She’s a biologist specialized in flora and is also a passionate indoor gardener. Even better, the leaves are edible and tasty. The tubers need loose soil to grow large. They are not particularly fussy but do prefer an acid or neutral soil. Overall, sweet potatoes are a forgiving crop to grow. Once that is done, you should cover all the cuttings with soil. To get the most flavor from your sweet potatoes and to extend their shelf life, cure them in a warm, dry place for 10 days to two weeks before eating. The sweet potato is a large, sweet-tasting root of the morning glory family. Growing potatoes in a container. and spread a thick layer of mulch around the container to act as a blanket to protect the roots. The one usual sign is when leaves start to be yellow. Before you plant the potatoes, fill up the bottom of your containers with 4–6 in (10–15 cm) of well-drained potting soil. Then let’s begin! Sara Elizabeth Taylor has been a lover of things that grow, and that love has been a major part of her life. Some pros start their own slips indoors, in late winter, from a saved sweet potato. Although as mentioned before not all sweet potatoes will sprout, most will start producing roots on the underside and little stems and leaves on top. You can snap those off the mother sweet potato and plant those individual slips into the ground or in a large container in the home. Regular watering is essential for growing potatoes indoors, as they cannot resist droughts and infrequent watering. As far as I can tell, once you have prepared and planted the potato spuds, there is not much more work to do. Below we’ve corralled a few of our favorite ideas for growing spuds. Plant the sweet potato in a container of potting soil when each vine has as least four to six leaves. Propagating and Growing Sweet Potatoes in Pots Tools and Supplies You Will Need. Steps. Now, when the soil on one part of the pot is slightly higher than on the other sides, then you can put the cuttings inside the soil and turn the roots to the side where the soil is a bit lowered. Make a hole in the center of the soil, deep enough to cover the roots of the slip. So, you have to provide fresh compost in about regular intervals of a week or so. I have tested all of these soils, and they will all do a great job. Sweet potatoes crop best at temperatures between 21-26°C (70-80°F). Yes, you can use a garden fork, but in that case, you need to be very careful not to hurt the plant. (Regular potatoes belong to the nightshade family). Growing stevia indoors often results in smaller plants. Try to maintain the moisture of soil while avoiding overwatering. Be sure the pot has four or more holes for drainage. How did you like my guide? Sweet potatoes need loose friable soil. Both edible and ornamental varieties of sweet potato grow quite well in large pots. All about improving the final outcome of this project. For this, choose at least 8 inches deep container. It should be a big pot, preferably made of clay. Ideal temperature for growing sweet potatoes in containers is 16°c. For more details, see our, 10 Root Vegetables You Can Successfully Grow, 7 Fun Container Garden Projects Kids Will Love, How to Grow Organic Sweet Potatoes in Your Garden, 6 Great Containers for Growing Vegetables, How to Grow Organic Potatoes in Your Garden. To plant your onion in the container, fill the pot with about half the height with moist and good potting soil. Lay down the slips across the mound with the roots at the lowest end of the soil. Choosing and preparing a planting site. Then gently put one or two slips into the hole and pat the soil firm around them. It should have access to the sun for most of the day. How to Grow Sweet Potato Vines . Chit your potatoes by leaving them in natural light to sprout. Use toothpicks to hold the potato in place (Image 1). All you need to grow carrots indoors is a large container, potting soil, and carrot seeds. Depending on the size of the container, you may have to pot again or prune the roots if the plant becomes root-bound within the pot. Make sure to water it regularly and do not trim or prune the plant, because it is not needed. So feel free to repurpose almost any sort of plastic tote or container. Plant a sweet potato in water, and almost before your eyes it transforms into a sprawling vine with lime green or purple-tinged leaves. When you plant the slips, water them generously. Fill the container and create a raised area on one side of the container with the soil. Loose soil is the key to getting good edible tubers, so take some time to prepare the planting site if your plants will be growing in the ground. Go and grow some potatoes! Avoid plastic or metal containers, but clay is great and a whiskey barrel makes a fine choice. Prepare the Tubers. I do recommend that you go with a tote with at least 2 cubic feet of volume or a bit more for any root crop. Sweet potatoes are great for new green thumbs as they are easy to grow and aren’t fussy. If you are growing edible tubers as vegetables, you'll need a large container or bucket to allow them adequate room to grow. Lay each slip into a shallow bowl with the bottom of the stem submerged in water and the leaves hanging over the edge of the bowl. Sometimes it can be hard to pinpoint the exact harvesting time because sweet potatoes are very dependent on the seasonal growing. Apart from that, sweet potatoes are wine and they prefer to grow across the entire ground in a horizontal way. sweet potatoes (Ipomea batatas) aren’t related to regular potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) or yams (Dioscorea sp However, sweet potatoes belong to morning glory family and potatoes are part of the tomato family. In order for them to do that, you will have to train them, since they are not natural climbers. Only a few inexpensive items are required to propagate your own sweet potato plants: To get started, look for firm sweet potatoes without any major bad spots. Place the container in a warm and light location and change the water regularly. The secret to success with this method seems to be the preparation. (A 10-foot row will produce 8 to 10 pounds of potatoes.) If your region doesn’t often receive sustained freezes, you can simply bury the container in which the vines grow in mounded soil. After around 4-5 months you should notice if your plant is ready to be harvested. Water thoroughly. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments below! The easiest way to grow lots of sweet potato slips is by submerging the sweet potato in a cup full of water. Learn tips for creating your most beautiful (and bountiful) garden ever. However, they are not natural climbers. Also, it contains large amounts of vitamins A and C, which are very useful when it comes to dealing with asthma or arthritis kind of symptoms. If you want to produce sweet onions, give more water. You need sweet potato cuttings (or slips). To create the perfect environment, create long, wide, 10-inch-high ridges spaced 3½ feet apart. Try growing sweet potato vine indoors. Subscribe for a future 10% off the whole order! To make sure your potatoes have enough room to root down and grow healthy, limit each container to about 2 potatoes. How to plant. To encourage branching, trim back plants before they flower, leaving about four inches. Fill the jar or glass with enough water to cover the bottom half of the tuber. Each sweet potato can produce up to 50 slip sprouts. Apart from being very healthy, it is also very tasty, which is uncommon for most healthy food. You really don’t need to fertilize the sweet potatoes at planting time, excess nitrogen can harm the plants. How To: Plant Sweet Potatoes Indoors As promised, we're back with a final indoor planting project for the week. You don't want the roots to face resistance when they try to expand within the soil. 1. While they will produce a crop in poor soils, you’ll get a better harvest if the fertility of your soil is medium or higher. Growing sweet potato slips. You could get these cuttings either from someone who had already grown sweet potatoes or you could just buy them in your nearby stores. The next step is to place the tuber in water to sprout. Sweet potatoes are usually ready to harvest four to five months after planting. Make sure that there are no air pockets near the roots. You can harvest vegetable varieties of sweet potatoes at any stage and they will be edible. Sweet potatoes prefer to grow in soil that is high in potassium. Can I Grow Sweet Potatoes Indoors? Water thoroughly and regularly while keeping the temperature between 75-80 F. (24-27 C.) when rooting. You can opt-out at any time. They can also be grown outdoors as annual ground cover in flower beds. So, always try to check if the plant is moist enough, but do not make it too watery. Growing sweet potatoes is very much like growing potatoes. Our kitchen window is beginning to get overrun with plants in various stages and we're loving it. Introducing "One Thing": A New Video Series, The Spruce Gardening & Plant Care Review Board, The Spruce Renovations and Repair Review Board. It will help with the draining process. Take each sprout and very carefully separate it from the tuber by gently twisting it. Why are vines getting dry from time to time even though I water the plant regularly? In around 4 months after the planting process, your sweet potatoes should start getting yellow color, which means that they are almost ready to be harvested. Place about four inches of soil in your container, place your sweet potato slips on top, then add about three more inches of soil to secure them. Here are the necessary steps to grow sweet potatoes (Botanical Name: Ipomoea batatas) in containers: Kerry Michaels is a writer and photographer with several years specializing in gardening and landscape design. The trick is to water the pot until it seeps out of the bottom holes. You may think that growing sweet potatoes requires a lot of space, but think again.With the use of containers and compact varieties, any gardener is able to grow sweet potatoes on their patio or balcony. When growing a potted sweet potato plant, the first thing to consider is the choice of a suitable container. Look for wide, round or square containers with deep bottoms and a depth of at least 12 inches. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients and can be stored for long periods of time after harvesting. After you’ve placed your sweet potatoes in water, the waiting game begins. The very first thing you need to get is, of course, something to put the soil in and grow your plant. You can create your own mix or just buy already packed soil from the stores. If the soil feels dry, add water. Pull the toothpicks out of the potato and cover it completely with soil. All you need is a sweet potato that’s sprouting, a jar and some toothpicks. Beautiful handmade planters, self-watering systems, intelligent kits, and much more! Sweet potatoes require a specific location because they are very picky when it comes to that. Keeping them in a cool area with lots of sun and watering them regularly will provide you with awesome carrots after 2-3 months. Slips or rooted cuttings are sprouts that have matured to about 8 to 10 inches long, then cut just below the leaf joint toproduce roots. You can grow sweet potato vines indoors, although you are unlikely to harvest tubers unless indoors means in a greenhouse. You can’t harvest tubers in this manner, however. A Word of Caution. Once plants grow, add more soil and hill them. To start your slips, you need several healthy, clean sweet potatoes. Your plant may grow very quickly. One thing to note here is that sweet potatoes prefer a bit moisty soil. Water during drought conditions, because it looks healthy even after being dried from inside. The slips will grow fast and develop roots. Growing Onions in container. Growing Basics. That way, they will be able to grow faster and will produce very healthy output, which is ultimately the goal here. To grow potatoes indoors, find a container with a capacity of at least 2.5 gallons. Should I use a garden fork? You can follow the process above and then plant the tuber in the ground or you can grow sweet potatoes from a seedling. Sweet potatoes are surprisingly easy to grow in different regions of North America and, if properly cured, they have quite a memorable flavor. A hanging basket is a good choice for this plant’s vining habit. While both varieties are technically edible, those sold as ornamental sweet potato vine are sometimes described as "barely edible" since the roots are smaller and much less sweet (bordering on bitter); these have been bred primarily for their attractive trailing foliage. The vigorous growth and drought tolerance of ornamental sweet potato vines makes them great choices for mixed containers and hanging baskets. It's better if they haven't been refrigerated: Large sweet potato tubers may need to be cut into large pieces in order to place them in water for sprouting. That is very important when it comes to successful root growth and maintaining good soil composition over time. Many gardeners reference ‘Portio Rico’ (also referred to as ‘Bush’ or ‘Vineless’) as an ideal variety for smaller gardens or containers. Although as mentioned before not all sweet potatoes will sprout, most will start producing roots on the underside and little stems and leaves on top. Potted sweet potatoes prefer well-draining, sandy soil with added compost. The optimal temperature for growing these plants is around 60⁰F. That would help them develop much stronger and healthier roots. And of course, there is no growing the new plant without some cuttings from the existing one. Extremely frost sensitive, they should not be planted until at least two weeks after the last frost. To create sprouts, carefully wash your potatoes and cut them either in half or in large sections. Harvest mature potatoes when … It may take a few weeks or even a month before you see green growth sprouting from the top of the tuber. The holes should be at the bottom of the pot and there should be at least 5 of them. Then cut back the vine to just a couple of inches (5 cm.) So, if you would want to ensure good growth, you should water your plant regularly, place it in a good sunny location. Sweet potatoes will grow in poor soil, but deformed roots may develop in heavy clay or long and stringy in sandy dirt. Their per plant yield is high, though. 17 Fast Growing Indoor Plants – Garden in a Month, 15+ Stunning Anthurium Varieties You Need to Know About, 12+ Stunning Calathea Types You Need to Know About, 10+ Monstera Varieties You Can Grow Indoors, 15 Fast Growing Vegetables That Are Super Easy To Grow, Fast Growing Indoor Herbs – Organic Herbs In A Month, 19 Types of Lettuce and How to Grow Them Fast and Easy, 14 Houseplants That Easily Grow Without Soil, 20 Indoor Plants That Don’t Need Drainage Holes, Indoor Plants That Improve Air Quality – Grow Them Easily, Grow Sweet Potatoes In A Pot – Full Guide, How To Shade Your Greenhouse And Keep It Cool In The Summer. If it's moist at your fingertip, wait a day or two. After you have chosen the pot to put your plant in, now you need to get the appropriate type of soil for your plant, so it could grow healthy as it should. Separate his shoots with the help of a sharp edge knife to apply sweet potato in the container. Around one week after you have planted the sweet potatoes in a pot, you should see some leaves growing. Plant a sweet potato in water, and almost before your eyes it transforms into a sprawling vine with lime green or purple-tinged leaves. Because when the potato vine grows it produces potatoes. If you have a bucket, a glass of water, some toothpicks, and soil, you've got everything you need to grow potatoes indoors. You need to make sure that you are giving the plant enough water. Growing potatoes indoors requires a little bit of patience and good care for the vegetable. The more room potato roots have to spread in the pots, the larger the potato crop will be. Growing sweet potato slips. If you have a sunny window or some grow lights, you can grow potatoes indoors year-round! This plant produces vine-like stems similar to the philodendron and requires similar care to that of ivy when grown indoors. They can also be grown outdoors as annual ground cover in flower beds. In some parts of the country, that means that propagating your own plants will need to start about 6 to 12 weeks before the last frost date. When growing ornamental sweet potato vines, there are a number of varieties to choose from. So, that is the reason why setting up a good draining system is very important. Purchase certified disease-free slips from online garden sources, garden centers and hardware stores. Adequate water will result in a better crop, although they can handle occasional dry spells. And voila! This is one way of winterizing a sweet potato vine. Sweet potatoes need loose, well-drained soil to form large tubers. It has such a unique taste, which is why I love it very much. Some pros start their own slips indoors, in late winter, from a saved sweet potato. Apart from those holes, you could also make several holes on the pot sides if you want. Follow these steps to planting and growing your own sweet potato vine indoors. After that, a good watering is in order for the plant to start its growth in full strength. To make the perfect environment, create long, wide, 10-inch-high ridges spaced 3½ feet apart. And, even if you only get a small harvest your first season, you can save one or two tubers as parent plants for next season. Now it is the time to choose the soil and make the right mixture, so sweet potatoes could be planted and grown in a good way. With the cut portion of the potato resting in water and the upper half exposed to the air in a sunny window, supposedly roots will begin to grow from the bottom and stems from the top. They grow best in the temperature range of 75- 95 F (24-35 C) That would be counter-productive and wouldn’t do much good to the plant. The foliage can be trained up string, canes or trellis. Both types grow best in sunny conditions, but if you want to grow the garden varieties that produce edible tubers, it will take quite a long growing season. Tip: If your tap water is heavy with chlorine and other additives, it may prevent the tuber from sprouting. So, by mixing more soil you can encourage your plant to grow more in height and produce more potatoes. Follow these steps to planting and growing your own sweet potato vine indoors. It also helps to harden off the new plants by acclimating them gradually to the outdoors before putting them into their permanent locations. Sweet potatoes are a vine and want to grow horizontally across the ground. Here are the necessary steps to grow sweet potatoes (Botanical Name: Ipomoea batatas) in containers: Step One: Select a variety of sweet potato that is ideal for growing in containers. Robert says that he has tried both spring and winter, but growing potatoes in winter has always worked out better for him. Make sure you choose the sunniest window and warmest room. Grow sweet potatoes in full sun on fertile, well drained soil. Slips are ready in six weeks or when six to ten leaves have sprouted, whereupon you will then gently separate the slips from the seed root. The first step you should do before you plant your sweet potatoes in a pot is prepared the pot itself. And since you are here, I’m guessing you feel the same way as I do, am I right? Sweet potatoes will grow in poor soil, but deformed roots may develop in heavy clay or long and stringy in sandy dirt. It’s easy to grow a sweet potato vine indoors in the same way you would grow an Irish potato in water, Place toothpicks into the sides of the sweet potato, put in a container of water and place in a sunny window. Once these plants have begun to grow robustly indoors, they will be ready to transfer to large mixed containers with other plants. Make sure not to hurt roots with your garden fork or any other tool you are using at that point. Preparing seed potatoes. The more room potato roots have to spread in the pots, the larger the potato crop will be. Fill the container with high-quality potting soil until the surface of the soil reaches about 1 inch below the rim. They are runners, so you have to train them to climb, but encouraging the runners to go toward the trellis. If that’s the case and if you have always wanted to grow sweet potatoes in a pot, either because you do not have a huge garden or you simply want to try something new, then stick with me and I will teach you how to do that. Sweet potatoes could be very helpful when it comes to, not just strengthening your immune system, but also fighting some serious illnesses, like cancer. Right, now that we have everything ready and in place, let us focus on the actual growing process and learn how it is done!