I thought I would let you know about my recent experiences with rooting sweet potato. It worked great! Just like the above posts mentioned. My 4 or 5 starts really produced lots of rootlings. I planted 5 or 6 of them, as I happened to have some nice freshly screened compost and peat handy. They did well, and then I planted them outside in a spot that I had been preparing - lots of compost, chicken litter, etc., and it was a beauty of a spot - nice warm sunshine. I was so sure that I'd picked a winner spot. All went well until one morning, I noticed all of my "tops" had disappeared. A ravenous vole/mole had completely ravished my sweet potato field - all in one night. Soooo - back to the drawing board. I noticed this summer - someone had a blog about growing a large number of them in a big plastic (Home Depot-type) tub. It seems my best in-ground planting of edibles can only be grown that way. Has anyone had success with the "big box" (no pun intended) method? Bejay

Chaman I always start my roots that way. Don't have any real documented proof, but I believe that they are less prone to have rotting problems when started in potting medium (vs. water) and intact (instead of cut). "Horizontal" put more of the root in contact with moisture and thus, likely to grow sprouts. That's just my reasoning. But there are people who have done the toothpick and water approach for MANY YEARS and they get sweet potatoes! Glenn Drowns, at Sandhill Preservation Center, has been doing quite a bit with sweet potatoes. He has the most extensive collection of varieties, available for sale, that I know of. But he, being in a Northern environment, has also been doing a lot to learn about the plant's requirements. Probably the #1 thing I've heard from him, over the years is that the sweet potato requires HEAT to grow and prosper. Glenn often counsels folk not to plant their starts until the nights and soil are warm. Starting slips in the garden early does not give better results than starting late but with plenty of warmth. Last year he started some varieties towards the end of July and still got good results. I started my last planting here on July 18 and found that two out of three varieties did not plump up quite as well I would have liked. My theory on this is that here in OK we have a number of weeks in the summer, when temps are so high, and we get no precipitation, that a lot of plants just sit there, rather than growing. Still, I would not hesitate to plant any sweet potato (here) anytime in June or early July. Sweet potato vines are incredibly resilient! I do not know why I do lose a slip or two almost every year when planting. But most of the time I put them out and water them (from a can), mainly for my own sake, not for theirs. When we lived in the high desert, in Hidalgo, Mexico; we helped a private school with agronomy. We used flood irrigation, as it rained infrequently. Anyway, I once saw a student harvest sweet potatoes and drop a vine in an unused garden plot. That plot received no irrigation or rain for four months. The vine was crisp and brown. When someone irrigated that plot the vine grew sprouts and rooted again! This was a native variety so folks, don't try this one at home, unless you just want to satisfy your curiosity. In my opinion, sweet potatoes are one of the most neglected and most useful crops a person can grow, and, I believe Northern gardeners really should try them. If one has a really short season or cool nights, then go with earlier varieties and use black plastic mulch. George Tahlequah, OK

Agree with Wayne. Proper curing is the key. The potaoes must have adequte air circulation to remove the moisture given off as they cure or destructive organisms can have a filed day. Storage above 50 degrees, relativley dry. I put mine in Kraft paper bags and store in the pantry. Altho I put my seed bed down in April, the eating potaoes keep through June.

Hello all, This year I was not able to get sweet potato slips/plants from Sand Hill Preservation because they sold out. I personally do not want to order my plants in March or April when I can not plant until May. I decided I would just grow my own slips from a store bought potato. I had some nice slips growing when I found an eBay seller with a nice variety of sweet potato slips available. This seller had the Korean Purple!! FANTASTIC!!! This seller has plants ALL YEAR LONG -AND- only $1 per plant. Clean disease free plants. I only ordered a few plants - just in case. I am now a customer of these folks as long as they sell I will purchase. I know Sand Hill is a Mom & Pop operation but they do sell out pretty fast. **I am not affiliated with any merchant. I do not list this information to get you to buy anything. I only list this info because I had superb service and superb product from this merchant. DL Here is a link that might be useful: sweet potato merchant on eBay