Look what’s happened to me again. I say again because exactly the same thing happened last year. A long forgotten sweet potato decided to shoot while abandoned in the back of my cupboard. Cool huh? Like last year I plan to turn this happy accident into a growing opportunity.
My plan is to leave this one in the back of the cupboard until July/August then separate each of the four shoots from the tuber and place them into a glass of water until they form roots. This worked really well last year. Roots formed within a week or two at which point I planted then into 10cm pots filled with potting mix. I can’t think of any reason why you couldn’t skip the rooting in water stage but I do quite like rooting plants in water occasionally so the kids can see what’s happening. I kept the seedlings inside the house until the weather warmed up in October and I could see roots creeping out the bottom of the pot. I then planted them in the garden.
Of course relying on lost potatoes in the back of your cupboard for shoots is probably not the best planning in the world. If you haven’t forgotten to eat a sweet potato but still want to grow them Garden to Wok shows you how to get them to shoot by putting the tubers into glasses of water. Mine grew from normal supermarket bought sweet potatoes. I think the variety that are generally sold in Australia are Beauregard so I presume that is what I have been growing.
The other propagation alternative is to grow them from cuttings. Sweet potatoes strike incredibly easily, in fact mine layered (when the stem puts down roots upon contact with the soil) themselves in many places - where ever they had come into contact with the ground. At the points that they layered themselves they also began to form tubers – although these weren’t nearly as developed as those at the initial planting site. Sweet potatoes are pretty vigorous, mine grew pretty much anywhere I let them. Next year I think I will trail the vine up and over something (hopefully a chicken house if we ever finish it) rather than just letting it run rampant over the ground and up the fence. Although the below picture doesn’t really show the extent of its spread you can see it both attempting to engulf my lemongrass and heading skyward up the fence.
My sweet potatoes were planted out at the very end of October so they had about 6 months growing time. They didn’t have anything like full sun but what sun they had was warm afternoon sun, and the place I planted them is pretty sheltered. Before planting I prepared the ground with cow manure and then mulched thickly after planting.
My understanding is that its best to avoid feeding them with too much chook manure as its high in nitrogen and they will put on leaves at the expense of tuber growth. From each plant – I only planted 2 – I have probably harvested about a kg of tubers. Not a sensational return but still pretty exciting.
I have harvested one plant completely but left some of its layered stems in place. The other plant I have left in after bandicooting a couple of large tubers from it. Sweet potatoes are perennial but it will be interesting to see how it deals with a Melbourne winter. My feeling is that; if any remaining tubers don’t rot over winter then there’s no reason why they shouldn’t send up new shoots in Spring.
Normally on Thursday’s I post a recipe but I’m struggling to find the time during the day to both cook and photograph a dish. Hopefully I will get a chance this weekend and will be back to recipes this time next week.
FWIW I never put any fertilizer on my sweet potatoes. They seem to do quite well on average garden soil. I like rooting them in water, too. The vines are so easy to root!
It took me ages to work out what FWIW meant but now I have I feel very young proud and hip (although I suspect I just undermined all that by saying it…..). Thanks for the tip – definitely worth mentioning.
At least your way you can be sure they have developed roots too can’t you?
Yes which for me is a big plus, I have a tendency to give up on things too quickly and if I can’t see the roots I have been known to ‘tug’ too hard on the plant to check if it has any…..
I’m going to try to grow them this summer for the first time. We have such a short season here I just hope to get something.
They say they need 4 months warmth so hopefully you’ll get that and they’ll do brilliantly.
I like this post, I won’t ever do it because I don’t like sweet potato, but I love the way you write about stuff. I like putting things in water to see if they will grow and I often have glasses or jars full of stuff on my window sill. I find it really gratifying to get something to grow. Love the photos as well, the sweet potato is a very strange vine, which I didn’t realise before.
Thanks Leanne. Watching stuff grow is a lot of fun…well for garden nerds like me it is anyway….
Our sweet potatoes tubers did not rot during winter. In fact it is much sweeter after winter. You can bandicoot all the tubers and left them growing through winter. They are very hardy and their roots are much stronger than potato. The sweet potatoes are making way to our weed list. They pop out anywhere if the debris is planted back.
Isn’t that interesting – I’m looking forward to seeing how mine do – I don’t know why I never see them in nurseries for sale because they definitely seem to grow well here too.
I grew sweet potatoes last year. You know where I got the punnet? KMart! I had no idea what to do with them (but couldn’t resist) and I didn’t expect them to come to anything,which they didn’t, really, but I got a few. I planted them under the roses (!) out the front as I had no other room. I might give them another go and try to grow them properly. I had always thought they needed a more tropical climate but apparently not.
I thought they would want it warmer too but perhaps we are warm enough. It will interesting to see how much the crop varies from year to year.
I am still learning to like sweet potatoes: a very unusual taste for me. I tried it in sweet dishes and in savory, not working for some reason. Maybe I haven’t tried the right dish with it yet?
Or maybe you just don’t like them – my kids aren’t big fans unless they are pretty heavily disguised.
I’m inspired. I love sweet potato and have never thought of growing them. Your last few entries on growing them in Melbourne inspires me to try in Sydney which theoretically should be a better climate for them.
They should love your place. I’m having fun growing them I have to say.
Hi Liz,
I wish I could grow sweet potatoes here but I don’t think it is warm enough and probably too wet!! All the best with yours.
Hmm I suspect you are right there.
I’m in Canberra (-4 overnight last night) and I found a sprouting sweet potato a few months ago. I put it in a large pot with potting mix in a small greenhouse type thing and OMG it’s growing. Finding it very hard to find information about growing them. I have lots of top sprouts from the one potato. Now just waiting to see what happens. Any suggestions?
Hi Michelle, They need at least 4 months of warmth to produce tubers (probably closer to 6 in Canberra), so I guess it depends how long ago you planted them. If it was over four/five months ago then I would have a bit of a feel around below the soil to see whats happening. You may just find some tubers have grown already. They are herbaceous perennials (ie the foliage dies down in winter) so even if its hasn’t grown any yet then it may next year if and I do mean if it survives the winter. They don’t like frost. One thing you could do is take some cuttings from it now and keep them inside for winter and then plant them again in Spring when its getting a bit warmer – your greenhouse should give it some protection but it may or may not be enough. Not sure if this answers you question – if not then please let me know and I can try to be a bit mroe specific. Incidentally I would be interested to know how you found my site – I’ve had a few new people recently which is fabulous and would love to know how they found me?
Hi again. I planted the sweet potato in April (I think – I stuck a label next to it). I bought a “baby” green house from Bunnings (frame with mesh and plastic over it) and so far so good. I also have tomatoes in there. I might strike a couple of the sprouts for indoors. Was thinking that I could bring the whole pot inside lol. The green house protects the plants from frost but they still get the cold.
btw I googled “growing sweet potato” and voila there you were.
thanks again
Good old google – thanks for letting me know. Mum and Dad live in a cooler climate to me and they too have a greenhouse and you’re right about it offering frost protection but not cold – they lose things in their greenhouse that survive without protection here in Melbourne. I think I would definitely sprout a couple of back up, just in case.
Hi, do you happen to know where I can buy Japanese sweet potatoes here in Melbourne?
I imported some from Sydney and tried to grow them in Winter, placing the potato into a pot. Beetles unfortunately ate them up. I wish I had eaten them instead as they were very expensive.
Should I plant them only in Spring?
I used to eat Japanese sweet potatoes when I was living in Singapore and they cured my stomach ailments.
When steamed or boiled, their flesh turns golden and they taste like chestnuts.
I bought ones produced in Vietnam but they tasted bland.
http://www.culinate.com/articles/produce_diaries/sweet_potatoes
I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help regarding where to buy the Japanese sweet potatoes in Melbourne. If you do acquire some I would try sprouting them first before planting – should stop the beetles eating the tubers before they get going if nothing else. http://gardentowok.com/ has some good tips on how to get them to shoot in water (for some reason I can’t copy the page url so you will have to search her site). I haven’t tried that method as just leaving them in the cupboard for awhile works for me. They start shooting in the manner of a potato and then I put the shoots in water to grow roots. These are then potted up and last year I planted them out in late Spring – they had been inside on a windowsill up to that point. I will be interested to see if the ones I left in the ground survive the winter – from all accounts they do in Adelaide so I’m a little hopeful they will here too. So in a nutshell yes to only in Spring – they need a nice long period of warmth to grow tubers and they will die back in winter (although hopefully not completely). I’d love to try the Japnese version they sound amazing – let me know if you find anywhere selling them. I’d probably start by asking a local restaurant where they source theirs.
Hi. I found that they do sell them. But they’re not cheap.
Another thing to note is that – apparently – Japanese sweet potatoes did not originally come from Japan but from South America. They arrived in Japan only in the 15th century and the Japanese have happily claimed them as their own.
There are two varieties. The Okinawa and the normal Japanese sweet potato. The Okinawa also know as the Hawaiian has tan skin and a purple flesh. It is supposed to be sweeter and more packed with vitamins than the normal variety.
The Japanese sweet potato has purple skin and white flesh – turning golden when cooked.
Both are very small in size (the size of a baby’s arm) and incredibly tasty. They taste like chestnuts. And have an extremely high content of anti0xidents, vitamins and anti-cancer nutrients. My problems with irritable bowl syndrome were cured by eating this on a daily basis.
I boil or bake or roast mine (never fried) and they taste like manna from heaven.
I did find two sites which sell them but they aren’t cheap.
http://www.australiangardener.com.au/index.php
and
http://www.diggers.com.au/
One problem is the identification of the Japanese sweet potato which goes by other names other Japan – and they are sometimes referred to as yams.
Thanks for the info – that is really useful. Now I have something of a dilemma as I really want to try them, they sound just amazing!
You should!!! I think one of the joys of gardening is growing something which you cannot obtain easily (or cheaply). Its very healthy and delicious to eat as well.