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Vegetable Gardening

Failed Attempt at Growing Sweet Potato Slips

8 years ago

I thought it'd be a fun experiment with my son to try our hands at growing sweet potatoes in a jar of water. We cut an organically-grown sweet potato in half and suspended the halves in jars of water with a couple of toothpicks. The water quickly became cloudy, so I changed it out every couple of days. A little over a week later, and instead of sprouting roots or slips, the sweet potatoes began to rot. And man, what a stench!

So where did I go wrong? The only thing I can think of was maybe that I used cold water to fill the jars, as I was using filtered water from the fridge to avoid hard water stains on the jars.

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Comments (8)

wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
8 years ago
First of all, I would not cut the potato. Sercondly, I would start more than one potato.....some potatoes may be sounder or better sprouters than other potatoes. The water will warm up after a while and I doubt that the water is a problem..

I have had some that did great and some failed...don't put all your marbles on 1 potato.
BahamaDan Zone 12b Subtropics
8 years ago
I usually do one, but I think sweee potatoes have a specific end where the slips come out unlike Irish potatoes. Ditto about not cutting it.
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True, also, heat is key. If it is at all cool, they can take a LONG time to get going. I suppose variety is also a factor. I had an infestation of fungus gnats, in my planter, this year, and had to start over twice, toughest sweet potato year of my life, so far. One suggestion for the future: take it for what it's worth to you. Don't cut the roots you want to use for starting slips. This may give opportunity for disease or ... fungus gnats. Just bury the root at least half way in the soil. It'll work. Grandad, they are incredibly hardy, aren't they?! We lived over eight years in the high desert of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. There was very little rainfall where we lived. But we did use flood irrigation. I once pulled a sweet potato vine, while harvesting, and tossed it into an adjacent (unused/dry) plot. Over the course of a couple months the vine dried, turned brown crisp. Then, someone flooded that plot, in order to work it, and... presto! The vine sprouted little sweet potato plants along the leaf nodes! George
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Sweet potatoes should be no more than 2/3 submerged in water to produce viable slips. The root end should be down and the stem end should be up. Plant sweet potatoes between 9 and 16 inches apart in a row that is at least 10 feet wide or wider. Do NOT double up on slips in a single hole, instead, put your extra slips in some soil very close together in an out of the way place. Then if you need to replace one in your garden, dig it up and move it. Groundhogs LOVE sweet potatoes and deer are close behind them. DarJones
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Farmerdill said " . If the slips get too big you can cut the slip into 6 inches pieces and plant each piece." Do the roots grow from the bottom of the cut piece or from a leaf node. do you remove the leaves that are planted under the soil. My sweet potatoes have long vines that I want to cut and plant but I cannot find specifics about taking a long vine, cutting it up, and planting the pieces. Can someone help.
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Comments (12)
yeah screen colors are hard on my old eyes with eye problems.. but good info here..... Hey isnt it a little early ?.....luckily still eating mine. but so warm upstairs scared they will dry out.. some did last year.... I hate winter...and snow anxious to grow my stuff again.. yummy gbeans,,,,, melons,,,,drool thinking about them...... lots of work but God blessed me last year with lots except tomatoes dried up...... ah well cause I bought quite a bit from nice local guy. so finished all of his, before I started on mine.. ALL organic.....MINE yall ever cut them up in slices and bake in oven in coconut oil.....YUMMMMMY heck here in Ky we have prob a foot of snow on the ground and single digit temperatures... .putting in water worked for me for the last two years.. But I did it late .I am surprised I got many plants. plus was out of room in my 7..... 3 sq feet tall wooden boxes lined with lslandscape fabric and hdwe cloth under that... need to move the things soon.. Hubby said they need to go closer to the garden itself.... that will be a job emptying and moving all..
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nancyjane_gardener
8 years ago
When I used to do it, I just stuck the 3 tooth picks in the SP to hold it about 1/3-1/2 in the mason jar. You don't need a big one! The sprouts come from the eyes, so you don't want to cut them in half. You don't want the jar to be in direct sun, and you want to change the water every day or every other day, depending on the heat. That's where the stink comes in! Also, keep the water at a consistent level.

We used to have beautiful vines surrounding our windows in the kitchen! BUT if you don't take care of them they'll become a stinky mess! Believe me!

Hmmm, I think I'll try it again! Nancy
zzackey
8 years ago
I just stuck the cuttings a vase of water. I never changed the water. They grew roots like crazy. I had them in a northern window.
Gregory Eleser
8 years ago
First, let the potato sit in a warm dark area of the pantry or closet for a long while, then just sit it in a jar with the stem end down and fill about half way. change the water every other day.

You should start seeing tiny red buds on the exposed skin and roots underwater.

Sometimes the potato will already have shoots started if it is old enough. Still need the water though.
raymondo17
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for all the feedback here, folks. I'll try using small, whole sweet potatoes next time and follow the advice offered here. Looks like I've missed this growing season, so I'll postpone this gardening adventure for next spring. Cheers!
beesneeds
8 years ago
I did everything the wrong way, but managed to have plants anyway.

Bought a couple organic taters.... Promptly cut them in half and put them in glass containers with water going about halfway up the sides... In full sun in my south facing window. Only changed the water a couple times when it got cloudy, but I did keep the water level steady- sort of.

once I had some good sprouts, I snapped them off and just stuck them into the containers I was going to grow them in, and once I had a container or two like that, I stuck the tater halves into their own containers.

dunno if I will get any taters, but I sure have a lot of vines.
raymondo17
Original Author
8 years ago
You had much better luck than I did, beesneeds. Congrats! Lol.

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