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  • From: Etienne Goyer <etienne AT lejardinduvillage.ca>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Sweet potato transplant problem
  • Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:44:26 -0400

I have successfully grown sweetpotatoes both in Montréal (zone 5) in
2010 and here in Gaspésie (zone 4b) in 2011. It worked really well in
Montréal, and only so-so here (100# for a 100' bed; but 2011 was a
terribly cool and wet season anyway). I used plastic mulch and row
cover both times.

Beauregard is apparently 90 days to maturity. I have grown Frazier
White, Tainung 65, Japanese Yam and Georgia Jet with varying success.
Frazier White was my favorite and best yielding, although the roots are
a little small. I bought my slips from Mapple Farm in New-Brunswick.

The leaves falling is normal. It's the transplant shock. The plants
recover in a week.

No problem with root disease here. No need for fungicide either. It's
a pretty forgiving crop. The only problem I had where a little cabbage
looper worm (I didn't bother treating) and deers. Oh my, does deers
love sweetpotatoes leaves! They browsed the plant to the ground last
season. But they did it in September, right before I harvested, so it
was no big deal.

I have stopped growing sweetpotatoes in part because of my cool climate
here is not conducive to high yield, but mostly because my soil is too
heavy (clay loam). Harvesting in heavy soil is just too much work. I
guess I could use a potato harvester, but I fear it would damage the
root, which are more fragile than solanum potatoes. It's a bit sad,
because it is such an otherwise interesting crop to grow.

Have fun!

Etienne


On 12-06-11 12:20 PM, KAKerby AT aol.com wrote:
> Rivka, I'd be curious to know how you grow sweet potatoes in your 6a
> zone. I have tried sweet potatoes here once or twice, and we're
> supposedly hovering between 7/8 in terms of USDA climate zoning. But we
> never seem to have a long enough season for sweet potatoes. How do you
> do it there, with an even shorter season than we have? I'd just about
> given up on them in general but now I'm intrigued that perhaps I was
> just doing something wrong. Fix those mistakes and we could grow them
> here. Perhaps?
> Kathryn Kerby
> frogchorusfarm.com
> Snohomish, WA
> Ruminations - essays on the farming life at frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html
>
> In a message dated 6/11/2012 9:16:47 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> organic87 AT frontiernet.net writes:
>
> I don't.
>
>
> -- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
> Fresh-market organic produce, small scale
>
>
>
>
> On Jun 11, 2012, at 11:58 AM, <sunnfarm AT netscape.com
> <mailto:sunnfarm AT netscape.com>> wrote:
>
>> Farmers always soak the roots in a fungicide before transplanting
>
> =
>
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--
Etienne Goyer - Le Jardin du Village
http://lejardinduvillage.wordpress.com

"Changer le monde, une betterave à la fois"





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