Growing Sweet Potatoes

Post date: Apr 30, 2020 11:18:24 PM

Uma Sashikanth

Lovely. I am so delighted that so many of us have made sweet potato slips.

Separate the slips when they are about a foot tall, have 5-6 leaves. Keep the slips in water for a couple of days and sow.

You can sow anytime from now until end May. The potato itself can be sowed too. Allow 2 square feet per plant. In a five gallon grow bag, you can sow 2 slips.

Here are some growing tips:

1. Sweet potatoes are vigorous summer crops. Sow the slips in and area that gets full sun. You can also sow in containers. Higher the sun hours, higher the heat, better the yield.

2. They take 120-150 days to set potatoes. You can harvest early October onwards. Once flowers form you know tubers are also beginning to form.

3. There is no way to add fertilizers and nutrition mid way. So prep your sowing area well. Add compost, manure and some blood and bone meal if you use them. You can add some fish fertilizer after a month if the plant is slow to take off. After that don’t fertilize. You will get more leaves than potatoes.

4. The vines look pretty and the Americans grow them as ground cover and ornamental. Go ahead and sow them in the front as if it were an ornamental. It will spread and look pretty. Those pale green vines you see in summer are a variety of sweet potato - non yielding though.

5. Sweet potatoes don’t get any pests. They are sturdy and happy plants. Low maintenance. If you intersow some plants that love cool feet, like say arbi, sweet potatoes will happily coexist. Sow arbi along the trailing path now, and the plants will be big by the time the vines reach to grow at their feet.

6. The tender leaves are edible. Pinch off to eat, but be discerning. You won’t get much potatoes if you constantly trim and eat the leaves.

7. Don’t water the leaves. The plant is happy with weekly rains. Needs about an inch of water per week. Leave the hose near the roots to soak up thoroughly, once a week.

Enjoy your plants and let’s share progress pics and harvest pics. It is a sweet potato festival here indeed!

Salini's notes

I will share my experience too ..First I am growing this .Always thought it is hard to grow Sweet potato.But when I saw Rani’s and Uma’s post thought to give it a try ..

1.put them in water pointy side up and keep in window sill in a plastic glass .Those toothpicks will help in holding it straight . Roots will start showing up in few days .

2.Change water every two days.. (I killed 2 by not doing this .. it rotted 😒)

3.Wait ..don’t loose patience (I did and lessons learned)You will see those shoot coming up.Now watch them growing 😊

The one which has many shoots I bought from some store.It grew in pantry.I kept it outside few days and the shoots started drying.Then I put it in water .. the shoots on the top and bottom part in water 2 weeks.. nothing happened..Then I rotated it and put the growing part in water .To my surprise roots started and more shoots started growing ...

Sorry for this long story..Hopefully will help you and some one else in growing sweet potatoes 😊

Rani's notes

I got Asian sweet potato slips online last season and got good yield in container. This time I am growing slips at home. Will be transplanting next week depending on weather.

Asian ones tend to be more sensitive to temperature fluctuations. If you are transplanting into containers, keep them in a semi shaded place until they take root and then keep them in a sunlit area. Night temps above 60 is ideal but it may do fine above 50 as well. Also make potting soil fertile as Uma had posted earlier.

For ground transplants, soil should be loose and composted well, sunny area. Vines will take over plot gradually, so choose your plot well, although Asian ones are not as voracious.

I have used some American sweet potato leaves in cooking, not sure about Asian ones.