Sweet Potato
- Subject: Sweet Potato
- From: "X Flores" x*@ucdavis.edu
- Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:20:44 -0700 (PDT)
Ken-
some good resources in my Med climate area.
advice from UC Davis web site for California gardeners:
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/veginfo/commodity/garden/crops/potatosw.pdf
Postharvest info is available at:
http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/Producefacts/Veg/sweetpotato.shtml
California farmers grow an abundant crop as far north as
Merced. North of there (in my experience) the warm season
is not long enough, on average. I don't know of any above
ground signal as to when it's time to harvest. You'll have to look
in the soil if you have a sufficient number of plants to spare one.
Otherwise just wait till the vines die back from chill and be surprised.
A word of caution: The roots are extremely susceptible to rot
when newly harvested. Take care not to scuff the skin when handlng.
Don't even wash the roots as this will cause scratching on the
skin that will allow entry of rot organisms.
After an initial period of storage at around 80F the skin becomes
more durable. Then storage temps can be lower for longer
storage into winter.
UC DAVIS, VEGETABLE RESEARCH AND INFORMATION CENTER
Home Vegetable Gardening
Sweet Potato, (Ipomoea batatus)
Recommended Varieties:
Dry-fleshed (yellow) Jersey
Moist-fleshed (yams) Garnet (dark red)Jewel (deep orange)
Sweet potatoes grow best in light, sandy soils and are sensitive
to temperatures below 50OF. For this reason, sweet potatoes
do not grow well along the north coast or in the northern
sections of the state.
Grow sweet potatoes from sprouts or slip produced by the
following method: place small sweet potatoes in a hotbed about
March 1; cover with 3 to 4 inches of sand; keep the bed moist.
Maintain a soil temperature of 70OF to 75OF in the hotbed. In
about 6 weeks, sprouts about 8 inches long are ready for
transplanting. Pull the sprouts and transplant them to raised beds.
You may grow several crops of sprouts from the same planting.
After setting out the sprouts, apply several light irrigations throughout
the growing season.
You can harvest sweet potatoes when slightly immature if they are of
suitable size; otherwise leave them in the ground until the roots are
full grown and the vines begin to turn yellow. However, if the leaves
are killed by frost before they yellow, cut them off; dig up the roots;
and store them at once in boxes in a warm, moist place. Do not
bruise the roots when digging, as this increases the possibility
of decay. Sweet potatoes improve during storage because a part
of the starch content turns to sugar.
Nutritional Value of Sweet Potato
Serving size: 4 oz. Baked Primary Nutrients %RDA(m) %RDA(f)
Calories 118 Vitamin A 2,488 RE 249 311
Fat 0.1 g Vitamin C 28 mg 47 47
Calories from fat 0.8% Vitamin B6 0.28 mg 14 17.5
Cholesterol 0 Folic Acid 26 mcg 13 14
Sodium 12 mg Riboflavin 0.15 mg 9 11.5
Protein 2.0 g Magnesium 23 mg 7 8
Carbohydrate 27.7 g Iron 0.52 mg 5 3.5
Dietary Fiber 3.4 g Thiamine 0.08 mg 5 7
% Min. Requirement
Potassium 397 mg 20
Problem Diagnosis for Sweet Potato
See General Problem Diagnosis for Vegetables -(Table 5) for general
techniques to recognize and manage the common problems
associated with sweet potato. Nematodes, aphids, flea beetles,
leafhoppers, and wireworms cause problems in sweet potato plantings.
