Quote:
Originally Posted by zendog
...I'm glad to see your results with the trellis since I've often thought of growing some of my sweet potato vines vertically as well. I had read somewhere that when vines put down roots at various places along their length, they put less energy into feeding the potatoes at the hill since their existence has the insurance of the other roots along the way...
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An excerpt from sweet potato growing instructions from the Sow True Seed website, addressing vine length:
"...but if you want big tubers, you’ll need to keep the vines snipped back to within 3 feet of the mother plant. Keeping them regularly pruned also allows for easier harvesting as it’s easier to find where you originally planted. It’s not a waste though, sweet potato greens are delicious!
"Occasionally you may lift the long vines to prevent adventitious rooting at their nodes. Where the plant roots it will attempt to grow more tubers, taking much needed nutrients and energy away from the main crop."
https://sowtrueseed.com/blogs/garden...sweet-potatoes
I never trimmed the trellis vines but just kept guiding them in and out of the trellis. That's why I was surprised to see those biggies! But then, the vines never pegged down into the ground to sap energy so that's maybe why.
One other good site link I have for sweet potatoes is Sand Hills Preservation center:
https://www.sandhillpreservation.com...ng-information