Sweet Potato Harvest - Evangeline vs. Beauregard

[Randall]

Kathy, I harvested mine roughly 1 month early this year. They were considerably smaller but seemed to have every bit of flavor. The only thing i noticed was that they lacked the girth of the ones harvested later. They were a bit skinny! The taste was certainly there though. I grow the Beauregards and an unknown white one that i got from the farmers market a couple of years ago. Like you're saying, it's just too much sweet potato to eat in one sitting. haha!

[kath]

Thanks for your input, Randall- it was the possible lack of flavor that I was worried about, so I'm glad you found that this wasn't a factor. I'm going to write a note on the calendar next year and see what they look like in early Sept. for sure.

[nicky]

That came out wrong... I started out with 6 total sweet potatoes & ended up with 1 ....

In 2010 I ordered the slips from a seed catalogue. They finally shipped to me in late July - not very helpful, as they need a pretty long growing season. So this year I thought that I would be smart & read up on chitting them on top of your fridge. Bought 3 sweet potatoes. Followed the instructions. A month later I realized that I should have bought organic & bought 3 more sweet potatoes. One of the 3, 1 rotted. The other two produced 2 slips. I planted them. One died. When I dug up my plant a couple of weeks ago I had one tiny skinny tuber the size of my middle finger (how apt). I don't think sweet potatoes like me.

But yours look great.

[kath]

Sorry you've had such poor luck with sweet potatoes so far, Nicky. I had quite a number of poor years until I tried Beauregard. First I tried all the bush varieties before I gave up and ordered a bunch of vining varieties on line for a couple years. Finally I just got slips of what they sold locally in the Agway and garden centers. Don't give up- maybe you just need to find the right variety and then be able to control the planting season length by starting your own slips. If started early enough you should be able to get at least 8 slips from one potato.

[nicky]

I won't give up.... I do love candied sweet potato. Luckily we have a great farmers market fairly close! It covers for all of my veg garden mishaps!
Cheers

[Fusion_power]

Nicky, part of the problem is getting sweet potato varieties that are adapted to your climate. Short season varieties like Georgia Jet would do the trick.

DarJones

[salix]

Does anyone know of a source for these named varieties in Canada? Last year's effort was done by taking slips from two nice looking grocery store specimens. Have no idea what they were, but got 15 very nice plants from them. Too bad that last year's season was so cold/short. And of course, I only found out that the tops were edible after I had composted them, lol!

[wmontanez]

I got Frazier White, for only being in the ground 2 1/2 month it did well in my Zone 6, second is Ginseng Orange, in the sampler came one called Diane and Kotebuki that just started to form the roots.

For next year will try Frazier White, Ginseng Orange and Violetta.

[Elizabeth]

Kath,

Thanks for the info I have been covering them when I see them peeking out, but I think I will do a more thorough check. So far I don't think there have been any critters after them - they are far too interested in my apples and quince hanging from the trees to be bothered with digging. A couple of nights ago my (thankfully indoor) cat started going bananas and by seeing where she was looking I was able to see the critter go to the apple tree. I decided to not go out and scare it off...it was a skunk.

[kath]

Elizabeth- I should have been more specific- the critters that I've had trouble with live in the dirt and gnaw the tubers, bore holes, etc. We have fence to keep the bigger stuff in check.

[Elizabeth]

Oh - those kinda critters. There's always something else wanting a piece of our harvest isn't there? Hopefully I don't have too much bug nibbling going on since I haven't grown root crops in that bed before, but I won't know until I dig them out. There isn't a possibility of large critters like gophers and the like doing their business underground since my beds have solid bases.

I am looking forward to digging these up to see what I have - I sure hope I get a nice harvest like yours.

[DuckCreekFarms]

I've been harvesting several "New to me" Varieties and Some have done very well despite our record heat and drought. Some of the ones doing quite well with great havest were Tainung 65, Patriot, Redglow, Norton, and Arkansas Red.. Now I need to cook some and taste trial them.....I will dig more today.

I havested a 14 pound evangeline.

gary
www.duckcreekfarms.com

[nicky]

Originally Posted by DuckCreekFarms

I havested a 14 pound evangeline.

That's crazy!!! I would have been fine with an entire harvest of 14lbs! Nice job!

By the way, I checked my old records. It was Georgia Jet that I had tried a couple of years ago... maybe I'll try the Beauregard next year. Although it wasn't Georgia Jet's fault - it was the seed company's late shipping causing the late planting & lack of size.

[kath]

Originally Posted by nicky

By the way, I checked my old records. It was Georgia Jet that I had tried a couple of years ago... maybe I'll try the Beauregard next year. Although it wasn't Georgia Jet's fault - it was the seed company's late shipping causing the late planting & lack of size.

I tried Georgia Jet one year, but it didn't do well for me even when planted on time. If you try Beauregard, be prepared for huge tubers. I planted them closer this year in hopes of reducing the size, but they just grew into one another.

[kath]

Originally Posted by DuckCreekFarms

I havested a 14 pound evangeline.

gary
www.duckcreekfarms.com

Wow! It's amazing how varieties can perform so differently under different conditions. I had no idea that sweet potatoes got that big.