Sweet potato: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
How do you start sweet potato plants from cuttings?
Sweet potatoes are usually propagated from shoot cuttings, rather than seed or pieces planted like ordinary potatoes. To start your plants, use a healthy storage root of a variety suited to your climate, or buy cuttings or young plants from a supplier. An organic label alone guarantees neither establishment nor an early variety.
In spring, place a healthy root in slightly moist sand or growing medium in warmth. You do not need to cut it in half. Avoid standing water and discard rotting roots. Once shoots develop, give them good light. The time they take to appear varies with warmth and the root's condition.
Take shoots with a clean tool when sufficiently developed, then root them in pots of free-draining compost in warmth and light. They can also form roots in water before potting. Keep the medium moist without soaking it. Wait for well-rooted, vigorous plants before hardening off and final planting; do not put unrooted shoots straight outdoors in cool weather.
How do you plant sweet potatoes?
How to care for this plant
-
Weed
Before your sweet potato vines cover the soil, remove weeds competing with the young plants. Work very shallowly or by hand to protect the roots. Leave already-rooted vines in place. If mulch is already preventing weeds or the soil is clear, there is nothing to do.
How do you harvest sweet potatoes?
