Yes, your dry weather, if there was inadequate supplemental irrigation, most definitely would account for small, unfilled sweet potatos. This is a crop which really requires optimal conditions of moisture, fertility, warmth, and light to thrive. They're actually quite easy to grow, as long as they get LOTS of water, steady fertilizer for the first half of the season, and here in the north, they must be in full sun all day, light sandy soil, and they should be planted through black plastic to provide extra heat.

I had some under black plastic and some without this year......very little difference if any between the two except for volunteer weeds/tomatoes in the unmulched with plastic.

So why are sweet potatoes famed in the south as the reliable producer in droughty conditions and poor sandy soil?

Maybe they just like the south. Mine performed well this year under stage 3 drought conditions with no supplemental water. They are about as drought proof as any vegetable. As for poor soil, In my youth they were one of the first crops after clearing new ground. They don't need a lot other than loose soil. I have not grown Georgia Jet, despite the name they are considered a northern cultivar. My main crop this year was Carver, which were quite smooth and tasty. In the past, Porto Rico, Beauregard, Jewel, Centennial ... have all been smooth textured.

I would say that some varieties are more fiberous than others. Personally, I don't mind a bit of fiber as I don't like them too mushy.

I don't mind the stringy ones, either. I noticed in the market in florida recently that the georgia "jumbos" are cheaper than the usual-sized ones. Obviously then the giants are very common, even under drought conditions as certainly prevailed all across the sweet-potato lands this past summer.

I've found that production seems more dependent upon heat than moisture. Sure they need some moisture. But I got my best crop ever under drought conditions, with limited watering (I might have soaked them twice). Yet, in the summer of 2007, production was down quite a bit, in spite of having quite adequate moisture. I believe the difference was that my plants were put out at the normal time, but we had unusually cool, wet conditions for at least a month later than usual. The only row I had which produced like normal was the last one I planted on June 25th, just when temps started getting up there.

What I take from this, is that sweet potatoes don't get off to a good start when planted in cool conditions. In the future I will try to wait until nights are definitely warm before setting them out.

Some of our smaller roots can have what one might call "strings" when baked. But they're not tough. We enjoy them. But we try to eat the smaller roots first, as they do tend to dry out sooner.

George
Tahlequah, OK