Where can I get sweet potato plants?

[Intriguedbybonsai]

All of my seed catalogs prohibit shipping the plants to California. Could I start a plant from a store bought sweet potato instead?

[!potatoes!]

pretty sure sand hill would send them to CA:
http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/pag ... talog.html

but i've had pretty good luck starting slips from store-boughts. a couple things to think about: some 'regular grocery' tubers are treated with something to keep them from sprouting - i suspect organic ones don't. also, sweet potatoes make slips best when kept quite warm - plant them in moist mix of some kind, and then try to keep them in the 80-90 degree (F) range. a couple weeks of that usually works well. some varieties also seem to make more slips than others in general.

[applestar]

Last year kitazawaseeds had the Okinawa purple sweet potatoes I wanted to try but they wouldn't ship OUT of California....

but I also start them from store bought, especially if they have named varieties.

[GardenRN]

you can take a sweet potato, set it in a jar/cup whatever, but situate it so that it is half submerged in water. You will start to have shoots coming off of the potato soon....

Once the shoots are 10" long, break them off right at the potato's surface. At this point you can either plant and water in just like that, or root the vine in another cup of water. I like (and have better luck with) rooting the vine first. To do so just pull an leaves from the bottom 3-4 inches and stick them in water. They'll have roots soon. When the roots are about 4 inches long, I plant. Remember they like it hot! The new plants especially, won't react well to a chill.

You can start a little early, you usually will get about 3 or 4 shoots coming off of a potato at a time. But after you pull the shoot off it will grow back again. So if you start a little early, you could get all of your shoots from one potato. You'd just have to keep the rooted vines in water a little longer. Which is fine. Or you could pot them inside until they are ready to set out.

This worked well enough for me to get potatoes last year. I don't think it matters in this case if you buy sets or use grocery store potatoes. They're not really potatoes and you're not growing the ACTUAL potato so I don't think you need "seed potatoes". And although someone will say "grocery store potatoes are sprayed with a growth inhibitor", I have never had a problem growing shoots on a store bought potato.

Good luck!

[rkunsaw]

I always start mine from store bought. Just cut a half inch or so off one or both ends set in the top of a glass of water held in place with toothpicks. keep glass full. roots will grow into the water and then slips will grow from top.

[floridahillnursery]

Hello, steele plant co. provides sweet potato slips at a reasonable price. I have found that sticking a sweet potato in a jar of water with tooth picks works just as well.

Here is there web address http://sweetpotatoplant.com/

[TheWaterbug]

you can take a sweet potato, set it in a jar/cup whatever, but situate it so that it is half submerged in water. You will start to have shoots coming off of the potato soon....

Once the shoots are 10" long, break them off right at the potato's surface. At this point you can either plant and water in just like that, or root the vine in another cup of water. I like (and have better luck with) rooting the vine first. To do so just pull an leaves from the bottom 3-4 inches and stick them in water. They'll have roots soon. When the roots are about 4 inches long, I plant.

Thanks for the tip! I just put a big sweet potato in a jar on Saturday.

In your experience, approximately how long does it take before you get shoots, and how long before they get ~10" long? And once you break them off, how long until you get 4" roots?

I know the correct answer is always "it depends," but I always like to have some data so I know if something's gone horribly wrong.

Also, do you change out the water in the jar?

Thanks!

[Intriguedbybonsai]

Also, do you change out the water in the jar?

I would suspect you would need to do this every few days, or when the water is getting clouded.

I was going to try the water jar trick, but the sweet potato I have is already sprouting several tiny leaf sets. Should I just skip that step, and place it in a pot of soil?

[GardenRN]

I would put it in the water anyways. Because you can break them off when they are long enough and then get more.

It takes about...idk....a week to get good shoots started. And then after they are started they grow pretty quick. Maybe 10" in another 2 weeks.

Then when the slips are placed in water, they grow their roots quickly. I'd say within a week and a half they are rooted to the point I feel comfy with putting them outside.

And I just change the water as needed. If it looks at all cloudy or slimy, or anything, change it. You don't want mold to start growing on the potato. That smells horrible! Actually the problem is usually keep up with refilling the jar, not changing the water. That gets to be quite a thirtsy potato when it gets roots and shoots. So be more aware of adding water as needed.

[Bobberman]

I grew a sweet potato last year but got the dark leaves. I want the bright green leaves. What up with that? Also the yam will it grow like the seeet potato and what kind of leaves?

[!potatoes!]

pretty sure those lime-green leaves are just on a cultivar intended for bedding. doubt you're going to get them out of a grocery-store sweet. don't know what you mean by 'yam.' assuming not a true yam (Dioscorea), but another kind of sweet potato (Ipomoea)?

[TheWaterbug]

Thanks for the tip! I just put a big sweet potato in a jar on Saturday.

Well, that was nearly 3 weeks ago, and I have no shoots

I must have one of those growth-inhibited sweet potatoes.

I might stop by Whole Foods or Trader Joe's today and spend too much on one that hasn't been neutered.

Or is there a vendor who will ship slips to CA and ship them now?

[applestar]

In my experience, purple skinned sweets grew darker colored leaves tinged with purple underneath; Red skinned orange fleshed sweets grew bright green leaves; and White/pale skinned yellow fleshed sweets grew almost chartreuse colored leaves.

[TheWaterbug]

Thanks for the tip! I just put a big sweet potato in a jar on Saturday.

Well, that was nearly 3 weeks ago, and I have no shoots

Hmm. I dumped the water out and was ready to throw it into the trash, and then I looked closer. Shoots! And tiny roots.

The weird thing is that the shoots are growing well below the waterline. Some are level with or even below where the roots are growing.

So I put it back in the water, but I'm not sure what to do next. I'm pretty sure the shoots aren't going to like being underwater, but if I bring the 'tater up too shallow, the little rootlings will dry out. Does that matter?

[applestar]

They won't dry out. The skin of the potato wicks the moisture a bit, and roots will grow down. Keep them in a warm humid place 80+°F if possible and bright light as you can for optimum growth. My potatoes are laying sideways in a takeout tray partly on a heating mat inside a plastic tent.

They are going nuts and I'm concerned they are growing too fast.