How to grow Sweet Potatoes

How to grow sweet potatoes

I have been asked quite a lot recently, what can I plant now ?
Well......it is going to be dangerously hot quite soon and honestly, you really shouldn't be planting anything.
However, for those of you who are interested. Here's a little bit of information about planting sweet potatoes. It is rather late to be doing this, but if you want to try - I say go for it !

Sweet potatoes grow very well here in the low desert. They need a long warm season to grow to full maturity, not a problem here. It is a fun thing to start them off at home. ( See photos below).

Begin by purchasing an organic sweet potato, you don't one that has either been sprayed with pesticides or a chemical to stop them sprouting.

 
Place the potato in a glass that is half full of water and just put it on the counter in the kitchen or somewhere else in the house that you can keep an eye on it.
 

You can see that there are little indentations on the surface of the potato, these are the "eyes" or dormant buds. We want these to start to grow and produce little shoots. After a week or so it should start to break the dormancy and produce shoots.

 
Once it has got to about this size, you can plant it in the garden. It does not matter if you bury the shoots, they will soon poke their way through the soil. Keep it well watered and soon it will take off and start growing like crazy !!
( you can also grow sweet potatoes from "slips" see this University of Arizona Master Gardener website for more details https://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/archive/sweetpotatoes.html )
 
 
Sweet potato planted about a month ago, growing next to a squash plant. Photo - June 15th 2017.
 
You need a LOT of room for sweet potatoes, they grow rampantly covering many square feet.
This one plant will produce many tubers, which are usually harvested in the fall - November time.
Watch this space in the fall for the harvest !
 
 
The sweet potato leaves are a summer green, not my taste but popular with many people.  
 
Happy Gardening and stay cool.
 
 
 
 
 


 

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