Fun time with indoor gardening...
Couldn’t put it off anymore…time to take the sweet potato slips off the potato and start rooting them for later transference into their final growing beds. This year I’m thinking of using the very well established straw bales that will only make it through this grow season.
We started the potatoes in the last week of January. A couple methods were used.
One was putting the potatoes on their side in a bed of soil, keeping it warm and damp. This method didn’t work for us the other was the tried and true …in the water jar… this was a great method for us.
There are other projects going on but as you can see the potato is doing good.
Close up of potato…the leaves are a beautiful color of purple, but it inner flesh will be a nice orange. It’s a strain called ‘Kaukura’.
Closeup of the slips…I should get about 5 to plant. You gently twist off the slip at the potato surface and place into either water alone to get roots sprouting or plant loosely into soil watering from the bottom. We picked the soil method. I figured it would be easier to plant into the straw bales with a soil ‘plug’ holding the roots for further development.
A slip getting ready for insertion into soil. The leaves will be trimmed off and only the stemlike part planted.
Like so..I made a hole into the soil and gently pushed the soil around the slip only enough to keep it upright. Do not pack the soil in tightly. This is all about root development.
5 was good 6 even better..plus in our auxiliary tent we already have another 2 rooting.
Should get a few more before planting time outside.
Been a fun project so far.
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