more sweet potato tips!!!

Hi all

I'm not sure if anyone else is having a go at sweet potatoes -but just in case I thought I would pass on some more information (kindly passed on by my mum -who heard it on the radio and wrote it down for me, so she wouldn't forget)
Anyway.. they were saying that

1. it is important not to let the leaves lie on the floor as they will root and you will end up with a spaghetti like bundle when it come time to pull them up! -Which sounds similar to my result last year -very thin and twisted -luckily this year the foliage got off to a much better start so it is allready being trained up canes..
2. lots of water -obviously to help the tubers swell -last year I had to go away for 3 weeks in the middle of summer and they were totally neglected -so that explains a lot too...
3. oh and at the end of the season if you can -cover them with black plastic/fabric and take indoors to get them an extra couple of weeks warmth -Shall I tell hubby now that I will want 2 dustbins full dragging into the basement? or wait and spring it on him? lol

Tips for those giving it a go next year included ;-

1. If you are starting your own slips make sure the sweet potato has heat underneath -so like me -the pot sat on a radiator or on a heated pad
2. slips need to be twisted off once about 3" tall or the sweet potato will start to rot -which might explain the problem some folks have been having
3. Start them off in February -so you get a long growing season, which strangely enough is what I did (more by luck than anything)-started off what i thought was "way too early" and then when I twisted them off I set them in pots of compost indoors -so by the time they went out they had got a good root system going!

They were also saying that the sweet potato gives one of the best yields out of all plants.... they set 1 slip in a bucket(not sure what size) and said you could get anything from 5-10lb yield -I have 2 dustbins with about 12 slips between the 2 -so if things go well we could be in for lots of sweetpotato based soups for winter (hubby doesn't like them -but always comments "how nice that soup was" when I have used them in it ;-) -and lots of roasted slices with balsamic for me mmmmm ..and should I end up with way too many I will have to take some back for my mum at xmas as she hasn't done any -but is going to give them a go next year! ..so she can help me with mine ..fingers crossed I get loads