Saturday, June 20, 2009

Okinawan Sweet Potato Cuttings

My mother-in-law heard that I was growing Okinawan Sweet Potatoes and now she wants to grow them as well.

In the seven weeks since I had first planted a bunch of Okinawan Sweet Potato cuttings (see this blog entry), my Sweet Potato vines have grown sufficiently that I can start to take cuttings from them.

In the picture to the right, you can see the Okinawan Sweet Potato vines starting to escape the little Raised Bed planter that I had planted them in.

Going around the edge of the planter, I was able to take 6 cuttings from the Sweet Potato vines.

When taking cuttings it is essential that you cut a growing tip. In addition, you need to make sure that there are at least 2 leaf nodes.

In the picture to the right, you can see one of the cuttings that I took. Prior to planting, I cut lower the leaves off, so that I can put the cutting into the soil mix.

I then planted the cuttings into 4" containers. The important thing is to keep the soil mixture moist. Otherwise, the cuttings will die.

In a week or so, the cuttings should start to take root.

I'll let the cuttings grow a little bit before I give them to my mother-in-law.

2 comments:

  1. where did you get the seeds from?

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  2. I purchased the Okinawan Sweet Potato Cuttings from Mericlone Labs (www.mericlonelabs.com)

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