My June 1st planted sweet potatoes are ready. I don’t like huge ones looking like misshapen softballs. These are perfect.
7 Likes
Evangeline is a story from my Cajun heritage.
My uncle used to have a band in the 60’s and 70’s called Evangeline Made
In 1956 my mother was Yambilee queen (sweet potato festival. We call them yams when they are candied) and was even on the original Tonight Show with Steve Allen host along with the Sugar and Strawberry festival queens.
So the word Evangeline hits home to me.
Hopefully they are tasty.
2 Likes
Interesting.
They should be tasty as they were breed by Louisiana State University.
2 Likes
I don’t know the story behind that though.
It wasn’t until I dated a girl doing fieldwork in Ghana that I learned what a really yam is.
Candied sweet potatoes (yams) are a very popular fall, Thanksgiving dish.
nice sized tubers. How many days? and how compact is the vine.
106 days from planting slips. Variety is listed as 110. Not very compact with 6 to 10 foot vines.
Unfortunately Voles have hit eaten some but plenty for me anyway.
2 Likes
When they get too big, I don’t like how they get stringy. Those look like perfect size
A friend grew sweet potatoes last year and he took frost kills vines as the time to dig in late October. They had all got huge and rotted by then. A lesson learned the hard way.
Never never ever let sweet potato vines be killed by frost expecting to harvest them. It causes changes in the sweetpotatoes that makes them taste bad and decay rapidly. Watch for size as they grow and harvest when most are between 1.5 and 2 inches diameter.
Of the truly good flavored sweetpotatoes, Mahon aka Bradshaw is near the top for orange flesh. Okinawan is a purple flesh sweetpotato that is an absolute treat when properly prepared. I could name several others that are superb, but do some due diligence and find out what you like best.
I harvested my first sweetpotatoes 3 days ago and will harvest the rest in a couple of day. I planted them about June 10th. I grew 25 plants of Mahon/Bradshaw.
Do you have any pointers where to buy Okinawan sweet potato slips.
this is true, its also risky if the soil temp falls to 50F.
1 Like
Try here. They have Okinawan listed
https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/copy-of-sweet-potato-varieties-2
1 Like
I have purchased from Sandhills. but sometimes it’s dicey since they won’t have the variety offered for number of reasons.
1 Like
I’ve had trouble contacting them too. Seems a home run business… But they list a big variety.
If you find another source, post it.
You can often purchase Okinawan at asian markets. I found some in Huntsville Alabama last fall. Look for sweet potatoes that are cream/white on the outside and lavender/purple on the inside. I’ve also seen them available to order by the box from Hawaii. Huge caution that Okinawan is a long season sweet potato that takes 5 to 6 months to produce. I’m stretching the limit to grow them here in north Alabama and southern Tennessee. I’ll see if Glenn can spare a few this fall. I don’t have plants currently but want to grow them next year.
3 Likes
Good to know it’s a long season variety. I can probably stretch it for 5 months using a cloche.
problem is finding a source that carries disease free slips. There are not many, I might find the potato somewhere in the grocery store and select a tuber that looks disease free and grow the slips at home.
If they get frostbit…ASAP you cut the vines off at the top of the ground…then harvest soon as possible…ideally before the next rain…then they’ll probably keep n not rot.