I thought I would let you know about my recent experiences with rooting sweet potato. It worked great! Just like the above posts mentioned. My 4 or 5 starts really produced lots of rootlings. I planted 5 or 6 of them, as I happened to have some nice freshly screened compost and peat handy. They did well, and then I planted them outside in a spot that I had been preparing - lots of compost, chicken litter, etc., and it was a beauty of a spot - nice warm sunshine. I was so sure that I'd picked a winner spot. All went well until one morning, I noticed all of my "tops" had disappeared. A ravenous vole/mole had completely ravished my sweet potato field - all in one night. Soooo - back to the drawing board. I noticed this summer - someone had a blog about growing a large number of them in a big plastic (Home Depot-type) tub. It seems my best in-ground planting of edibles can only be grown that way. Has anyone had success with the "big box" (no pun intended) method? Bejay

If you want a compact sweet potato, Amish Bush Porto Rico does pretty well. It is a variant of the old Porto Rico. My personal favorite is Bradshaw aka Mahon. It is a a very good general purpose sweet potato that produces a good crop even in short season areas. Most important, they are much better flavored and have better texture than Georgia Jet. I've also had very good results with Covington which is a recent release that produces much higher quality sweet potatoes than industry standards like Beauregard. Sandhill's business is first come first serve. This is why it is important to order early. It is not a matter of being on a waiting list, you will be on a waiting list if you order from virtually any sweet potato supplier. Get your order in early and Sandhill will almost always ship slips in a 2 week window timed for your location. Mahon is also available from Johnny's this year so if you are ordering from them, consider getting sweet potato plants too.

Don't ask how I pulled that one, but somehow my post made it here...sorry, will take my questions over to the veg forum.=)

That sounds great! I was just lurking on the Winter Gardening forum. OHMIGOD! I am sooo excited about it. There is very little room in my house for seed flats, so the Winter Gardening thing sounds great. That will let me give my limited space over to projects like the sweet potato. smile! I was so worried that having moved up to Canada from Maryland I would have to curtail my outdoor gardening all winter. Instead I'm discovering whole new avenues of gardening! (I'm sure my poor houseplants are breathing sighs of relief. I've been bugging them non-stop since I got my bulbs in.) So how do I do it? I take a sweet potato and... do I cut it up? stick it in a jar like an avacado seed? I don't see "eyes" on the sweets the way I do on the whites. Thanks for your indulgence, Feegle