Sweet Potatoe Vines...

[evepet]

I've been soaking a few ends of sweet potatoes, hoping to see them grow roots so I can plant them in my patio containers. I am seeing the beginnings of some roots on some of them. Do I need A LOT of root? or just a definite beginning of a root?? I'm assuming that when I plant this in soil, I plant the sweet potatoe with the root growing down towards the bottom of the container. I guess new leaf growth eventually comes out of the other end (ie top side) of the chunk of soaked potatoe??? And do I plant about half way down into the overall depth of the container's soil - or closer to the top? Your advice will be appreciated. I love the look of these plants once they get growing, and I'm really hoping I can establish some good, healthy ones.

[joan w]

evepet, are you seeing only roots and no sprouts?

How about trying this: lay the tubers on some soil in a flat container such as a baking pan. Press them lightly into the soil and see what happens.

[evepet]

A few roots but no sprouts as yet. I did decide a few days ago to 'plant' them in a shallow soil and see what developed. Hopefully I'll see some sprouts. Also, while at the grocery store today I noticed a couple of small sweet potatoes that already seem to have some roots developing ... I now have them suspended in water as well. I'll get my sweet potatoe vines growing one way or another! Thanks for responding Joan - I thought everybody was ignoring me!

[joan w]

There doesn't seem to be a lot of visiting to this forum so maybe others are missing your post.

[dlb]

My suspicion would be that not many reading this forum have experience with sprouting sweet potato vines, and were therefore not comfortable commenting. I'm sure it has nothing to do with you personally.
Dora

[Sheikea]

Hey there from my experience of watching my mom root things as you are doing I would say you need a definate root happening I mean massive.I would also think as long as you have a nice big wide and deep pot to deal with you should be able to grow it there.I hope that helps and I wish you all the success in growing it.My mom use to do all sorts of things like that just to see what would happen.Hugs

[Durgan]

Last year I planted two in a pot and they rotted without producing any vegetation. I will try again this year. Two potatoe plants were bought and grown in a pot as an oranamental in 2007. When discarding in the Fall two large potoatoes were found in the bottom of the pot. We cooked and ate these and they were excellent, but wholly white in colour.

Propagating Sweet Potatoes

http://biefab.notlong.com

The quickest and easiest way to grow sweet potatoes is to use cuttings. Simply cut a piece of a runner, about a foot (30 cm) in length.

Remove all the leaves except for the tiny leaves at the very tip. Plant the cutting by covering the whole length with soil, only the leaves of the tip should stick out of the ground.

The cuttings will root at every leave node. Not just the leave nodes under the ground will root. A sweet potato also grows roots from every leave node that develops as your cutting grows.

If you can't get hold of cuttings you can start growing sweet potatoes by planting the tubers. You can use any shop bought sweet potatoes.

Place them on the ground, cover them with soil, and keep them moist. The tubers will develop shoots, called slips. Slips can be snipped or pulled off and planted out when they are about 15 cm in size. The original root will continue to produce more slips.

[Sheikea]

Oh I am so glad to see someone else has posted here as well about this sweet potatoe thing.Its always intersting to see what other people have thought to try.My self I am gonna do peas in a container with something behind them to grow up.I have a huge yard but not big enough for just a garden which I would love.Do you thin carrots would go ok in a pot as well?LOL here we go again ..

[evepet]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I'm busy watching my rootings & newer water-submerged sweet potatoes, and hopefully I'll end up with at least one or two healthy plants for my efforts.

[evepet]

My suspicion would be that not many reading this forum have experience with sprouting sweet potato vines, and were therefore not comfortable commenting. I'm sure it has nothing to do with you personally.
Dora

I was thinking the same thing. I'd noticed that a lot of people were 'viewing' but no comments... probably meant exactly what you suggested.