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.

Mr. Brown Thumb says that the ornamental ones have been bred for their lovely foliage so that's why the potato is pithy and woody, whereas the sweet potatoes bred for their potato production are tastier ... in the tuber portion. http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/2010/10/ornamental-sweet-potato-vine.html. Sooo if they're both Ipomoeas then one should grow them for what they intend to harvest and use for their tables ... either leaves or tubers? I have Puerto Rico sweet potatoes growing and will have to try eating the young leaves and shoots. This is a very interesting discussion because I have been curious about eating the foliage for a while. Does anyone know if all Ipomoeas (morning glories) have edible leaves? Thanks to you all for the information in this thread.

Larry, I have a couple of thoughts on the yellowing leaves, but I don't know that I have any solutions to recommend. Like Carol, I think it might be heat stress or drought stress. However, if you had several inches of rain in a fairly brief period recently, then it likely is something else--possibly fungal disease or maybe something bacterial, unless..... Unless you planted them in a nematode infested area. In that case it might be nematode damage. Another thing I can think of that might cause the yellowing foliage would be fusarium wilt, but if that is what it is you'll know pretty quickly. Usually it hits the plants one day and all you notice is yellowing leaves, and then within another day or two you see the yellowing leaves followed by wilting and plant death. There is not a cure once fusarium hits. Generally I do not see diseases on sweet potatoes except following a period of very heavy rainfall, and then I'll see one of the rot diseases that causes the stems and/or leaves to turn black and rot. If the plants looked bad when you planted them, then the best thing to do at that time would have been to dip them in a fungicide recommended for sweet potatoes. Sometimes that can prevent further fungal issues from developing. Sorry, I feel like I'm not being very helpful. What I likely would do would be to gently dig in the soil near the most yellowed, most wilted plant and see if the soil is either excessively wet or excessively dry. I'd try to push back the soil from the crown of the plant where the foliage emergences from the ground and check for any sign of disease on the stems. If Daconil still is labeled for use on sweet potatoes, you could try spraying the foliage of your plants, or you can use copper as long as the label doesn't warn against using it in excessively high temperatures. If the problem is a fugal disease, that likely would keep it from spreading from one plant to another. Sweet potatoes are prone to many diseases that cause leaf spotting and yellowing but I think they must be more common in humid areas because I just don't see them here in my area where it usually is hot and dry with relatively low humidity during sweet potato season. George may have some ideas for you since his climate and weather in general are more like yours than mine are. Finally, if you see this disease hit and then move up a row of plants, one after another, in a straight line, that would seem like it might be cotton root rot, which I had trouble with in Texas, and for the first couple of years here. Cotton root rot's name can be misleading because you don't have to have grown cotton in a specific area in order for your plants to get it. It is soil-borne and affects several thousand different plants. I think there's only a really slim, almost miniscule, chance it would be CRR though. Dawn

Thank you Remy! That is exactly what it is without a doubt. I could not find anything like it and appreciate the help. I looked up porcelain berry vine and mine has more pink in the leaves and I had no berries, but it seems they don't all berry. The berries are pretty but apparently make the plant invasive via birds, so I'd rather not have them. The thing is amazingly lush and vigorous. It's become a household joke, The Evil Vine. We keep our Great Dane away from it in case The Vine is hungry. It's an interesting plant even if it is flashy, I'm glad I have info on how to take care of it now - in a big pot.