YIELD COMPARISONS OF PULLED AND CUT SWEET-POTATO PLANTS

Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.)] storage root yields were evaluated from almost-equal-to 25-cm transplants. The shoot apex was either removed or not removed from pulled (underground stem retained) and cut (underground stem removed) 'Georgia Jet' and 'Red Jewel' plants. The shoot apex was not removed from pulled and cut 'Jewel' plants on which the basal half was immersed or not immersed in calcium hypochlorite solutions. Cut plants of all three cultivars produced higher total marketable and U.S. no. 1 yields than pulled plants. However, neither removing the shoot apex from 'Georgia Jet' and 'Red Jewel' nor immersing the basal half of 'Jewel' plants in calcium hypochlorite solutions improved yields.