Your comments and tips

14 Mar 09, Starrlite (New Zealand - temperate climate)

Hi there :-) found this thread while looking for a diagram of kumara (sweet potato) and thought this info might help you Jason. In early Feb, had this awesome fella come show us how to plant kumara in the traditional way, used successfully by Maori before European colonisation. I recently emailed him asking for general care and cultivation tips... this was his reply: "Kia ora ano sis, chur mean, glad to hear the kumara are in abundance! Have y'all pulled the runners up yet? - about 3 weeks ago you shouldve pulled up the runners on a sunny day and exposed the roots to the sun for a few hours to kill them. Otherwise the plants direct energy away from the tubers and into setting down new roots via the runners and your kumara wont be as big as they could. If you havent done it yet, still do! At that point you can also start harvesting the new shoots of vine growth - pick leaves and vines that are still that brighter green and use it like puha or watercress. If you eat mature leaves it might upset your stomach so kia tupato! (you probably already know all this!). This has same effect of directing energy to the tubers." For your reference, "puha and watercress" are greens that can be added to salads or boiled/blanched similar to spinach and silverbeet and "kia tupato" means I need to "be careful" - eating mature leaves can be harmful! Well, I am off to pull up the runners and expose them to the sun! Glad there is some today :-) Good luck with the kumara growing!! "As the garden grows so does the gardener." - Proverb

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02 Mar 09, Jason (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Hello. I have planted a sweet potato in December that has grown many runners. How do I turn that into more sweet potatos and how long do they take to mature? Am I supossed to bury the runners in the soil?? Can't quite seem to get it to work.

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09 Feb 09, Grahame (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi Michelle, It's probably a little late to put sweet potatoes in now as they take quite a few months to produce. You can get 'seed potatoes' from nurseries, usually from Goodman seeds. You other option is to just buy one from a good greengrocer and grow from that. The idea in Victoria is to plant the tuber in to a pot and wait for it to sprout. Once the sprouts are big enough you take cuttings and stick them in the ground and away they go.

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17 Jul 10, Jo (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Thanks for the info - I am new to the game and was wondering the same thing! All set to (excuse the pun) have a dig at growing some sweet potatoes now! Cheers!

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06 Feb 09, Michelle (Australia - temperate climate)

where do i buy sweet potatoes..? in Melbourne.

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21 Mar 19, Damien Cooke (Australia - temperate climate)

Bunnings are still selling them here in Adelaide

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