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Sweet Potato Problem - Please Help!

last year

last modified: last year

Hello All! New gardener here. I’ll try to keep this shorter than usual. I planted 10 sweet potato plants (5 slips each of two varieties) in a medium Vegepod in mid-May. All seemed well besides a spider mite infestation that I mitigated with DE. I quickly figured out that I planted too many in the space, as the vines were out of control. So, I staked and pruned a lot and fast forward to a few weeks ago and the leaves began yellowing and browning, and I noticed these little slim black bugs (thrips?) all over the leaves, and what looks like downy mildew all over, and some bug larvae. I didn’t realize the leaves were edible until too late, or I would’ve known what to do about the excessive growth. I’m in Central Florida, so the heat and humidity has been typical/extreme. So, I’m wondering the following:

1. Can the vines be saved?

2. Would I have potatoes at this point, and would they be any good now or would the mildew have infected the roots too?

3. If the vines can’t be saved, can the soil be reclaimed for more new slips, or something else?

4. What can I do to the soil to rid it of residual mildew and pests?

First photo is 6-ish weeks ago (that is fresh DE - not mildew), and last three are as of today. I leveled the affected foliage.

Thanks in advance; I really appreciate any assistance on these questions!

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
where are you.. big city name ... i never heard of covering things in FL in august ....

why are they under a cover??? .. you can eradicate mildew and mold by exposing the soil to sun light ...

once devoid of plant.. there is no reason.. nor need to treat for bugs ... as there is no plant material being affected by any imaginary bug ...

never heard of using DE for mites ....

i would take off the top.. and expose it all to natural sun etc.. perhaps turn the soil.. and let it lay fallow for a month ... and then.. wait for it ...

its time to plant a fall crop.. and forget about these for until you try again next year ...

ken
K H thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
last year
last modified: last year
You might try digging around to find any tubers, tho I don't think it's been long enough for them to fully develop. I have purple sweet potatoes growing in the ground, but I totally neglect them, so I'm always having new plants sprout from overlooked tubers in various spots.

I'm also puzzled about the covering. Sweet potatoes like full sun, and covering would likely trap a lot of our already high humidity.

I'd remove the covering and wait to see if they start putting out new leaves.

P.S.Had to look up 'vegepod' and I see it's a raised gardening container that looks a bit shallow for sweet - or regular - potatoes. How deep is it? From what I saw, even one SP plant would run out of room pretty quickly...

Is this what you're growing them in? Seems more suited for lettuces and other greens with smaller root systems.
K H thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
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I also think it could be the lights. The research I have seen (think it was from the U. of Alaska) said that "cool white" fluorescents work better because they put off more UV than those advertised as "grow lights". The more light the better, the closer the better, up to an inch or two from the leaves. I use the 4' two x t-12 fixtures with 40 watt tubes, two fixtures running parallel. Usually you can get two potted plants side by side under this setup. Also setting them outside in warmer weather if you can, sounds like a good idea. Just my 2 cents - Rick
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K H
Original Author
last year
Thank you everyone for the feedback (just seeing Friday’s message today - not sure why). I’m in the Tampa Bay area. Vegepods have attached covers to protect from extreme weather and pests. They’re a Sydney-based company, so we have a similar climate. I suppose I could leave it open, but given that I’d like to keep the pests out as much as possible I’m hesitant. As dense as the sweet potato vines got it probably would’ve been best. But I overplanted for sure.

I think I may be able to still get a crop this year though, since it probably won’t cool off very much until November/December.

The remaining vines are putting out new leaves though the bugs are all over them. Don’t know what they are and if they would impede any progress?
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
last year
They're probably getting buggy because they're stressed. I'm in the Tampa Bay area as well - it's in my username 🙂

You can grow sweet potatoes in the ground here - they do very well. Not sure if you've noticed but some people here grow ornamental varieties as groundcover.

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