OK - now that I think I’ve finally gotten a hold of the groundhog issue (caught 2, reinforced the fence with an L-shaped wire perimeter)…my sweet potatoes should have a chance.
The ones that weren’t heavily affected appear to have some decent roots bulging already. The ones more heavily and repeatedly defoliated have barely fingerlings, so I’m going to let those go until frost to see what happens.
Last year, I made the mistake of washing and scrubbing the dirt off the day I harvested them, and about half of them dried/rotted quickly, presumably due to skin damage. The ones that did make it were delicious after 1 week of hot/humid curing and about four weeks in the basement (mid 60s temps).
This year I won’t scrub them, but is it OK to wash them with the hose to get at least the chunks of dirt off?