|
|
Post by oldmobie on Mar 10, 2019 7:32:02 GMT -5
I picked up a few sweet potatoes (or relatives) at an asian market today. One kind marked purple yam white skin, one marked yampi. Both were stored for eating, not gardening. They've been refrigerated. (I gather that's not ideal.) The yampi seems to be covered in wax. My current plan to try to get slips from them is to empty my seed dryer, adjust it to 85°F, and put in the tubers above a water source. That'll give warmth, darkness, airflow and humidity. I got the idea after reading this. I'm open to advice. How do you guys think I can improve my odds of getting slips? What should I do about the wax? For what it's worth, wikipedia thinks yampi is Dioscorea trifida. I guess sweet potato is Ipomoea batatas. Probably no crossing, I guess. Crap.  |
|
|
|
Post by oldmobie on Mar 10, 2019 19:58:22 GMT -5
And they're in. I'll either break their dormancy or make my seed dryer smell terrible. The muffin tin is full of water, but the tubers can't touch it because of the hardware cloth. Temp was 84° F before I opened the door.  |
|
|
|
Post by reed on Mar 11, 2019 2:42:54 GMT -5
I picked up a few sweet potatoes (or relatives) at an asian market today. One kind marked purple yam white skin, one marked yampi. Both were stored for eating, not gardening. They've been refrigerated. (I gather that's not ideal.) The yampi seems to be covered in wax. My current plan to try to get slips from them is to empty my seed dryer, adjust it to 85°F, and put in the tubers above a water source. That'll give warmth, darkness, airflow and humidity. I got the idea after reading this. I'm open to advice. How do you guys think I can improve my odds of getting slips? What should I do about the wax? For what it's worth, wikipedia thinks yampi is Dioscorea trifida. I guess sweet potato is Ipomoea batatas. Probably no crossing, I guess. Crap. Yep, sweet potato is I batatas, don't know what those other critters are. To start my slips I just put them in wet sand. I use something shallow like a flower pot saucer actually I have these long trays, about 2" deep that fit in the south facing windows. In about a month I'll put about an 1" of sand and lay them in it on their sides and keep the sand moist. Seems to work pretty good. Mine have been in storage since harvested last September, some are getting little sprouts already that will should start growing as soon as they get a little sun and moisture. |
|
|
|
Post by steev on Mar 11, 2019 21:50:19 GMT -5
Maybe you could remove the wax (if it's necessary; maybe not, I think the wax is to prevent desiccation and/or mold, not sprouting) with a quick dip in hot water; then quickly put in tepid to limit the heat; don't know how perilous that would be to bud-eyes; might try gentle scrub with ethanol (vodka?), followed by water-rinse.
|
|
|
|
Post by oldmobie on Mar 16, 2019 15:50:04 GMT -5
Checking my tubers yesterday, the yampi (the almost black ones) were getting very soft. With a gentle pressure, one of them bubbled out a cloudy liquid that smelled unpleasantly sweet. I started to cut off the affected area, but there was no unaffected area, only less affected. The flesh seemed like it was supposed to be white, but there was a pink/ purple discoloration around the edge. This was worse in the softer parts. I cut 'em up and put 'em in the goat bucket.
|
|
|
|
Post by notonari on Mar 25, 2019 15:24:13 GMT -5
The one covered in wax looks like cassava to me (Manihot esculenta), you won't be able to get that to sprout. It is propagated by stem cuttings. And it needs a LOT of heat.
Good to see this thread is still going strong! Had to pause my sweet potato breeding for a year due to being abroad, but now ready to get going again. Still have a lot of seed from two years ago, I'll probably be using this season to regrow my planting and breeding stock, and then get going on a larger scale next year.
|
|
|
|
Post by oldmobie on Mar 25, 2019 18:27:05 GMT -5
The one covered in wax looks like cassava to me (Manihot esculenta), you won't be able to get that to sprout. It is propagated by stem cuttings. And it needs a LOT of heat. Correct. (About not sprouting.) Those were the first to fail me. About two days later, the purple yams, which seemed to be actual sweet potatoes were in similar condition. (Soft, blotchy coloration inside, a sweet smell that didn't seem healthy.) I cut them up and put in the goat bucket, as I did with the yampi. They seem to have been eaten; I never found pieces of either. Now the seed dryer is empty and shut off. I'll see if I can buy slips locally of different varieties. Otherwise, I have my eye on a company that will send a dozen slips (A mix of three varieties which I pick.) for $19. Anyone know of a bargain that will top that? |
|
|
|
Post by reed on Mar 26, 2019 5:10:28 GMT -5
notonari, glad to have you back. I think we did some trades a couple years back. You sent me some roots if I recall. I'm sorry to report they did not bloom for me. How did those I sent you do? Didn't I also send you some seeds, how did they do? Did you get any new crosses with your others? Did they produce more seeds (from seed). Did any new seed grown plants make nice roots?
|
|
|
|
Post by notonari on Mar 26, 2019 14:36:55 GMT -5
Hi reed, thanks!
We did indeed trade about 2-3 yrs ago. Pity they didn't bloom for you. I didn't have luck with yours either, they grew very reluctantly in my climate (especially patriot), and no flowers. I did get some nice plants from your self-pollinated ornamental purple-leafed line (the seeds you sent, that is), and those grew prolifically and quite a few flowered. They crossed with my own seed lines and I got some nice plants out of that mix, curious to see how the offspring of that will do this year. At this point I'm mainly still selecting for early flowering under my conditions, though I have a few plants that gave decent roots as well. But it's clearly going in the right direction, I had about 100 seeds the first year, and then 500 or so the second, which is the year I grew out your seedlings. I only had a couple of high-yielding plants last year (that someone else kept alive for me while I was away most of the year) and they struggled with drought - but they did give me a handful of seed. So the coming few years I've plenty to work with.
I think I sent you some seed as well, did those do well with you?
|
|
|
|
Post by reed on Mar 26, 2019 15:44:03 GMT -5
I think I sent you some seed as well, did those do well with you? Unfortunately no, no flowers from the seeds grow plants either. I'm still just growing descendants from those same ones I started with but have found some nice specimens along the way. Too bad Patriot didn't go for you, I think some of my better ones are descended from it. I have some new commercial ones to mix in this year and adding new genes is a primary goal for the season. |
|
|
|
Post by whwoz on Apr 24, 2019 7:05:32 GMT -5
Had an interesting season here with sweet potatoes and the related Kang Kong. As per last year, there has been no real signs of die off of any vines yet so have not attacked the plants in the compost bin to a great extent apart from lifting one tuber around the 610 gram (1lb 5oz or there abouts) out of curiosity to see if they had anything under them. Came out very clean and while the tops are looking good I will leave to harvest as needed.The two plants that I had in soil of a white skin purple fleshed variety produced a few small tubers only, nothing very exciting. NOT 1 flower on any plant, very annoying.
The Kang Kong however has done exceptionally well, produced a lot of leaves for the kids to eat and flowered there heads off. Not sure what has pollinated them, but something has and there are seed pods all over. Does anyone know of any signs to look out for when they are starting to mature seed? What do people look for with sweet potato ripening seed as I could watch for that if no-one knows anything about Kang Kong.
Thanks
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on May 29, 2019 13:08:32 GMT -5
I have about a dozen older varieties. I observe flowers on most of them. Red Wine Velvet Ginseng Orange Molokai Oklahoma Red Barberman Brinkley White Grand Asia Ozark County Cordner Hopi White Eclipse Gary Schuam, of Duckcreek Farms has done some breeding. He uses a green house. I LOVE this. It's a very worthy pursuit. duckcreekfarms.com/ |
|
|
|
Post by reed on Jun 1, 2019 3:50:02 GMT -5
Someone gave me a root of Oklahoma Red. It was reluctant to produce sips for me but is doing so now and there is still plenty of season left so I'll get to see how it does.
Have you ever observed seed capsules forming on yours or had any volunteers sprouting?
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Nov 18, 2019 16:02:54 GMT -5
Unfortunately, no. I have never observed seed. I do have to say, however, that doesn't mean they might not be there. The ovaries seem very small.
I have never observed a volunteer.
I trust Oklahoma Red did well for you. I very much like that variety.
|
|
|
|
Post by imgrimmer on Dec 3, 2019 13:14:03 GMT -5
I found several auction for sweet potato seeds on ebay. Could it be? |
|
