How to Prune Sweet Potato Vines – Step 1 – Tool Selection Use either scissors or pruners to trim the vine. You may be able to slice smaller diameter vines using your fingernail but will probably not make a sharp, clean cut. Step 2 – Inspect the plant and decide where to cut Look for damaged, sickly, or too lengthy vines.
Should you cut back sweet potato vines?
This article was written by Mary Roduner, former SDSU Extension Consumer Horticulture Field Specialist. It seems like everywhere I’ve gone this summer someone has asked about sweet potatoes. Usually the question goes like this “This is my first year growing sweet potatoes.
- When do I dig them? What do I do with them?” For all you who are growing them for the first time or have had limited success after they are dug, this is for you.
- Sweet potatoes are a vine in the morning glory family, Ipomea batatas, and not related to regular or “Irish” potatoes in the nightshade family.
The long vines of sweet potatoes can overrun a garden. In early to mid-September, feel free to cut them back by 25%. This simply makes the plants easier to deal with when digging. Sweet potatoes with edible tubers developing below the ground. The two best varieties for South Dakota, Beauregard and Georgia Jet, have approximately 90 day growing seasons. Because our warm growing season is short, the plants need to stay in the ground as long as possible to allow the tubers to mature.
Wait until the first light frost when the leaves have been nipped and have brown drying edges before you dig the tubers. Once there has been a hard frost and the tops are completely dead the tubers are at risk for rotting and need to be dug immediately. If your soil stays wet, reduce watering as the days get cooler and closer to frost.
Wet soil is one of the main causes of tuber rot. Some sweet potato tubers ready to harvest. When digging the sweet potatoes, cut off the vines until you have found the base of each plant. Using a digging or potato fork, set the fork about 12″ from the base of the plant. Dig straight down to prevent spearing and damaging the tubers.
Can you cut back potato vine?
Can You Prune Potato Plants? – The answer to, “Can you prune potato plants?” is yes, but perhaps that is not the right question. After all, you can pretty much prune anything, although it’s not always the best idea. The correct question is, “Should I cut back the potato plants?” For the most part, potato plants use the nutrients from the foliage to grow healthy spuds.
That said, there are some instances where it may be beneficial to prune the tubers to restrain the potato plant growth. Pruning potato vines can help the potatoes mature earlier, before they attain their full size. Pruning potato vines and then leaving them in the soil for at least two weeks, post pruning, will help them develop a thick, protective skin.
A thick skin is important for storage, allowing the spuds to be kept for up to six months following harvest,
Can you cut sweet potato vines and replant them?
Is sweet potato vine easy to root? – Yes, sweet potato vine is very easy to root. Your new starts should be ready to pot up in as little as 2-3 weeks. Propagating sweet potato vines is a great way to take a single plant and multiply it into many. Rooting cuttings or dividing them can easily produce lots of new, beautiful foliage to fill your garden and summer planters. Do you want to learn how to multiply all of your plants? Then my Plant Propagation eBook is for you! It will show all you need to know in order to get as many new plants from your existing ones as you want. Download your copy today !
Do sweet potato vines come back every year?
Do ornamental sweet potato vines come back every year? – Ornamental sweet potato vines will come back every year if you live in a warm enough climate (zones 9+). However, they will not survive outside through the winter in colder climates.
How do you winterize a sweet potato vine?
Heeling in Sweet Potato Vines over Winter – If your region doesn’t often receive sustained freezes, you can simply bury the container in which the vines grow in mounded soil. Then cut back the vine to just a couple of inches (5 cm.) and spread a thick layer of mulch around the container to act as a blanket to protect the roots.
- This is one way of winterizing a sweet potato vine.
- So long as the tubers don’t freeze, the plant should spring back when warm temperatures arrive.
- The greenery may shrivel back, but the tubers are the source of the following spring’s leaves and stems.
- You may also simply cover the buried container with burlap or a thick blanket at night when brief freezes occur.
Pull it away during the day so the plant can harvest solar energy. Remember that occasional watering is part of heeled in ornamental sweet potato winter care. The plants will only need water once or twice per month in winter, as they are not actively growing.
Should I trim potato stalks?
Potatoes are hardy plants requiring little pruning as they grow. Once you see small flowers appear on the plants, the potatoes can be prepared for harvesting by trimming the stalks above the ground. The earlier you trim, the smaller the potatoes will be, but small potatoes are sometimes desirable.
Trim the potato stalks just below flowers that appear to remove the flowers. Cut the stem with pruning shears or pinch off the flowers with your fingers. The flowering signifies the plant is mature enough to have potatoes formed underground, but the flowers draw nutrients and energy away from the developing tubers and are unnecessary for plant health. It’s best to remove them. Prune the stalk at the base, where it meets the soil, after the plant has flowered or once the potatoes are the size you want. Cut it with pruning shears to remove the stalk. Discard the greens of the plant or add them to your compost pile. Wait two to three weeks after you trim the stalk before harvesting the potatoes. Whether you trim the plant when the potatoes are small or at the end of the growing season, allowing the tuber to stay in the ground for two to three weeks causes the skin to thicken and harden, helping preserve the potato and keep it fresh for about four to six weeks in most home conditions.
Can I cut the top off my potato plants?
When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. I like to grow potatoes that I can use to cook up some delicious Indian recipes. But I wanted to know if trimming the top of the potato plants would be beneficial or not. You can trim the tops of your potato plants but only when the potato tubers are ready for harvest.
When should potato plants be pruned?
Watch for Potato Plant Flowers – Toward the end of this waiting period, flowers will appear on your potato, signaling that it’s almost harvest time but time to prepare by pruning them first. Doing so will help the tubers grow larger, says University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program.
- You have two choices, according to Gardening Know How: pinch off the blossoms with your fingers or cut them off with a pair of shears.
- Step two involves pruning the potato vines, which will help the tubers grow the thick skin they need to stay hardy and sustain a storage period of up to six months.
- To prune the vines, wait until they have wilted and then cut the plant evenly, leaving about 1 inch of it exposed above ground.
With these pivotal steps behind you, prepare for what many potato gardeners say is actually the hardest part of the process: biding your time and waiting about two weeks to harvest the potatoes.
Should you trim sweet potato plants?
Sweet potato vines are growing beyond the garden area. Can I trim them to keep them in bounds? – The vines of sweet potatoes tend to ramble far and wide, which is why many home gardeners don’t raise them. If vines are wandering out of bounds, try turning them back into the vegetable garden. It’s best not to trim vines; they help feed the potatoes.
How do I save sweet potatoes to plant next year?
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.