Hi all,

I have not harvested any sweet potatoes yet, will probably do it next
spring. I put a sweet potato in some water and in a few days it sprouted,
I've not got about 15-18 sprouts (slips) that are about 10-12" tall.

From what I've read, I take each of these slips, place them in water till
they root (they've all rooted now actually), then plant them in soil in the
spring. I have a couple of questions about his whole process, not sure I
understand it right....

Why are people sprouting these things and getting slips to grow in the fall?
Why not just drop sprouted spuds in the ground in the spring?

Do the slips need to be a certain size/maturity before planting them in the
ground?

If I was to try growing them indoors, does anyone know what size of pot I
should use? Someone posted something about a 2 gal. pot and getting a bunch
of sweet potatoes. What about a 4 gal? Or would this lead to cherry sweet
potatoes?

Any advice/expertise would be appreciated!!

Thanks!

Mike

Unless you heat your house to an average of 95F, it's a waste of time
growing them indoors.

You can get a lot of vines but if you want sweet potatoes you pretty
much have to live in hot, hot weather.

Lots of folks do use as house plants just for the vines. They don't try
to pot them, just stand the sweet potato in a jar of water and let the
vines do their thing.
A sweet potato is a modified root, entirely different from an Irish
potato. It is a hot weather plant, so if you want to grow sweet
potatoes, you will need the slips in spring. Even cuttings of the vine
will work. They are incredibly tough in hot weather.but can't stand any
cold.

In article .com,
" wrote:

Lots of folks do use as house plants just for the vines. They don't try
to pot them, just stand the sweet potato in a jar of water and let the
vines do their thing.
A sweet potato is a modified root, entirely different from an Irish
potato. It is a hot weather plant, so if you want to grow sweet
potatoes, you will need the slips in spring. Even cuttings of the vine
will work. They are incredibly tough in hot weather.but can't stand any
cold.


Would they make a good site barrier on a fence in hot, low water
conditions?
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

"Mike C" writes:
Why not just drop sprouted spuds in the ground in the spring?

I can tell you of my experience. I saved a sweet potato that had begun
to sprout and I planted it out in rich loam in a fantastic climate.
The vine grow phenomenally well, you could almost see the sea of green
expanding outwards before your eyes. As summer came to an end I decided I'd
start harvesting the crop in stages, digging up just one square metre of
the bed at a time. But in search of my first spud I ended up digging the
whole bed and the only spud I found was the one I'd planted! There were not
even tiny tubers in the making anywhere. After planting the whole spud my
crop was all vine.

Do the slips need to be a certain size/maturity before planting them in the
ground?

I expect they'll do just fine provided they have a healthy set of roots when
you plant them out. The pink-fleshed sweet potatoes do really well in rich
sandy loam in full sun. Make sure you cover the slips when you plant them
out or they'll be badly sunburnt. Harden them off first, too.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)