One factor in the sprouting issue between orange and purple sweet potatoes is point of origin. A lot of purple sweet potatoes are imported rather than grown in the continental US and are irradiated prior to import.
If you start with quality seed potatoes instead of store bought then there isn’t a significant difference between purple and orange sprouting. In fact a lot of my purple varieties are more prolific than the orange.
I finally tried a purple sweet potato; it was so sweet and soft almost creamy and a bit gummy. I went to an H Mart the other day, and I saw a roaster. Grabbed one paper bag from inside to try it out. Been craving more ever since. 
I grew sweet potatoes last year, from a store bought one, and my harvest was small. This year I want to plant both an orange and purple variety to try and replicate the roasting style from H Mart.
I’ve never grown sweet potatoes as I prefer squash, but my wife likes them and she also eats the greens. Twofers are always a plus. Also, she finally allowed me to make the vegetable garden as big as I’ve wanted it to be so I can squeeze in a lot more vegetables.
I was going to get Caragold and Lilac Purple from Baker Creek but was waiting until today to order. Of course now everything is sold out. Has Baker Creek historically restocked their slips after they’ve been available and then “sold out”, or should I order from somewhere else?
A friend of mine recommended tatorman.com so thats where I’m getting my slips from. Might not have the same exact selections you were looking for though.
I agree tatorman is a good place to get slips. I bought some there many years ago and just put in an order since I wanted a few additional varieties to try this year (or try again since I’ve grown some in the past) and liked that they have a 3 varieties (3 slips each) for $20 option. I don’t need a ton of slips, so this works for me to get some variety.
I bought 2 packs, to include:
Vardaman
Purple Passion
Diane
Red Japanese
Nancy Hall
Bunch Porto Rican
I was going to order from Sand Hill, which I’d like to support, but I was worried about supply and when I’d actually get them. I’d really like to try Delaware as well, if anyone has a few extras slips to trade or sell.
I also have some Garnet and Manihi Treasure already slipping.
I also just ordered from tatorman.com . I got a 12 pack of Okinawan and the the $20 3 variety pack; Bunch Porto Rican, Purple Passion and Red Japanese. Gonna try to grow them in more contained areas this year, I couldn’t dig deep enough to harvest all my Murasakis last year and now there everywhere.
I probably have to just bite the bullet and order from Tatorman or something. I had my mind set on the two from Baker Creek, one of them — the short season Japanese purple type named Lilac Beauty, only appears to be available from Baker Creek.
If it is any consolation, since Tatorman (George’s Plant Farm) caters to larger growers as well as home gardeners, you know that the varieties they have are pretty time-tested, etc.
If you are worried about the length of your season and aren’t against using it, putting down black plastic will certainly get them growing faster.
They were back in stock at Baker Creek yesterday morning, and I bought mine. The two I got are now out of stock but some others are in stock for now.
I’m interested in grabbing a 3 variety pack from Tatorman. Which varieties would you recommend? After eating a purple sweet potato from H-mart, I’m thinking of getting Purple Passion, but I’m not sure about the others. Hernandez looks nice.
My order from Tatorman came in. This was 2 variety packs (3 varieties per pack, with 4 slips per variety) and it looks like there are some extras in each. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just grabbed the packs of 6 they had on hand, which is the smallest single variety order they have, but maybe they were just sending extras as spares in case some didn’t make it.
Overall, I’m happy, particularly since I have extras, but some of them look a bit rough. I actually think this is pretty common for slips and I had ordered from one place before and they came in even worse. The previous ones all made it and I expect these will as well. The Bunch Porto Rico was the roughest, missing most of the leaves but all the slips had roots and were firm and still well hydrated so I’m sure each will make it. For now I put them in a glass of water under some lights, but I’ll pot them all up when I get a chance and grow them all for a week or so before planting out. They could certainly go straight in the ground, but since it is a bit early to plants out slips I figured I’d give them a head start inside.
My slips from Gruneys looked about the same last year. I imagine being pulled, packaged and shipped is probably pretty rough on slips. But sweet potatoes are pretty resilent as long as its not frost.
What was your ship date from them? My order should be here sometime this week.
I asked for them to be shipped May 5th, so I would have time to get them a head start inside or possibly even multiply them and gift some extras to other gardeners.
Cool, I should be expecting mine soon then! I had the same ship date. I am later here then I could be, but it was the earliest I could get at the time I ordered. Did they send you any tracking when they shipped out?
Edit: Nvm, it was on my front porch. They do not send out tracking when they ship them. But they look pretty good. And they sent a delivered email.
