Breeding Sweet Potatoes (turning them into a seed grown annual)

[reed]

Great to hear from you again Mark, and thanks for your update, will do another video when you empty the pots?

Yes, I will. Actually, I have some videos of last year's plants too. Don't know why I haven't put them over here. I'm pretty new at the YouTube thing, but this might work to visit all my sweet potato videos.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeEn7PRYA_55spXmLPsR2jhzLslg7aRlB

[reed]

I made a little video on this year's crop of seed grown sweet potatoes, collecting some seeds and evaluation of the plants. * I said in the video that I selected for a certain leaf type, I meant to say I "may" have accidentally selected for it because it "may" be related to the things I do select for.

[Richard Watson]

I look forward to the day when I too find picking seed tedious.

[reed]

This season has been really good for seeds. Drought might not be good for most crops and probably not the best for the biggest harvest of roots, but it is perfect for maturing sweet potato seeds. In cool damp weather a lot of them rot in the capsules, in hot damp weather they sprout in the capsules. This year is just right and I'm getting lots every day.

It's possible that we won't get a frost until November but just in case I'm going to start harvesting roots this week. I don't want to get caught having to harvest them all in a hurry, or in the dark, as has happened a time or two before. I already have ten times the number of seed I planted so it's OK not to push it this year. 

[Garrett Schantz]

I have a large patch of Ipomoea lacunosa growing nearby.

It produces tubers.

It's sometimes called the "Whitestar potato" and was used by native americans as a root crop.

Most ornamental Ipomoea species, are from the tropical Americas or other tropics.


I'm unsure if anyone is interested in this species. It's obviously related to common sweet potatoes.


The ones here, I've noticed a few white flowered vines. Most are pink / purple. The tubers aren't much of anything.


My main concern, is that growing tropical species in North America as food - they may be more prone to certain issues and things than what they've been adapted to for so long.


Plus more disease resistances and traits may be nice.


I haven't researched the genus too much.

I've grown Lavender Moon flowers before. Haven't grown water spinach.


Sweet potatoes, I've grown before - as ornamental leaf shaped things.


If anyone's interested, I could try to obtain seed.


I've seen some sellers online, mainly selling a white flowered type.


There's around 4 small seeds in each flower. These are growing around a patio area by the pool.


And these are growing in 8B.



I haven't saw much mention of these anywhere.


These are obviously grown from seed. They probably don't taste very good.

I can attest that they're very heat tolerant. The heat waves killed a lot of things, but not these.

[Kadence Luneman]

Always fun to follow this post.
I put a sweet potato (regular store ones) in a big pot this spring. Mix of soil and last year's sheep bedding/manure. I barely ever watered it but it's survived okay. Getting a bit chewed on by some insects but I haven't given it much attention. I know there is at least one medium sweet potato in there. I'm going to try rooting a cutting to keep it going inside.
Excited to see how yours look once you've evaluated them.

[reed]

Below photos are of eleven plants being evaluated to clone next year. These are all in what I call the culinary group. All but one of them flower and produce abundant seeds. I hope based on flavor and storage quality to trim this group down to not more than five to plant next year. I'm sure there will be plenty of volunteers next year as I've gotten lazy about collecting seeds and lots are being lost, but I'm not going to start any seeds on purpose net year. Instead, I want to reinforce the preferred traits by just growing the best of the best and use them to produce a new generation elite seed. I have a similar but larger group of my ornamental group which I'll get to later.

 

[reed]

Had to start a new post for the rest of the photos

[reed]

And, one more

[Richard Watson]

Great seeing your progress for the growing season

[reed]

Getting ready for sweet potatoes 2024. Got thirty new 7.5 gallon pots and going to use them instead of the big tubs. I'll probably start a few seeds but mostly I'm trialing the plants I posted photos of above. There were eleven of them but after tasting I've narrowed that down to just seven. All have the clump root trait I like, all are bushy or at least semi-bushy, no giant vines and all flower and produce seed. These will be semi-isolated from any new sprouts and from my ornamental group.

I have four in the ornamental group with tentative names. Ms. Bloom is very bushy and compact with light green ivy leaves, and she blooms a lot. Superseed has heart shape leaves and is also very bushy. It isn't an exceptionally striking plant except for the massive blooms, which are slightly larger and lighter color than most. Dark Child has very dark red/purple ivy leaves and is a large vine with moderate bloom. And then there is Tries to Climb.

Tries to Climb is also a long vine and exhibits a growth habit almost like a climbing bean, something I have never seen before. Leaves are dark purple ivy leaf and smaller than most. Internodes are very long and a single darker than average flower blooms at each one. Tries To Climb is a glorious ornamental plant that could be trellised or grown in a hanging basket. It woke up two weeks earlier from the chill of the drafty kitchen window than the others and is growing an inch a day or more depending on sunshine.  Today I noticed tiny flower buds at each new leaf joint. I'll post pictures when they bloom. 

[reed]

I transplanted the four ornamental plants that endured the cold, drafty window sill into bigger pots with fresh compost and pinched out the growing tips, to try to boost them along into growing lots of stems that I can chop off for cloning. I want to make a whole bunch of these clones this summer and take a lot of pictures and videos for use later on. I want to be like Carol talked about, a freelance plant breeder rather than an amature plant breeder and I think the ornamentals might be the most profitable for marketing and maybe less hassle regulations wise. The one I'm calling Tries to Climb is one of a kind based on observation over the years. The smaller than normal, dark purple leaves, very long internodes with flowers at each one makes it a really cool plant. I'm going to grow it as a climbing plant and in hanging baskets.

In the culinary bunch I posted about before I'm keeping #s 1, 2, 6, 7, 10 & 11. There were eleven of them but some failed due mostly to lacking flavor. I've got my 7.5-gallon pots ready for these plants in varying numbers. Half of them will probably be 10 & 11. Some clones will only get two pots. Soil is all very consistent, placed in equal sun and so on. I'll be collecting seed from all as usual but will be looking mostly for differences in production. I want to cull all but three to four of these for contained cloning next year. I hope now to just keep "distilling" down to the best traits.

 I'll keep selecting and culling old clones but at the same time be growing new ones from seed. I think you would have to work hard at it to make genetic depression a problem with sweet potatoes but still no need to push it so also, along with those from the group of eleven, I kept the roots of four plants that sprouted in 2023. I think I've settled on a good plan, to grow the best clones each year but also start some new ones each year.

I've changed my timing a little bit too. Last year the whole month of June was cool and damp and they didn't like that. I generally start slips in the middle of April but this year I'm putting it off for a couple of weeks, those in the photo will be set in damp sand in another day or two. I've always pushed the limit in the fall too, putting off harvest as long as possible in order to get more seeds. This year I'm going to harvest while the weather is still warmer so I can cure them better to improve sweetness.

I've wasted a lot of seed over the last couple years by starting way too many to properly take care of. I'm only going to start about fifty seeds this year. Some of them will be those collected from my favorite ornamental plants that keep maturing seeds after they were brought inside for the winter, ensuring they are self-pollinated. I've selected pretty hard against large storage roots in the ornamentals so the two groups will be semi-isolated again this year. Ornamentals will be grown on the patio and culinary will be grown out in the garden.

Anyway, here is a photo of the culinary group ready to bring down and set in damp sand. All of these are good and all of them readily make seeds. All but one is nicely bushy and have the clump root trait which makes them more economical on growing space and easier to harvest. I have one more really cool one with very light skin and very dark orange flesh already in sand downstairs. It sprouted las year, and we accidentally ate all but one shriveled little root, fingers crossed it is alive enough to sprout.

As far as turning sweet potatoes into a seed grown annual, it's done!

[whwoz]

Congratulations on the completion of your project.  Now the big question is, what's next?  Are you going to try to commercialize each variety by seed, look at getting the various varieties grown for commercial root sales? (Is there a sweet potato growers group over there?)

Would be interesting to track how long it takes for each variety to drop off flower production once commercial growing through cloning for each variety starts.

[reed]

I'm not sure where to go from here, except to continue improvement in the culinary line and keeping really good records. Same with the ornamental line and focusing on a lot of good pictures and videos to use for marketing with it. I have some interest in both lines already, but nothing concrete. I'm leaning toward releasing clones rather than seeds, but not really sure about any of it right now.

[reed]

Picking some lettuce yesterday and discovered the first volunteer sweet potato of the season, probably more hiding in the rest of the lettuce patch. Guess it's a hint that it's time to go ahead and direct plant a few.