Sally's GF3 thread

[cavemanrich]

His hives. I've asked him if I can "help" when he does this kind of thing so I can learn how. Actually, just being another pair of hands is a help. And me seeing how it's done is a good learning experience for me. I can ask questions, which I can't with you tube. (I avoid youtube when possible. It eats up a lot of data...)

There is nothing equal to hands on experience/learning.
I'm sure he appreciated the extra help you provided as well, not even to mention the companionship.

 

[fuzzi]

In your hives or theirs?


Many insects eat their mates.

Praying mantis females often eat their mate. There's been reports that some males lose their heads before the deed is complete.

What a way to go...

 

[Sally PB]

Praying mantis females often eat their mate. There's been reports that some males lose their heads before the deed is complete.

What a way to go...

I just saw one praying mantis eating another one on my way back from the garden.

 

[cavemanrich]

I am so relieved that I come from homosapian species rather than insect.

 

[Sally PB]

I dug some purple potatoes today. My back needed a break from the up-and-down motion of dig/bend/pick up, so I pulled some weeds. Then I started thinking about the sweet potatoes (right next to the regular spuds, so not a long thought process).

I dug up a small plant a few weeks ago, just to see if there was anything. Yup, some small tubers that were maybe an inch in diameter. But the plant was tiny, so I took that to be a good, or good enough sign.

I really wanted to see if there might.... maybe ... be a sweet potato with a bit of size to it....

So I dug around the base of one vine a little bit and dug out two tubers. There are more in there, under that plant. And 19 or 20 more plants.

Wow. I surely was not expecting this.

 

[Iluveggers]

I dug some purple potatoes today. My back needed a break from the up-and-down motion of dig/bend/pick up, so I pulled some weeds. Then I started thinking about the sweet potatoes (right next to the regular spuds, so not a long thought process).

I dug up a small plant a few weeks ago, just to see if there was anything. Yup, some small tubers that were maybe an inch in diameter. But the plant was tiny, so I took that to be a good, or good enough sign.

I really wanted to see if there might.... maybe ... be a sweet potato with a bit of size to it....

So I dug around the base of one vine a little bit and dug out two tubers. There are more in there, under that plant. And 19 or 20 more plants.
View attachment 3651296
Wow. I surely was not expecting this.

You are zone 5? Or 6? Those are awesome! I’ve been wanting to try growing sweet potatoes! Did you put them directly in the dirt? Do you need to mound them up like potatoes?

 

[Iluveggers]

By the way, Congratulations on the new badge!

 

[Sally PB]

You are zone 5? Or 6? Those are awesome! I’ve been wanting to try growing sweet potatoes! Did you put them directly in the dirt? Do you need to mound them up like potatoes?

Zone 5. This is my second try with sweet potatoes. The first time, I got nada. I had them in my heavy soil garden, thinking they'd like the longer hours of sunlight, but not knowing that they couldn't handle the heavy soil.

I ordered slips and they were late getting here. (My rant about UPS last spring? Yeah, it was about the slips being delayed by about 5 days.) I stuck them in plastic cups of dirt after treating them with rooting compound, just because DH had gotten some to try on tree cuttings.

"Slips" are just stem cuttings. Mine were about 6" long, and they looked SAD by the time UPS deigned to get them to me. I ordered 20, got 24, and 3 of them didn't make it. 1 was the little plant I pulled up a few weeks ago.

When I planted them, they were little twiggy things sticking up in the dirt. Now you can't see the dirt!

I just let the vines wander. This variety is "Orleans," chosen for its short season, since they need a lot of nice warm days. I didn't know that there are varieties that grow more bush-like. This variety is definitely a "vigorous vining type."

A bush habit would be easier to deal with, but the short season has to take precedence. The two tubers I dug were under the original spot where I planted the slip. Some of the vines have rooted along their lenght; I don't know if they make tubers there too?

Might I be buried in a pile of sweet potatoes soon?

 

[Sally PB]

Do you need to mound them up like potatoes?

Sorry, I didn't answer that. No, you plant the slip and let the vines run. Well, maybe you can control the vines with a trellis of some kind... I didn't think about that. They don't have grabby tendril, like squash or grapevine... so maybe not.

I'd really like to find a short season (90-100 days) variety that has more of a bush growth. I'll do some looking online to see if they exist.

I didn't add any fertilizer or plant food. But last fall, I got a lot of the poop out of my neighbor's chicken run and spread it in the sweet potato bed. That wasn't by design; I put it on that half of the garden, and that where it made sense to plant them, knowing that the vines would just take that area over.

 

[fuzzi]

Zone 5. This is my second try with sweet potatoes. The first time, I got nada. I had them in my heavy soil garden, thinking they'd like the longer hours of sunlight, but not knowing that they couldn't handle the heavy soil.

I ordered slips and they were late getting here. (My rant about UPS last spring? Yeah, it was about the slips being delayed by about 5 days.) I stuck them in plastic cups of dirt after treating them with rooting compound, just because DH had gotten some to try on tree cuttings.

"Slips" are just stem cuttings. Mine were about 6" long, and they looked SAD by the time UPS deigned to get them to me. I ordered 20, got 24, and 3 of them didn't make it. 1 was the little plant I pulled up a few weeks ago.

When I planted them, they were little twiggy things sticking up in the dirt. Now you can't see the dirt!

I just let the vines wander. This variety is "Orleans," chosen for its short season, since they need a lot of nice warm days. I didn't know that there are varieties that grow more bush-like. This variety is definitely a "vigorous vining type."

A bush habit would be easier to deal with, but the short season has to take precedence. The two tubers I dug were under the original spot where I planted the slip. Some of the vines have rooted along their lenght; I don't know if they make tubers there too?

Might I be buried in a pile of sweet potatoes soon?

I planted ONE sweet potato I'd bought at the grocery store, this is what it produced in a 4'x4' raised bed.