over-embellished sweet-smelling potatoes are poised to become as popular askaleat trendy restaurants and Farmer marketplace , even in northern climates where they ’re more challenging to get . Purple sweet Solanum tuberosum are in high spirits in antioxidants , and their creamy texture makes delicious deep-fried mellifluous potato chips . Purple varieties are n’t as sweet as other colouring , but they sure are beautiful and tasty . If you require to try your manus at grow these coloured veg , here ’s how .
Consider Your Climate
purplish sweet potatoes are grown in the same manner as more traditional sweet potato varieties . They require about 100 to 120 days to mature , which is whysweet potatoesproduce so well in the long , live summertime of the southern U.S. In northern horticulture zones , you ’ll involve to start your purple angelical potato crop by warming the soil for a few calendar week before planting .
To warm the dirt , cover the planting rows with a layer of dim or readable charge plate ( more later on how to produce proficient planting rows ) . Tuck the edge of the plastic into the soil or immobilise them down with rocks , brick , or landscape pin . The charge plate should be in place for two to four week before planting .
Pick the Variety
There are several unlike assortment of purple sweet white potato available from reference such as Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds , Sand Hill Preservation , Duck Creek Farms , and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange . see for popular cultivar such as ‘ Purple Passion ’ , ‘ Molokai Purple ’ , ‘ All Purple ’ , ‘ Purple Delight ’ and ‘ Purple Knight ’ .
Create The Planting Rows
Like other types , purple scented tater are best planted in hilled rowing . Build 10 - inch - high-pitched , berm - shaped rows by mounding the soil up , after it ’s been till and repair with compost or well - aged manure . piece a site that receives full sunshine and is well - drain . Sweet potatoes favour a slightly acidic soil pH — somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5 is best , as it ’s less bid to the soil - borne pathogens that sometimes attack sweet Irish potato .
Plant The Slips
Sweet white potato are typically grown from rooted slips , and regal variety are no dissimilar . Slips are simply rooted root cutting of sweet potato vines , usually about 4 or 5 inches in distance . Before planting , soak the root of the slip in weewee for a few time of day .
Space sweet tater slew about 12 inches aside in a row on top of the planting berm . To plant in garden where warm up plastic is in blank space , cut a jam through the plastic and plant the slip through the hole . If you ’d like , you may mulch fresh planted slips with straw , untreated grass clippings or shredded leaf , but if you ’re using the plastic , there ’s no need to add extramulch .
Do not implant purple sweet potatoes until well after the peril of frost has lapse . This craw is illiberal to even light frost .
Purple Sweet Potato Maintenance
Once they ’re take root into their unexampled home plate , purple sweet Solanum tuberosum vines will arise fairly quickly . There ’s not much to do in terminal figure of maintenance other than to keep the deer out of the potato patch ( cherubic white potato vines are one of their favourite ) and check that the vines receive about 1 in of water per calendar week .
Do not add nitrogen - richfertilizerto cherubic murphy , as it encourages excessive vine increment at the disbursal of tuber product .
Harvesting Purple Sweet Potatoes
Although you could harvest the episodic genus Tuber anytime after the plant come into bloom , plan to harvest your main sweet potato crop just before the first hoarfrost bang . In warm clime , the vines will begin to yellow and die back , but in the north , this may not happen in clock time for the arrival of descent ’s cold weather . Once the temperatures send away down into the 50s at nighttime , it ’s time to start look into your tuber .
To harvest , employ a pitchfork or dig fork to lift the tubers out of the stain . Because the sweet tater can form a good aloofness from the industrial plant , work from the outer bound of the berm in toward the shopping mall .
Curing Purple Sweet Potatoes
Much like all scented Irish potato form , purple type need to be cured before long - term storage . Brush off excess soil with your fingerbreadth , but do not wash or rinse the harvested genus Tuber . Damaged tubers should be consume forthwith , but the rest can be place in a undivided layer in a warm ( 80 to 85 degree F ) , well - ventilated , humid room out of direct sun for eight to 10 daylight . Curing reduces shrinking , prolongs storage and results in a honeyed flavor due to the conversion of starch to sugars .
Once the skin have cured , hive away your purple sweet-flavored Irish potato in wooden or moldable crate at about 55 stage F with 85 percentage relative humidity .
Jessica Walliser
