Tips on Propagating Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are staples at holiday meals.

Sweet potatoes are nutritious tubers with a distinct flavor and vibrant, deep-orange color. Sweet potato vines are also common for hanging baskets, houseplants, mixed patio flowerpots or as ground cover. Growing or propagating a sweet potato vine for decorative purposes differs from growing the plant for tubers or a food source.

Growing Decorative Vines

There are two types of sweet potatoes used for propagation. Choose the vine variety for decorative purposes or the bush type for growing new tubers or potatoes. A vine is easy to grow indoors and is often used by elementary science classes studying root growth and light-versus-dark plant needs. A simple mason jar or other container, four to six toothpicks and a tuber is all that is needed to start a vine. Just stick some toothpicks around the tuber about midway and balance the tuber on the mouth of the jar. Keep the jar filled with enough water so that about one- to two-thirds of the sweet potato stays submerged.

Transplanting Decorative Vines

Roots form at the bottom and vines grow from the top within seven to 10 days. Once the roots are established about 3 to 4 inches long, carefully transplant the tuber to a planter been filled with soil. Sweet potato vines are very hardy and can be transplanted without the tuber. Cut the vines off the tuber and lay them on moist soil. Vines will take root and begin to grow new vines.

Growing Food Crops

The bush variety of sweet potato is a food crop. Purchase them or start your own. To grow your own, cut a tuber into two or three long sections and start them in a glass of water using the same method as growing a vine. Once grown to about 12 inches, carefully remove the growth or slip and place it in a shallow dish of water with about half of the slip under water. Transplanted slips to the garden when a root system is established. Plant slips about 3 inches below the soil’s surface covering the roots and most of the slip, leaving the leaves above ground. Loose, well-cultivated soil is necessary allowing maximum root and tuber growth. Harvest tubers when the plant begins dying back at the end of the growing season.

Tips

Do not plant sweet potato tubers in areas heavily infested with grubworms, as they damage plants and tubers. The University of Illinois recommends harvesting your tubers as soon as possible if a frost occurs to keep disease or mold from transferring from the plant to the tuber.

References

• University of Illinois Extension; Sweet Potato; Ron Wolford, et al.
• University of Missouri Extension; Growing Sweet Potatoes; Lewis W. Jett; May 2006
• The Ohio State University Extension: Nutrition & You