Sweet potato seed ready to be transplanted. |
 New sweet potatoes are grown from "slips" - sprouts that grow from sweet potatoes of the previous year - and these slips are called SEED.
This picture shows how the seed is being cut and put in boxes in order to be transported to the new sweet potato field. |
The cuttings are being transplanted in the field (06/03/09) |
Plants right after having been transplanted on
06/03/2009 |
Plants 06/07/2009 (Thirsty! Rain, Please!!!) |
Sweet potato field on 06/07/2009 |
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Plants just two weeks later, 06/22/2009
After having developed roots, the little plants start growing. |
Sweet potato field on 06/22/2009
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Plants on 07/07/2009 |
Sweet potato field on 07/07/2009 |
Click to see larger picture
Roots on 07/07/2009 |
Again about two weeks later:
The new sweet potato plants are now well established. They are reaching out with their feeder roots to collect nutrients and moisture. Some of the roots start thickening: There will be new sweet potatoes!
So far the weather has been fairly dry. We could use some nice steady rain. |
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Plant on 07/22/2009 |
Sweet potato field on 07/22/2009 |
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Click to see larger image
Roots on 07/22/2009
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Again about two weeks later:
Now we got what we needed: several inches of rain distributed a few days apart.
The sweet potatoes appreciated it and started growing and thickening their roots. They are now 2 - 4 inches long and up to 1 inch in diameter. |
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Plants on 08/04/2009 |
Sweet Potato Field on 08/04/2009 |
Click to see larger image
Roots on 08/04/2009 |
Two weeks after our last visit:
We now had plenty of rain. Our sweet potatoes developed an enormous amount of foliage, you can't see the soil anymore. The vines are winding their way down the ridges.
The roots again grew, but this time not so much in length but in width. They are just slightly longer, about 2.5 to 5 inches but the diameter is up to 2 to 3 inches. They really put on some weight! |
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Plants on 08/18/2009 |
Sweet Potato Field 08/18/2009 |
Click to see larger image
Roots on 08/18/2009 |
Have you ever seen a lovely sweet potato flower?
Enjoy them here, they are rare and short lived.
The roots are growing still a little larger and heavier by the week.
Sweet potatoes continue growing until harvested, provided the weather stays warm enough. |
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Sweet Potato Plants on 09/02/2009 |
Sweet Potato field on 09/02/2009 |
Click to see larger image
Roots on 09/02/2009 |
Our sweet potatoes are growing still above ground and below.
The vines are heavy and develop their own roots to nourish the long arm with the leaves. The vines are now covering the ground all around them, which helps control weeds.
Still some weed pulling is sometimes necessary. Certain weeds can grow above the sweet potato plants and dramatically lower the yield by using up the nutrients from the soil.
Click to see examples.
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Field with plowed up sweet potatoes on 09/16/09 |
There are plenty! |
One cluster of sweet potato roots on the day of harvest |
Gathering sweet potatoes by hand on 09/16/09 |
This bucket is full! |
They caught me by surprise - and I am sure the sweet potatoes didn't see it coming either.
When I went again to take pictures, the field was quite different. The sweet potatoes were up on top of the soil. Worker put them busily into buckets and carried them to nearby trucks loaded with big wooden bins. The buckets were emptied one by one into the bins and in a short time the truck took off with the load. |
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