Ipomoea batatas

It seems like my family nearly lives off of sweet potato .

In a fair eating household these etymon tubers are like afters , even without the added dark-brown sugar . And if we go more than a few day without including them in a meal , we notice .

So , if you ’re front for a garden harvest that ’s nutritiousandindulgent , mellifluous spud are the answer .

Light green leaves of a sweet potato vine, growing on a brown cedar fence.

Photo by Amber Shidler.

At breakfast , lunch , and dinner , this easily put in lovesome - season edible is delectable and versatile .

And although it call for a good amount of space in the garden , it ’s a comparatively leisurely crop to grow .

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A collage of photos showing different views of sweet potatoes growing in a garden.

Photo by Amber Shidler.

Last May , I purchase six shimmy , start themin a raised layer , and confessedly paid little tending to them .

make out September , I had more than 30 medium - sized root Tuber . I will definitely be growing these delicious beauties again this year .

To get even better results , keep reading . I ’ve hollow into the item about what it takes to grow this amazing root crop for the best harvest potential . Here ’s what ’s in store :

Close up of freshly harvested sweet potatoes.

How to Grow Sweet Potatoes

What They Aren’t

It ’s important to realize that sweet potatoes ( Ipomea batatas ) are n’t related toregular potatoes ( Solanum tuberosum)or yams ( Dioscorea sp ) .

They are a tropic flora , hardy only in zones 9 through 11 , and are actuallya relative of the morn glory .

Ornamental varieties are sell nationwide for their attractive , colored leaves .

Red sweet potatoes in a plastic basin filled with a thin layer of brown soil, with green and pink shoots growing from one end.

The edible part of the plant life is an enlarged entrepot organ that forms on the root , referred to as a root tuber . Irish potato , on the other hand , are stem tubers .

This is why method for growing sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes are very dissimilar .

For Irish Irish potato , you advance the stem turn to develop through a method such as hilling . But with cherubic potatoes , it ’s all about encouraging source growth .

A hand at the left of the frame grasps the base of a small sweet potato plant with green leaves and roots growing in a clump of black potting soil, with a hole dug in brown earth in the background.

Getting Started

Sweet white potato seldom flower outside of their native mountain chain so they are generally propagated from slips , or novel growth that sprouts from the ends of the root genus Tuber .

If this is your first attempt , it ’s good to tell slick from a greenhouse or trusted purveyor , since they are less likely to acquit disease .

In subsequent years , you’re able to use your own parent plants to bug out unexampled slips . To avoid diseases , think about purchase new slips every three years or so .

A sweet potato is balanced in a jar with roots sprouting and an inch of water at the bottom and green sprouts at the top, on a yellow table with a gray wall in the background with shadows and sunlight making diagonal stripes across the wall.

There are a ton of tutorials out there on begin slips , but I ’ll just share one option with you :

In other spring , move a salubrious parent murphy to a warm place . Soak the entire tuber in quick water overnight about a calendar month before your area ’s last hoar date .

Then , find a container large enough to fit the number of potatoes you want to use . I stuck a individual tater in a loaf pan and it was the perfect size .

Top-down shot of a beige sweet potato resting on top of brown soil in a metal loaf pan, with a terra cotta colored plastic flower pot half filled with soil to the left, on a black, white, and beige speckled granite countertop.

palpate free to get originative with your container . you could use whatever is handy that ’s the right size of it .

A deep seed tray is meet if you ’re render to pullulate more than one .

take the container just an inch or two with a mixture of potting land and Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin .

A beige-skinned sweet potato planted horizontally in a metal loaf pan filed with brown soil and mulch, with green shoots sprouting from the right end, on a granite countertop with a white wall in the background.

localise the sweet potato into the container horizontally and extend it with territory . It ’s okay if it peeks through the soil a bit .

Keep the grunge moist and warm , and hold off for slips to form . This will likely take a few weeks , and you’re able to await to get at least 6 per genus Tuber .

Once the fresh formed slip are at least 4 inches long , cautiously break them off .

A green plant grows from a beige sweet potato planted in dark brown soil in a metal loaf pan, resting on a deck rail against a vinyl siding wall.

One of the benefits of sprouting sweet potatoes in soil rather than water is that faux pas run to have pretty well formed root from the start .

If you do n’t happen this to be the case , however , you could root them in water . Fill a deoxyephedrine with just a couplet of inch of clean and , ideally , chlorine free body of water .

The bottom inch or two of the gaffe ’s stem should be overwhelm , while the leaves deposit out of the top .

Long green shoots and leaves sprout from a beige sweet potato with white flesh, resting on soil topped with brown mulch.

Within a week , they will rise source and be ready to plant out in the garden , give that all chance of frost has pass away and the soil temperature is around 70 ° F .

You ’ll desire to get them out in the garden as soon as possible because , reckon on the variety , plants will need 90 to 120 day to suppurate .

Without a long rise season , chances are you ’ll be disappointed with your harvest . If you ’re do-or-die for more sentence at the oddment of the season , try using floating row covers .

Three healthy Ipomea batatas shoots with roots to the left and leaves to the right, on brown soil topped with leaf mulch.

Ideal Growing Conditions

Sweet potatoes are pretty tough . The one affair they wo n’t stand , however , is cool weather . Even the slightest frost will take them out .

But theyhandle passion and drought really well .

Still , the better the acquire stipulation , the better the harvest home .

Backlit image of sweet potato shoots sprouting roots in a jar of water on a windowsill, with trees and a white stucco wall outside.

Being a root craw , grease health induce a large divergence . Slightly acidic soil with apH between 6.0 and 6.5 is ideal .

Sandy loamthat ’s well drainingbut alimentary densewill make this sunshine - make out tropical vine happiest .

raise bed are a keen optiontoo , since they warm up quickly and are typically filled with a loamy soil mixture . promiscuous grunge will allow roots to grow freely .

A small green sweet potato seedling growing in brown mulch.

Addfresh organic composta calendar week or two before planting , for append nutrients and constitutive matter .

If you choose chemical fertiliser and do n’t want to have your filth tested , amaze with an N - P - K ( nitrogen , morning star , potassium ) ratio of 5 - 10 - 10 .

Keep in intellect that too much nitrogen will result in vigorous vine , but a little harvest .

A wooden raised bed filled with brown soil and mulch, with nine green Ipomea batatas seedlings planted in two rows of three.

Space plants at least 24 inch apart to give vine adequate room to straggle . Keep them well water until they become established .

Apply a layer oforganic mulch , such as pine barque or grass clipping , which will avail to retain soil wet and temperature , as well asreduce weeds .

Once vine start take in off , you may assume they ’re give .

A small green Ipomea batatas plant with eleven leaves of varying sizes, growing in dark brown soil that is wet around the base of the plant.

Containers work well , too , but do n’t seek to cram a small area with too many slip . If you do , you ’ll dramatically decrease the telephone number of Tuber that get per plant .

Instead , plants with enough room to produce make a much orotund harvest .

In the absence of rain , water regularly . Even though plant will tolerate drouth , your harvest will be heavy if they are n’t subject to water system - related stress .

Green sweet potato vines trailing across a bed of black soil.

If countenance to wilt , beginning maturation will likely brook .

About three calendar week or so before harvesting , stop watering . Overwatering at the end of the time of year can cause Tuber to split up .

Once vine make full in , weeds will have a hard prison term becoming plant . Avoid cutting vines back if possible .

Sweet potato leaves with holes made by insects.

If space is an progeny , look at growing a more thickset bush variety .

If you live in an area that has mild summer , try pose heavy - free weight garden fabric over the dirt to increase temperature .

Raised bed warm up faster and are especially appropriate if cooler temperature are common .

Ipomea batatas with beige skin and green shoots sprouting from one end, on a brown wood surface.

you’re able to also consider set dark plastic over the area in spring to get land temperatures up .

Pests and Diseases to Know About

Underground pests might be the worst of them all because you often do n’t know they ’re a trouble until harvesting time .

What a dashing hopes when you go to harvest time , only to find your crop has already been a repast for hugger-mugger indweller .

If growing plants in an area that was recently growing pot , wireworms ( the larvae of click beetles ) androot - naut mi nematodesmight already be present . Both of these critter wish to crunch on the tubers .

Keep an eye out for any vine that are stunted or yellowing . It may be deserving digging a number to do some investigating if you suspect hugger-mugger pests .

Crop rotation , cover crops , and planting in raised beds where grunge material is more controlled can help to prevent plague by dirt - dwelling pests .

Tiny holes in the leafage may be the work offlea mallet . If vines are healthy and vigorous , they should be able to handle some damage .

Sweet potato scurf is a middling common disease , resulting in black spots on the skin of genus Tuber . Although it might be unsightly , it does n’t really impact the timber of the harvest . Remove the affected skin and eat them just the same .

pick out disease resistant varieties and healthy sideslip from the start , and provide adequate growing conditions , and you likely wo n’t experience any disease consequence at all .

Minimal Effort, Large Reward

Overall , sweet potatoes are a absolvitory crop to produce .

And , even if you only get a small harvest time your first season , you may salve one or two tuber as parent plant for next time of year .

In this way , you ’ll demand to pass very small money while honing your sweet potato growing skills .

Learn more about harvesting and storing your sweet potatoes here .

This long - time of year , estrus - loving tropical is beautiful and humiliated maintenance . And the delicious , leisurely to stash away root tubers are a cheering reward for minimal effort .

Have you grown sweet potatoes before ? meet us in on your secret to a vouch harvest below !

pic by Amber Shidler © necessitate the Experts , LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.See our TOSfor more detail .   Uncredited picture : Shutterstock .   With additional writing and editing by Allison Sidhu .

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Amber Shidler