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Post by reed on Sept 15, 2018 7:05:31 GMT -5
richardw, Aw good, warmer temps should help and ya already got seven so your not off track. I grow mine in hot south window and weather permitting put out in direct sun as soon as possible. They grow very slow for first few weeks, seems like it takes forever to get going good but then they just explode.
diane, concerning which end sprouts best. They seem to vary a lot there too. Some sprout all over, some don't sprout much at all. Some do it right away, some just sit there for awhile. I think generally the stem end does sprout best. And you don't need to leave them intact, you can eat part and sprout the rest but I think it might be best to let the cut end dry out and scab over little before placing them in water or wet sand. There is probably a limit to how small a piece can be saved to sprout but I don't know what it would be.
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Post by richardw on Sept 15, 2018 13:59:25 GMT -5
Yes Ive noticed that they seem to sit there for ages, the first seedling is now finally growing a second set of leaves.
As its getting warmer ive noticed the speed difference in germination between the first and #7 seedling, first one took days to unravel where #7 took no time at all.
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Post by philagardener on Sept 15, 2018 15:19:47 GMT -5
Yes Ive noticed that they seem to sit there for ages, the first seedling is now finally growing a second set of leaves.
As its getting warmer ive noticed the speed difference in germination between the first and #7 seedling, first one took days to unravel where #7 took no time at all.
In general, these plants really like warmth. A little bottom heat for those seedlings probably would go a long way! |
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Post by reed on Sept 16, 2018 21:11:48 GMT -5
It's turned off hotter and drier again so I'm leaving the sweets to keep making seeds a while longer. I used to didn't think too highly of the late sprouting volunteers but I have two this year that are in the running to be kept for cloning if they have good roots. I had a glimpse or two of the first one earlier, buried in the melon patch but when the melons were harvested and the vines died it really took off. Despite it's late start it really sized up and is a good seeder.  This second one was lost under the tomatoes till just a couple weeks ago, even buried undre mulch for awhile. It isn't near as big but has had far less time to recover than the first one.  It's a pretty plant and has made a few seeds, I suspect it would be another good seeder if allowed better conditions. Anyway, I think selecting against later sprouting ones might be a mistake. Later sprouting is fine as long as they still mature good and make nice roots. Short season maturity is a trait I really like in any crop. I don't know exactly what is meant by early, mid or late season in description of sweet potatoes. I don't know that the roots really need anything other than getting big enough to be food and to keep well so regardless of what others mean by that description that's the meaning I'm giving it. That and making seeds. |
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Post by richardw on Sept 17, 2018 3:35:52 GMT -5
Quite a dark purple leaf on the second plant. Two of my seedlings are more purple than the others. Another seedling popped today, so that's 8 now.
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Post by reed on Sept 19, 2018 5:09:15 GMT -5
I like the purple ones just for looks and they often have nice size roots but they're not very sweet. They have purple skin with white inside and are a fine vegetable, just not sweet.
I want one that has purple leaves with purple skinned, sweet orange roots and one like that showed up this year in the culls. It was culled cause it didn't bloom but at least I know that color combo is possible.
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Post by richardw on Sept 19, 2018 14:17:10 GMT -5
'purple skinned, sweet orange roots' sounds nice. Photo of the eight seedlings  |
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Post by steev on Sept 19, 2018 20:08:24 GMT -5
Very promising.
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Post by reed on Sept 20, 2018 8:15:58 GMT -5
Today is supposed to be our last one in the 90s and supposed to be going into the 40s at night pretty soon so I'll be finding out what kind of roots I have on all my plants. I found out last year that seeds will continue to mature if plants are carefully dug and replanted after removing the big roots even if it gets pretty cold so I'll probably do that again.
Around here it is thought that frost on the vines will ruin the roots. I don't know if that is true, actually kind of doubt it but to be safe I'll go ahead and harvest. Also time to take cuttings for houseplants. I like to do that as extra insurance besides keeping the roots.
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Post by walt on Sept 20, 2018 14:41:44 GMT -5
Checked my seedling sweet potato vines for seeds again this morning. Still haven't found any. With 6 seedlings and one unrelated vine blooming a lot, I am quite unhappy with the result. Maybe next year.
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Post by richardw on Sept 20, 2018 14:47:50 GMT -5
Makes you wonder why no seed?, what do you put that down to walt?
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Post by steev on Sept 20, 2018 18:07:53 GMT -5
Maybe some q-tip work could help fertilize?
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Post by reed on Sept 20, 2018 20:54:08 GMT -5
Bumblebees do an excellent job here but a little hand pollinating doesn't hurt of course. walt, are't your seedlings selfed from the purple ornamental? The first year I got a good amount of seeds I had two F1 selfed seedlings from the purple ornamental. They too made lots of flowers but very few seeds and the few they made were very late. I think however they may have provided the pollen for many of the other seeds, especially since in the next season lots of purple and or fan leafed plants showed up. They are complicated I think. I'm trying a little bit to determine which ones might be self pollinating but I'm sure there are examples where a particular one is only compatible with some other particular one. And they may only be compatible in one direction or the other. It would be a way bigger project than I have time and space for to figure it all out. My goals now are 1 - to make a collection of ones that make seed and produce nice roots which I'll clone each year (currently have 2) 2 - trial two or three new commercial clones each year in effort to increase diversity 3 - grow out minimum of 20 new seedlings each year to screen for adding to the collection 4 - always keep a back up archive of not less than 1000 seeds
I'm wondering since most traits seem to express in degrees, rather than being one or the other, is it possible to blend and then distill, for lack of better words, the seedy trait into a population where everything else is wildly variable?
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Post by walt on Sept 21, 2018 14:03:26 GMT -5
Yes, I'm sure seediness can be bred into an otherwise diverse population. That has been my goal also.
I had assumed that at least one of my seedlings would have crossed with the new sweet potato. All made abondant pollen. I hand pollinated, which is easy enough to do mid-morning here. Nothing.
One of my goals is to write to Sandhills and ask if he will offer a breeder's special of 2 each of some good bloomers. This is someone else's idea, but it needs to be more than an idea.
Also, a KSU professor has bred purple and gold, KSU colors, sweet potatoes for hort club to sell as a fund raiser. I need to find this professor and see if he has seeds from that breeding.
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Post by philagardener on Sept 21, 2018 19:38:16 GMT -5
Also, a KSU professor has bred purple and gold, KSU colors, sweet potatoes for hort club to sell as a fund raiser. I need to find this professor and see if he has seeds from that breeding. |
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