How to Grow Sweet Potato Slips for Resale
Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a tuberous vegetable crop grown anywhere there are at least 150 frost-free days in a row. For that reason, they are usually grown in the southern United States. Because sweet potatoes can be fried, boiled, grilled or baked they are used in a wide variety of food dishes. Sweet potatoes have a high level of vitamin C and are a good source of fiber. Unlike most crops, grown from seed, sweet potatoes are grown from slips, or sweet potato plant transplants. The slips can be produced and sold for resale to farmers and gardeners. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Soil thermometer
- Sweet potato seed stock
- Powdered sulfur
- Shovel
- Sharp knife
- Sharp hand held shears
- Balanced granular garden fertilizer
- Plastic pots
- Potting soil
Instructions
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1
Buy certified sweet potato seed stock for slip production. Certified sweet potato seed stock is small sweet potatoes that are inspected for disease. A bushel of certified sweet potato seed stock will produce about 2,000 slips if they are harvested three times.
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2
Check the soil temperature with a soil thermometer. The soil temperature should be 60 degrees F in the early morning four inches down for good slip production.
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3
Sprout the sweet potato seed stock for optimal slip production. This is done by holding the sweet potatoes in a warm 75 to 85 degree F room with 90 percent humidity for three weeks. Place the potatoes on a flat surface in a single layer. Numerous sprouts will begin growing from the sweet potato stock. These will be your first slips, so handle the seed stock carefully after the sprouts begin to form.
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4
Dust the potato seed stock with a fungicide such as powdered sulfur. This prevents the seed stock from rotting once placed into the ground for slip production.
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Dig out a space in the garden or production area big enough the seed potato stock can be laid side by side without touching and can be covered with 2 inches of soil. Make rows four feet wide so you can reach in two feet from each side to harvest the slips without damaging the crop.
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Lay the potatoes in the planting bed in a single layer and cover with 2 inches of soil. Treat the top of the soil over the sweet potatoes with a granulated balanced garden fertilizer at the rate recommended on the fertilizer container label.
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Cover the area with a sheet of black plastic with holes made by a knife or other sharp object every 5-to 6-inches to help the soil remain warm. The holes are for aeration and to prevent the buildup of carbon dioxide as the potatoes begin to grow. Remove the plastic when one inch of sweet potato growth shows above the soil.
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Cut the slips one inch above the soil line 1/4 inch below a leaf node, which is a raised area on the stem from where the leaves are sprouting, when the slips are between 12 and 15 inches tall. Use a sharp hand-held pruning tool or knife to cut the slips cleanly. The vines will continue to grow and you can get as many as three cuttings of slips from each vine. Do not pull the slips up from the ground. This damages the area where they are growing from the potato and affects the number of slips harvested.
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9
Plant the slips together and plant in a pot of moist potting soil in groups of one dozen or more depending on your customer demand. Water the slips often so they root quickly in the potting medium. Once they are growing and no longer wilting, they can be sold. The customer simply pulls the bunch from the pot, carefully separates them and plants them in the garden.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit sweet potato image by luda berlinerblau from Fotolia.com
