Supplies – Some product links may go to affiliate accounts like Amazon.com but I always suggest you check your own cupboards first or buy locally.
Ornamental sweet potato vine (lime green is the most common color but also check for the darker varieties too).Scissors or fine garden snippers (clean with rubbing alcohol, or bleach solution ( 4 teaspoons bleach per quart or liter of water ).Jars or vases with warm water.
Can you grow sweet potato vine from tubers?
Yes, you can grow sweet potato vine from tubers, but they only form on mature plants. Is it better to propagate sweet potato vine in water or soil? You can propagate sweet potato vine in either water or soil, both are great methods to use. But I recommend water because it’s easy, and almost always successful.
How do you propagate sweet potatoes?
Sweet Potato Varieties and Propagation Methods – Sweet potatoes are native to Central and South America, this herbaceous plant will go dormant when temperatures fall below 59°F (15 °C) and start growing really fast when they rise above 68°F (20 °C). Although the vines don’t tolerate frost and cold weather, they will overwinter if the roots are not damaged.
- Sweet potato plants can be grown as a perennial in USDA zones 9-11, as the surviving roots will enable the plant to grow back in spring.
- It can also be grown as a highly productive annual crop in areas with colder winters where roots are likely to be damaged.
- There are two types of sweet potato plants: the vegetable varieties that are grown for their edible roots, and the ones that are bred for ornamental purposes.
To fully grow edible roots, the vegetable type varieties need a minimum of 90-120 days. The delicious sweet potato that we buy from the store or market are the plant’s roots or tubers. Contrary to normal potatoes, these can also be eaten raw. And this is not the only edible part of the plant.
- What is less known is that the leaves and young shoots are also edible in raw or cooked form.
- The tubers have a thin and smooth skin with colors that range from orange, purple or yellow to beige, red and brown, while the flesh comes in purple, red, violet, white, pink, yellow, and beige.
- There are three main ways to propagate sweet potatoes: using seeds, using the tubers, or using vines from an adult plant.
Normally, sweet potato plants grown commercially are propagated by taking cuttings from mature vines, rooting them, and planting them directly into the field. A fourth method is to induce a tuber to produce new shoots or “slips”, these small sections of a vine will also produce a new plant.
How do you take cuttings from sweet potato vines?
Winterizing Sweet Potato Vines by Cuttings – Take several 10 to 12 inch (25.5-30.5 cm.) cuttings from your sweet potato vines before the plant is nipped by frost in autumn. Rinse the cuttings thoroughly under cool running water to wash away any pests, then place them in a glass container or vase filled with clean water.
How to overwinter sweet potato vines?
Remove all the leaves off the bottom few inches and submerge the stem in water. In a few days, you should see roots. This strategy is a good way to overwinter sweet potato vines because they will last all winter in the water and be ready to plant in the spring. Sweet potato vines are tuberous plants, so you can save tubers for the next season.