Covington

O'Henry

Japanese

A favorite for mashing or roasting, the Covington has rose colored skin and supersweet orange flesh. Eat it whole with your favorite toppings or cut into wedges and bake as a side dish.

The OHenry has a pale copper skin, almost like a potato, but dont be fooled. This taters white flesh is sweet, creamy and ideal for soups and stews.

Japanese sweet potatoes have red skin and dry, white flesh. Roast these up with a few of your favorite root veggies for a colorful side dish.

Because sweet potatoes are vegetatively propagated and because uniformity in appearance of roots is essential, it is important to choose a variety that will suit your soil type, market requirements and weather conditions. It is advisable to plant at least two varieties each year because no single variety performs best on all soil types and under all climatic conditions. Below is a comparative table to help you with your choice.
Variety (Origin Foliage Date) Skin

Fles h

Yield

Disease&Insect FloodDam OtherWea Resistance age knesses Susceptible

OtherStren gths

Beaure gard (LA, 1987)

Green heartshape d leaves, blooms prolific Rose Oran Veryg White grub, ge ood soilpox

to rootResistance, knot, roots may be misshapen nematodes; bacterial soft rot; slow sprouting Wet soil Root-knot, Soil Good Pox, Fusarium Wilt may result in raised black Late, sporadic sprouting, on skin. Veryuniform shape Stores well, high % No. 1 roots

Herna ndez (LA, 1992)

Green arrowshaped leaves, purple Burnt

Dee p ge Orange Oran

lenticels or black flecks

stems, faciation

pimples on Slow skin sprouting, poor taste. Susceptible to blister; boron application may be necessary. Mutations, Dee Copper p ge Veryg Root-knot, Internal Cork Oran ood Susceptible Soil Pox, Cracking with moisture Storage life, shapes high % No. 1

Jewel (NC, 1970)

Green stems, bushy

variable soil roots

Green Carolin heart a Ruby shaped (NC 1988) Porto Rico 198 (NC 1966) Cordne r (TX 1983) White (GA) Coving ton NC98608 purple veins Deep Purple Veins RoseStems and pink Oran ge led Medi Green stems Copper um ge Green dleaves Purplis Whit Veryg Fusarium hpink e ood wiltRoot-knot Veryg Oran ood Root-knot Avera Mott ge None Dark Red e Red Dark Oran ge Fusarium Wilt, Veryg moderate soil rot, ood moderate to flea beetle

Wet soil may result

Susceptible to root-knot

Stores OK Excellent baking quality

leaves with toPurpl

in cracking nematodes, and blisters white grub on skin & wireworm Susceptible Moderatere to major sistance cking

Bakingqualit

diseases/cra y

Susceptible

Susceptible topox

Earliness, goodplantpr oduction tastes goodstoresw ell

Damp soil Susceptible can cause high % rot

Delight heartshape

Rose Smoot h

Oran Veryg ge ood

Russet crack, Southern Root Knot, Nematode

Covington Sweet Potatoes

Jan 4, 2012 at 12:17 pm | With 972 million pounds of production in 2010, North Carolina is the dominant producer of sweet potatoes in the United States. The sweet potato was named our State Vegetable in 1995, and NC farmers have continued to advance its production through the years, accounting for roughly 40% of sweet potato production in the US. One recent advance by the Sweet Potato in North Carolina was the introduction of the Covington Sweet Potato.

For years, the dominant sweet potato variety in North Carolina, and most of the country was the Beauregard Sweet Potato. Beauregards produce good yields, are considered quite sweet, and are relatively disease and pest resistant. Recently, however, a new variety of Sweet Potato has been gaining favor with North Carolina farmers, the Covington Sweet Potato. The Covington variety was developed by NC State University in the late 90's to early 2000's, and was released by the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service in 2005. The variety was named after a popular and esteemed sweet potato scientist at the university, Henry M. Covington. Since its release in 2005, local growers have been devoting more and more land to its cultivation. The primary benefit of Covington Sweet Potatoes over other varieties is that they tend to grow more uniform in shape, which makes them much more marketable to retailers and food service establishments. Covingtons are also less likely to grow into the "jumbo" grade, which are too large for many cooking applications, making them difficult for farmers to sell. Many growers also feel that Covingtons grow and produce better than other sweet potato varieties. Many feel that they end up with less pest damage, and that their ultimate yields after grading are better with the Covington variety. While the data is too limited to tell for sure, overall sweet potato yields as measured and recorded by the USDA have increased noticeably in major Covington producing states like North Carolina and California, since the release of the variety in 2005. North Carolina Sweet Potato Production: Year.........Production....Yield....................Percent of... ................(lbs.).............(lbs/1,000 ac)......Total US...... 1999........377 mil..........13,000.................30.8 %....... 2000........555...............15,000.................40.3........... 2001........558...............15,500.................38.4........... 2002........481...............13,000.................37.6........... 2003........588...............14,000.................37.0........... 2004........688...............16,000.................42.7........... 2005........595...............17,000.................37.8........... 2006........702...............18,000.................42.8........... 2007........667...............15,500.................36.8........... 2008........874...............19,000.................47.4........... 2009........920...............20,000.................47.3........... 2010........972...............18,000.................40.8........... Source: USDA, NationalAgriculturalStatisticsService Likethis? |