“Ask the Plant and Pest Professor” is compiled from phone and email questions asked the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), part of University of Maryland Extension, an educational outreach of the University of Maryland.
Question #1: Can I start my own sweet potato slips from the sweet potatoes that I grew last season? I still have some in storage. I do not want to introduce any disease problems in to my garden. What is your advice?
Answer #1: As long as the sweet potatoes you grew and harvested last season were disease free it is safe to start slips from them to plant in your garden this year. However, we would have advised you differently if you were planning on using store bought sweet potatoes. Store bought sweet potatoes could possibly be symptomless disease carriers and they may have been treated with sprout inhibitors. Did you know that the foliage is also edible and very nutritious? It can be eaten raw in a salad or prepared as you would any other leafy green vegetable.
Question #2: We need to regrade our property due to a drainage issue. There are oaks and beech trees in this area and I am concerned about adding soil over their roots. What is the maximum amount of soil I can add? Who would you suggest that I speak to about this issue?
Answer #2: Trees are sensitive to regrading and the addition of soil over their roots. Most tree roots are in the top foot or so of soil and they extend out well beyond the drip line of the tree. Tree roots grow where moisture, air, and nutrients are available. Adding soil or even deep layers of mulch is detrimental because it reduces oxygen availability and can smoother roots perhaps causing trees to decline over time. It is possible that the addition of no more than a couple of inches of soil will not negatively affect the trees, but this is not guaranteed. To discuss the health of your trees and the consequences of regrading you should speak with a certified arborist.
Question #3: Part of my vegetable garden gets only about 4 hours of decent sunlight in the summer. Are there any veggies that can grow with that little bit of sunlight? I planted spinach there this past summer and got a mediocre crop.
Answer #3: Four hours of sunlight for a vegetable garden is pretty limiting. Can you do some pruning of the surrounding vegetation to increase the amount of sunlight? Or do you have a sunny area where you can grow your vegetables in containers? Leafy greens such as arugula, lettuce, or kale can take some shade but they will not produce as well as if they were receiving 6-8 hours of sunlight. As you mentioned, you already experienced this with your spinach. Take a look at our publication on container gardening, HG600 Container Vegetable Gardening: Healthy Harvests from Small Spaces found on the Home and Garden Center website, look under ‘information library’ and then ‘publications’
To ask a home gardening or pest control question or for other help, go to https://extension.umd.edu/hgic Or phone HGIC at 1-800-342-2507, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Debra Ricigliano
Extension Program Assistant & Lead Horticulture Consultant
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