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Vegetable Gardening

Which sweet potato varieties have best foliage and good yields?

9 years ago

I want to grow sweet potatoes in a visible location in my front yard, so I'm trying to pick something attractive...maybe a couple different varieties. The harvest is intended to be consumed by my English Mastiff instead of myself - she sees them as a combo food and entertainment all-in-one, and I see it as an economical supplement to her diet of expensive pet foods. So I would say plant yield is a larger consideration than human taste preference. I live in Fort Worth so I expect that I probably have a long enough growing season for any variety.

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Comments (6)

farmerdill
9 years ago
As you noted, you can grow about any variety in your area. Modern commercial varieties like Beauregard, Carolina Ruby, Jewel will have the best yields. Since you are planting in your front yard, you may be more interested in colorful foliage, There are several with purple foliage. Vardeman is probably the easiest to find.
bcomplx
9 years ago
Agree that Vardeman is worth finding because the foliage comes on purple. You could mix in some chartreuse ornamental sweet potatoes and it would be cool.
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I had heard Sandhill ships late so not an option this year but I did read variety choices on their site. But, they are not shipping anymore this year. Vardaman is an early variety (90 days) and bush, so it should be good for my small area. I think I'll just put one O'Henry in just to see how it tastes. Thanks for all the suggestions. Denninmi, I appreciate the suggestion of Beauregard, but I did want to check out something different :)
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No, you shouldn't trim them, at least in theory. The more foliage, the more energy they have to put into the sweet potatoes. Now, in the real world, probably a little light trimming or heading back won't make a big difference. It will depend somewhat on what stage of development they're in as well -- if the tubers are already large and mostly developed, all some light trimming would do is probably slow down maturity a little tiny bit. From personal experience, heavy trimming (in my case, by deer) will totally destroy the crop, yielding nothing. I know it won't help you this year, but in future years, if you have limited space and it's a problem, try growing 'Bush Porto Rico' or 'Vardenman' both of which are "bush" type plants, a lot more compact than many types.
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elisa_z5
9 years ago
Ah, yes, if you're growing them for a dog, I can see the reason to grow Beauregard. But if you do grow Vardeman, taste some yourself, they're delicious! Also, Vardeman have a bushy habit, while most others have a vining habit, meaning Vardeman don't sprawl and run all over the place the way the others do.
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 years ago
Did I see a thread about growing sweet potato from a supermarket sweet potato somewhere? We really enjoy the 'Garnet' sweet potatoes from the supermarket. I was wondering if you could cut one in pieces and keep it in water until it sprouted and grow sweet potatoes from that?
farmerdill
9 years ago
Red Garnet is not the usual supermarket sweet potato. Mostly they are Beauregards ans Covingtons. However to start your own plants dot not cut the potato. Place the whole potato root end down into a container of water. The water should not cover much more than the bottom quarter of the potato They can also be started in moist (not wet) potting mix.
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 years ago
Great, I would have cut it, if I hadn't asked. Thanks for the photo which helps. In the Whole Foods, they often have potatoes labeled as Garnet. They are gorgeous and tasty. I don't know what they have in the stores right now though. Will have to check next time. Thanks!

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