From: pintiha@jhmi.edu   
      
   On Friday, October 2, 2020 at 7:00:14 AM UTC-4, Stephen Peek wrote:   
   > On Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 8:32:19 PM UTC-4, Pavel314 wrote:    
   > > On Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 4:02:09 PM UTC-4, songbird wrote:    
   > > > Pavel314 wrote:    
   > > >    
   > > > > I harvested the sweet potatoes this morning. We had a 25' row, about   
   3/4 regular yellow and the rest white sweet potatoes. The yellow did very   
   well, we got at least 20# of good sized potatoes, but the white ones only   
   produced two medium sized and    
   the rest were just little shriveled ones, same as last year.    
   > > > >    
   > > > > Does anyone have the secret to growing white sweet potatoes? They're   
   very good when baked but our recent crops have been too small for baking.    
   > >    
   > > > i've never heard of them before, but i wonder if the    
   > > > method of making sure the energy for the vines is only    
   > > > going into the central clump would help...    
   > > What method is that?    
   > > > our soil here is way too wrong for sweet potatoes in    
   > > > most gardens so we've not tried to grow them here since    
   > > > i've been around.    
   > > For the potato rows, I till sand, compost, and a little perlite into the   
   soil to break it up and make it easier for the potatoes to grow. I thought it   
   was strange that the yellow ones grew well but the whites didn't. The vines   
   and leaves look the    
   same for the two varieties. My wife put a marker in between the two so that we   
   could tell which was in each section.    
   > >    
   > >    
   > > >    
   > > > songbird   
   > Try lifting the vines from the ground weekly. Some varieties tend to root   
   more easily than others. If you will notice that where the vines touch the   
   ground they try to root. Breaking this root loose concentrates the plants   
   energy into making tubers at    
   the original planting site. It's not as necessary here in the south but   
   shorter seasons make it so. I used to get large tubers (up to 8 lbs. or so) at   
   the base and smaller tubers further out where the plant rooted. Hope this   
   makes sense to you.    
   > Steve   
      
   Thanks, I'll try that next year.   
      
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