Planting Sweet Potato Container Crops – When growing a potted sweet potato plant, the first thing to consider is the choice of a suitable container. Avoid plastic or metal containers, but clay is great and a whiskey barrel makes a fine choice. Be sure the pot has four or more holes for drainage.
- Potted sweet potatoes prefer well-draining, sandy soil to which you should add compost.
- Plant your yam slips 12 inches (31 cm.) apart.
- Eep the potted sweet potato start indoors for 12 weeks before moving it outside, at least four weeks after the last frost,
- Water the potted sweet potato once a week or as needed depending on rainfall.
Do not overwater!
How many sweet potato slips can you plant in a container?
Making A Slip Nursery In Soil – Start slips 8-10 weeks before you plan to plant them outside. This gives them plenty of time for the sprouts to grow about 4 inches and to develop substantial roots for planting. You can usually get 10-15 slips from one sweet potato.
Fill a shallow container with moisture-retentive potting mix and nestle the whole potato (lengthwise) into the soil, leaving the entire top exposed. Place it in a sunny location and keep the soil moist. Once the green growth sprouting is about 4 inches tall (and with plenty of leaves), remove the sprout and plant it directly into your prepared container.
Another popular option is to place the sprout in water to root until it is time to plant in its permanent location. It will take 1-2 weeks for the sprouts to form roots. Keep the water fresh while the sprouts root and discard any that don’t appear healthy.
When should sweet potato slips be planted?
When to Plant Sweet Potatoes. Plant slips outdoors 3 to 4 weeks after your last spring frost or once the soil has warmed to at least 65°F (18°C). Nighttime temperatures should be at least 55°F (13°C).
How many sweet potato slips can you plant in a 5 gallon bucket?
The roots of your sweet potatoes need a lot of room to grow, so experts advise planting only 1 slip of sweet potato per 5-gallon bucket. However, keep in mind that one slip will result in between 5 and 10 potatoes at harvest time.
How often do you water sweet potatoes in pots?
Planting Sweet Potato Container Crops – When growing a potted sweet potato plant, the first thing to consider is the choice of a suitable container. Avoid plastic or metal containers, but clay is great and a whiskey barrel makes a fine choice. Be sure the pot has four or more holes for drainage.
Potted sweet potatoes prefer well-draining, sandy soil to which you should add compost. Plant your yam slips 12 inches (31 cm.) apart. Keep the potted sweet potato start indoors for 12 weeks before moving it outside, at least four weeks after the last frost, Water the potted sweet potato once a week or as needed depending on rainfall.
Do not overwater!
Do sweet potato plants need full sun?
Harvesting sweet potatoes –
The foliage is edible and very nutritious. Eat it fresh in a green salad or sauté with other vegetables. Harvest roots as soon as they reach eating size and before a frost. Sweet potatoes generally mature in 85 to 120 days. Check root size after 80 to 85 days because they don’t stop growing and can start to split when overgrown. Digging is easier if you cut the vines off first. Use a garden fork or spade to loosen the soil and gently lift up and expose the sweet potatoes. Handle them with care, gently removing attached soil clumps. Don’t rub the skin or wash roots prior to storing indoors. If the vines are exposed to frost, dig the roots immediately because decay in dead vines passes down to the roots. If immediate digging isn’t possible, cut away vines and throw loose soil over the rows to protect the sweet potatoes from the cold. Temperatures below 55 degrees F can cause chilling injury.
Do sweet potato slips need roots before planting?
Before you plant sweet potato slips, you have a little extra work to do. Sweet potatoes need loose, well-drained soil to form large tubers. You don’t want the roots to face resistance when they try to expand within the soil.
How many sweet potatoes are in a container?
What pots to use for sweet potatoes – Sweet potatoes need space. They will naturally root from any part of the stem with soil contact, which takes energy away from crops, so give them space, but raise them up. Use the basic rule of one plant every 2ft,
- Your average 30cm pot is fine for one slip, but bigger is better.
- This year we grew ours in raised beds, but it’s better advised to grow in pots, so you can move them around the garden – especially for hardening off young plants in spring.
- If you have thick-walled pots, wooden planters, or terracotta pots, these are better for sweet potatoes.
Reusing large black plastic pots helps heat up the roots on warm days too. The most important thing is keeping every part of the plant as warm as possible. They can be grown in potato bags, but they will be more susceptible to temperature changes so it is not advised.
Size matters though, and sometimes that means cutting a few corners to save money. A plastic storage box (ideally at least 2ftx2ft) lined with newspaper to stop light reaching the roots, will do the job – or if you’re not planning on moving it, an allotment neighbor of mine once successfully grew sweet potatoes in an old cardboard box.
By the end of the year, the box had disintegrated, but the crops were incredible; the heat from the decomposing cardboard kept the root system warmer than cool plastics. Remember, you can plant sweet potatoes in any kind of container, as long as it’s well insulated and big enough to allow for at least 5 new tubers per plant – anything less and you’ll end up with lots of small, slightly bitter roots, which aren’t worth eating.
Can you plant sweet potatoes in a container?
It is important to have a good soil mix when planting in your containers. Using a container mix amended with compost, sand and a fertilizer high in potash is ideal. Place about four inches of soil in your container, then place the sweet potato slips on top and then add about three more inches of soil to secure them.
How many sweet potato slips make a gallon?
Growing From “Slips” – The first order of business with growing sweet potatoes is getting a nice crop of sweet potato slips. Place your single seed potato in a 5 gallon bucket of moist soil, tops exposed. This is your “slip nursery” – an intermediate step between your grocery store shelves and your garden plot. 
You want to pull these shoots out and transplant them in larger 20 gallon containers. In each 20 gallon bucket, plant 6 sweet potato slips. For sweet potato slips planting best practices, watch this video from the great Rob Bob.
How do you store sweet potato slips before planting?
A Quick Word about Storing Sweet Potatoes Over the Winter – Winter storage is the same for eating sweet potatoes and slip-producers. It’s best to keep them inside somewhere, in a dark place, like in boxes or paper bags in a closet, and then covered with a blanket to keep out any sunlight.
- The ideal storing temperature is between 55-60 degrees.
- If the temperature rises too high they can sprout early, and if it falls below 50 for an extended period of time they’ll harden up and become pretty much useless.
- It’s great to store your eating sweet potatoes for as long as possible, but storage is even more important if you want to grow sweet potato slips, because those roots will have to make it to March.
We store our organic sweet potatoes overwinter with the dirt still on the skins (we gently brush off any excess dirt) because this keeps the skins intact and the roots healthy and ready to sprout in the spring.