Sweet Potatoes
Decide on variety. Do a bit of research and you will never have to buy them again.
Purchase (or acquire from another gardener) slips or vines of the variety you want. Slips are short vines with immature leaves that grow from the sweet potato root. Vines also come from the sweet potato root but are mature with full leaves.
SLIPS are below.
VINES are below.
Prepare pots or soil. Sweet potatoes grow so well here in SW Florida that we could say they are invasive. The problem with growing in the ground is that it is nearly impossible to dig up all the roots that want to become sweet potatoes. After experimenting, we now only grow in pots and use use soil mix made up of peat moss, perlite, decomposed rabbit manure, plus a homemade fertilizer seasoning. Using pots we are just about rid of root knot nematode damage too!
There are two options for planting.
Root the slips. Take your slips and place the cut ends into some water. This works best with a shallow glass container that allows air circulation. Keep an eye on it and add/change water as needed. When roots have formed, transplant into the garden or a pot and keep moist until it takes hold (builds up roots).
Plant vines directly (or root as above). Trim leaves off of the bottom of vine so that at least one node (node = place where the leaf meets the vine) is without a leaf. I usually trim off the bottom 4-5 leaves. Bury the stem portion with the bare nodes horizontally under the soil (you can coil it if you wish) and press so the stem makes contact with soil. Keep vine moist at all times until it takes root.
Remember to water and fertilize your sweet potatoes regularly. They love lots of water. Watch for white fly and army worms. Frost will kill back the leaves but the sweet potato roots are usually unharmed. Wait 4-6 months. Dig or pull out sweet potatoes from the soil, clean, and eat.
You now have your own source to continue growing your own sweet potatoes forever!
NOT RECOMMENDED: a perennial bed of sweet potatoes. Sweet potato weevils love sweet potatoes that have been left in the ground too long. Dig them all up and rotate where you plant them. Click here to see what sweet potato weevils look like and what damage they can do.
