She had 4 trunks of trees laid out in a square? She put 4in of mulch in it, nd laid what looked like just store bought S Taters a foot apart in/on the mulch and covered it up with a lot of hay. Watered it down to keep the hay in place and put more on as needed. 6 months later she harvested. The length of time was cause of having to wait for the taters to sprout. Think ill try that. I have the logs, and can get free mulch.
Do you think S taters done this way would need much sun, as there buried benieth a couple feet of hay?? I need to know so as to where to put them. I have shady spots and sun spots.
I find that sweet potatos either refuse to get going or else they grow like bad weeds. Feast or famine.
Late this winter I got some sweet potatos to sprout and I have been potting up the sprouts. As each potted up sprout gets large enough I tuck it into the garden
I have no idea if sweet potatos are sprayed with something to stop them from sprouting the way that they do with English potatos, but, just to be sure I bought my sprouting potatos that were organic
Thanks Bear. I have got a full sun place and its right next to a hydrant, BUT, Im thinking it would be cheaper to buy the slips and spread the straw open in furrows and plant the slips in or next to the mulch.
Keeping in mind that sweet potatoes and regular potatoes are in no way related to one another botanically, the hay method should work but require a very long growing season. Sweet potatoes also need lots of heat so a sunny location is important, but they don't need to be hilled up like regular potatoes because they don't create solanine in the skins. They can grow very close to the surface of the soil and are fine. I've also found that if you let them dry out at any time during growing it really reduces their harvest. I'm in northern Wyoming and believe it or not I get good harvests by growing my sweet potatoes in stacked tires 2 deep in a full sun location.
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