It may take a few weeks or even a month before you see green growth sprouting from the top of the tuber. You can harvest vegetable varieties of sweet potatoes at any stage and they will be edible. If you are growing edible tubers as vegetables, you'll need a large container or bucket to allow them adequate room to grow. Growing Sweet Potatoes in Containers:The sweet potatoes not related to potatoes family. How To Grow Sweet Potatoes In A Container Pick the Proper Variety. Bear in mind, though, that sweet potatoes grow from “slips,” tiny shoots that sprout up out of the tubers and must be transplanted. To double check that the sweet potato is suitable to use, ask the farmer or booth worker if they’ve sprayed the potatoes with BudNip or other sprout inhibitor. Introducing "One Thing": A New Video Series, The Spruce Gardening & Plant Care Review Board, The Spruce Renovations and Repair Review Board. Water thoroughly. When it grows in its native environment, sweet potatoes are perennials, but they grow as annual plants in containers. To start slips, 6-8 weeks before you’re ready to plant outside, submerge one-third to one-half of a sweet potato in a jar of water on your kitchen windowsill. If you don't want to use your hand, you can also use a small garden spade to dig the holes. You can grow sweet potato vines indoors, although you are unlikely to harvest tubers unless indoors means in a greenhouse. Planting sweet potatoes in containers. Once these plants have begun to grow robustly indoors, they will be ready to transfer to large mixed containers with other plants. Sweet potatoes will grow in poor soil, but deformed roots may develop in heavy clay or long and stringy in sandy dirt. Here are the necessary steps to grow sweet potatoes (Botanical Name: Ipomoea batatas) in containers: Step One: Select a variety of sweet potato that is ideal for growing in containers. If you don't have a drill, you can use a sharp knife to cut holes into the bottom of the bucket, but be very careful not to cut yourself. Place each section in a jar or glass of water with half of the potato below the water and half above. My approach is to mix a slow release fertilizer into the soil when I plant them in their final containers. Kerry Michaels is a writer and photographer with several years specializing in gardening and landscape design. The next step is to place the tuber in water to sprout. It also helps to harden off the new plants by acclimating them gradually to the outdoors before putting them into their permanent locations. Fill the container with high-quality potting soil until the surface of the soil reaches about 1 inch below the rim. Supermarket sweet potatoes are often sprayed with a chemical called “BudNip” that stops slips from sprouting. Depending on the size of the container, you may have to pot again or prune the roots if the plant becomes root-bound within the pot. Whether you are planting your edible sweet potatoes in the ground or ornamental sweet potatoes in large mixed pots outdoors, wait until the outdoor soil is at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit (this occurs when air temperatures have been 65 degrees for quite some time). Instead you need to start a plant from the potato itself. This is natural. After 3-4 weeks, the slips will stretch … The bush-type... A Word of Caution. If the tuber is too hard, you can drive a small hole with a thin nail, then stick the toothpick into it. See more ideas about Growing sweet potatoes, Container potatoes, Potatoes. References. Sweet potato vines like moderate moisture, but are sensitive to water-logging. Make a hole in the center of the soil, deep enough to cover the roots of the slip. X Sweet potatoes require a notoriously long growing season — about 100 to 140 days to be exact. Once your sweet potatoes have sprouted, you have to separate them … To create the perfect environment, create long, wide, 10-inch-high ridges spaced 3½ feet apart. [1] Work in plenty of compost, avoiding nitrogen-rich fertilizers that produce lush vines and stunted tubes. After watering, you may find that the soil has settled; if so, add more soil to the pot. Last Updated: March 29, 2019 Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 20,368 times. Change the water about once a week. This type of soil will increase the growth of the leaves, but stunt the growth of the potato. Plant the Slips in Containers . If you really can’t stand to see another ad again, then please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. So … We use cookies to make wikiHow great. Fill the container and create a raised area on one side of the container with the soil. Make sure your container receives at least six to eight hours of sun a day. When the new roots are about one inch long, the slips can be planted in potting soil. Second, sweet potatoes need harvested before frost! LOVE. wikiHow's. Roots can be left in the ground for a short while; however, an extremely hard frost can cause damage to roots near the surface. Now we are growing it on into a second container and at the same time enjoying our fi… This process causes a thin protective layer to form on the outer skin of the potato known as suberin. Your plant may grow very quickly. Sweet potato roots continue to grow until frost kills the vines. If you want to grow your sweet potato vines as decorative plants, find a small three- or four-inch seedling pot with good drainage. Don’t treat them like conventional spuds. "This article told me all I need to know to grow my own sweet potatoes in a container from a tuber I have sprouting. 1 Choose a container that measures between 18 and 24 inches in width and 24 to 36 inches deep. Learn more... Sweet potatoes make for a nutritious and filling side dish to most meals. Locate the middle of each tuber piece and insert three or more toothpicks into it; they should go about 1/2 to 1 inch into the tuber. Thriving in warm soil, unlike regular potatoes, sweet potatoes will be ready to harvest just as the ends of the vines begin to turn yellow, or just before frost. To grow slips, save a few of the tuberous roots from your last crop, or buy untreated sweet potatoes from your local farmer's market. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. When you grow potatoes in a container, harvesting is easier because all the tubers are in one place. Outdoors: If grown outdoors, sweet potatoes need moisture-retentive, free-draining soil, in a sheltered, sunny... Plant. Space the toothpicks evenly around the circumference of the tuber. apart. Be careful not to cut or knick the stem of the slip while you’re trimming the leaves, as this can cause the potato to sprout from an undesirable spot on the slip. Potted sweet potatoes prefer well-draining, sandy soil to which you should add compost. Make sure that there are no air pockets near the roots. To grow your own sweet potatoes at home, you can use any type of container, not just a mineral tub. It's hard not to love sweet potatoes, and growing them in your backyard garden is an excellent option if you love them. Moody recommends that you use a container with a minimum of 2 cubic feet of volume (and even a little more) to allow for any root crop. The temperature must stay above {[convert|50|F|C}} if you're leaving the bucket outside. Sweet potatoes bred as edible vegetables have much larger, sweeter tuberous roots, and their foliage is less attractive. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Grow-Sweet-Potatoes-in-Containers-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Grow-Sweet-Potatoes-in-Containers-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Grow-Sweet-Potatoes-in-Containers-Step-1.jpg\/aid10355061-v4-728px-Grow-Sweet-Potatoes-in-Containers-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"