My first ever harvest of Porto Rico sweet potatoes was small but will be plenty for us. Lesson learned. Till deeper or hill more soil around the plants. I don’t think I dug the spot where I put the slips deep enough. The soil was like cement a few inches down. It has been very dry but I still think I probably didn’t till deep enough. As is evidenced by the photo they are on the small side. I didn’t weigh them but am happy with the haul for the most part. I am ‘curing’ them on the back porch as they are supposed to store much better after curing.
I think next year I will grow them again but may put them in a couple of half barrels where the soil is looser and will be easier to dig. Porto Ricos don’t vine nearly as long as some varieties, probably getting about 4-5 feet long. They might look nice spilling over the sides of the planter with some annuals mixed in for color.
Kerry, a nice looking harvest … and they look pretty good sized.
Leslie,
Thanks. They taste great too!
It is a nice looking harvest, but, you appear to be disappointed. Suggestion? Next time instead of digging deeper (too much work and you really can only dig so deep) try this. Get three old tires of the same size. Place one tire on the ground and fill with 1/3 each compost, mulch, and vermiculite or perlite. Plant your potatoes in this medium. As soon as the shoots pop up, put a 2nd tire on the 1st and fill with the same growing medium. Repeat when the shoots pop up again. This process increases your yeild 5X. AND NO DIGGING! And remember the bigger the tires the more you can initially plant. I just noticed the date. I hope this info is useful tho.