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Post by notonari on May 29, 2015 2:29:27 GMT -5
reed: It really depends, I found that some sprout very quickly once they are given moisture and adequate heat, while others take ages to get going. I would just give it a try, you could put them in water and keep them at 25-30C, ideally in the sun. If you have a fairly long growing season this could still work, I read somewhere that some US producers only put out their slips in July. imgrimmer: I collected them myself last winter while I was there for work, basically I got them directly from the smallholder farmers I was working with in different parts of the country. Uganda alone apparently has over 900 different varieties (though decreasing rapidly) and it's the second or third producer of sweet potatoes in the world, so there's plenty to choose from.
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Post by imgrimmer on May 29, 2015 4:36:36 GMT -5
notonari Du är på källan, det är fantastiskt! I have several seedlings in my greenhouse about 10 to 12. They are different from each other at least one has red leaves. They are very healthy.
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Post by notonari on Jun 15, 2015 4:52:38 GMT -5
Quick question here, would it be possible to breed certain characteristics (say, cold adaptation) into sweet potatoes by relying on spontaneous mutations (which I read are quite common in SPs?) instead of on sexual propagation? Say that I continuously save and replant tubers from the best-yielding and most vigourous plants in my climate, could I expect to see some increased local adaptation over the years?
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Post by philagardener on Jun 15, 2015 5:22:53 GMT -5
Spontaneous mutation can be valuable in generating a new variant of an existing line, but without crossing that novel trait can't be recombined with other desirable characteristics. So, yes, you may get some local adaptation in your garden but it is difficult to take that further without the ability to make sexual crosses. In other words, it leaves you with the bicycle ride to the allotment as the primary way to mix things up  Looking forward to hearing how all your different varieties do this year, especially Mukekuru Tarya Bibiri! |
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Post by notonari on Jun 15, 2015 11:44:45 GMT -5
philagardener: Thanks! Seems like you're onto me  I guess I will just have to be on the guard for any flowers then. Better start oiling those legs..
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Post by notonari on Aug 18, 2015 5:25:56 GMT -5
I've got what appears to be flower buds appearing on 8 SP varieties, we've got some good weather at the moment so I'm hoping conditions are good for seed setting.
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Post by kazedwards on Sept 14, 2015 16:15:07 GMT -5
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Post by philagardener on Sept 14, 2015 19:57:47 GMT -5
Is there any chance I could get seed? You won't know until you try! Worth attempting cross-pollination between two varieties as selfing rarely if ever seems to result in seed set. |
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Post by kevin8715 on Oct 3, 2015 0:35:59 GMT -5
This year has been weird. I haven't gotten any flowers from the four varieties I am growing. They are pushing plenty of growth but no buds yet. If I don't have any success with seeds with the remaining warm season, I will plant the largest roots from this harvest to get a head start of next year. Been a bit inactive lately but I am still here though lots of projects got stalled this summer.
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Post by reed on Oct 3, 2015 3:48:14 GMT -5
Is there any chance I could get seed? You won't know until you try! Worth attempting cross-pollination between two varieties as selfing rarely if ever seems to result in seed set. That is a real bummer. I have a huge vine growing hydroponically that is full of blooms right now but they just drop off without setting any seeds. Last year I had an ornamental variety in a pot and it did make seeds but this one only makes flowers. I set this one in the little stream section of my artificial garden pond to see if it would sprout and give me slips to plant and it did. The process needs refinement but I think will work. I just left it there to see what it did and it grew into a huge vine, now blooming. The slips from it that I planted in the garden made small potatoes but did not bloom. I wonder if I could cut some rooted sections off of it now and keep them alive in the house this winter? |
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Post by imgrimmer on Oct 3, 2015 8:13:12 GMT -5
I wonder if I could cut some rooted sections off of it now and keep them alive in the house this winter? That is my interest too. I have a bunch of seedlings in my greenhouse, all too small to have potatoes underneath. How can i save them for next year? Will they survive with low light inside my house? Any experiences? |
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Post by flowerweaver on Oct 3, 2015 9:26:02 GMT -5
I have kept sweet potatoes alive over the winter in pots in my greenhouse, but I have plenty of winter light this far south and use grow lamps. My biggest problem was spider mites which eventually killed them off. I had never had an outbreak before. Once again I received my sweet potato order to9 late to go into the ground, so I will be growing nine plants over the winter in the greenhouse again, being vigilant this time to pests.
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Post by notonari on Oct 4, 2015 6:34:02 GMT -5
Last year I kept some cuttings (Georgia Jet) through the winter here, in a south-facing window without extra lights, but they didn't do great. I had a lot of problems with spider mites too, they nearly died because of that, but then recovered somewhat in spring. I just dug up the sweet potatoes in the garden and the ones I had as cuttings didn't really do much, they never really properly took off like the others.
If they're very important maybe I would try to supply some additional light and try to keep them fairly humid.
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Post by kevin8715 on Oct 5, 2015 22:29:35 GMT -5
The unknown purple I got survived last winter in the ground. It was luck since the cauliflower and bananas just protected it enough to survive. It is a slow grower though, so all the rest already out grew it.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Oct 6, 2015 21:42:47 GMT -5
The unknown purple I got survived last winter in the ground. It was luck since the cauliflower and bananas just protected it enough to survive. It is a slow grower though, so all the rest already out grew it. With my experience with purple corn and other high anthocyanin plants I have long suspected the purple Japanese sweet potatoes would have the best chance of surviving over winter in the ground, but I have yet to experiment with such. But thank you for the report. Very interesting! |
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I guess I will just have to be on the guard for any flowers then. Better start oiling those legs..
