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Pests & Diseases - Australia

Sweet potatoes dying off

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Hi,

My sweet potato leaves are yellowing, having spots, wilting and dying off. I live in Sydney.

When I planted the sweet potatoes, they are growing very well, like in the first picture.

Later on this problem started: one leaf on one plant got yellow. It was like this for a long time and as it was just one leaf, I didn't think it was something to worry about.

I got worried when a second leaf turned yellow and I started sewing small black ants on the plant coming from the roots of the plant of that leaf.

More and more leaves have yellowed and the whole stalk drooped downwards. I've been treating the affected plants so this (in the other pictures is what my plant is up to now.

I'm a first time gardener so I checked a few remedies online and tried them. Nothing seems to be working. I've sprayed the following on them: canola oil, water solution is dried chilli pepper, water solution of clove oil, tea tree oil and rosemary oil. Nothing seems to working.

So what do I do? Can I save the plant. At least ud like to save the soil so I can still use to pot to plant another batch of sweat potatoes. Please help.

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As Dave said, or you can use sand. I let them grow about 4 to 6 inches long cut them off. No roots then stick them in small pots with potting mix and keep them watered good. After a few weeks they are ready to plant out in my garden. You only want the slip to have 2 or 3 roots. That all they need to get started in the garden. The reason is most of the new roots will make potatoes. If you don't believe me take one and let get a big root ball on the end and plant it. You want get any potatoes. Now do it my way and you will get 5 to 10 lbs per plant in good loose soil. Also where the vine touches the grown keep it pulled up and don't let it root. That way all the potatoes will grow from only the area you planted them. If you let the vine root on up the vine it will take energy from the end where the potatoes grow and they want get as much or as big. I have planted them 1 ft apart in rows. Some people plant them 18 inches apart. But I like 1 ft. I got about 150 lbs of 20 ft row last year. That about 7.5 lbs per plant.
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"If you dig them soon for long term storage, where will you store them? Sometimes the ground where they grew can be good storage for a few weeks." Wayne, Never thought of that. Thank you for the info! :) "Do not keep watering them after the tops have died back. The potatoes underground won't absorb water, so all you'll be doing is making it soggy down there which would promote rot." Edymnion, Thank you! Wondered about that.
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some leaves? or just a few? Or all of the leaves? For some leaves (meaning it only affected that particular vine - follow it back to the tuber itself. If it was damaged, rotted out, then it affects only that part of the plant. Remove it. One thing that causes sudden die offs is fungus. So check for this. If there is an overall die back - check the entire tuber for sponginess. It may have rotted out. Usually with with sweet potatoes (and many other plants that are started off in water) you need to remove them from the water and slowly get it used to soiless mixes. They shouldn't have any prolonged stay in the water. (unless you use a hydrophonic system with specialized nutrients fed to the roots) The roots they develop in water do not easily adjust to soil which is why they need to be transplanted shortly after they develop those roots. As a matter of practise, I prefer to start any plants in March or late Feb. because in my area (ontario) it's a long way off til May to transplant out. Earlier and things get too leggy or weak. Also all indoor plants do require good light.
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g'day popi, that's just about it hey too easy. i just make enough of an indent in the soil to cover the sprouted section then as they grow mulch them until the mulch reaches my desired capacity. happy new year len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page
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