linnea56, Just an update. My sweet potato vine on a big pot made it. I even barely watered it. I placed them in the basement near window to get some light. It got some light maybe 1-2 hours a day and depending on the month. The maroon version though looks like didn't make it or maybe the pot where it was wasn't deep enough. The chartreuse kept producing leaves but were pale and losing leaves too. It's outside now. But I might have to bring it in tonight since we'll get down to 38F in the next few. I'm so happy since it's somewhat a success and that I didn't put a lot of effort. Bad news, my purple fountain grass didn't make it. It stopped producing leaves around January. I brought it outside. We'll see.

Im trying to figure this out also they have a hard shell some are glossy with a gold stripe on there back they started invading my apartment i think they come from the desert landscape at my apartment im in Henderson and have ask other people nobody seems to know are even heard of them they love crawlingon the stucco then squeeze there way thru my window

I can share a little about curing sweet potatoes. The main reason for curing them is to allow the skin to dry/heal up from any scrapes or bug damage. The skin will change a bit during curing and once cured, the potato will keep longer. First-Once dug, let the potatoes dry off a bit and dust off the dirt, then there are several alternatives for further curing... For fast and really good curing they say keeping them between 80 and 85 F and between 80 and 85 % Relative humidity for a few days is supposed to heal up their skin really good and keep them from shriveling. Older methods I've read for curing include just leaving them layed out to dry for a period of time. (If they start to shrivel, they won't keep as long though.) Put them in crates or boxes and cover over with a blanket or something keep them at room temperature and not too dry for a few weeks. Put them in a bin with a towel or blanket over it. If it is too dry, you can moisten the towel or blanket a bit. Keep that in a warm place for a couple weeks Finally, storing sweet potatoes. I've heard that they will store longest and best at a temperatures between 49 and 60 F and Relative humidity between 40% and 60%. They will also keep pretty well at room temperature in most of our houses here in Florida. I've stored lots of my sweet potatoes in paper grocery sacks in our spare room. I've noticed that sweet potatoes cooked right after being pulled from the ground tend to be drier and less sweet than the ones that have been stored for a couple weeks or longer. All the sweet potatoes I've grown for the past couple years have been from a grocery store potato I got a couple years ago and started using the toothpicks and glass jar method. We have gotten some huge yields of sweet potatoes. It doesn't seem that there are very many pests of sweet potatoes though it is probably good to rotate where you grow them so as not to build up any diseases in one part of the garden. They don't seem to need huge amounts of fertilizer but good organic matter added to sandy soil seems to be a good thing for them. I have found that they likely plenty of water at least up until shortly before harvest time. I do notice a fair amount of bug damage and holes in lots of the potatoes I've dug this season but that isn't slowing me down. Most of those taters are still gonna be just fine for eating even if you couldn't sell them at market. Another tasty way to eat sweet potatoes is to slice them up thin, give em a spritz of cooking spray and spread them out on a cookie sheet and bake. Think of em as sweet potato french frys. And yes the leaves are also edible in stir fry or salads it is great (especially since there are very few greens that grow well down here in summer.) You can also use sweet potatoes in just about any way that Irish potatoes are used. We also use sweet potatoes in stir frys or even on kabobs. Sweet potato is very easy and well suited to our hot wet Florida climate and loves the hot summers to boot! A definite must for a Florida veggie garden and could save people from hunger in hard times too. Here is a link that might be useful: TCLynx

We boil 3 cups mash them with 1cup brown sugar,2eggs,1/2 cup milk(vanilla coffee creamer is better),1/2 cup butter. Put in casserole dish and top with this mixture. 1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1 /3 cup melted butter, 1 cup chopped pecans. Sprinkled it over the top of sweet potatoes and bake at 350 for 30 -40 min. We like to double the topping. But you might want to try it single batch first if you are not into rich cause it is dessert rich. No calories either!!!I also like to just bake them cut them open and put in butter and Cinnamon.