Hey everone, I am looking to plant some sweet potatoes, but I have limited space in my yard. One of the only spots I have are in between my fruit trees. The sweet potatoes would probably be planted about 3.5 feet away from the trunk of the tree. Only thing I am worried about is potentially damaging the roots of the fruit trees when the sweet potatoes are ready to harvest. Is this something to be concerned about? Thanks!
Yeah, figured the same. Thanks!
Farmer near me sows them in beds containing 60-70% playground sand! The other is compost top dressing. I would plant in pots/stacked tires between the trees versus in the ground.
That's a good idea, although in sustainable systems we should trend away from using tires to plant in. They leach chemicals and break down over time, you don't want these compounds in your soil or your food.
The same chemicals you breathe every time you drive with the windows down or walk on the side of the road?
Just because we're exposed to these compounds in other places doesn't mean we need to increase exposure. That's like saying, "I sure am breathing in a lot of smoke form this wildfire.. might as well buy a pack of Marlboros."
Also, if you live far from a road, or in an area with less traffic, you're air pollution is significantly less and you're creating more concentrated risk for yourself with little benefit.
Lastly, if you do this because you want to reduce waste and recycle tires, there are other ways to do that. Tires are recyclable and, unlike plastics, actually do get processed and reused at a high rate.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Bushels of sweet potatoes commercially….the second the owner let this “secret” slip, she followed up with : “now you know our secret…” hahahaha now, you know too
You could do it but I'd make berms above the ground so you don't mess with the tree roots
Was thinking about that. I just read about no dig sweet potatoes. I might try to put down a mound of compost, plant the slips in the mound then cover with mulch. We'll see
Don't forget that if you raise the surface layer of the soil by the tree roots they will often go up into it, particularly if what's mounded has higher nutrients/moisture. I've found tree roots making their way into my raised gardeb beds that are about 20' away.
Good point, thanks!
I haven't tried myself but I know some of the no dig people grow them in straw bedding above ground so researching that further might prove useful for you
Was reading about that earlier, definitely going to look further into it. Thanks!
I use sweet potatoes as a cover crop in the basins for my fruit trees to keep the soil cooler since I live in a really hot climate. I haven’t had issues but I also have the trees planted with a basin of wood chips around it. The wood chips is where the slips get planted so there’s no root disturbance.
Thanks for sharing. I am in central FL, zone 10a so it gets very got here too. Nothing like a heat tolerant ground cover that is edible both above and below ground!
I personally would avoid large root crops close between trees to avoid disturbing roots of said trees
Thanks, guess I need to find another spot to put them!
I have heard that sweet potatoes compete quite a bit for moisture and in one scenario reduced productivity of bananas growing within the area.
Interesting. If you have any sources about this please send them to me as I would love to read about it!
Similar strategy here with sweet potato cover crop around nut trees in hot climate. I placed a layer of deer netting over soil & planted slips into compost soil mix. Will lift deer netting to harvest when the time comes. This is my first to try it.
Curious how that turns out! Sounds like it would work pretty well
Make temporary raised beds, 5 gal buckets, old tires…knock over for harvest…refill next year
Put them in grow bags under the trees so you are using that space but not damaging the roots.
I just create a berm out of whole tree wood chips. It’s probably 12” high and about 3-4’ wide. I plant a slip every 8” and then I put another row right beside it and repeat. Harvest is super simple and I’ve never pulled up a potato more than, say, 6” under the surface of the soil.
Also, I create slips by lining the bottoms of a cardboard box with about 1” of pine saw dust. Since I don’t have a supply, I get the saw dust from the horse bedding pellets that we keep for the cat litter boxes ($5). Soak them in water to turn the pellets to dust.
Then, I layer potatoes on top and cover with sawdust. I keep it moist and in the sun and yank out slips as they get above 8” tall. They just keep comin’! Sweet potatoes are about the only thing I can’t mess up!
Sweet potatoes make a wonderful groundcover, eventually dense enough to suppress most weeds and look good in the process. As others have suggested, I would make mounds or berms to plant them in, using something loose and fluffy (especially if your native soil is clay)....this will make the majority of the potatoes form right there, rather than in the surrounding soil. Variety makes a difference too....some varieties tend to produce in a clump right under the original plant, while others "wander" more. They do like as much sun as they can get, though, so if the fruit trees are large enough to be making a lot of shade, the vines will always be trying to grow out from under there and into the sun, and anything less than 4-6 hours a day on the majority of the plant will reduce yield. Also a rich soil like compost will make them produce more vine and fewer roots. If your soil is sandy they will grow like weeds provided they get plenty of water....just mound up a shallow mound a few inches high, or a berm of sorts for them to grow in, so as not to disturb too many tree roots when you dig them. If they are more than three feet from the trunk I wouldn't worry about this too much, unless the trees are large.
I have next to no experience, but digging next to the roots sounds like a bad plan. Get a bucket instead.