apitchfork before frost hits the vines, for froston the vines can damage the tubers below. Toprevent spoilage, be careful not to damage thepotatoes during digging. Let them cure on thesurface of the ground for several hours afterdigging. This helps them keep better in storage.

Storage: If properly cured, sweet pota-toes can be stored and enjoyed for severalmonths. This can be done easily by placingthe harvested roots in a well-ventilated placewhere temperatures are fairly high. For bestresults the temperature should be around 85 to90°F. (29.44 to 32.22°C.) and should be heldin that range for ten to 15 days. High tempera-tures are a deterrent to rhizopus rot, a diseasewhich affects potato roots.

Following the Don't set out the plants until about amonth after the average date of the last frostin your area. Sweet potatoes are members ofthe Morning-glory family and are very sensitiveto frost. Use a rounded stick, like a broomhandle, to push the roots of the plants four orfive inches deep. Water plants after planting tosettle the roots.

The area around the plants should be keptfree of weed growth until the vines themselvesshade out weeds. Don't worry too much aboutdrought, because sweet potatoes like hot, dryweather.

Following the curing period, the sweetpotatoes should be stored at a temperature ofabout 50°F. (10°C.) with humidity between75 and 80 percent. During the storage periodthe sweet potatoes should not be handled ormoved until time for use. Storage temperaturebelow 50°F. usually will favor decay.

Varieties: Centennial Sweet Potato is abright copper-skinned variety and a highyielder. Porto Rico, Allgold and Georgia Redsare gaining popularity with sweet potato

growers. Recommended dry-flesh typesOrlis and Yellow Jersey.

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