I think Eme was talking about Voles, not Moles.
While I agree Moles are garden friends, (if you don’t mind their tunneling at least), I’m pretty sure Voles are exclusively on the bad-guys side when it comes to trying to grow stuff if they are around.
(And yes, I think it would have been nice if the English language had given these two critters more distinctive names to limit how often they get confused for eachother.)
I’m confused, did I write moles? Totally possible, but I don’t see it. We catch voles on our property and have good reason to believe that’s what eats our sweets. But…..things look good this year….knock on all available wood!
Yes, voles are the nasty ones, but moles are not totally harmless. Voles and field mice will gladly take up residence in the tunnels that moles leave behind. I’d prefer not to have any burrowing animals in the sweet potato beds if I can help it. Moles are fine other places outside of the garden. 
Sorry if I misread there.
There are some 155 species of Voles, I bet someone will start a thread showing all the different Voles they have. They do it with fruits, why not Voles 
Now you need some snakes…
Always in short supply of the right thing.
100% I need some snakes!!!
harvested the first 3 bags today. I think i accidentally put too many white sweet potato plants in, so those were smaller than id like. but 5.5 lbs
the Japanese ones wre all at the bottom of the bag so they may benefit from a deeper container. 1.7 lbs
Molokai were really impressive. a lot of very good sized sweet potatoes. Its definately really amenable to growing in containers. I started them a little late as well and i will amend more with sand. i will probably grow it instead of white next year. 2.6 lbs I forgot to add the one i already harvested though so a bit more than that.
I am leaving okinawan, evangeline (went in late), and korean until right before first frost to see how it goes. Okinawan is still flowering profusely so im not sure if thats relevant.
So not great yield overall. but happy with getting like some decent sized potatoes at all tbh.
I harvested a 5 gallon bucked from my Korean sweet potatoes today. Some are large to very large.
I cooked two of the Korean sweet potatoes today and tried one of them. It is a very sweet flaky dry sweet potato. The interior turned off white when cooked. Before cooking they are yellow with a slight orange tint. Overall flavor is good but unexpected. I can see these being a favorite food this winter.
That’s a shocking amount for a measly 5g bucket! Just one slip? That one is vining? I might have to try a few of these around the yard next year! That’s one of our favorite types of roasting sweet potatoes. I think I will buy slips next year to try things other than my grocery store varieties. Made a list of 40 from sandhill I’ll need help narrowing down.
How much exactly do semi-bush types vine? If they’re in a container does that mean they only spill out? My grocery ones have always been avidly vining.
Sorry, not intended to be misleading. The box is some I harvested about 5 days ago and are already nearly ready to bake. The 5 gallon bucket I harvested today was from about 20 plants.
I don’t generally grow bush type sweet potatoes. Mine usually spread over an area about 6 feet on each side of the row.
Oh I’m sorry I misunderstood. You harvest 5 gallons worth. I read it as you harvested from a 5 gallon bucket. Well, those are great sweet potatoes.
Not bad for a first go with Murasaki. Lower yield is annoying but they’re genuinely nicer to eat than Beauregard so it evens out a bit.
One thing I didn’t like about Murasaki: I’ve got secondary slips popping up in my beds weeks after harvest. I can tell this is going to take a while to get rid of. I’ve only ever grown Beauregard and they don’t do this, at least for me.
This is ‘Sowola’ (PI 703014)
A variety from Uganda with pinkish red skin and white flesh. Higher than average dry matter content. Good sweetness and a creamy texture when steamed. This was one of the only varieties that didn’t have at least some vole damage this year. I attribute that to how deep and spread out the roots are. It was a pain to harvest.
Not huge but big enough.
This morning I noticed that the soil near a couple of sweet potato plants pushing upwards. I slipped on my gloves and these 3 pulled out easily. Not bad for a late planting and almost no care.
Im going to be digging all my sweet potatoes and potatoes out next week in NJ 6B. I’m curious though - has anyone experience growth of their vines to this thickness? I wonder if its because of it being suspended in the air?
That’s wild. Thanks for posting pictures
Fasciation. Really curious on the potatoes attached to that….
I’ll see those flat ribbon like vines occasionally but I don’t think I’ve ever seen them as wide as yours. That’s cool! It’s a random mutation called fasciation.
I made a salad tonight for supper and added one of the baked Korean sweet potatoes. I have to preface this that I like French dressing and rarely will eat anything else on a salad. My salad was lettuce, cheese, bacon strips, and French dressing. By the time I finished the salad, I had figured out that the sweet potato tastes really good dipped in French dressing. This is giving me ideas such as what would it taste like if combined with a cheese sauce or maybe hollandaise sauce.
