Comments on: How To Grow An Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Vine

By: Judy

Judy — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:16:15 +0000

Hi! I live in north Italy where my husband and I have an organic vegetable farm and Bed & Breakfast. We have tried growing organic sweet potatoes but, so far, without success. This year, I am growing them in jars with water. My hope is to keep them happy throughout the winter and then plant the ships outside in spring. The vines are getting quite long and sometimes the leaves become yellow. Here is my question: Should I cut the vines and keep them short and do you recommend planting the potato in soil if the “slips” will eventually be planted outside to grow sweet-potatoes? Thank you for any help you can give…Judy Rosso

By: Charlene

Charlene — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:06:17 +0000

My sweet potatoe was on my counter in my kitchen for a couple of months and started to grow vines. I put it in a bowl with a little water. How do I plant it . Can I have it just as a house plant.

By: Nik

Nik — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:34:54 +0000

Hi-

My sweet potatoe vine is nice but the leaves are regular green – not the pretty bright electric green I have seen on many other sweet potato plants (like the photo at the top of this page). Any idea why?

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:02:57 +0000

I tried my hand at growing a sweet potato vine and it has turned out really well. It is beautiful, but I would like it to be fuller. Can I cut back the long vines to make it more bushy? Also, if I can cut it back can I root the cuttings?

By: Lea

Lea — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:15:53 +0000

I have one store bought sweet potato that I put in water months ago. It only sprouted one vine that is now about a 5 foot vine. About 2 months after that, I put an organic sweet potato in water. That one has several sprouts and pretty green and purple leaves on it. I think I will plant that one in a pot. Also, the store bought potato is rotting I think. They both took a long time to start sprouting…but once they started they really took off. Maybe it takes longer depending on the time of year??

By: m1guet

m1guet — Sat, 08 May 2010 11:54:50 +0000

Help !
It’s my first time,
…My slips were fine, I wanted to plant them out, but it is too cold, here in England, I have planted them in pots, but the leaves are turning brown on the edges…I am keeping them well watered, should I stop ? Do they like drying out a bit ?? Thank you very much…

By: CoCo

CoCo — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:13:47 +0000

I have grown these most of my life and they’re really pretty houseplants. I’ve had better luck using sweet potatoes that have already sprouted eyes. You can put them in a dark closet and just watch for the eyes to sprout and then place them in water.

You can cut them in half, but I rarely do. If the potato keep falling into the container you want to use you can stick toothpicks in them to support them on the top of the jar. Mine look great as long as they get a lot of sun, but as soon as they get too big and I have to move them away from the window they get real scrawny. The vines get long, but the leaves are really small.

By: BETTY

BETTY — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:03:32 +0000

Most of the sweet potatoes in the stores have been “kiln-dried”; I am not sure of the reason – maybe to keep them from rotting in storage, but that seems to hinder their ability to sprout new plants.

By: ROXANE

ROXANE — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:41:00 +0000

I have a sweet potato that has grown shoots and leaves all over the one end just sitting in my kitchen basket, can I plant it directly in soil without starting roots?

By: Kasandra

Kasandra — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:00:34 +0000

I want to fill my garden with sweet potato vines, but I’ve never planted anything before. I plan to root them in the house now while it’s still pretty cold and then transfer them to the garden at some point. Can you give me an idea of when is too early to transfer them? is there a particular average temperature that is best? For example, should I wait until most days are in the 70-degrees-fahrenheit range before I plant?

Also, will these grow well in my office with no real sunlight as long as I keep them watered?

Thanks!