How to Grow Sweet Potatoes
Choose a sweet potato., Make sure you have the right climate., Prepare your potato., Fill a jar with water., Place your potato in the water., Add some light and heat., Let your slips grow., Harvest the slips., Put your slips in water., Get your...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Choose a sweet potato.
Slips are small sprouts that are grown from pre-existing sweet potato plants.
You can choose to order these online or from a garden center, but you can also grow them at home easily.
Find a mature, healthy sweet potato plant from the store or a friend’s garden.The most common and popular sweet potato varieties (available at most stores) are Beauregard, ‘bunch’ Porto Ricos, and centennials. -
Step 2: Make sure you have the right climate.
Sweet Potatoes are a tropical plant.
This means that they grow well in USDA hardiness zones 9, 10, and
11.
This area includes most of the southern and south-western United States.
If starting your own slips, start sprouting them in March or April.
Slips should be planted in the ground in May or June., When you’ve gotten your hands on 1-2 healthy sweet potatoes, stick them in the sink and wash them well.
Then, cut your potato in half.
If the potato is particularly large, consider cutting it into thirds or fourths. , The way your slip-growing works, is that you’ll place your potato half in/half out of a container of water.
Use a jar or a glass cup with an opening large enough to fit your potato, and fill the whole thing with water. , Stick 4-5 toothpicks out of the sides of your potato equidistant apart and near the middle, like spokes on a wheel.
Place the potato into the jar/glass of water with the cut side down, with the toothpicks holding half of the potato out by balancing it on the rim of the glass.
Do this for every slice of potato that you have, with each section in a different jar. , Move the jar with the potato onto a windowsill that gets a lot of sunlight. , Wait for 2-4 weeks for the small leafy slips to begin sprouting out of the top of the potato. , When the top of your potato is covered in slips, carefully twist each one off individually.
They won’t have roots yet and will resemble small leaves with a short stem. , Fill a shallow bowl with a bit of water, around 1” or less depending on the number of slips you have.
Set the slips in the bowl so that the stem is submerged in the water.
Leave them like this for several days, until roots have formed from the bottom.
Add fresh water once a day or so to keep the slips healthy.
If any of the slips are not forming roots or begin to wilt, throw them out. , After 2-3 days, your slips should have developed roots at the bottom.
At this point, dump out the water in the bowl and bring your slips out for planting.
These are best placed directly into your garden rather than in individual planters to keep the roots intact. -
Step 3: Prepare your potato.
-
Step 4: Fill a jar with water.
-
Step 5: Place your potato in the water.
-
Step 6: Add some light and heat.
-
Step 7: Let your slips grow.
-
Step 8: Harvest the slips.
-
Step 9: Put your slips in water.
-
Step 10: Get your slips out for planting.
Detailed Guide
Slips are small sprouts that are grown from pre-existing sweet potato plants.
You can choose to order these online or from a garden center, but you can also grow them at home easily.
Find a mature, healthy sweet potato plant from the store or a friend’s garden.The most common and popular sweet potato varieties (available at most stores) are Beauregard, ‘bunch’ Porto Ricos, and centennials.
Sweet Potatoes are a tropical plant.
This means that they grow well in USDA hardiness zones 9, 10, and
11.
This area includes most of the southern and south-western United States.
If starting your own slips, start sprouting them in March or April.
Slips should be planted in the ground in May or June., When you’ve gotten your hands on 1-2 healthy sweet potatoes, stick them in the sink and wash them well.
Then, cut your potato in half.
If the potato is particularly large, consider cutting it into thirds or fourths. , The way your slip-growing works, is that you’ll place your potato half in/half out of a container of water.
Use a jar or a glass cup with an opening large enough to fit your potato, and fill the whole thing with water. , Stick 4-5 toothpicks out of the sides of your potato equidistant apart and near the middle, like spokes on a wheel.
Place the potato into the jar/glass of water with the cut side down, with the toothpicks holding half of the potato out by balancing it on the rim of the glass.
Do this for every slice of potato that you have, with each section in a different jar. , Move the jar with the potato onto a windowsill that gets a lot of sunlight. , Wait for 2-4 weeks for the small leafy slips to begin sprouting out of the top of the potato. , When the top of your potato is covered in slips, carefully twist each one off individually.
They won’t have roots yet and will resemble small leaves with a short stem. , Fill a shallow bowl with a bit of water, around 1” or less depending on the number of slips you have.
Set the slips in the bowl so that the stem is submerged in the water.
Leave them like this for several days, until roots have formed from the bottom.
Add fresh water once a day or so to keep the slips healthy.
If any of the slips are not forming roots or begin to wilt, throw them out. , After 2-3 days, your slips should have developed roots at the bottom.
At this point, dump out the water in the bowl and bring your slips out for planting.
These are best placed directly into your garden rather than in individual planters to keep the roots intact.
About the Author
Raymond Roberts
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow pet care tutorials.
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