The leaves are delicious and nutritious. We eat them raw in salads or on sandwiches! They are full of potassium and vitamin K though, so if you are on certain medications like warfarin (coumadin) or have to watch your potassium intake, you might want to eat them just a few at a time. I've never cooked them, but I hear they are great in stir-fry(s) too! They are similar to spinach in flavor but milder and not as earthy. We've grown them the last few years, but didn't grow any this year because I just had surgery and can't really get out there. It's been an amazing year for our cucumbers though. I planted two seeds in the ground, and have so far canned around 130+ quarts of pickles, and they are not slowing down! I have to can more about every 2 days!!
Homemade tots, sweet potato steak fries and mashed (my boys love all three options) I love growing these! Last year I bulk prepped about 20 lbs of mashed sweet potatoes (no seasonings until I was ready to use them for dinner) used a 2 ounce ice cream scoop and frozen portions on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, i transferred to ziploc baggies for "Fast food" on some of our busier nights. Dehydrated about 10 lbs of shred for shelf stable sweet potato hash browns. I love that tuber!
The sweet potato leaves are very nutritious. Fix and use them just like you would spinach - steamed, stir-fried, salad, in soups, casseroles, etc. I planted my slips from last year's potatoes in three 18-gallon totes. I plan to harvest them next week since this weekend we'll be in the 80s. With all of the rains we've had lately from the hurricane, I wanted to give them a chance to dry out.
The greens are definitely edible! We just sauteed some with garlic, onion and bacon and scrambled them into eggs for breakfast 😋. As far as the plant goes, did you have the container in the greenhouse where it was warmer sooner? Sweet potatoes need heat much more than time, and soil temp below 55 can actually damage the roots. I had to wait until mid May for most of our grow bags to be 65° before planting, and the end of June for the same in our in-ground bed (we had a really cold start this year in Oregon's Willamette Valley). A test dig in the ground revealed some nice sized roots a few days ago, so I'm really looking forward to harvesting it all in a week or two, before our average temps here get below 55° for probably the rest of the year.
I live in Minnesota, near Minneapolis. This year was my first year growing sweet potatoes. I planted in the ground, 2 slips that my mother started for me, aroundmid May. I dug them yesterday, got about 10 to 12 lbs. of large potatoes from each plant. Including a couple that are nearly the size of footballs. The vines were definitely trying to take over the world. Good to know that the greens are tasty, i don't have good luck with spinach or lettuce.
Oh yes the leaves are amazing to eat. I sautéed them in olive oil and fresh garlic. You can use it in soups and stews too. They are loaded with antioxidants and a great spinach alternative. I used an upside down tomato age for wrapping the vines around and kept them off the ground
Sweet potato leaves are very nutritious, and while many greens are good for dogs, sweet potato leaves are quite toxic, along with amaranth I think! Before feeding your dog anything from the garden, always investigate first!
Sweet potato & black bean taco skillet - exactly what it sounds like - add salsa & melted cheese 😋 We have grown Mahon and Georgia Jet here in PA & while the rabbits nibbled on the Mahon foliage, they almost completely destroyed the Georgia Jet. Rabbits stopped browsing after some volunteer holy basil took over the bed. I’ll plant them together intentionally next year & may try the grow bags as well. Enjoy your harvest!
Timely video because I have numerous sweet potato containers. So far nothing is ready in the low AZ desert. I was told by a plant nursery to harvest in April. No sign if flowers! Thank you.
I like to bake mine in an air fryer then eat them with butter and salt and pepper skin and all. I grew about thirty pounds of them this year and they're delicious.
Sweet potato leaves are edible and delicious. You can pick them throughout the season while waiting to pick the tuber. Sweet potato leaves are often sold in Asian markets.
Hi, so this year we had some sweet potatoes and decided to experiment, we cut them up and put them in our garden about late July, The plants started growing and spreading, we weren't expecting anything and last week decided to pull the plants to ready our garden for over winter. WOW, the sweet potatoes we got were amazing, we ended up with about 6 pounds and they tasted really good. So yes we will be growing them again next year.
I’ve heard that sweet potatoes like clay soil, so after deep mulching an area over the winter, I planted them straight in the ground, under layers of mulch from last year’s garden cleanup. Grew my own slips and am trying an Asian type as well. The vines are huge, so I’m hoping for a good yield. We’ve grown them in raised beds in the past, but would much prefer to grow them in-ground if possible. Here’s hoping!
I grew beauregards in 2 grow bags this year - 4 slips each to two 25 gallon bags. Not every slip produced BUT what I got was far more than my raised bed last year. Very sizeable and respectable harvest. I love the grow bags because I have limited backyard space and did not have to give up bed space. Will definitely do again.
This year, we grew our sweet potatoes in a raised bed. We had a bumper crop with the largest sweet potato weighing over 6 pounds. Like you, we had deer and rabbits that made it over/through our fences and actually ate the vines back to 3" stems. We put up another taller fence around the bed, and the vines grew back and were crazy long. Like 16 feet long. We definitely have a large chop and drop crop of vines and leaves now, too!
I did some in a water trough last year and I got a 5 gallon bucket out of that trough. This year I planted in the trough, but I also made a huge raised bed. The vines are so big and healthy and they are running all over my yard and in the beds close to them. I’m so glad to hear that the leaves are edible. Will sauté some on Sunday. Can’t wait to harvest! Did you say when you planted yours? I don’t remember hearing it. I think I should harvest soon.
Yes the leaves are edible. I ate some raw this summer. Mine were very mild tasting. I want to grow some again next year and harvest the leaves to see how they taste cooked.
That's exactly the fabric pot I put my poatoes in there but yucon gold. The Texas heat beat them up severely but I'm going to harvest them at the end of the month bc one survived. If I get just one I'll be happy. 😊
4 years ago June, I planted 6 Sweet Potatoes that were sprouting on my kitchen counter, 2 were rotting. I burried them on bottom of recycle bin that had drain holes already. I placed it on top of a kiddie pool filled with native mixed soil, with holes for draining. I watered & watched. As leaves popped up about 2-3 weeks I covered with more soil until bin was nearly full. Then I put in trellis for the vines. In late Dec we had our 1st chill/near freeze. I harvested over 75 spuds in varrying shapes & sizes. There were some buried underneath that pool too! I tossed all the scrawny & smallest ones back into the bin & started over. Each year I get about the same 75 or so & replant the same. Last year I upped the bin size to a recycled Dish Washer. Haven't harvested yet, but looking forward to another bounty soon. Im in N E FLORIDA zone 9B. Mine have never flowered. But still produce.😊
I grew sweet potatoes for my first time this year. I really had no idea what I was doing even though I watched some you tube videos. I hope to harvest them this weekend. I am eager to find out if I have anything edible!
My mom does a really simple desert time dish. Microwave until soff like a baked potato soft. Peel skin, cut disks out of them put into a baked dish. Sprinkle brown sugar and slice of butter, then bake it. You could probably even add honey to it
I like cubing up sweet potatoes to put in a breakfast hash with other veggies from the garden with whatever protein I have left might have leftover from a previous meal. That with my backyard eggs is so delicious. Chef kiss 🧑🍳
I just grew my first sweet potatoes this year, in the ground. Thank you, i did not know about letting them sit and sweeten. I am not to hopeful because the rabbits kept keepoing the green tops of my plants trimmed, until I let the weeds grow around the plants and kind of protect them. I am still waiting for harvest, I want to give them as long as possible in the ground.
Peel and cut sweet potatoes into desired shape (diced, sliced, fries, etc.). Place in a bowl, pour on your favorite cooking oil (I use avocado), sprinkle on cumin, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 425° until roasted to your desired doneness. Enjoy!
Sauté the leaves as you would spinach! Leaves should be young, and not too big. And do not take too many from any one plant. Spread the pruning of leaves among different plants. Butter/olive oil with salt and garlic? I add parsley to most all my dishes is a preference for me, May not be for everyone! Good luck and enjoy!
Rabbits don’t like crushed habaneros. I stir fry sweet potatoes with some sort of green like chard or spinach in coconut oil with a bit of garlic and turmeric. Most often I just bake them with chicken.
I always grow my sweets in big grow bags too because every time i have tried growing them in ground the voles totally obliterate them and you have no idea its going on until harvest day. 😣 We did harvest our sweets recently and quite a few of them were absolutely massive! Now that they're cured up i've been thinking of making some sweet potato waffles, and of course we will be making a pie for good ol' turkey day, lol.
Last year i stuck 2 whole sweet potatoes in a 20 qt tote (I didn't know about slips) late spring or early summer with regular top soil and let them go until my first frost killed the vines. I can't remember if i fertilized at all and got roughly 15-20 good sized potatoes. This year i did some slips and the potato i used to make the slips into a metal raised bed with a trellis. The vines have swallowed the trellis and the 4 ft bed + 3 ft around the bed. I'm in newly 8a NC and was trying to decide if i should harvest now or wait till my first frost again. I've also have heard you can treat the leaves just like spinach as well. Love your content! Keep up the great work 👍 ❤
I've also gotten a few flowers heat and there, have 2 right now. Heard somewhere that flowing isn't necessary for tuber development though, but pretty either way.
I think sweet potatoes are best grown in the ground,normally the vines root all the way along, sucking up nutrients and energy from a huge area,which is what grows the tuber. In a container is better than nothing ofcourse.
Hey Luke! I was trying to find Georgia Jet this year but I wasn't able to find them. Any suggestions of where I can find some Georgia Jet potatoes so that I can grow my own slips for spring of 2025? And yes, I ate from my vines throughout. They were really tasty. I sautéed mine with onions and garlic like spinach.
We grew them in the ground on the farm and in pots two hours away at home. Both did well, the in-ground was a huge harvest but we had horrific mice eating issues. We had very few, if any, blooms.
Looks like you may have over watered them. Dry conditions trigger sweet potatoes to start storing energy and make larger tubers. Of course that doesn’t mean you should let them completely dry up. Here in central Missouri I harvest them in mid September and let them lay in the sun.
If they were planted in April, that's over 150 days if you are harvesting early October. They weren't going to get any bigger. That's almost a month longer in the ground than necessary. Glad you got some though.
May have been a bit too cool early on though. It's much more about heat than days for this tropical plant. Soil temp below 55 can damage the root, and below 50 can rot it. Aside from that, it takes about 1200 heat units (average daily temp - 55° = heat units) to get a decent, bratwurst sized tuber for most varieties of sweet potato. It looks like St Clair had somewhere around 2500 or so this year, so I would have expected either bigger or more numerous roots.
Hi 👋 This is my first year growing sweet potatoes & I'm getting ready to harvest. I'm wondering if there's any value in keeping some of the vine & rooting it over the winter? I'm worried after reading all of the comments that my harvest will be small or rotted or some other catastrophe. If that happens, should I root a piece of vine? Thanks.😊
I am experimenting with just that. Before I harvested my sweet potatoes I cut three vines of two varieties, rooted in water and planted them like an indoor plant. I will cut these in the spring, root and plant. Hope the experiment works.
Thanks. So far so good. I successfully harvest the sweet potatoes ~ yes, they are small but, I'm really excited to have gotten anything...small victories are still positive. Vine cuttings were taken & all have rooted in water...going to try to plant some indoors & keep some growing in water to see what works. Please share your experiences as well. Thanks!
I just like to bake them and eat them without anything else no butter or brown sugar. But I do have a question I grew bouregarde sweet potatoes this year for my first time I think I did ok. My question is how many days do these kind take being as they mature in 90 days. ?? Ty
MI Gardner - Do you save all sizes of your sweet potatoes? We're in Croswell, Mi & seem to have gotten a pretty good bounty of sweet potatoes this year, but several on the thin side, like thick straws & I'm not sure I should save them. What do you think?
Grew potatoes but my leaves were wiped out by bugs in less than a week 😭. Still salvaged about 20lbs of potatoes so wasn't too bad, but still only about 3/4 of their size. They were ripe though.
I had the deer eat all my sweet potatoes leaves as well. I have 3 huge, hungry deer that have discovered my garden and I catch them out there frequently..
Deer got mine in raised beds and then a ground hog found the ones in my polytunnel. The poly tunnel ones have come back nicely not do much the ones in raised beds. Going to harvest this weekend as the nights are going to dip into 30’s. 🤞
The leaves are delicious and nutritious. We eat them raw in salads or on sandwiches! They are full of potassium and vitamin K though, so if you are on certain medications like warfarin (coumadin) or have to watch your potassium intake, you might want to eat them just a few at a time. I've never cooked them, but I hear they are great in stir-fry(s) too! They are similar to spinach in flavor but milder and not as earthy.
We've grown them the last few years, but didn't grow any this year because I just had surgery and can't really get out there. It's been an amazing year for our cucumbers though. I planted two seeds in the ground, and have so far canned around 130+ quarts of pickles, and they are not slowing down! I have to can more about every 2 days!!
Homemade tots, sweet potato steak fries and mashed (my boys love all three options) I love growing these! Last year I bulk prepped about 20 lbs of mashed sweet potatoes (no seasonings until I was ready to use them for dinner) used a 2 ounce ice cream scoop and frozen portions on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, i transferred to ziploc baggies for "Fast food" on some of our busier nights. Dehydrated about 10 lbs of shred for shelf stable sweet potato hash browns. I love that tuber!
Great tips, thanks!
The sweet potato leaves are very nutritious. Fix and use them just like you would spinach - steamed, stir-fried, salad, in soups, casseroles, etc. I planted my slips from last year's potatoes in three 18-gallon totes. I plan to harvest them next week since this weekend we'll be in the 80s. With all of the rains we've had lately from the hurricane, I wanted to give them a chance to dry out.
The greens are definitely edible! We just sauteed some with garlic, onion and bacon and scrambled them into eggs for breakfast 😋.
As far as the plant goes, did you have the container in the greenhouse where it was warmer sooner? Sweet potatoes need heat much more than time, and soil temp below 55 can actually damage the roots. I had to wait until mid May for most of our grow bags to be 65° before planting, and the end of June for the same in our in-ground bed (we had a really cold start this year in Oregon's Willamette Valley). A test dig in the ground revealed some nice sized roots a few days ago, so I'm really looking forward to harvesting it all in a week or two, before our average temps here get below 55° for probably the rest of the year.
Luke,
My Grandma used to make an amazing sweet potato pie! ❤😋❤
Ours in containers were HUGE! So exciting.
Nice. Do you have a long growing season?
I planted Beauregards for first time and had a couple decent size and lots of fingerlings. Like you, happy for first time!
Beauregards are the best here in mid-Missouri.
I live in Minnesota, near Minneapolis. This year was my first year growing sweet potatoes. I planted in the ground, 2 slips that my mother started for me, aroundmid May. I dug them yesterday, got about 10 to 12 lbs. of large potatoes from each plant. Including a couple that are nearly the size of footballs. The vines were definitely trying to take over the world. Good to know that the greens are tasty, i don't have good luck with spinach or lettuce.
Sweet potato tops (leaves) are edible & delicious steamed (add your favorite dressing), sautéed w/ garlic & oil.
Appreciate your honesty and enthusiasm Luke.
Oh yes the leaves are amazing to eat. I sautéed them in olive oil and fresh garlic. You can use it in soups and stews too. They are loaded with antioxidants and a great spinach alternative. I used an upside down tomato age for wrapping the vines around and kept them off the ground
Sweet potato leaves are very nutritious, and while many greens are good for dogs, sweet potato leaves are quite toxic, along with amaranth I think! Before feeding your dog anything from the garden, always investigate first!
Sweet potato & black bean taco skillet - exactly what it sounds like - add salsa & melted cheese 😋
We have grown Mahon and Georgia Jet here in PA & while the rabbits nibbled on the Mahon foliage, they almost completely destroyed the Georgia Jet. Rabbits stopped browsing after some volunteer holy basil took over the bed. I’ll plant them together intentionally next year & may try the grow bags as well. Enjoy your harvest!
Timely video because I have numerous sweet potato containers. So far nothing is ready in the low AZ desert. I was told by a plant nursery to harvest in April. No sign if flowers! Thank you.
I imitate the "loaded" sweet potatoes they serve in Cracker Barrel restaurants. yum
I like to bake mine in an air fryer then eat them with butter and salt and pepper skin and all. I grew about thirty pounds of them this year and they're delicious.
Thank you
Sweet potato fries are my favorite way to use them, but they're delicious with any preparation.
Sweet potato leaves are edible and delicious. You can pick them throughout the season while waiting to pick the tuber. Sweet potato leaves are often sold in Asian markets.
The leaves are wonderful! I freeze and dehydrate them for winter eating.
Great idea, thanks! What do you do with the dehydrated leaves?
I grew sweet potatoes for first time this year, and WOW!!!! So impressed!!!!
Hi, so this year we had some sweet potatoes and decided to experiment, we cut them up and put them in our garden about late July, The plants started growing and spreading, we weren't expecting anything and last week decided to pull the plants to ready our garden for over winter. WOW, the sweet potatoes we got were amazing, we ended up with about 6 pounds and they tasted really good. So yes we will be growing them again next year.
I’ve heard that sweet potatoes like clay soil, so after deep mulching an area over the winter, I planted them straight in the ground, under layers of mulch from last year’s garden cleanup. Grew my own slips and am trying an Asian type as well. The vines are huge, so I’m hoping for a good yield. We’ve grown them in raised beds in the past, but would much prefer to grow them in-ground if possible. Here’s hoping!
I grew beauregards in 2 grow bags this year - 4 slips each to two 25 gallon bags. Not every slip produced BUT what I got was far more than my raised bed last year. Very sizeable and respectable harvest. I love the grow bags because I have limited backyard space and did not have to give up bed space. Will definitely do again.
This year, we grew our sweet potatoes in a raised bed. We had a bumper crop with the largest sweet potato weighing over 6 pounds. Like you, we had deer and rabbits that made it over/through our fences and actually ate the vines back to 3" stems. We put up another taller fence around the bed, and the vines grew back and were crazy long. Like 16 feet long. We definitely have a large chop and drop crop of vines and leaves now, too!
Chipotle mashed sweet potatoes are smokey, a little spicy, and delicious! Made with some jarred Chipotles-in-adobo from a Mexican grocery store...
I did some in a water trough last year and I got a 5 gallon bucket out of that trough. This year I planted in the trough, but I also made a huge raised bed. The vines are so big and healthy and they are running all over my yard and in the beds close to them. I’m so glad to hear that the leaves are edible. Will sauté some on Sunday. Can’t wait to harvest! Did you say when you planted yours? I don’t remember hearing it. I think I should harvest soon.
He said he planted them in early April 🙂
Yes the leaves are edible. I ate some raw this summer. Mine were very mild tasting. I want to grow some again next year and harvest the leaves to see how they taste cooked.
Sweet potato flatbread! Yummiest!😊
I'd love the recipe for your flatbread!!
That's exactly the fabric pot I put my poatoes in there but yucon gold. The Texas heat beat them up severely but I'm going to harvest them at the end of the month bc one survived. If I get just one I'll be happy. 😊
The leaves and stems are fantastic! Could you do a video on your amazing artichokes? I'm in the same growing zone as you and mine are peezly. 😆
Yes, we love the leaves! Yum!
Just harvested a mounded milk crate full tonight from only 10 plants.....
sweet potato leaves are a super green in the summer! the hotter it is, the better they are--unlike lettuce, kale, and your normal greens!
I sauté individual leaves w/o stems with garlic in a little vegetable. Also could add to soup or stew.
Sweet potato leaves are edible. You could steam, stir fry, and put them in soup. The leaves are similar to spinach, while the stems are crunchy.
Can I, and if so how, can I store my small ones to use for growing slips next year?
4 years ago June, I planted 6 Sweet Potatoes that were sprouting on my kitchen counter, 2 were rotting. I burried them on bottom of recycle bin that had drain holes already. I placed it on top of a kiddie pool filled with native mixed soil, with holes for draining. I watered & watched. As leaves popped up about 2-3 weeks I covered with more soil until bin was nearly full. Then I put in trellis for the vines. In late Dec we had our 1st chill/near freeze. I harvested over 75 spuds in varrying shapes & sizes. There were some buried underneath that pool too!
I tossed all the scrawny & smallest ones back into the bin & started over.
Each year I get about the same 75 or so & replant the same. Last year I upped the bin size to a recycled Dish Washer. Haven't harvested yet, but looking forward to another bounty soon.
Im in N E FLORIDA zone 9B. Mine have never flowered. But still produce.😊
I grew sweet potatoes for my first time this year. I really had no idea what I was doing even though I watched some you tube videos. I hope to harvest them this weekend. I am eager to find out if I have anything edible!
One year the animals ate the leaves and the sweet potatoes were so good.
Sweeet potato pie would be delicious!
My mom does a really simple desert time dish. Microwave until soff like a baked potato soft. Peel skin, cut disks out of them put into a baked dish. Sprinkle brown sugar and slice of butter, then bake it. You could probably even add honey to it
I can my sweet potatoes for the winter. Yum!
Japanese curry. The dish is usually made with regular potatoes, but I don't really like regular potatoes. They also add a little extra sweetness.
I like cubing up sweet potatoes to put in a breakfast hash with other veggies from the garden with whatever protein I have left might have leftover from a previous meal. That with my backyard eggs is so delicious. Chef kiss 🧑🍳
Yummy
I just grew my first sweet potatoes this year, in the ground. Thank you, i did not know about letting them sit and sweeten. I am not to hopeful because the rabbits kept keepoing the green tops of my plants trimmed, until I let the weeds grow around the plants and kind of protect them. I am still waiting for harvest, I want to give them as long as possible in the ground.
Sweet potato leaves are definitely edible. They taste like sweet potatoes. Sautee them in some olive oil or butter, and some salt and pepper.
I use sweet potato leaves as a substitute for spinach in Florida. Great substitute and very plentiful
We will be harvesting ours this weekend. I made taco boats last night with some of ours we were checking along the way.
You shouldn't fertilize sweet potatoes. They grow smaller in beds/pots with too much nitrogen.
Peel and cut sweet potatoes into desired shape (diced, sliced, fries, etc.). Place in a bowl, pour on your favorite cooking oil (I use avocado), sprinkle on cumin, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 425° until roasted to your desired doneness. Enjoy!
Studies have shown that cutting 25% (but not 50%) of your sweet potato vines increases your yield of roots
Glad to know that...mine have spread out like bushes! I’ll trim them first thing.😁
How did you get Georgia Jet potatoes? I had to buy slips from our local farm supply store.
Sauté the leaves as you would spinach!
Leaves should be young, and not too big.
And do not take too many from any one plant.
Spread the pruning of leaves among different plants.
Butter/olive oil with salt and garlic?
I add parsley to most all my dishes is a preference for me,
May not be for everyone!
Good luck and enjoy!
Rabbits don’t like crushed habaneros. I stir fry sweet potatoes with some sort of green like chard or spinach in coconut oil with a bit of garlic and turmeric. Most often I just bake them with chicken.
Sweet potato hash w/eggs 😊
I love sweet potatoes in curry.
I always grow my sweets in big grow bags too because every time i have tried growing them in ground the voles totally obliterate them and you have no idea its going on until harvest day. 😣 We did harvest our sweets recently and quite a few of them were absolutely massive! Now that they're cured up i've been thinking of making some sweet potato waffles, and of course we will be making a pie for good ol' turkey day, lol.
Last year i stuck 2 whole sweet potatoes in a 20 qt tote (I didn't know about slips) late spring or early summer with regular top soil and let them go until my first frost killed the vines. I can't remember if i fertilized at all and got roughly 15-20 good sized potatoes. This year i did some slips and the potato i used to make the slips into a metal raised bed with a trellis. The vines have swallowed the trellis and the 4 ft bed + 3 ft around the bed. I'm in newly 8a NC and was trying to decide if i should harvest now or wait till my first frost again.
I've also have heard you can treat the leaves just like spinach as well. Love your content! Keep up the great work 👍 ❤
I've also gotten a few flowers heat and there, have 2 right now. Heard somewhere that flowing isn't necessary for tuber development though, but pretty either way.
I think sweet potatoes are best grown in the ground,normally the vines root all the way along, sucking up nutrients and energy from a huge area,which is what grows the tuber. In a container is better than nothing ofcourse.
👌
Hey Luke! I was trying to find Georgia Jet this year but I wasn't able to find them. Any suggestions of where I can find some Georgia Jet potatoes so that I can grow my own slips for spring of 2025?
And yes, I ate from my vines throughout. They were really tasty. I sautéed mine with onions and garlic like spinach.
Hi there we ordered our 2024 Georgia jet slips from Territorial seed company.
All potatoes are tropical. They evolved in South America.
Two ingredient "cheese cake" made with cocoa and sweet potatoes. Yummy!?
Sweet potato leaves are a substitute for spinach
I grew mine for sweet potato pie and dog treats.
I'm growing them this year, but they haven't flowered yet. Can I still harvest? Are do they need to flower to grow the tubers?
We grew them in the ground on the farm and in pots two hours away at home. Both did well, the in-ground was a huge harvest but we had horrific mice eating issues. We had very few, if any, blooms.
I slice mine and fry them with bacon, eggs, and a side of sauerkraut.
Looks like you may have over watered them. Dry conditions trigger sweet potatoes to start storing energy and make larger tubers. Of course that doesn’t mean you should let them completely dry up.
Here in central Missouri I harvest them in mid September and let them lay in the sun.
My sweet potato vines don't have flowers and the have been growing for at least 3 months.
Sweet potato pie all day.
My sweet potato vines never flower. I have had Beauregard ? Spelling.
I'm surprised he didn't know about the leaves, in some places they are grown for the leaves as much as the roots
my rabbit love to eat the leaves.
You had a much better harvest when you grew them in the ground.
If they were planted in April, that's over 150 days if you are harvesting early October. They weren't going to get any bigger. That's almost a month longer in the ground than necessary. Glad you got some though.
May have been a bit too cool early on though. It's much more about heat than days for this tropical plant. Soil temp below 55 can damage the root, and below 50 can rot it. Aside from that, it takes about 1200 heat units (average daily temp - 55° = heat units) to get a decent, bratwurst sized tuber for most varieties of sweet potato. It looks like St Clair had somewhere around 2500 or so this year, so I would have expected either bigger or more numerous roots.
Hi 👋 This is my first year growing sweet potatoes & I'm getting ready to harvest. I'm wondering if there's any value in keeping some of the vine & rooting it over the winter? I'm worried after reading all of the comments that my harvest will be small or rotted or some other catastrophe. If that happens, should I root a piece of vine?
Thanks.😊
I am experimenting with just that. Before I harvested my sweet potatoes I cut three vines of two varieties, rooted in water and planted them like an indoor plant. I will cut these in the spring, root and plant. Hope the experiment works.
@Daisymae55 Good luck. I'm interested in hearing about your results.
I, too, cut some vines & am working on rooting them... we'll see.
Thanks.
So far so good. I successfully harvest the sweet potatoes ~ yes, they are small but, I'm really excited to have gotten anything...small victories are still positive. Vine cuttings were taken & all have rooted in water...going to try to plant some indoors & keep some growing in water to see what works.
Please share your experiences as well. Thanks!
Did you prune them throughout the year? Because that would be the biggest mistake. Mine took over half of my yard before I harvested last month.
Sweet potato pie
Leaves are definitely edible. I need to find a good recipe for them though.
I just like to bake them and eat them without anything else no butter or brown sugar. But I do have a question I grew bouregarde sweet potatoes this year for my first time I think I did ok. My question is how many days do these kind take being as they mature in 90 days. ?? Ty
MI Gardner - Do you save all sizes of your sweet potatoes? We're in Croswell, Mi & seem to have gotten a pretty good bounty of sweet potatoes this year, but several on the thin side, like thick straws & I'm not sure I should save them. What do you think?
how do you cure them in a home? we don't have anyplace that is 80 degrees.
Grew potatoes but my leaves were wiped out by bugs in less than a week 😭. Still salvaged about 20lbs of potatoes so wasn't too bad, but still only about 3/4 of their size. They were ripe though.
You look great! You look like you lost some weight! Congrats!
What if they never flowered?
That is fine. They may never flower and they will still be good!
We are them(leaves). They were ok
Here in the South we don’t harvest our sweet taters until the leaves start to die.
Typically our fall is pretty dry though. We also don’t fertilize. The promix has fertilizer. You end up with crazy vines and not very big taters.
Why not sweet potato fries? Yummy 😂😂
Gophers got all of mine. 😢
Don't worry so much about them rotting. Give them more time to reach maturity.
deer decimated my sweet potato leaves, harvested one or two pencil sized ones.
I had the deer eat all my sweet potatoes leaves as well. I have 3 huge, hungry deer that have discovered my garden and I catch them out there frequently..
Deer got mine in raised beds and then a ground hog found the ones in my polytunnel. The poly tunnel ones have come back nicely not do much the ones in raised beds. Going to harvest this weekend as the nights are going to dip into 30’s. 🤞
Try Repels All spray - organic kind of pepper spray - It works on my Hibiscus plants - the deer ate them one spring sprayed and they left them alone👍🏼
@@tamararobinson2069 gonna cage em next time
@@shawnfromportland 😂 The deer or the potatoes?😂 I know it’s so frustrating - good luck👍🏼