How to Grow a Houseplant From a Sweet Potato

Not all houseplants come from the local garden center. Your kitchen is a great place to start houseplants, using items you brought home from the grocery store. Start a plant from the pit of an avocado, the top of a pineapple, a half carrot or beet. For the prettiest houseplant you can start in your kitchen, place a sweet potato in water and wait for the sweet potato vine to grow.

Things You'll Need

• Sweet potato
• Glass jar
• Toothpicks
• Flowerpot
• Potting soil

Instructions

1. Insert four toothpicks in a circle around the middle of the sweet potato to support the tuber in the glass jar.

2. Fill the jar with water and suspend the sweet potato narrow end down by resting the toothpicks on the rim of the jar. The water should cover at least a third of the tuber -- half is better.

3. Place the jar in a warm, light place and keep the jar filled with water. A kitchen windowsill is ideal. Roots begin to grow. In about 10 days, a stem emerges from the top of the potato.

4. Keep the jar filled with water over the next six to eight weeks as the plant develops.

5. Plant the sweet potato plant in a flowerpot filled with soil. As the vines grow, they can be left to trail or trained to climb.

References

• Houseplant Care & Information: How to Grow an Old-Fashioned Sweet Potato Vine
• University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension: Houseplants From the Kitchen