Skip to main content

How to grow sweet potatoes: 6 effective tips to grow these delicious tubers

You can start your own crop of sweet potatoes! Here's how

Sliced sweet potatoes
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Although they're part of the morning glory family, sweet potatoes are versatile, hearty kitchen staples and make for beautiful crops. While not the most difficult vegetables to grow, they do require patience and care for successful yields. Here's how to grow sweet potatoes for delicious results.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

What You Need

  • Organic sweet potatoes or starters

  • Tray

  • Regular potting soil

  • Plastic wrap

  • Growing container or planter

  • Mulch

  • Row covers or black trash bags

  • Fertilizer

  • Compost

  • Rich organic matter like kelp and bone meal

Tub of sweet potatoes
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Select an organic sweet potato to start your plant

If you’re wondering if you can just plant a whole sweet potato, the answer is yes — well, kind of. Through a process called chitting, you can definitely use a sweet potato from the grocery store to start your own plant.

If you’re going this route, it’s best to go with an organic sweet potato, if possible. Nonorganic sweet potatoes are often treated with inhibitors that prevent growth, so you may not be able to yield good sprouts from them. Alternatively, you can get sweet potato slips at your local nursery. If you want to start with a whole sweet potato, though, here's how.

Step 1: After selecting your sweet potatoes, place them on a tray of regular potting soil.

Step 2: Keeping the potting medium moist and cover the tray with plastic wrap to retain humidity. Over time, shoots (called slips) should start to grow from the eyes on your sweet potatoes.

Step 3: When the slips are 5 to 6 inches tall, pull off the sprouts carefully and root them in water.

Step 4: When the roots begin to form, transfer the sprouts into containers of potting soil.

Step 5: Move the plants to your garden in the spring or summer.

Fresh sweet potatoes
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Keep your sweet potatoes in warm soil

Sweet potatoes are native to tropical areas of the Americas and are hardy in zones 8 through 11. However, they are often grown as an annual vegetable.

Step 1: If you live in a northern region, start your sweet potatoes indoors.

Step 2: When you bring your sweet potato slips outside, consider mulching your soil and using row covers (or even black trash bags) to protect your crops from the cold. You can also plant your sweet potatoes in raised rows to keep them off the ground.

Person watering plants
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Temperature and light requirements for sweet potatoes

Slips are prone to transplant shock, so move your seedlings out into the garden a month after the last frost, ideally when it’s above 60 degrees Fahrenheit outside. If you live in a colder area, you might not want to bring your slips outdoors until May. They thrive best in temperatures between 75 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 1: Plant the sweet potatoes in an area in full sun (and with some afternoon shade, if available).

Step 2: Sweet potatoes require space for their roots and vines to spread, so do not plant them in hanging vegetable gardens.

Planting crops for composting
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What to know about the sweet potato's long growing season

Sweet potatoes need anywhere from 90 to 120 days to mature, although some varieties may take up to 150 days.

Step 1: Once your sweet potatoes are ready for harvest, the end foliage will look slightly yellow. At this point, you can remove the foliage and carefully pull up the sweet potatoes — avoid breaking the skin to keep your harvest fresher longer. Keep in mind the longer you leave your sweet potatoes in the ground, the higher their yield and vitamin content will be.

Step 2: To cure your sweet potatoes, dry them out in the sun for a few hours and leave them in a hot, humid location, about 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, for two weeks. Cured sweet potatoes can last for several months.

Scattering bone meal fertilizer over a plant
Floki / Shutterstock

How to fertilize sweet potatoes

You won’t need much beyond the fertilizer you mix into your soil when you plant your sweet potatoes because they aren’t heavy feeders. Overfertilizing can actually encourage leaf growth instead of tuber growth, especially when you use plant food with too much nitrogen.

Step 1: Use a 5-10-10 or 8-24-24 N-P-K fertilizer. The first value in an N-P-K fertilizer, nitrogen, should be the smallest number. You may want to take a soil test to determine the best N-P-K ratios.

Step 2: Skip animal manure, which might result in thin or stained roots. You can mix in compost and other rich organic matter like kelp and bone meal when planting your slips.

Sweet potato with sprouts
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How and when to water sweet potatoes

While their tuberous roots are sensitive to overwatering, sweet potatoes have better yields with thorough watering during hot, dry summers.

Step 1: Water the crops weekly in the summer to help your sweet potato roots grow and spread.

Step 2: Cut back on watering toward the end of the growing season.

Sweet potatoes aren’t difficult crops, but getting them started and being patient with their long growing period can be a challenge. With these easy tips, you can grow robust sweet potatoes for delicious recipes, whether you’re baking them into a pie or simply roasting them for a perfect autumn side dish. And remember to save a few sweet potatoes to start slips for next year’s harvest!

Stacey Nguyen
Stacey's work has appeared on sites such as POPSUGAR, HelloGiggles, Buzzfeed, The Balance, TripSavvy, and more. When she's…
Best avocado growing zones: Where to plant for success
Do you live in a region where you can grow delicious avocados?
Hand holding avocado on a tree

Avocado trees may have originated in Central and South America, but today, the plant is enjoyed all around the world. While you can get your avocados imported, you may be able to grow your own, depending on where you live. Long story short, the avocado growing zone consists of hot and humid climates, so don't try to plant one in Siberia. Still, there are plenty of places in the U.S. that can sustain an avocado tree! If you want to try harvesting your own delicious avocados, here is what you need to know about where they grow best.
Preferred climates for avocados

Avocados can only grow in warm weather and subhumid climates, primarily tropical and Mediterranean temperatures that stay warm year-round. Being a tropical plant, the avocado tree hates growing in any temperature below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. That said, mature trees can tolerate temperatures as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit for a short period.

Read more
Spinach germination time: How to grow this salad staple
This cool-weather vegetable doesn't take long to grow
Freshly harvested spinach leaves in a bowl

Spinach is a popular cool-weather crop that’s grown in many garden beds and homes. It is one of the easiest crops to grow hydroponically, but it's also quite easy to grow in soil. While many gardeners prefer to start their spinach plants from young nursery plants, you can grow them from seeds instead. It can be tricky, but if you know the proper steps then germinating your own spinach seeds can be rewarding. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about spinach germination time.

Read more
How to start calla lily seeds and grow beautiful blooms
From sprouting to transplanting, here's your guide to growing calla lilies from seed
Hand touching calla bloom

Calla lilies are beautiful flowers that come in a variety of colors, including white, yellow, purple, and pink. The blooms rest on elegant trumpet-shaped stems, and when they’re spent, they leave behind seed pods. However, the seedlings are most often propagated through the bulbs instead of the seeds. Growing calla lilies from bulbs is fairly simple, but what if all you have are calla lily seeds? Luckily, growing calla lilies from seeds isn't terribly tricky, especially if you know what to do. This calla lily growing guide will explain everything you need to know to get started.
Where to get calla lily seeds

If you’re looking to grow calla lilies from seeds without an existing plant, you can always purchase seed pods from reputable catalogs, nurseries, or other growers. If you already have a calla lily, you can collect a mature seed pod from a spent flower. Calla lily seed pods each contain at least one or two seeds. Keep in mind that the seed pod itself can take a few months to mature, so you should leave it attached to the plant and wait to harvest it until after it’s matured.

Read more