Giant Sweet Potatoes? Does this always happen?

In the garden this year, I decided to grow sweet potatoes in a raised bed made from hay bales. I thought they would be easier to dig come harvest time... and they were, much easier... but they also grew VERY big. I'm going to try it again next year and see if it happens again.

[@moonchildgarcia8999]

I’ve been using straw bales for growing root crops and YES, my potatoes ALWAYS come out looking like mammoth potatoes, both, sweet and golden Yukon potatoes. My carrots come out big and very sweet too. I fertilize with worm castings in the beginning, when I plant them, that’s it and I get huge results

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Good to know! I'm hoping to try with carrots this year too. Last year they didn't germinate, I think the seed was old.

[@moonchildgarcia8999]

@@stuffthatworks7867 I don’t know what zone you’re in but I did the winter sowing method with my carrots first, then put them in the straw bales, I had an amazing crop 🤩🤩🤩

[@suzannefronzaglio2427]

Wow! A 25-lb. Sweet Potato! That's pretty amazing results there!

[@cherylswartz3451]

I can testify that the lasting quality and the taste and texture of those sweet potatoes was great and the biggest on that I got was still delicious next spring. I am going to try this too.

[@matthudson5505]

I saw a video where a guy mixed sand, saw dust, soil in sweet potato bed. Yield was prolific. Harvesting was easy in very loose material. Good luck!

[@amadahyrose]

I mixed in sand one year and had a great crop with easy digging.

[@kimberlyjennings1970]

I planted mine in mineral tubs with the bottoms cut out, all I had to do was lift them straight up and the potatoes were all right there and not much digging at all! Except for the sweet potatoes, they were growing everywhere and I still had to dig them! Some were quite large as well!! Good harvest!!

[@lisabaughman887]

I know I am watching this sometime after but, here is something I have noticed. I can plant my potatoes in regular raised bed and get average size sweets and reg. potatoes but anytime I have a big pile dirt dumped and have placed either type of potato in there they produce a bunch and get big. So, I bet with the bales holding water and extra nutrients that is how you got those giants. I think this year I am going to try a pile. By the way I am up here in NW Indiana.

[@egun206]

This video was so Awesome!!!

[@moseshenry1180]

My brother and I discussed this. We had a round bale sitting beside the potato potato patch, and the potatoes beside it grew much better. We decided it was acting as a sponge and released water as the potatoes needed it.

[@BARBSCOUNTRYHOME999]

I saw this video on our home TV but on my husband channel and WOW what a potato harvest... I grew sweet potatoes for the first time last year and 2 potatoes were so huge and they had veins! 😉

[@Brenda0312F]

Doesn’t have to be straw. Hay works JUST as well....for those wondering. I grew tons of tomatoes and peppers and marigolds in hay as well.

[@paulveenings6861]

The thing with hay is it has a lot of seeds in it whereas straw normally doesn’t .

[@Gaea4U]

Last year my sweet potatos escaped the huge pots i was growing them in. They do every year. But i ended up lifting the pavers in my yard to find a bigger bonanza of sweets. One must have been 5 #. I ignored it for a month but ended up slicing it and baking it with chicken and it was the sweetest purple potato i have ever grown. Love the idea of hay bales if i could only find some here in the city. Great work! Good food!

[@dantucker124]

I got well over 100 lbs of sweet potatoes from five slips. I've had a deep mulch garden for about 5 years. I plant them in flat ground and they push dirt up by themselves about a foot high. Some weigh 20 to 25 pounds. No fertilizer and no attention from me. I only plant them every other year cuz I get to much

[@jabohabo3821]

To thise who dont know!!! Sweet potatoe leaves and vines both are edible and very good for you!! If you ha e a wi dow woth st least 5-6 hrs of sun in a room you keep warm! You can havest leavew.continually woth it as a HOUSE PLANT for up to 5 years!

[@uprightfossil6673]

I won't comment on the potato growing as you are doing better than me but still have not convinced me of the easiest way to grow potatoes... But you have excellent taste in Beer! Cheers

[@charlessutton5400]

I harvested a couple dozen 10 lb. + Sweet potatoes as well as a couple hundred regular size potatoes from 8 plants that grew from 9 potatoes placed under a 1 foot deep pile of the previous years tree leaves. We put the potatoes at the bottom of the leaves, just on top of the dirt. I harvested early, because the deer ate so many of the leaves in the early fall. Opinion; the looseness of the rotten leaves allowed the tubers to grow bigger. Bonus: massive energetic worms were everywhere in the pile, particularly next to and under the largest potatoes.

[@stuffthatworks7867]

That seems to indicate that the loose soil between the bales might have been a big part of why it happened that way. Spring is coming! Won't be long before I can try it again.

[@winddmmy]

it is easy to take care of a deer problem i call it BBQ!

[@conniepr]

That's got to be a Blue Ribbon winner!

[@vl8175]

I just can't wait to see if it happens again 😲😀

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Me too.

[@dneeceann]

Wow! What a harvest.

[@MissChievousRN]

QUESTION: anyone: First time sweet potato grower😁 Do the sweet potatoes grow at the base of the plant only? Or will they develop all along the trailing vines if they root in the soil? Im torn between planting in mineral tubs and growing the vines up my coop both for shade for the chickens and to control the crazy. Or Plant them with my pumpkins so they can go crazy together in half the space. The SP will develop in the ground and the pumpkins on top. It's a huge patch of loose fluffy barn compost from all winter long, with a balanced mineral amendment to balance it out so nutrient competition won't be a problem.

[@stuffthatworks7867]

I don't pretend to be an expert so maybe someone who really knows will chime in.... but... my experience growing them the last 3 or 4 years is that indeed they will root at intervals along the vine where it touches the ground and grow a new sweet potato there... However, they do only grow at least partly underground. I've never seen one grow hanging from a vine like a cucumber. The potatoes are part of the roots. Having said that, my personal experience in our heavy clay soil is that at those secondary growth points, the daughter plants if you will, they never amount to much. A little potato about the size of your finger... My guess is that's the potato planting next years crop.... By the way... was out planting the next batch this morning, video soon when I get a chance.

[@damondodds5945]

I enjoyed the video this year I had 1.8 kg sweet potato in raise rock beds . We're your starting to age like the big 1 u had looked green on 1 side . Mine are a great taste 😋

[@joefization]

I grew sweet potatoes in a very small raised bed once but didn't get great results. I live in Colorado though. I bet it's your good climate and those hay bails that got you such fantastic results. That compost looks good too

[@JudyE13]

Those look like "Georgia Jet" variety potatoes, they normally have HUGE tubers. my dad grew them for over 65 years.

[@beltoftruth56]

I liked that video always an adventure

[@Smallpotato1965]

Perhaps the insolation of the bales kept your soil slightly warmer and sweet potatoes like that?

[@annak804]

The hay probably rotted some and gave the plants extra nutrition. Potatoes prefer calcium rich soils and the pile technique (basically they do best in soft dirt freshly agitated every year)

[@chattle4639]

It looks to me you might be able to turn the bales on their sides to get some extra depth without using more of them. Dunno if it would be enough to help. You could also put your end caps on the inside to make the bed wider while still using the same amount of bales. Both changes to the frame would require more soil tho. I don't know anything about farming but I do enjoy building. Just a couple thoughts for you. Thanks for the idea if I ever get into gardening

[@stuffthatworks7867]

I've been thinking pretty seriously about doubling them up and the idea of putting them up on edge sounds good too. The biggest drawback is, as you say, more soil... and the idea was to avoid doing so much digging in the first place... :-)

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

If you ever get into gardening, this is the year. Food prices and availability are about to get outrageous, so anything to produce food will save you money and trouble later. Also, any overage you produce can be sold, traded or given to people who need it and can't find it at the grocery stores

[@my_flippin_journey]

*Hahaha .. I enjoyed your video tremendously* I literally lol multiple times .. *Thank You* Fellow Hoosier & New Subscriber Edited to Add .. my apologies if you didn't mean any humor in your video. I woke up in a giddy mood & seem to be finding humor most things today .. 🙃 .. Have a Great Day

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Glad you enjoyed it. My sense of humor is often umm... under appreciated. It's not like the whole thing is a joke, I really am trying to figure out better ways -- at least for me -- to do things... it's just that I do try to insert some humor where I can.

[@my_flippin_journey]

@@stuffthatworks7867 ... ❤ ...

[@ClissaT]

I sure hope you used those old bales and all that pile of tops to make compost for the next round of sweet spuds! And the skins if you skin them before cooking, etc. To even out your production glut, consider using the New Guinea method of rotational growing. The only difference for you would be starting new slips by standing tubers in small jars of water in a window during late winter so you have green growing slips to poke into the ground first thing when frosts are over. But you would just add one bale length to your row, make the compost right there, then set two slips in it. Just push them elbow-deep so their tops are just sticking out. Then start a new pair of bales and a new compost heap. You don't have to let all that leaf volume grow. You can use a spade to chop them off beside their bales. Drop all that chopped material into your next compost heap. along with old bale material and kitchen scraps. BY that means you will have a progressive harvest and not have to do a major anthropological dig at the end of the season. When your freeze is coming, just pile all manner of compostable materials over the top of existing young vines like more compost material, cardboard, fresh animal manure that needs time to mature. Then when the thaw comes, add some fresh chicken manure and it should all heat up to promote a restart of new growth. Any mature roots underground might be ready for harvest almost straight away. And so the cycle would start again.

[@stuffthatworks7867]

I'll have to try the chopping 'em off. I fed most of the tops to the sheep which makes for kind of rapid composting... the bales rotted down very quickly and I've planted garlic more or less in that area now.

[@winddmmy]

SHIT!! i have grown them in raised beds and have never seen anything like this!GREAT JOB BROTHER!

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Thanks. I think it was everything coming together at once that made it work. We'll see if it can happen twice when I plant the next batch later this spring.

[@winddmmy]

@@stuffthatworks7867 good luck with that i like to see how that turns out.

[@lisakillz1853]

Lol hold on, let me get my dozer

[@caseyfletcher3720]

What was the soil you used in-between the bales? Did you fertilize during your growing season? How did that 20 pounder cook up? I think I am going to give it a go!

[@stuffthatworks7867]

The soil was just the garden soil from right next to the bales, I just shoveled it over the top into the gap between. No, no fertilizer. I did water them a few times when things got pretty hot and dry. I'd say 4 times during the season. We haven't cooked the big one yet. We've been eating a lot of them, and I've given a few to family and friends, but 300+ pounds is a lot. I'm wondering now what would happen if I made the bed two bales deep... that might solve the problem of them growing into the underlying soil... or it might just make them grow even bigger.

[@Sparkysings2]

@@stuffthatworks7867 Holy Moly! 25 pounds is the biggest I’ve seen on KZbin and I watch these videos a lot!! Next year could you possibly show you digging for them please? That’s the best part!

[@Tuinierenopstrobalen]

If you had prepared the bales with the right nutritional resources, your harvest would have been huge..!

[@thatamerican3187]

Everytime I see someone doing No Dig on the planting end the crops come out like this. Wish I had my garden back.. lol

[@catfunksfabulousfinds]

Need to add compost or a lighter soil. I try to mix my clay soil at least 50/50 with compost. The hay, and good weather or compost mixed in will grow good big sweet potatoes. They don't like cold weather for long periods though.

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Thanks for the tips!

[@reneebrown2968]

Did you break down the bales before plant? If you sprinkle the stem end of the bale with nitrogen every 3 days for a couple weeks . It will start the break down inside the bale. And you have to turn them cut side up. And yes if they have loose soil they will grow huge

[@alexgorron6470]

That's how they grow it in Korea. The old tradition is also to use urea before planting in them.

[@addysbeeandgarden320]

Holy monster potato! Did you fertilize them? If so what did you use?

[@stuffthatworks7867]

No, no fertilizer. I just shoveled the garden soil from around the outside into the center. That does make for pretty deep topsoil I guess which could be part of it...

[@theUrbanGardener]

What variety of sweet potatoes did you use for your slips?

[@stuffthatworks7867]

I got them at the local garden store, and I can't find the receipt, but I'm pretty sure they were Beauregard. Next time I'm in there I can ask.

[@theUrbanGardener]

@@stuffthatworks7867 I don’t think KZbin wants me to post my email. But I would like to ask you about purchasing one of your potatoes. Could you send me a message through my Facebook link on my channel? TY

[@MANS4ON-Ce137]

Americans digging potatoes with tractors.. My grandma would dig that by hand in 15 minutes. You would have to get down there and sort them out anyway.

[@crazysquirrel9425]

Having 2nd thoughts on growing sweet potatoes in straw bales. I don't want to destroy my bales harvesting them. If I rip up my bales to harvest, I have no way to re-bale the straw for next year. And have nothing but a big mess to deal with.

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Oh, yeah, no question it is a one way trip for the hay bales. They become compost in the following season. You can see at about 25-30 seconds into my garden tour video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpDEeJuojrOssKM when I'm talking about the garlic... that is the location of the sweet potatoes and hay bales from this video shown in the following year. There's an earlier comment to the effect that using good bales for this is an expensive way to go, and that is completely true. But I bale hay for my sheep and it seems like every year, no matter what I do, there are some bales which just aren't much good. I use those for purposes like this and the hay bale deer blind etc. but you wouldn't want to use something you needed for other purposes or something you had to buy. This is, in part, one of my ways of making use scraps and excess...

[@crazysquirrel9425]

@@stuffthatworks7867 Actually I bought straw bales this year. First time trying them. The straws are sideways in the bales and not pointing upwards like others do. Still have the wires on them. I did sprinkle used coffee grounds on them a month ago or so. And urine twice I think. It is still cold here (winter) so I am thinking it will slowly break down to a usable condition without much conditioning. I plan on planting bush green beans in them (less bending over). But what else to plat with them? Maybe some strawberries along the edges? Some flowers? I had wanted to plant sweet potatoes or regular potatoes but in retrospect I would have to destroy the bales to harvest them. Not something I want to do when I spent $7 a bale for them. Might do those next year if the bales have disintegrated too much for other things. Also, letting them sit all winter allows for rain/snow to wash out any 'contaminants' as it were. When the bales become unusable in a year or two I will either use them as a mulch or compost them. At least those are my plans anyway. My bales have not broken down at all yet. Advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

To grow in the hay bales requires heavy treatment with nitrogen before planting. I've seen it produce quite well when done correctly, though.

[@GothBoyUK]

The best way, and I (sort of) apologise for this, is to saturate the hay bales with human urine. Yes it's gross but has long been used by those 'in the know' who get their friends to 'wet' the bales during parties and get-togethers. The resulting wet hay apparently works wonders when mixed into the compost heap too. 🤓

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

@@GothBoyUK Urea from any specie is really good. I always piss on my compost, and sometimes directly in the garden. I didn't with the hay, but only cuz it was my first time, and I was following the program to the letter. The only thing I don't do is pee near actively growing plants, because I'm American, and there is probably some kind of poison coming out of my body lol

[@standstrong6587]

how was the taste and texture of the sweet potato as they are so very big ? ? ? Please thanks

[@stuffthatworks7867]

We didn't eat the biggest one, so I can't say about that, but the rest were pretty typical sweet potato taste and texture. There might have been some loss of quality with storage, but no more than I'd expect with any other sweet potato kept that long. I did this again this year and hope to have a new video up soon. But one preview is that we just ate a really nice sweet potato soup with one of the medium sized ones (about 5 pounds) and it was great. In a more general sense, I think I've noticed that you need to let them cure a while, a few days or a week after harvest, the taste is kind of boring right out of the ground. Not bad, just boring. Or that's my opinion anyway.

[@julie5654]

Diary of a wimpy kid

[@barringtonsmith9147]

Hay or Straw, which was it ? There is a difference,

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Yes, there certainly is. I'm using hay because I have a ready supply of it surplus or damaged. Straw would probably be better since it would bring in fewer weed and grass seeds. Having said that, I haven't noticed any problems. It is possible that the hay heats enough to kill the weed seeds, or maybe my garden is just so weedy I don't notice.

[@conniepr]

How did they taste?

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Just fine. I was getting a little tired of them and had to hunt new recipes...

[@catfunksfabulousfinds]

Should of cut the strings on the bales so the potatoes had room to grow

[@TheKruxed]

I wouldn't do it like that because of rodents, but maybe thats not an issue where you live since it looks quite dry. Its getting pretty common to just use 30 litre buckets with drainage holes in the bottom. When its time to harvest you simply turn them over like a sandcastle mould lol, due to the area being just right size all the roots hold the soil in place so you can sieve through with your hands to extract the potatoes with ease and in record time, bonus of no digging and no need for tools either. Your carrots won't like that heat, they would probably require shade during mid sun in your climate

[@TheKruxed]

This is white potatoes, no idea about sweets as its just not hot enough long enough without them being in a green house or poly tunnel. I always enjoy checking out other styles though so the never ending youtube train of growing things continues

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Oddly I had much more trouble with rodents without the bales than with.... but that's not the only thing that changed. I also put up a better fence, kept the grass around the garden better cut, and got a cat. Of those, I think keeping the grass cut had the biggest effect, but I can't prove it. We have a lot of hawks and owls around here and I think the rodents don't like to cross that open area.

[@MFV77]

Has anyone successfully grown sweet potatoes in zone 4b/5a? We do have a geodesic dome greenhouse, but I still can’t seem to figure it out.

[@dre.ale.1191]

Have you tried the northern varieties? There are a few varieties that do well in the north :)

[@MFV77]

@@dre.ale.1191 never occurred to look…. Should’ve been obvious.. duh. Thx!

[@moseshenry1180]

I live in north east Ohio, I'm think 5a? And there is plenty of growing season here. Try doing exactly what he did in the video, and plant on June 1st. You should be able to do earlier than that,but that gives you 4 months to grow, which should be plenty also look up the difference between determinate and indeterminate potatoes. It might help you some.

[@MFV77]

@@moseshenry1180 thank you so very much! I’m in the Black Hills of SD.

[@dre.ale.1191]

@@MFV77 we are growing the Beauregard variety this year. Zone 4b, northern Michigan.

[@glowinaglowina462]

any similar of Ruth Imogen Stout (14jun1884/22aug1980) ??

[@dorinekolenburg3473]

i tink it is that the bale's stay wett for long time

[@stuffthatworks7867]

That makes sense to me. I've seen quite a few suggestions and I'm coming to believe it is the combination of all of them which did it. The deep loose soil, the nutrients leaching in from the decaying hay bales, the moisture level being buffered... and some good luck. I'm planning to try it again this summer and see if it can work twice.

[@ayatti26]

Is that a record sweet potato?

[@stuffthatworks7867]

I don't think so.

[@ayatti26]

@Stuff That Works in my book it is. Good job.

[@grumpygrannysgoatsngardens3185]

Hundred of dollars for bales though, bro

[@thoriated]

He said they were old, so probably no longer fit for feed. I'm guessing he bales his own.

[@MispelledOnPurpose]

Was thinking the same. For me the cost of the bales would zero out any savings of growing my own taters. But I'll definitely be on the lookout around my yard for available alternatives.

[@kfitz192]

@@MispelledOnPurpose I'm going to grow mine in cardboard boxes covered with a contractors bag with holes for drainage. The boxes will be filled with leaves and topped with soil for the slips. Since I live in zone 5b the soil will also be covered with plastic to warm the soil.

[@MispelledOnPurpose]

@@kfitz192 Thank you. I recall seeing a video posted about that technique, think I'll try planting some that way too plus some just in the ground. I planted some in a raised bed years ago but they didn't do well. They were producing tiny and almost hollow tubers. I think those beds may have been too tall and the water and nutrients may have been washing away into the ground below. I was just experimenting then, really, but now it's time to get serious.

[@kfitz192]

@@MispelledOnPurpose Yes!!! I saw one and now there have been several. I have plenty of leaves and cardboard boxes. Happy growing!

[@mustbitefishingcpt9239]

If you're a gardener you can't be lazy..use your hand bro

[@stuffthatworks7867]

It's a fine line between efficient and lazy sometimes ;-) I dug them all by hand in this clay soil year before last and that inspired this whole idea... you could say the whole thing was born of laziness...

[@carolleenkelmann3829]

@@stuffthatworks7867 Not when you follow "Back to Eden."

[@Dedo70]

@@stuffthatworks7867 It's good to experiment! I say "work smarter, not harder." It just didn't work out that time, but I like the way you were thinking.

[@vikashwan]

100 pounds took 4-5 days,,what tools were you using a plastic spoon?????

[@moseshenry1180]

Maybe he has health conditions? Or is very old, or simply doesn't want to work hard. If he is growing his own food successfully leave him alone, that's better than most accomplish.

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Short answer, hot days, poor yield, heavy baked clay soil. I was digging a foot deep or so in heavy soil and about 2 feet square for each potato. I also destroyed a lot of the potatoes because if I didn't get all the way under them with the shovel or broad fork, they would break in half (or smaller pieces) where they were rooted in the clay. Gene Logsdon said we have soil you can pour out of a bottle in February but can't dig with a pick axe in August...

[@danno5805]

World record 🤔

[@stuffthatworks7867]

I don't think so. I read somewhere about a bigger one up in Michigan and the web says the world record is 80 pounds. I guess it could be the biggest in Indiana... but I don't know.

[@danno5805]

@@stuffthatworks7867 wow, that's a lot of potato lol I couldn't even lift it. Thanks for sharing 👍

[@artport7]

you just let them grow too long... they could have been harvested at the same time you harvested the other potatoes.

[@stuffthatworks7867]

LOL. You know I never thought of that. I'm so used to pushing things right up until the frost!

[@fifeohfarmingnstuff4416]

You threw away all those delicious leaves........... I grew sweet taters last year for the first time in containers, some grew HUGE..... I used dirt n then planted my slip, once it began to grow I used a leaf mulch to help hold in moisture.... I've got my taters in jars right now trying to grow my slips, I even got me some Purple sweet taters to......

[@stuffthatworks7867]

Well, the sheep sure thought they were delicious... 🙂 I had honestly never heard of eating them. Tell me more? Do you cook them like collards? Or more like spinach or even lettuce?

[@fifeohfarmingnstuff4416]

@@stuffthatworks7867 Stir fry them, some good recipes on KZbin, and they are mo better for you than Spinach...

[@JustMe-nv5xy]

I saw another KZbinr that eats them like salad greens.