Gardening Edible Gardening Vegetable Gardening How to Plant and Grow Sweet Potato Plants Slip some of these delicious, easy-to-grow veggies into your garden this year. By Rita Pelczar Rita Pelczar Rita Pelczar is a lifelong gardener and experienced horticulturist. She shares her enthusiasm for growing plants and environmentally responsible practices through teaching, coaching, and extensive writing. She has worked in the field for over 40 years, and has been writing for 30 years. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process and Viveka Neveln Viveka Neveln Viveka Neveln is the Garden Editor at BHG and a degreed horticulturist with broad gardening expertise earned over 3+ decades of practice and study. She has more than 20 years of experience writing and editing for both print and digital media. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on June 6, 2024 In This Article View All In This Article Where to Plant Planting Tips Care Pests and Problems Propagation Harvesting Types FAQ Tropical sweet potato plants are related to morning glories and are very easy to grow. They require a long, warm growing season to mature, which is why they're a southern favorite. However, newer, faster-maturing varieties make it possible to grow sweet potatoes in northern gardens with a shorter growing season. And while traditional varieties of sweet potatoes command a good bit of garden space—their vines often cover several feet of ground—there are bush varieties that are better suited to smaller gardens. Here's how to plant and grow sweet potatoes in your garden. Dean Schoeppner Sweet Potato Overview Genus Name Ipomoea batatas Common Name Sweet Potato Plant Type Vegetable Light Sun Height 1 to 2 feet Width 2 to 20 feet Propagation Leaf Cuttings, Stem Cuttings Where to Plant Sweet Potato Plants Choose a spot in full sun to plant sweet potatoes. They will grow in less than full sun but not produce as well. Your planting site should also be well-drained, or your sweet potato roots may rot. If your soil is poorly drained or rocky, grow your sweet potatoes in raised beds or large containers. These plants often spread widely, so be sure you have adequate planting space. How to Build a Cedar Planter Box Scott Little How and When to Plant Sweet Potato Plants Sweet potatoes are very sensitive to cold so wait to plant slips (sprouts) of sweet potatoes until spring weather has warmed and all danger of frost has passed. Make sure the soil has warmed to about 65°F, usually about three to four weeks after the last frost. Space slips 12 to 18 inches apart in rows that are 3 to 4 feet apart. In cool-summer areas, you can plant the slips through slits in sheets of black plastic mulch, which will warm the soil and speed development. If you experience some cool night temperatures, cover newly planted slips overnight with a plastic pot or row cover to protect your plants from a cold snap. Sweet Potato Care Tips Light The more sunlight you have for growing sweet potatoes, the better. The best is a minimum of 6 hours of direct sun per day. More sun means better growth above the ground, helping the tubers growing underground to thrive and develop deeper color. Soil and Water Although sweet potatoes grow best in sandy soil, any well-drained garden soil with a pH of 5.8 to 6.2 is fine. To improve drainage, enrich soil with organic matter to a depth of 8 to 10 inches. Water newly planted slips regularly until they are established, then provide about an inch of water per week to your sweet potato patch. Reduce watering 2 to 3 weeks before harvest to reduce cracking of the sweet potato skin, which can cause problems in storage. The 6 Best Watering Wands of 2024 to Keep Your Garden Green Temperature and Humidity Sweet potatoes love hot weather and grow best where temperatures range between 65-95°F. They thrive in areas with high humidity, but they will also tolerate average humidity. Fertilizer The best time to add fertilizer is just before planting. Because sweet potato plants are not heavy feeders, working compost into the soil at planting time will usually provide sufficient nutrients. A slow-release organic fertilizer can also be added to the soil prior to planting. Do not over-fertilize, especially with nitrogen, as this will lead to excess leafy growth at the expense of producing sweet potato roots. Pruning Don't prune the sweet potato vines—the leaves are necessary to manufacture food stored in the tuberous roots. If your vines wander further than you want, lift them up and direct them to grow elsewhere. Pests and Problems Deer are fond of sweet potato leaves and can decimate a planting. If deer are a problem in your yard, protect the plants with fencing or netting. Few other pests cause significant problems, although golden tortoise beetles, aphids, and a variety of caterpillars sometimes feed on the leaves. In some areas, wire worms and root knot nematodes can cause problems underground. Fusarium wilt and black scurf are fungal diseases that may infect sweet potatoes. Fusarium wilt causes leaves to turn yellow and vines to wilt. Sweet potatoes infected with black scurf develop rounded black blotches on the sweet potato. The best disease prevention is to plant certified disease-free slips, choose resistant varieties, and rotate your sweet potato patch each year. Scott Little How to Propagate Sweet Potato Plants Unlike the regular potato, which is a tuber (a modified stem), the sweet potato plant is a tuberous root. This difference is significant in how new plants are started. To plant potatoes, you simply cut a potato into pieces, each with a couple of eyes, and plant it. Sweet potatoes are grown from slips, which are rooted stems that come from the sprouting end of a sweet potato. Growing slips is not difficult, but it does take some time; you can also purchase slips either by mail order or from your local garden center. To grow sweet potato slips, purchase a healthy, untreated sweet potato and set it lengthwise in a container of potting soil or sand. Cover the lower half of the sweet potato with potting soil. Keep it moist and warm. Within a few weeks, shoots will begin to sprout from one end. When the shoots reach about six inches long, break them off the sweet potato and place the lower end of the slip in water, where it will form roots. One sweet potato will usually produce 10 to 20 slips. If you have a long warm season, you can take stem cuttings off growing plants and place the cuttings in water to root for a second planting. Marty Baldwin Harvesting and Storing Sweet Potatoes Harvest your sweet potatoes in the fall when the weather begins to turn cooler and vines start to wither. Aim to harvest before your area's first frost—a light frost won’t usually damage the roots, but a hard frost may injure roots near the soil surface. Use a garden fork to lift the sweet potatoes and brush the soil from the roots. Damaged roots should be separated for immediate use. Undamaged roots can be cured for storage by placing them in a warm room (80 to 90°F), ideally with high humidity for five or six days. Curing heals small scratches and starts the conversion of starches to sugars, which improves flavor. If kept in a dark space where temperatures stay between 50 and 60°F, cured sweet potatoes can be stored for several months. Don't store sweet potatoes in the refrigerator, whether from your garden or from the grocery store. Warmer is better than cooler to protect the flavor. Wait to wash sweet potatoes until right before eating them. 10 Must-Try Sweet Potato Recipes to Include in Your Fall Menu Types of Sweet Potato Plants Beauregard Beauregard’ is an old favorite with reddish skin and deep orange, moist, sweet flesh. It is a heavy producer, disease-resistant, and matures in 100 days Georgia Jet ‘Georgia Jet’ is a good choice for gardeners in cooler regions. It tolerates cooler temperatures than most varieties and matures in about 90 days. Its flesh is bright orange and has excellent flavor. Bush Porto Rico ‘Bush Porto Rico’ produces heavy yields on more compact plants, so is well suited to smaller gardens. Its flesh is reddish-orange, and it matures in 110 days. O'Henry ‘O’Henry’ is a tan-skinned variety with creamy-yellow, somewhat dry flesh with a delicate flavor. It produces good yields of very large (sometimes cantaloupe-sized) sweet potatoes in about 100 days. Murasaki ‘Murasaki’ is a popular Japanese variety with purple skin and dry, cream-colored flesh with a rich, nutty flavor. It takes 105 to 120 days to mature. What Is Ube? Learn About the Sweet Purple Yam Frequently Asked Questions What’s the difference between a sweet potato and a yam? A sweet potato is a tropical tuberous root, a member of the morning glory family, something we’re all familiar with. A yam is a tropical tuber more closely related to a lily. Its tuber has starchy light-colored flesh and scaly tan skin. Yams are mainly cultivated in western Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. What many Americans call yams are in fact sweet potatoes. Do ornamental sweet potato vines produce edible sweet potatoes? Ornamental sweet potatoes, grown for their colorful leaves as an annual groundcover or container plant, do produce tuberous roots but they are generally of poor quality for eating. A few new varieties are being marketed as edible ornamental sweet potatoes. Treasure Island Kaukura, for example, produces tasty, orange-fleshed roots on vines with deep purple leaves. Can you grow sweet potatoes in containers? Sweet potatoes grow well in containers but to harvest a reasonable crop, you’ll need a large pot (at least 24 inches wide and 12 inches deep) with good drainage holes. A half whiskey barrel is an excellent choice. Use a well-draining potting soil. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit