Sweet potatoes may be kept from sprouting by storage in a cool, dry
place. Sweet potatoes are not grown by direct cutting of the tuber as
the ordinary potato is, but the tubers are put in January or later in a
hot bed and the sprouts are taken off for planting when the ground
becomes warm and all danger of frost is over in the locality. The number
of sprouts required for an acre is from five to ten thousand, and a
bushel of small sweet potatoes will produce about two thousand sprouts
if properly handled in the hot bed, which consists in removing the
sprouts when they have attained a height of five or six inches, and in
this way the potatoes will be yielding sprouts in succession for some
time. The sprouts are planted in rows far enough apart for horse
cultivation. They are usually hilled up pretty well after starting to
grow well. They cannot be planted until the danger of frost is over, for
they are much more tender than Irish potatoes.
Sweet Potato Growing.
In planting sweet potatoes, do we have to make hotbeds just like those
for tomatoes, or if just a plain seed-bed will do? Is it necessary to
irrigate them or not?
You can bed your sweet potatoes in a warm place on the sunny side of a
building or board fence, and get sprouts all right. You will, however,
get them sooner and in greater numbers by using a slow hotbed in which
the manure supply is not too large.
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