Around half way through my growing season, after the vines have conquered every square inch around them they tend to flower. The flower reminds me of a Morning Glory, makes sense as they are in the same family. I much prefer growing these over gold, red, white or other irish potatoes as keeping bugs away can be quite the chore. But not the case with Sweet Potatoes, this year was the first we had bug problems. Mostly brought on by the Kale right next them to. Every year I plant left over tubers from the year before, and shortly after vines come up. I have been growing my own crop in two large raised beds for about 3-4 years now. And I really enjoy the fresh spuds they produce, and the pretty flowers you get by the summer time.
| Lumix GH3 | |
|---|---|
| Olympus MSC ED M. 60mm Macro lens | |
| none | |
| f/3.5 | |
| 1/640 sec | |
| 200 | |
| Visual Light | |
| 380 through 700 nanometers | |
| North Georgia USA. |
The leaves are not so happy in these pictures, rodents and insects have been more of a problem this year. It stresses them making the leaves turn a little spotty. Though the flowers seem unaffected and really pop out when seeing just a sea of green Sweet Potato vines.
I have seen butterflies visit these flowers, so they do have some pollinator interest. I have yet to see any Hummingbirds, Bees or other pollinators though. An unopened bud can be seen below, it will open shortly after the first one is spent. Around this time of year it gets quite hot and humid, sometimes so hot the leaves will start to wilt in the mid day sun and not restore themselves until the evening.
My vines tend to produce a dozen or so every year. It would seem this is quite rare, as most do not produce any if not just one or two. I guess they are pretty happy where they are. Next year I plan on giving them a deeper mulch pile to grow in. I think due to them getting so big they emerge from the ground and then Chipmunks, Mice and Squirrels munch on the tubers. So hopefully a large bed of mulch will keep them covered better, we shall see.
